How hard can you push an XC Bike?

Anonymous

Howdy folks.

So i've now looked at Pitch Comp... can't get it no more under my cycle scheme, LBS all sold out...no longer an option. poor poor me boo hoo etc...

Wont go through Halfords....don't ask, bad experiences etc.. etc... yadda yaadaa so the GT i-Drive is out

Now i've been looking at FSR XC Comp in Medium, after some good advice from fellow forum user Daz (cheers Daz)... however LBS has sold out of this also! again boo feckin hooo....

So with the budget it's £1000...you know the drill......

I've been looking at Full Sus XC Bikes, as the Bit Hit FSR 1 (yes it's the one I have chosen that I could get as it's not sold out, however the LBS wont budge on me putting more money to the voucher value. and I know it's not a XC Bike..... THERE IS NO GOD).....enough.

So my question after all that pointless info is,,, How hard can you attack an XC bike.. say with 120m Front Air and 5" rear Air.?

I don't really wanna get an XC if it's gonna be damaged (bending frame) on long rocky steep decents.. I know it will handle swooping mountain trails and rocks.

Could I do the Fort William DH course on an XC?

It's a bit of a piece of string question aint it?

Cheers for any advice you can give XC peeps.

You stay classy san diego

joshtp

XC bikes can go pretty far, esp if they are a more burley build. Shame bout halfrauds, becouse the GT is exelent. Look for something in that catogory, 130 mm, and fairly tough. this one though is very good, tough and well specked, its getting firmly into the All mountain catorgory. reduced loads too:
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _Bike_2008

gpsBRM

I've taken both my Maxlight XC Pro and Spesh S-Works Epic (both race orientated XC bikes with 100-115mm) to the Alps over the last 4 years. Both have stood up fine doing everything I threw at them including the downhill courses. Wouldn't say I got a lot of "air" on them but thats not the way I ride. Blasting past big rigs on the inside of 4X courses is ace. Only thing that might limit you trying to ride a dh course on an XC bike would be the brakes as I found out trying to run 160mm Hope Mini Mono Pro's last year, although once you get used to brake fade you can ride it. Change tyres for some fat ones like Conti Mountain Kings and it'll be fine.

Its not what you ride, its how you ride it.

bomberesque

^what they say.

if you ride heavy, you'll more likely break an XC frame but they (and XC wheels) are just so good and strong these days that I'm tempted to guess 90% of frame failures are due to either a crash or a fault in a weld (or a truely abusive riding style)

That said, I would hesitate to ride an XC bike down a full on DH race course. Not because of the strength as much as the angles.

paul.skibum

I rode for a season in the Alps and still ride holidays there on my steel hardtail - for the most part it was fine, just became a handfull over braking bumps. A well put together full suss XC bike should be fine for the most part - its only going to be heavy landings off big drops that you need worry about.

For a grand I'd look at custom built hardtails personally but if you want suss you are going to have to pick and chose a little.

Tim.s

GmanUK101 wrote:

Could I do the Fort William DH course on an XC?

No.

Well yes but pathetically slowly and with no enjoyment and possibly a nasty accident and probably end up with someone elses 2.5" front tyre up your bum.

Chaz.Harding

Have you thought about getting a custom build together? Order the frame, forks etc all individually. Would probably open up more avenues...

zero303

FSRxc is more trail bike than XC anyway this year and it'll be more than up to trail centre riding. Up to 1 ft steps and drops if you're clumsy - it would do bigger if you've got the skills to land it right.

Don't do Fort WIlliam on it, don't bother buying a bike just cause might want to ride Fort WIlliam once on it. Besides the Red DH will be open soon and it'll be fine for that.

What terrain do you intend to ride 90% of the time, and be honest with yourself. Then buy what suits that 90% and don't make silly compromises like Spesh Big Hits or something and then spend 90% of your rides grunting that lardy turd round the local woods.

Anonymous

zero303 wrote:

What terrain do you intend to ride 90% of the time, and be honest with yourself. Then buy what suits that 90% and don't make silly compromises like Spesh Big Hits or something and then spend 90% of your rides grunting that lardy junk round the local woods.

Zen with the cash not expensive with the emotions.

Back to basics I think... thanks again. top advice.

To all, cheers.

G

Nik_B

This is a good question and partly the magazine 'speak' is responsible. I was also looking for a new bike and got caught up in the rediculous terminology. The difference in 1 inch of travel is the difference between 'Race Ready' 'Whippet' and 'Go Anywhere' 'All Mountain' etc. I started to seriously wonder if I was getting taken in by the marketing speak too much. After all I can ride trail centres on a crappy hard tail so why would a 4" travel full sus not be suitable? I think it's entirely possible that most people have more travel than they need and end up with a heavier bike. That might suit most but I'd like a light bike as well and not a monster that I struggle to get over a style or put on my car roof.

I may be entirely wrong but I've been thinking about this alot. Would most Zesty owners be just as well off on an X-Control except that latter hasn't been in any magaziones I've read reacently getting 10/10 or 9/10. Same with Orange Five...could the ST4 actually be more suitable for most UK riding?

Steve_b77

5" (120ish mm) front and back will handle most thigns in the UK bar full on DH.

Simplez

GHill

Nik_B wrote:

Same with Orange Five...could the ST4 actually be more suitable for most UK riding?

Almost certainly. Less of a cool factor though

To the OP, not sure if the cycle scheme will let you buy parts (for a custom machine) rather than a full bike? I forget which schemes allow what.

Nik_B

GHill wrote:

Nik_B wrote:

Same with Orange Five...could the ST4 actually be more suitable for most UK riding?

Almost certainly. Less of a cool factor though

To the OP, not sure if the cycle scheme will let you buy parts (for a custom machine) rather than a full bike? I forget which schemes allow what.

Knew I should have left the 'O' word out

Chaz.Harding

Actually, refering to the title of the post, surely you'd want to ride your XC bike, not push it!

Couldn't resist!

supersonic

Nik_B wrote:

This is a good question and partly the magazine 'speak' is responsible. I was also looking for a new bike and got caught up in the rediculous terminology. The difference in 1 inch of travel is the difference between 'Race Ready' 'Whippet' and 'Go Anywhere' 'All Mountain' etc. I started to seriously wonder if I was getting taken in by the marketing speak too much. After all I can ride trail centres on a crappy hard tail so why would a 4" travel full sus not be suitable? I think it's entirely possible that most people have more travel than they need and end up with a heavier bike. That might suit most but I'd like a light bike as well and not a monster that I struggle to get over a style or put on my car roof.

I may be entirely wrong but I've been thinking about this alot. Would most Zesty owners be just as well off on an X-Control except that latter hasn't been in any magaziones I've read reacently getting 10/10 or 9/10. Same with Orange Five...could the ST4 actually be more suitable for most UK riding?

This is it, we need to look further than just travel but what the bike is designed for, or what you can do with it. Some 4 inch sussers are long, steep whippet xc bikes, others have jump forks and rip round 4x courses.

Nick Dastardly

Like a few people have mentioned, we could all be being taken in by marketing. Back when I started riding (and some people here have been around a LOT longer than me!) a full-on DH bike would have 4" travel and 2.1" tyres and you didn't hear of them falling to bits every time they hit a bump. There seems to be an opinion amongst some people that you need a 5" full suss just to ride an average trail centre!

I'd be more than happy occasionally hitting a DH run on a decent XC bike, but would I want to ride XC on something with 7" travel?

wordnumb

Steve_b77 wrote:

5" (120ish mm) front and back will handle most thigns in the UK bar full on DH.

Simplez

Agree.

supersonic

5 inchescould handle DH if the bike is beefy enough! (and shocks set up accordingly)

cee

supersonic wrote:

5 inchescould handle DH if the bike is beefy enough! (and shocks set up accordingly)

yip....

my patriot only has a 5" rear shock (Vanilla R circa 2003)....

MuddyFunster

Isn't this more about angles than inches? My 2005 Trance was a revalation over my old Super V, but the difference was in angles rather than inches. Steep XC racer head angles are going to be pretty scary on descents where more relaxed trail bikes will make the same descent a lot more fun (for most riders - we can't all be Ollie Beckinsale). Unless you're into big air, I think you'd have a hard time breaking any decent trail or XC bike...