What 'do it all' bike? What travel is needed?

sunkistbob

Ok - so I am wondering whether my Cannondale Jekyll needs upgrading to more travel. I have 135mm at the rear and am about to try and fit Shermans to the front


Anyway


What 'Do It All' bikes are out there that can handle anything fron XC to Trail to blasting down teh mountain in the Alps?


What does the Peanut Gallery think?

Would one need 160mm front and rear, more? is 150mm enough?

Does one need 1-1/5th head?

Orange 66?
Orange Alps?
Speshy Pitch?
Yeti AS-R7?



Your thoughts would be appreciated!


kind regards


Benjamin

supersonic

Is not always about the travel, but the intended usage of said bike. Some bikes ie GT Force have 150mm of travel, but are more long travel XC machines. Them you have the GT Distortion with 115mm but is built much heavier.

sunkistbob

Good point!

What would your thoughts be on what would prove a good do it all bike then?


Benjamin

Anonymous

Well, for anything UP to the alps, I can heartily reccomend a Marin Mount vision, they really are stunning, and feel as though there's far more travel on tap than the actual 120mm.

For go-anywhere INCLUDING the alps, then an Wolf-Ridge, or the newer Attack Trail would be the next logical step. Again, they might seem to be short travel, but the travel feels endless, and the bikes are built like the probevrbial brick-sh*thouse.

supersonic

Obviously more money gets you lighter weight, but that lighter weight adds to veratility, especially when climbing. But you want the parts to be relatively tough too. Of course these bikes aren't going to take on full on DH machines or XC whippet boys, but you'd want less than 30lbs weight, and generalising, around 150mm of travel.

Bolt through forks add to stiffness if you are a heavy rider, and I would stay away from XC rims and tyres. Finishing components again to follw the light but tough scheme. Probably best to stay away from racy XC brakes too.

Adjustable travel bikes could be an option as you can tailor them a little to the terrain. I have always been inmpressed by the Scott Genius:

http://www.slanecycles.com/scott-genius ... rrency=GBP

Adjustable travel, and good parts, though I would like to see better rims and brakes, as the build here focusses on the lighter duty side of all rounder. The frame though is a corker.

The Northern Monkey

The rear shock on the Genius has problems though and is a right pita to get fixed if it does go wrong!
Heavy too!

130mm is a good "compramise" for UK trails...but i'm not sure about the Alps..

supersonic

Have you seen the weight of the frame inc that shock?!

The Northern Monkey

supersonic wrote:

Have you seen the weight of the frame inc that shock?!

nope lol... i was just going off the shock weight lol.

supersonic

The alloy frame is 6.15lbs with shock, the carbon less than 5lbs. Not bad for 6 inches lol.

The Northern Monkey

Blimey that ain't bad at all! is that 3lb for the frame and 3lb for the shock? hehe.

Whats that super adjustable Bionicon called?

wobbem

Get a 29er , problem solved .ie
Niner Rip9
Intense Tracer
Lenz Leviation

supersonic

Why will a 29er solve the dillemna?

Anonymous

supersonic wrote:

Why will a 29er solve the dillemna?

Didn't you get the memo, Sonic, it's the answer to everything!

paul.skibum

I reckon if you are on the shorter side then something like a Spesh SC Trail (the 4x version of the SX I think) or the Commencal 4x full susser would be good all rounder burly bikes but still up for a bit of xc riding - might be erring toward the heavier end of the spectrum.

Personally for my own riding in the Alps and UK something like a Blur LT or a Heckler would be my choice.

andyrm

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Blimey that ain't bad at all! is that 3lb for the frame and 3lb for the shock? hehe.

Whats that super adjustable Bionicon called?

There's a few Bionicons that would fall into this category - either the Edison, Edison Ltd or the new Tesla. All superb bikes and gaining converts at a rapid rate. Interestingly, Bionicon seem to have had a bit of a tough time in the UK bike press (and only the UK press at that), yet their conversion ratio of demo rides to sales is phenomenal. We've now got 4 or 5 in our club and I hear yesterday that another one is on order for someone else....

I'd strongly recommend a good demo ride!

CycloRos

I'd agree it's not all about the travel but the overall build of the bike that's important.

However as a general rule there really isn't much in the UK that warrants more than 140mm of travel (unless you're into DH), if you want something for Alpine adventures though I'd consider 140mm a minimum, tough hubs/rims and DH tyres a must!

Every bike is a compromise, that's why you can never have too many!

richg1979

my 160mm santa cruz nomad built up lightish (32lb) does everything from fast xc to mild dh with no probs at all.

Northwind

Anything long-ish and slack-ish built with reasonably light but strong kit will generally do the job. My Hemlock's been down a world cup DH route and round a world cup XC route and took both in its stride, and just did a week of uplift DH and pedalled big-mountain XC in the Pyrenees without breaking a sweat, and I love it to bits for it but there's dozens of others that do the same job. Just be aware it's always a compromise.