120mm=short travel trail bikes

poppit

Just reading in this month's MBR where they've tested 4 bikes with 120mm forks and called them 'short travel trail bikes'. Is 120mm now considered to be short travel? I'm looking at a Whyte 146 for my next bike but was worried that a 150mm fork might be too much for a bike I want to use for a bit of everything, perhaps I shouldn't be! What do people think, is 150mm fine for everything now?

rossi46

thats a good reason to stop reading mtb mags! they just push the next big thing that the industry have come up with!! :evil:

MountainMonster

My only bike, which I guess since it's my only one is a do it all bike is 160mm front and rear. For me and most of the people I ride with, 140mm is the minimum we would go with if buying a new bike, but geography depicts how much travel we need.

blister pus

like full suspension or hardtail decision, you get whatever travel gives you the most buzz for the terrain you ride. riding a large travel full suspension can be the equivalent of using a hovercraft to go over a tennis lawn, the same as a rigid hardtail could break your wrists, kidneys and ass. you figure out what's right you. that said, 140 u-turn for the front is a nice all round option for britain.

shx8000

150 mm is fine, and you'll probably find the amount of travel can be adjusted as well. Think mine's 120,140 or 160.
Suspension is so advanced these days that in most cases pedal bob is a thing of the past. Mine climbs extremely well even with the pro pedal.

Hth.

Matt.

supersonic

120mm is a classic trail bike, not short travel.

ilovedirt

I find 140mm is a good all round bike for most UK trails, though obviously if you're riding downhill or something, you'll want more than that. I find 140mm adequate for most situations.

supersonic wrote:

120mm is a classic trail bike, not short travel.

Swings and roundabouts really....

stuisnew

i only ride hardtail with 100mm reba's up front, so i'd have to say 140 is more than enough.

Definitely agree that 120 is 'normal' (classic) trail bike territory, 150 is much more all mountain or hardcore so depends what you normally use it for.

bike-a-swan

I think these days 120-140 seems to be trail bike territory, what with 'race' bikes creeping up- looking at you, scott spark.

Herbie The Dog

Jeez...I remember when 120mm was considered long travel!

Riding skills are more important than travel anyway so if you've got 160mm front and back but you can't ride for shoot you may as well be on a rigid.

poppit

Weight - I suppose this isn't a real issue anymore, you can spec a 140 or 150 fork that isn't far off the weight of a 120 fork.
Front lifting on steep climbs - 150/160 forks usually have some way of steppping them down to shorter travel so this isn't a problem.
Terrain - People seem to want to try more technical/steeper/rockier terrain which is made easier with longer travel back and front.
Trail centres/singletrack - Do longer travel bikes suit these? Probably overkill for what you normally come across.

GHill

120 is spot on for me. MBR has long pushed 140 as being right for UK trails, but not everyone agrees.

blister pus

I'm in between, 130 does me and I have no problem riding whatever the dark peak can throw up.

Northwind

I love MBR Last year WMB said "The 680mm bar is narrow" in a review, which made I laff, then about 2 issues later MBR had to raise the stakes, "The 680mm bar is too narrow for trail use"

GHill

Northwind wrote:

MBR had to raise the stakes, "The 680mm bar is too narrow for trail use"

It's true. I once heard of a guy who tried riding a trail with a 680mm bar. His fork steerer instantly sheered from pure objection and he spent six months in traction.

FBM.BMX

I really dislike the term "right" or "correct" when it comes to bikes.

"Most UK trails" is pretty vague too.

Bloody silly "rules" based on opinion.

It's a direct, physical relationship between the bike and the rider, with the rider interpreting the feedback from the the bike and reacting.

Everyone needs the feedback given to them in a different manner, everyone needs the bike to react differently.

Not everyone rides the same place in the same way, some will just monster truck over everything, sticking to relatively straight lines. Some will be turning, pumping and flowing, maybe taking smoother lines. The same place now becomes two different trails.

To work out what works best for YOURSELF, you've got to try it out. Buy it, ride it for atleast a few months, then you'll know if it's the right or wrong decision. Demo days can help somewhat with this too (a good reason to support your local shop).

No magazine writer or person on a forum can tell you what is exactly right for YOU, they can point you in a direction to try, a direction that has worked for them or others, but that direction won't necessarily work for you.

/rant

EDIT: There is also no magical bike that is the best at everything.

glynn999

I've lately been riding a kona kilauea with either rigid or 60mm travel forks from the good old days. Its an absolute riot but beats you up. Ride whats fun. I keep my 150mm enduro for big knarly stuff now.

miss notax

Hmmm, interesting!

I rode a Superlight with 100mm travel for years, only upgrading about 6 months ago to my Orange 5 with 140mm. I'm not sure I can ride loads more stuff now that I couldn't ride before, but I definitely ride faster and harder now 8)

This has the disadvantage that when I come off now, it hurts a bl**dy sight more!!

Noclue

Can't believe they didn't put one of the Boardman full sussers in that test, better specced and nearly a grand cheaper than some of them.

poppit

Perhaps they're waiting for the high spec Boardman bikes to come out.

geoffsaddlesore

Gents, I think we'll all agree that it's not about length but what you do with it that counts

I run an On-One 456 with 120mm up front, it suits my riding style. I think that long travel helps you shoot lines you may have avoided on a shorter travel bike and that boosts confidence. Confidence equals speed but perhaps the technical aspect of your riding skill could suffer? Kinda like kicking down the door instead of picking the lock?

But hey, I'm a faceless forum user. Opinions are like bottom holes. Everybody has one.

Dan_xz

FBM.BMX wrote:

I really dislike the term "right" or "correct" when it comes to bikes.

"Most UK trails" is pretty vague too.

Bloody silly "rules" based on opinion.

It's a direct, physical relationship between the bike and the rider, with the rider interpreting the feedback from the the bike and reacting.

Everyone needs the feedback given to them in a different manner, everyone needs the bike to react differently.

Not everyone rides the same place in the same way, some will just monster truck over everything, sticking to relatively straight lines. Some will be turning, pumping and flowing, maybe taking smoother lines. The same place now becomes two different trails.

To work out what works best for YOURSELF, you've got to try it out. Buy it, ride it for atleast a few months, then you'll know if it's the right or wrong decision. Demo days can help somewhat with this too (a good reason to support your local shop).

No magazine writer or person on a forum can tell you what is exactly right for YOU, they can point you in a direction to try, a direction that has worked for them or others, but that direction won't necessarily work for you.
/rant

EDIT: There is also no magical bike that is the best at everything.

Took the words out of my mouth! What is it with mags trying to subdivide biking into groups for every little variable? Just get a bike that works for you and you might find your riding buddy prefers something else. According to the mags your bikes put you in different catergories but really you ride the same stuff together.

What happened to the relaxed culture of the late 90's? Why are we now supposed to align ourselves to some narrow group category? Madness!


Hey, you can't be in gang because you're handlebars are 5mm shorter than mine. :roll:

Northwind

Dan_xz wrote:

What happened to the relaxed culture of the late 90's?

AIDS. Oh no, that was the 80s.

Thing is it does kind of make sense for magazines to categorise, because you're taking the subjective and trying to be objective about it. It's up to the reader to decide what to do with it. And I reckon magazines report on the culture they see not the other way round, though usually they want to put their spin on it. Frinstance, when they talk about "trail bikes" you pretty much know what that means, it's the Five/Heckler/Zesty monoculture doing laps of red routes and that's a real thing.

But when we go out for a ride you can still have Chris on his Mojo, Pete on his 456, Dave on his Anthem X and me on my rigid Carrera, all riding the same trails and having a laugh, even though they're all from different categories. Don't think anyone says otherwise.

Steve_F

That's funny, my main bike was 180 up front, 160 at the back and I got a 120mm all round Boardman FS as I felt my bike was too big for the trail centres (except maybe Inners).

The only negative is I don't feel as confident chucking it around on the jumps as it's much more XC and not as strong as my other bikes. The compromise I've ended up most is my hardtail (meant to have been made up of spare parts lying around but in reality mostly new/eBay parts!) with 140mm of travel which seems in it's comfort zone everywhere.

Actually feel that 120 is too much for likes of Glentress now.

Devastazione

My Lapierre XC is 120mm front and 100 mm in the back,while my Specy is both 140 mm. If one day I have to cut down the bike choice to only one bike I would still go for the 120mm,it's pure trail bike capable of handling rough stuff aswell.

poppit

I suppose the mags are there to help you narrow the choices down, they generally enourage you to demo before buying anyway. The manufacturers tend to segment their bikes or create a new segment e.g. Cannondale with their 'Over Mountain' bikes.

wordnumb

From 2012 any <120mm suspension bike will be officially reclassified a hardtail w/ rigid fork.

Northwind

Steve_F wrote:

Actually feel that 120 is too much for likes of Glentress now.

I thought that too but then when I built the Hemlock it turned out that it was no less fun on the nontechnical stuff, these days bigger travel doesn't mean blunt instrument. Does tend to up the pace a little though.