Trail Bike, All Mountain and Free Ride definitions?

MacAndCheese

Following on from the DH definition thread, what to people think about Trail Bikes, All Mountain bikes and Free Ride bikes? What's the difference? I'm slightly confused but would put it something like this in terms of suspension travel and ruggedness:

XC race bike > XC bike > Trail bike > All Mountain bike > Free Ride bike > DH bike


I know it's not something that can or needs to be rigidly defined, but it can get confusing with magazines and manufactures using these terms. When I first started I'm fairly sure most of these didn't exist!

Thoughts?

bomberesque

MacAndCheese wrote:

in terms of suspension travel and ruggedness:

XC race bike < XC bike < Trail bike < All Mountain bike < Free Ride bike < DH bike

fixed that for you but yeah that seems about right


now ... where does Enduro fit?

drew_02

bomberesque wrote:

now ... where does Enduro fit?

All mountain, with freeride and DH tendencies...

RealMan

I thought enduro was somewhere in between xc and trail.

rhyko7

RealMan wrote:

I thought enduro was somewhere in between xc and trail.

yeah i race enduro but wouldt race xc
xc are normally boring unchallenging courses where as the enduros i have ridden have had really good Dh sections (excluding Brecon beast which was boring)

what im aout to write is MY OPINION NOT fact :roll:

xc race bike - hardtail, or up to 100mm travel
xc bike - 80-120mm including hardtails but why bother with a bone shaker nowadays
enduro race bike- 100-150mm travel
trail centre bike 100-130 mm travel i think 120mm is spot on
AM bike - 130-160 mm this is the most common bike i reckon
free ride and DH-160mm+ anthing goes
if you sat on your bike on a gentle slope facing downhill think of a DH bike as something that sits horizontal on a hill and a free ride bike would point slightly down. travel wise completly depends where and who.

there are bikes that fit imbetween this guestimate
then there are us people who modify our bikes to fit imbetween the various categories- i have a 106mm trail rear sus bike with 130mm forks which i now consider an AM bike

Go on then guys-how far off am i with my travel suggestions?

grumsta

I thought enduro was somewhere in between xc and trail.

I think Enduro refers to events like the Kielder Avalanche or European things like the Mega/Maxiavalanche, rather than endurance mtb events in this country, which are basically just XC.

These events involve some pedalling/uphill, so are not suited to DH bikes, but are mainly about technical descents so a fairly burly bike is best suited.

RealMan

So what's my hardtail, considering its got an adjustable fork (110-140mm travel)?

rhyko7

RealMan wrote:

So what's my hardtail, considering its got an adjustable fork (110-140mm travel)?

well obviously your bike is a figment of your imagination

if it doesnt fit into my list then it clearly doesnt exist, sorry to break the news to you

lighten up dude who cares what bike is for what really, its how you ride it that counts

supersonic

A pigment? Is it an Orange?!

;-)

There is, of course, always a bit of overlap, and some manufacturers use the terms differently.

Whytepeak

rhyko7 wrote:

RealMan wrote:

So what's my hardtail, considering its got an adjustable fork (110-140mm travel)?

well obviously your bike is a pigment of your imagination