How did you find going to longer travel?

jehosophat

I am looking to buy a new bike (well, frame and fork) some time this year. I don't change them often, and want to get it right! I'd like to hear from people - ideally people with reasonably similar tastes who have gone from short travel to medium travel full suss - say from 100mm to 125-140mm.

In terms of "similar tastes", I am ideally looking for people who are sold on the benefits of full suss, consider themselves "trail/xc" sorts of riders who are fairly fit and care about bike (and body!) weight, fitness, climbing speed, and so on but don't actively race or spend their whole lives riding, and who ideally are among the most unhinged of their riding group when it comes to downhill/cornering speed. Views from anyone appreciated though

I am torn between the sort of bike that suits most of my riding - which would be a short travel full susser as there is nothing too crazy down here at one end of the South Downs - and something in the 120-140mm bracket. A factor is that this bike will sit alongside a hardtail used as a road/mud bike, and a pre-facelift Superlight with 100mm at both ends that has a dent in the frame and thus is not worth selling - so it does not have to do everything, but equally I don't really see the point of my main bike being one that feels too long travel for most of my riding and only works for the odd trip to CYB or riding holidays abroad. It is replacing a Blur Classic (115mm VPP) with 130mm DT forks that already feel borderline to me in terms of travel.

Considering: Pivot Mach 4/Giant Anthem/SC Blur XC Carbon with 120mm forks as the most suitable for my riding, Yeti ASR5/SC Blur Trc as a step up for trail centres but with 120mm forks hopefully not too much for long climbs, or Blur LT Carbon/Ibis Mojo SLR probably with Talas forks as a longer travel option still usefully lighter than the 26-27pounds of my current two full sussers. The Yeti ASR5 alloy is currently top of the list - unlike the SC bikes the alloy version is not much heavier, I don't really want to spend £2500 on a frame alone as it seems poor value compared to the same bikes in the US. I am not considering 29'ers, at 5"9 and 70kg and someone who likes to hustle a bike not steamroll everything, and who wants a lighter bike than what I have already, I don't really see them as right for me.

Any bikes I have missed (looking at bikes more commonly bought as frames not whole bikes)? People that have loved/regretted going longer travel?

benpinnick

intense Carbine SL - Its what I am going for with either Talas 120/150 or RS World Cup Revs in 2p. The latter fork being lighter and more tuneable, but more money. Im going to buy it in from the US most likely to save some dosh. I already have a quote from Wrenchsceince that will get me the whole shooting match including BB, front Mech and headset for under 3k. which is pretty sweet when you consider the RRP on the SL will be around £2500 here.

benpinnick

Oh and in answer to the question! I went from 120 to 140 and love the extra travel, and really cannot tell the difference in pedalling. I definitely fit your rider profile - Ive gone for the Carbine SL as it will allow me to have the option of 120 or 135mm of travel with 120/150 forks - 120/120 for XC, and 135/150 for trails, while building a complete bike with a reasonable but not mickey take component spec that weighs sub 25lbs. Meaning I finally will have one do it all bike.

oodboo

I went from 100mm travel full sus, that was nicked got a 10mm travel hardtail, that was rough and I missed the rear sus. Then I went straight up to 160mm enduro. It was a big shock at first, the riding position is very different and slacker head angle took some getting used to. Now I love it but keep thinking 120-140mm would have been enough for the riding I do and I keep looking at the Trek Fuel EX but I've told the wife that my next bike will be the intense carbide sl but by the time I've got the money together I'll probably want something else.

Mental Mickey

the benefits of full suss

Brilliant for masking lack of ability.

YeehaaMcgee

travel alone doesn't dictate how a bike feels. There's far more to it than that. Go and test ride a few bikes, visit some demo days or whatever.
Far too many people get hung up on the amount of travel.

miss notax

I went from a 100mm travel Santa Cruz Superlight to a 140mm travel Orange 5 and I love the extra travel. The 5 weighs about as much as the SC did and it climbs equally as well - I just notice the extra trael on the descents. I also enjoy jumping on the 5 which I probably would not have tried on the Santa Cruz.

I also consider myself to be an xc / trail rider - I enjoy the odd DH trail as much as I enjoy the odd xc race, and for me I feel a bike with more travel allows me to flit between the two.

(Well - it did until I got greedy and got an even bigger travel freeride bike, and am now building up a lightweight xc race bike. You can never have too many bikes though, eh?! )

lostboysaint

I went from the 100mm travel Yeti ASR-SL to the 130mm Transition Bandit. The difference was more than just travel so I won't bother going into the pros and cons but I would suggest you look at the Bandit as the favourite to get my cash before I rode the Bandit was the ASR5.

The Bandit loses very little to the Yeti uphill/general riding but is very much more fun when you go downwards. It doesn't blow right through it's travel quite as willingly when you push it really hard and is much more supple in it's mid-stroke.

Mccraque

I went from an '03 Spesh Epic to a '10 Lapierre Zesty 514. Mainly for use around the south downs...with the occasional trail centre foray.

Trail bikes are so efficient these days that there was very little downside - even on the ups. and you really notice the benefits on the down hills, obviously.

The one downside - the 140 is slack and is a bit of a barge in really really right sigle track (compounded by me having a large frame). It copes...but just isnt quite as nippy.

Am very glad I made the transition.

Anonymous

Slacker, but that was what I wanted as steep stuff just was giving me the OTB feeling (if not experience at times).

The big suspension (in my case jumped from 130 to 170) - really the only difference has been in the quality in a more expensive fork. That's just the suspension. The entirely different rig the fork is on is another matter.

The thing with long travel is there's loads of opinion that it's too much, a waste, and a harm unless you do huge rocky alpine descents or DH. Reality is they are just the same as short travel, just that they provide more flexibility to adjust to suit the terrain, and doesn't mean they won't work on less gnarly terrain. On top of that you should be able to use most of the travel whatever the terrain. Just dial in the settings, adjust the air (if air fork). Want to stiffen it up or make it plush, a good fork will let you do that and better will have adaptive compression.

"They're difficult to climb" - not so. Not with modern slack big travel AM bikes. They're not stupidly slack and heavy like a DH rig, they're fine enough for climbing. The only negative is the front can wander a bit when climbing and that's dead easy to adjust for. AM bikes are AM bikes remember, they go anywhere, both up and down. I've found no difference myself between the 130 rig and the 170 when climbing.

miss notax

Mccraque wrote:

The one downside - the 140 is slack and is a bit of a barge in really really right sigle track (compounded by me having a large frame). It copes...but just isnt quite as nippy

That's interesting, I genuinely did not notice that myself. I do ride a 14" frame though

styxd

I loved it!

For a rider like me with a very limited amount skill, who likes to sit down and ride through trail obstacles then they're ideal. I barely feel anything when riding at my favourite trail centre - I just hold on and get to the bottom in one piece (somehow!)

The extra travel doesnt really make much difference to climbing, I'm overweight anyway so Im never in a rush to get to the top. Heck, we only ride uphill so we can blast down the other side, eh!

For a rider with more talent than me, I can imagine they'd feel boring on all of the uks trail centres, due to the slack angles, long wheelbase and huge amounts of sag that you're sitting in. But im happy so I dont care!

jehosophat

Thanks for the replies so far. Some stuff I had not though of there, though I am ideally looking for a sub £2k frame that also weighs not a lot more than 5lbs and that narrows it down a lot!

I'm going to be doing this ASAP as well, I just went to service the Blur (which is a bare frame at the moment) and simply can't be bothered to build it up from scratch then strip it down and build up yet another bike later in the year - the Superlight and hardtail have both had full builds already this year.

People may get het up about travel and others may say it makes no difference but in my experience it certainly does at the front end, I'm not sure I want to go more than 120mm for forks...

Pivot Mach 4 and Yeti ASR5 alloy are ahead at the moment. I have never ridden a DW link bike, but they sound ideal for my tastes - VPP is sometimes a little too plush and mobile uphill, single pivot as on the Superlight has a tendency to blast through all it's travel too easily and yet not feel plush enough when seated downhill. If the Pivot really does ride as if it has more than 100mm then that may well suit...

Test riding is tricky - I can only test around here, realistically (with time pressures etc) and on an unfamilar bike it will be a bit like taking a car for a short urban test driver before buying it, and then thinking you know how it drives - reviews and opinions count for a lot too.

delcol

i went from 100mm hardtail to a 140mm hardtail then a 160mm hardtail IMO the longer slacker frame gave me more confidence to ride stuff faster and harder trails.
i also had a 140mm f/s and went to a 160mm f/s and got a 180mm f/s the full bikes were mainly used as my whistler bikes i found the 140mm was not enough travel for the trails i were riding so hence the upgrade. and the 180mm was purely for bikepark duties, from my experience over here (uk) riding trail/xc 140mm is about perfect
anything over 160mm is over biked.

you know the trails you ride and your ability, if it is possible try a few bikes out to see what suits you..

miss notax

delcol wrote:

from my experience over here (uk) riding trail/xc 140mm is about perfect
anything over 160mm is over biked.

I would agree with this

benpinnick

Jehosophat, you should make your way to the surrey hills or Swinley to hook up with some others (such as myself and DK) would give you a chance to ride some different bikes (Im sure we're all nice enough to let you have a blast). Its a shame that you don't want another VPP as you can have an Intense Carbine from CRC for under 2k right now.

IBISMojoHDamon

Mccraque wrote:

The one downside - the 140 is slack and is a bit of a barge in really really right single track (compounded by me having a large frame). It copes...but just isnt quite as nippy.

Not certain I agree with this....

My mate (My Old Intense 6.6) and me (Ibis Mojo HD) wipe the floor with some of the guys we ride with and they are on Santa Cruz blurs, LT's, Giant Trance, Gary Fisher Hi Fi's.... I think the other factors such as tire pressure, fitness, ability, riding style etc has a huge impact in the suggested situations...

Both the Intense and the Ibis are Large or XL frames, both have over 160mm of travel but the two of us are considerarbly faster through tight single track than those on other bikes and we aren't super fit.... just good... ;0)

YeehaaMcgee

jehosophat wrote:

I have never ridden a DW link bike, but they sound ideal for my tastes - VPP is sometimes a little too plush and mobile uphill, single pivot as on the Superlight has a tendency to blast through all it's travel too easily and yet not feel plush enough when seated downhill.

Whoa there!! Don't be so fast to categorise a bike's performance purely by it's design, and be careful about throwing buzzwords around. (almost) all multi-pivot bikes are VPP, and even on a single-pivot the location of the pivot, and the linkage actuating the shock has a huge bearing on performance.
More pressingly, some bikes will have more or less anti-squat designed into the suspension, lending themselves to be better for particular rider power/weight, and less ideal for others.

reviews and opinions count for a lot too.

Reviews, possibly, depends on who it is. Opinions? No. Opinions are like a****oles, everyone's got one, and they're always full of s**t.
By and large, people will try and persuade you to buy what they have, like a semi-unconscious desire to increase the numbers of their "gang".
It's a minefield, and bikes are expensive. If you'rre struggling to find the time to test bikes, then ask yourself what's the rush? The world's not going to stop making or selling bikes any time soon. Take your time, and find something that's right, rather than following conventions or trends.

Anonymous

On pivot designs - http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/b ... t-2-28438/

To quote - "So, which is the best?
None of them! Quite simply there's no one design that's better than another in all departments. And we have to remember the second part of the equation – the rider. Personal preference really is the key when it comes down to what works best for you."

Personally I look at bikes like cars. Just go with what takes your fancy at the time and is good value for money. Run with it until you want to try something different and get something else. I'm not looking for a life commitment from them.

YeehaaMcgee

You must have much larger reserves of spare cash than me. Personally, buying a mountain bike is a pretty hefty financial dent, and not something I can really afford to do on a regular basis - so I try to make sure I buy the thing that's right for me.

jehosophat

YeehaaMcGee - On the VPP and single pivot I was talking about how I personally find my VPP and my single pivot bikes (I have even swapped the same shock across to be sure) not just throwing buzzwords about. Agreed you need to ride them but DW link sounds ideal - the recent WMB Pivot 5.7 vs Intense test was a case in point.

I'm with deadkenny to an extent - in bikes and cars I read reviews, and try a few, but I usually know what is appealing to me early on and get that! I didn't buy a new Alfa 156GTA because the mags said so - according to them I was certifiable. But I loved it. Similar with bikes sometimes! The Yeti seems to fit the bill the most but for some reason it leaves me somewhat cold.

I bet I'd love all of the above but I suspect the biggest differences will be if I go for a 120/100mm setup or something like a 140mm suspension with Talas fork.

Anonymous

I find it a bit odd really that people are happy to spend £10k+ on cars every few years, but a £1k or £2k bike is seen as big a deal as buying a house. Yeah it's a lot, but it's a fraction of a car is the way I see it. I'd just buy a car less frequently and more bikes

Not that I'm looking for a new bike each year! Though if I did it would be to add to the collection . I just need the space to store them though, that means buying a new house really!

So far, 3 years between bikes for me plus a bonus bike this year but cheap as it's made out of spare bits.

YeehaaMcgee

deadkenny wrote:

I find it a bit odd really that people are happy to spend £10k+ on cars every few years, but a £1k or £2k bike is seen as big a deal as buying a house. Yeah it's a lot, but it's a fraction of a car is the way I see it. I'd just buy a car less frequently and more bikes

I wish I could afford a £10K car :shock:
Most I've ever spent on a car was a shade under £5K, and I expect to be driving it for a very long time indeed. It's the only car I've ever owned that's cost more than any of my bikes.

Thewaylander

Did the 10k on the car thing, love my car but it's not worth it really looking back, there is no where to enjoy driving anymore and if you do it will cost you lol.

Better to just spend the cash on your bike.

jehosophat

Have just found Trek EX9.9 carbon2012 frames for well sub 2 k which seems good...

lawman

i went from 100mm xc hardtail in the beginning, the moved to a 140mm hardtail, then a 150mm fs, the difference between them all is night and day, i feel so much more confident on the fs bike it unreal, i rode the same trails back to back, pretty much anyway, and the fs was miles quicker, more comfortable, more fun and gave me a much bigger margin for error, which often gets me into trouble!! light, 150mm fs bikes are perfect everywhere in the uk, i have yet to find any trails i ride regularly that my all my mates 100mm fs and xc hardtails are any better suited.

wobbem

Talas or similar, by changing the bikes geometry via travel, head angle, bb height etc is also changing, you are getting 2 bikes into one. I went from a 120 reba to a 110 to a 140 fox and all is really good

jairaj

jehosophat wrote:

Have just found Trek EX9.9 carbon2012 frames for well sub 2 k which seems good...

got a link?

jehosophat

Do a Google shopping search - plenty come up for £2k and some show £1800 through when you click through they revert to £2k so my "sub £2k" optimism is misplaced.

HOWEVER - I am currently calling around them and they are all saying "opps - two grand - the price is three" so I'm guessing they have all cocked up, which is very annoying as I really like the idea of this :evil:

Even Evans have it online for two but I'm guessing I'll get the same response if I actually try to order...

King_Pin_Rich

How about a Canyon? If you don't mind not being able to test ride they present excellent value for money.

I made the big jump a few months ago from a ridged jump/play bike to a fs Canyon AM (150mm).

The fs gives me much more confidence when the going gets rough which is great fun. I was worried it might be a buger on the road but If I lock it out and stick the seat up I feel quite happy sitting in the seat and putting a few miles in, that's what the AM tagline is for right! The nobby nic tyres do add to the effort though :S

The biggest thing I miss compared to my old bike is its precise feedback and manoeuvrability. Coming from a hip-hoppity trials background I find the fs a bit cumbersome at times, I find I need to really exaggerate moves comapred to my ridgid otherwise they dissapear into the travel of my fs.

jehosophat

I have nothing against Canyon and if I was looking for a whole bike then the Nerve with XTR would be at or near the top of the list. However I don't want 10 speed as I like Rapid Rise (and have other bikes on Rapid Rise so switching is not easy) and have a complete new XTRM970 groupset, a new set of wheels, brakes and fork ready for this frame!