Which adjustable travel full suss bike?

jairaj

I'm looking to get a new full suss bike. The problem is most of local riding is woodland single track stuff where a 120mm full suss bike is perfect. But I also head off to the Peaks / Lakes etc a few times where a 140mm travel bike would be perfect. While I could get a super light 140mm bike that pedals almost as well as a 120mm bike I just think its too much suspension for my local riding which may become a bit boring if there is very little user input required.

So I'm looking to get a travel adjustable bike any suggestions welcome. So far I have the Scott Genius, Cannondale Jekyll and Biconicon bikes any others I should look at?

Theses bikes can be adjusted on the fly but this feature is not needed for me, I'll either be doing smooth quick single track riding or rough technical riding never both in one day. As long as I can set-up the bike for one or the other at the start of the day it'll be fine.

Also a tough 120mm bike that would take a 140mm fork would be ideal too. I currently have a RS Rev u-turn 120mm to 150mm but the few manufactures I've spoke to (Whyte t-120 and Trek Fuel EX) will only warranty the frame with the same length fork.

Anonymous

"Too big" a suspension for the trail is far less of a deal than people think. It also depends on the geometry of the bike, especially head angle.

I ride a 170mm on regular singletrack. Doesn't even have lockout. No problems. It's an all mountain bike with a DH leaning, more at home on the serious stuff but it's loving a bit of XC also. The only issue I have really is pottering around the local tow path and it would stick out a mile and look silly, so better to have a simple hard tail.

I was riding a 130mm before on the same hills, and I've not really noticed the difference between them in suspension terms when it comes to blasting smooth singletrack or the climbs. Hitting hard technical stuff, roots, rocks, drops and jumps, and then I notice (and smile).

As for boring if the suspension reduces user input, all it does really is lets you go faster and hit things bigger. It's surprising what you can make of the tamer trails on a bigger bike too. Anyway, adjustable forks through u-turns, lock outs, stiffness adjustments (e.g. Mission Control), and just simply changing the air pressure, means you can set it for the day's ride based on the terrain.

I'd say 140 is hardly much different from 120 anyway. You'd notice it on something big, but otherwise they'd ride much the same probably without adjustment.

tsenior

deadkenny wrote:

"Too little" a suspension for the trail is far less of a deal than people think.

fixed that for ya

marin used to so some with adjustable rear travel; i have a 2005 attack trail which goes from 90-130 or thereabouts...dont know whether the sustem is still around

jairaj

Yes its not really the suspension travel I'm after more the strength that usually come built into frames designed with the larger travel.

For example a Whyte T-120 or Trek Fuel EX look pretty much perfect for my normal local riding. But every now and then I go to a (easyish) DH course or Freeride skills section and generally push more loads through the bike which I'm not sure either bike would be happy about if I did this on a regular occurrence. I would also consider my self as intermediate so while the drops and jumps I do are fairly average in size, I'm not the smoothest either and some landings are heavier than others.

What I really need is a Whyte 146 or Trek Remedy(? I think thats the bigger bother) but with less travel.

1mancity2

deadkenny wrote:

I'd say 140 is hardly much different from 120 anyway. You'd notice it on something big, but otherwise they'd ride much the same probably without adjustment.

Ditto, I ride 160mm everywere and tbh its not much different to my old 140mm only when your going down or hitting jumps.

.blitz

jairaj wrote:

For example a Whyte T-120 or Trek Fuel EX look pretty much perfect for my normal local riding. But every now and then I go to a (easyish) DH course or Freeride skills section

Have been down this route meself and everything that makes a good DH/FR bike makes it worse for trail riding.

Of course it's possible to ride a FR/DH bike on the trails or throw a trail bike down the hill but in a nutshell you need one or the other or preferably both. Travel is not the significant factor by a very long margin.

styxd

Id go for a 120mm bike if thats what you need for the majority of your riding. I only really ride in the lakes and I get on fine with a hardtail, so a 120mm full sus will be ideal.

Have a look at the new Ragley and Genesis full sus frames that are coming out, they sound like they might be ideal.

jairaj

.blitz wrote:

Have been down this route meself and everything that makes a good DH/FR bike makes it worse for trail riding.

Of course it's possible to ride a FR/DH bike on the trails or throw a trail bike down the hill but in a nutshell you need one or the other or preferably both. Travel is not the significant factor by a very long margin.

I understand that a trail bike will not be as good as a DH/FR bike and am happy and travel is not everything. hence me saying a Whtye 146 with less travel would be what I'm after. I'd be happy to use a Whyte t-120 or TreK fuel EX to do some jumps and mess around on, I just think I would end up breaking something if I do that stuff on a regular basis.

lostboysaint

That post has got Lapierre Zesty or Transition Bandit written all over it. Zesty is 140 both ends and very good in every direction, the Bandit is 130 rear 140 front and is the same. Both designed for hard XC/Enduro. Perfect.

benpinnick

My Blur is 145rr 150fr. Not a problem on the singletrack and happy when I point it downhill too. I think that most modern 140mm bikes will be fine for most DH stuff in the UK - I used to ride bikes that would look puny by comparison when I was racing DH.

If you want to change the feel of the bike, then something like an RP23 shock with a Talas fork is a good option. Of the bikes you list, Scott would be top of my choices if I wanted a genuine travel adjustment.

jairaj

sounds like I'm worrying a bit too much about my riding becoming boring? Might try and demo some 140mm full suss bikes and compare.

That Transition Bandit looks nice though. So does the Genesis Full sus but there is very little info on it.

supersonic

How about GT distortion? Is a short travel bike, but is built to be tough:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gt/ ... e-ec030578

Happy enough on the xc and trails, yet will not break when you jump or do some minor FR and DH.

calvjones

www.bionicon.com
Next question.

benpinnick

calvjones wrote:

http://www.bionicon.com
Next question.

Why would anyone want a Bionicon?

Next question.

jairaj

I thought the bionicons were pretty good. The few reviews I've read have been pretty good the only down side is they can be a bit heavy?

Pudseyp

The Jekyl is well worth a look...

jairaj

Just discovered the Liteville 301:
http://www.evolutionimports.co.uk/shop/products/liteville/liteville-301-1002450.html

Hmmm very yummy but also very expensive! £1800 frame only. Maybe they'll have a xmas sale?

Are there many bikes like this where you can change the linkage to get different amounts of travel?

Pudseyp

Bar the three you have mentioned I don't think you have much choice...there are a few with adjustable geometry such as the Litevile but this only changes it be a fraction by moving the shock mount, bigger travel requires a different shock so you cannot change it on the fly as you can with the Jekyl or Bionicon...I think the Intense Tracer is also adjustable but again by only half an inch..

Though as many have said why would you need to ? there are plenty of mid travel bikes out there that climb as well as some short travel bikes....just demo a Trek Remedy and you will see !

jairaj

The Liteville is very adaptable can have 120mm, 140mm or 160 mm of travel. If I understand it correctly you just need to change the linkage not the shock.

The reason I don't want to get a fixed mid travel bike is that I think the local riding really does not warrant it at all. I also live in a flat and cannot have many bikes so would prefer to have something that I can adapt. Although I will try and demo some mid travel bikes to see what they feel like for real, rather than guessing.

My hard tail with U-turn forks is ideal for me I can have it set at 120mm for the local riding quickening up the steering and I can increase it to 140mm for when I go to the Peak or Lake district and even extend it to 150mm for when I'm riding some downhill courses.

I just want to take the next step and try to get a similar package but with suspension at the front and back. I understand what I'm asking for is very niche and there may not be much choice but thought that by asking the wider audience on here I can increase the probability of having a look at all of the options available not just a few.

bails87

My local riding is boring as fekk, but going from a 100mm toa 150mm HT hasn't made it any more boring.

Honestly, try something like a Remedy, Zesty,or even a Stumpjumper. I don't think you'll be riding around wishing you had less travel!

cat_with_no_tail

benpinnick wrote:

calvjones wrote:

http://www.bionicon.com
Next question.

Why would anyone want a Bionicon?

Next question.

Why wouldn't they? Have you ever ridden one?

If you're after adjustable travel it blows away all of the other systems out there, including the "genius" system used by Scott.

Yes I'm biased.

Subsy

Love my edison, built it up from the frameset.



Keep thinking about selling it as I'm spending a lot more time on the road these days, but not quite brought myself to do it..

andyrm

I'd strongly recommend test riding a Bionicon for sure - but make it a decent length demo (at least a weekend) so you can get your head round making best use of the variable travel & geometry.

Where are you based? I can point you in the direction of an excellent Bionicon dealer and the UK Sales & Marketing manager lives here in Bristol so demos are easy to arrange....

DodgeT

/\ if your trying a bio do as above, my mate had one for about a month on demo, think he liked it, he's buying a new bike but it isn't a bio so don't know what that tells you...
I had a couple of goes on it while he had it, i was glad to give it back.

I run a 160 front and rear enduro and love it, even on the flat boring stuff. I think your worrying too much :P
I personally think a dropper seatpost is much more useable / beneficial than adjustable suspension.

bluechair84

As seems to be the concensus - amount of travel won't change the bike that much unless it's the bionicon which adjusts geometry simultaneously, the characteristic of the bike is down to the geometry. You can build most trail bikes up respectably light. I'd suggest you look to the old Cannondale Prophet - it's a tough as enamel frame but very light with it's single pivot design. If you want to spend time on descents and jumps, you can drop the angles to make it a pretty slack bike. The characteristics between the two settings are quite vast and it truly makes it a two-persona rig.
One problem with it, in slack setting the BB height was pretty low and I used to catch the pedals quite regularly so it wasn't great over really rocky and techy descents. And it's discontinued so you'd have to buy it second hand.

rockmonkeysc

I used to ride a 180mm travel FR bike for downhill & a 120mm travel xc bike for cross country. Now I ride a 170mm travel coil sprung AM/FR bike for everything & have more fun everywhere. I can have more fun on XC rides by going bigger off jumps & taking lines I wouldn't normally do on an xc bike & I can ride singletrack descents much faster because I can push the bike harder. It does weigh 32lb & I feel it on the climbs but it's not too bad.

supersonic

Is that the bike that keeps falling to bits and you want to sell incase the frame fails? ;-)

As for adjustable travel, there is a good valid argument against: predictability. If you run the same geo the majority of the time, you get used to how it reacts in certain situations. In fact many pro DHers do the same, and use pretty much the same damping settings on all the courses.

For some riders, the ability to keep changing it can actually make them ride with less confidence.

As usual, testing and experimenting is the way forward.

jairaj

Thanks all for your wise words seems as this was trickier than I imaged it would be. I have now formed a new strategy to finding my next bike:

I'm going to try to demo anything and everything I can well within reason anyway.

I'm going to widen my search criteria and try and demo a few different bikes to see how "boring" they make my local trails seems like my preconceptions may be unfounded. Here comes a winter of demos ...