Ideal setup for britains trails.

dudemark1

Hey guys was just wondering what you think the ideal bike setup is for riding britains trails?
What type of bike, Full Suss or hard tail, what size travel is needed for tackling
the 7 stains and other areas like this?


What bike and setup do you have and what type of riding do you do?

Come everyone let us know your expeirences good or bad?

Alex

Seven Stains? That might happen in your underwear, but if you're referring the network of scottish trailcentres, you'll be thinking of STANES.


Ideally you'd have an "everyman hardtail" or "everyman FS" depending upon budget and preference. You know the sort. Decent spec, four or five inches at the front, maybe 4 inches at the back. Enough to take the sting out of the roughest trail, without harming your ability to climb at all, or adding podge.

There are really only a few bikes where the manufacturer says outright "This bike isn't perfectly cut out for a particular niche, but it's pretty good everywhere".

The one that comes to mind is the Stumpy FSR. Spesh don't bother pigeonholing it, instead going with the tagline that it's the "bike for the trails most of us ride, most of the time. "

Personally I've raced it at 12 hour and 24 hour events, ridden the 100km HONC, ridden it through the lakes, ridden it at plenty of trail centres including all the Stanes, ridden it down downhill tracks. I've spent more time on it than I've spent on my Downhill bike this year!

wordnumb

You'll need to be more specific. UK trails can mean wallowing down mudswamped lanes or dropping through steep rocks. There is no ideal bike or setup for all of it.

Saying that, 120mm travel seems fine for most things.

Thewaylander

I think from riding round britian,

I think the 140Am style bikes are perfect(iwant one) there tough stiff, 140mm travel which is loads for all day confort. they can handle pretty much anything like hard run downhills, tight enough to jump a bit.. just the totall utility do it all set up.

joshtp

either a 120/130mm xc fs or a 130/140mm AM HT

Splottboy

Personally, I'd probably go for a Ti hardtail, internal hub system, with 140mm air forks.
2.25 -2.4 tubeless tyres. The new 29ers "may" be more suited to roll over trail rubbish.
A long or short travel Thudbuster may do instead of a full-sus.
If you're "strong" you may get away with a Sram XX two-ring setup instead.

Lighter weight, strong forgiving frame, simple gear/brake systems...that's the ticket!
The less things to get clogged up or rock-bashed, the better.

My "best time" for the Marin was from the suspended cafe near Llanrwst, full older route, back to cafe = 1hr 10mins. This was on Airborne Ti Hardtail, Sids, Thudbuster and XT but it was dry/dusty. And I was about 11stone, not the 12.10 I am now!

Thewaylander

yeh but Splottboy.. was it even fun?

Sounds like a fitness nut style to me mate. i like to hang out with my mates on the trail have fun and spend a good few hourse just tarting about on the bike and trails having fun...

jairaj

dudemark1, The type of bike can be a very personal thing. Person A might prefer a well controlled shorter travel bike while person B might want a long travel squishy bike. But due their differing riding styles they maybe able to ride the same trail at the same speed/difficultly.

Maybe a bit more information on your riding style and bike preference might help to narrow down a smaller selection for you to choose from? If you have no idea of what you're after (like I was when I started MTB) then just get out and try and demo lots of different types of bikes. Its a bit time consuming but you'll soon find the gist of what kinda bikes you do like and can focus your search on that.

Splottboy

Waylander: Yeah, it was fun! Have also lead groups on Mtb Leaders courses there, and it's taken over 3 hrs with not all the trail completed. And this was fun too, watching people learn, improve, gain confidence and eventually gain the Mtb/Off Road Leaders award.

Also, used to run the DC - Dyffryn Conwy - Mtb club. Rode from Llanwrst leisure centre, with kids of all ages with asst leaders. By time we got to the Marin, did about 1/2 hr skills/drills, then downhill all the way back. Also fun...

On of the kids is now Elite DH rider. Was little runt when I first met him in Llanrwst.

If you're on the bike, not at work, then it's gotta be fun!
Still think Ti H/Tail is the ticket.

supersonic

UK trails covers a lot of bases, from the flats of Norfolk to boulder infested tracks like parts of Wharncliffe.

robertpb

Looks for tape measure and a piece of string.

Northwind

I reckon, some sort of lightweight hardcore hardtail, with light-but strong wheels and a length adjustable fork. Good for XC, good for Fort William, good for mcmoab, good for commuting, and easy to put on the roofrack. But very rarely too good.

This post's going to bring out all the cliches, so lets just get it over with. It's better to be underbiked than overbiked. Trail centres are all like smooth gravel paths. Nothing at the 7 Stanes justifies suspension never mind 5" full sussers. All the gear no idea. You could ride it on a shopping bike. I might have missed some but that's the main ones...

My own opinion... Full suss is nice but it can just take away the fun, or, move the fun so that it can only be accessed by travelling at ridiculous speed. Glentress on a Zesty 514 was, to me, pretty much an exercise in disappointment- a great trail and a stunning bike combined to be as exciting as my commute. I couldn't hit anything hard enough for the Zesty to even notice, I'm not fast enough or brave enough and the trail wasn't big enough. On my Soul, it's a joy.

Mate of mine got an Anthem X for his trail centre bike and loves it- it's light, it's comfortable, it's efficient but it doesn't take away the challenge like his Heckler does. Likewise another mate, whose Five gathers dust while he rides his Chameleon. Neither is as "good" as their big bikes. And some people go further- rigids, singlespeeds, unicycles...

But, everyone takes their fun in different ways, so there's no one right answer. The bottom line for me is I want something good enough to let me play but not good enough to make it less fun. Modern bikes are bloody amazing after all.

And yeah, you actually could ride much of the 7 Stanes on a shopping bike. But it'd be completely s**t

bomberesque

My Evil Sovereign is well suited, although a sililar geometry in a slightly lighter frame would easily suffice. Stiil, I'm only pushing a max of 2 extra pounds uphill compared to the next guy on a lightweight steel frame fitted similarly. a stiff and burly 100mm fork I rekon is just the ticket. Pike for me, but mostly because it was cheap; thinking about a talas 36 upgrade but no permission from Evil to put a 160 fork on the frame yet....

as for FS, Personally I find 140 rear travel too much for the trails you're talking about, but that may be personal, I don't honestly know. Mrs B has a Yeti 575 and loves it but I just find it a bit too insulating and bottomless. My choice of FS would be something in the 120 range or a burly *slightly* slack (ie not racing geom; say 70deg HA) 100 F/R. I have my eye on an Intense Spider 2, which I test rode earlier in the year to great intakes of breath and unintentional "ooohs" and "aahs" and "bloody hell but this sprints well"s .... just waiting for the wife to look the other way long enough

cee

hardcore hardtail with a 140mm fork.....

dh-able, xc-able, commutable.

perfect

The Northern Monkey

For a single do it all bike for the UK?

All you need is a hardtail... around 130mm-140mm travel, not xc light but light enough to hurl up hills as well as enjoy some good downs.

I like how Northwind summed up a FS...

Full suss is nice but it can just take away the fun

joshtp

bigbenj_08 wrote:

For a single do it all bike for the UK?

All you need is a hardtail... around 130mm-140mm travel, not xc light but light enough to hurl up hills as well as enjoy some good downs.

I like how Northwind summed up a FS...

Full suss is nice but it can just take away the fun

so my bike then? i would totaly agree, i like riding my mates fuel ex 9, its a nice bike, it feels fast, but it just makes stuff too easy, too gentel. my bike howefer is not a chore to ride, but it stil lets you "feel" the trail, you can still ride it as a trail, rather than as an exersice in speed.

The Northern Monkey

joshtp/mbukman
Aye... I had a GT Aggressor XCR a while back and it was a great trail bike!

joshtp

bigbenj_08 wrote:

joshtp/mbukman
Aye... I had a GT Aggressor XCR a while back and it was a great trail bike!

finaly some more recognition for what a great frame the aggreessor has, tripple butted, stiff, yet compliant, light, strong, sorted angles.
bishbashbosh. best bike in the world.....(sort ov)

CycloRos

For UK trails a decent longer travel HT (100-140mm) is all you really need. If you must go full suss then look around the 100-120mm both ends, it'll be efficient and take the sting out of bigger hits.

trailpuppet

What bike?

I have been riding for a while now. Have a 16yr old Bontrage/85mm forks r that has been everywhere with me from Wales, Peaks, Lakes, Yorkshire Stanes etc.
Unfortunately the bb shell threads have disappeared so Bonty has been mothballed for now.

I have treated myself to a Ragley Blue Pig currently fitted with some 2nd hand cheapo Marz 130 forks. Does me fine

supersonic

Have a 16yr old Bontrage/85mm forks

That would be my choice if I had to make one.

If FS takes your fun away, ride faster!

el loco pollo

I like how these threads are always chock full of hardtail owners justiying their bike choice.

<popcorn>

largephil

Ideal set up for Britains Trails:

My choice is a FS 140mm all mountain rig. Thats plenty big enough to handle anything Britain can throw at it, while still being just about light enough for climbing. Theres no doubt that the bike could be a bit lighter, but I would never notice a few ounces. My old 120mm HT bike was good at everything... or so I thought untill I went 140mm FS. Just my preference

ride_whenever

Something like a genius.

But i like my hardtails.

lawman

a 26lbs 140mm fs bike, ideally with fox sus and single ring xt, light but powerful brakes, and some light tubless wheels and tyres, oh and wide bars canny forget the wide bars

plus how come fork manufacturers arent getting in on the droppy seat post game???? i mean all these problems with joplins etc most of the time it sems to be seals, so how come fork seals can last ages yet these posts only last 5 minutes??? forls work far more than a joplin would and last better so surely something like a remote talas adjust seatpost would sell by the shedload

joshtp

ride_whenever wrote:

Something like a genius.

But i like my hardtails.

yep, well put, im the same.

Northwind

supersonic wrote:

If FS takes your fun away, ride faster!

Then you have the same amount of fun, just not for as long

phz

i have to throw my hat into the bombproof HT ring too

once i get some slightly longer (100mm-120mm) forks on my mr hyde (currently running 80mm) and shed a little weight from it (it bloats out at 30lb right now) i reckon it will be good for just about anything i would want to ride in the UK

having said that i have a half-formed (and not yet half-financed) plan to build a shortish travel FS for the same trails next year based around something like a transition double or black market killswitch

slainte 8) rob