Talk to me about "All rounders"

*AJ*

Could do with a bit of advice here guys....

I currently own an Orange Patriot which is spec'd very DH specific.



This bike has not been ridden as it should since an uplift in August last year.

Recently a few of my friends have bought Mountain bikes for riding around the woods on and ive been on a few rides with them but ended up taking my Orange Msisle for obvious reasons



Whilst the Msisle is better to ride than the patriot, its basically my daily commuter. Its always dirty and isnt particularly enjoyable to ride at the weekends too (i like to go out on a clean quiet bike).

So this is where i got thinking, I want to swap the Patriot & Boxxers for something i can actually pedal around the woods. But it also needs to be able to take a beating if the lads i ride DH with decide to do an uplift etc.
So i basically want one bike, that gets used more often then having an XC bike and DH bikes.

Ive sold the boxxers already so ive decided to get a 160mm single crown fork to replace it (domain/Marzocchi 55), but what about the frame? what should i be looking at that I can actually pedal around the woods but also throw down a hill, off drops and jumps?

I do like my oranges so i have been looking at the alpine & blood...

BUT ive recently come across a Scott Voltage FR with a FOX DHX5 air shock which looks rather tempting!

Anyone got any experience with the Scott? Could i do 20 miles on it easy enough?

Help please! lol Frame/fork suggestions?

supersonic

There is always some compromise with bikes like this - too heavy for the longer rides, not as tough for the harder stuff. But if you are skilled on the bike you can get them to work very well.

What is your budget? A frame swap will mean many parts may not fit.

*AJ*

This is the Scott frame in question



Albeit the one i am looking at has the DHX air shock

*AJ*

supersonic wrote:

There is always some compromise with bikes like this - too heavy for the longer rides, not as tough for the harder stuff. But if you are skilled on the bike you can get them to work very well.

What is your budget? A frame swap will mean many parts may not fit.

Yeah I realise that i cant have an ideal bike for both jobs, Think of me after a DH bike that i can pedal, rather than an XC bike i can ride down a hill.

Id rather have it slightly beefed up, im 6 foot 2 and 16 stone.

As for the parts, The rear axle is the same, Headtube size is different but opens things up to a whole host of bargain forks.
Seat post is included and BB will be fine with my saint cranks.

BikeSwan

That Scott you have pictured probably isn't the best thing for pedaling round the woods. It's just too heavy and the angles are too slack, I bet it's hovering around the 40 pound mark. To be a practical Cross Country type bike, that you will enjoy doing XC rides on, it will have to be 30ish pounds or less (in my opinion), and a maximum of 160mm of travel front and rear (beyond that, and the angles get too slack). I dont know what your budget is so I cant recommend anything for you without knowing that.

I have a friend who has a 30 pound Santa Cruz Nomad, and he says it's "just" light enough to be ridden on XC trails with any degree of effectiveness. Unless you have a budget of 10 grand then bikes that suit XC riding and DH just dont exist. I could theoretically imagine a Santa Cruz Nomad Carbon with ENVE AM Carbon Wheels, SRAM XX1, and a host of tough but exotic bits, and that would come in around 26 pounds. That would be excellent of XC courses and excellent on DH courses, but everyone other than Bill Gates would have to get a second mortgage to be able to afford it!

Good luck with the search mate!

*AJ*

Budget is around £500 for a second hand frame, and £250 for a fork

The scott can be run in 160mm settings with the air shock which is why it appealed to me, 160mm is my ideal set up. And remember the DHX 5 air is very versatile, by adding more/less air you can tune the ride very finely. Much more so than a coil shock.

Please dont think that I want something that is excellent on the flat/uphill, I just want something that is more able that a full on DH bike!

bennett_346

From my personal experience "all-rounder" bikes actually tend to get quite boring quickly.

They're not fun for long rides, sap the life out of normal technical trails, aren't really up for DH and generally (to me) are less fun to play around on than something like that orange hardtail you have.

I have been gradually moving towards lighter and steeper bikes for a few years now as the novelty of "all mountain" bikes has worn off. They just seem to make normal trails dull whilst not really being any good at either end of the DH or XC spectrum.

To me, you have the perfect twin bike setup there.

*AJ*

bennett_346 wrote:

From my personal experience "all-rounder" bikes actually tend to get quite boring quickly.

They're not fun for long rides, sap the life out of normal technical trails, aren't really up for DH and generally (to me) are less fun to play around on than something like that orange hardtail you have.

I have been gradually moving towards lighter and steeper bikes for a few years now as the novelty of "all mountain" bikes has worn off. They just seem to make normal trails dull whilst not really being any good at either end of the DH or XC spectrum.

To me, you have the perfect twin bike setup there.

Whilst i did agree with you and hence the fact i built them both, the patriot has been gathering dust for months, whilst the Msisle is used daily. Id like to get more used from the Patriot by taming it a little.... Nothing i ride requires the full on DH bike in reality.

I really do fancy the Scott though... imagine it, 160mm travel front and rear, saint groupset, 1 x 9 with 36T chainring It should be able to get up hills shouldnt it?

Plyphon

If you have 750 for a frame and fork, why not buy a Canyon hardtail and have A THIRD BIKE!

Commuter for commuter, XC hardtail for woods, and your DH for DH.

Perfecto!

bennett_346

*AJ* wrote:

I really do fancy the Scott though... imagine it, 160mm travel front and rear, saint groupset, 1 x 9 with 36T chainring It should be able to get up hills shouldnt it?

Yep but it wont be much fun to do so on.

lawman

Fun is very subjective, and "all-round" bikes vary greatly too, some will not climb as well as others and some won't be as capable going down. A second Blur LT would be a great buy, stick some rev's or fox 32's on and its a very efficient bike that will be light enough for all day riding and still be able to bomb the descents better than a shorter, steeper bike.

Just another question for Bennett, what bike did you ride to make your realize you preferred a steeper, shorter bike? Just interested to see as you know I think a quality all-rounder can be fun anywhere! (Except the place I went at the weekend, which was basically a CX course covered in horrible kitty litter shite, not fun!)

bennett_346

A Scott Spark 70. It was a good mixture of short efficient travel and playful geometry, without the wallowing slow feeling of an all mountain bike. It was the acceleration and sharp steering that got me sold, having came from a 150mm full suss it just all of a sudden made longer travel bikes feel lifeless and dull. Yeah it would rattle you about a lot more and on techy stuff you'd be going slower, but who really cares if you're having more fun doing it? Instead of searching out for really hard trails just to enjoy it and have a challenge i'd assume most trails would become fun again.

I totally see the argument for all rounder bikes, i used to have one myself and loved it, but whilst it was a great confidence builder it detracted in other ways.

Last week my rear shock blew up and i got my hardtail out which cost £350 versus £1400. It was the most fun i've had on my local trails in years. They're not tame trails either.

lawman

It's all very personal! The spark is at the slacker end of the xc spectrum and I can see where you're coming from. The weekend was a quite an eye-opener for me, thinking I'd just be able to flick the pro-pedal on the HD to max and be able to keep up with the xc bikes... didn't really work like that though! In fairness it was like a CX track with a few berms and rollers, and less than 400ft of elevation over 3 laps, completely different to my local trails in Wales and super-slack angles suck on that kind of course, I was washing out all the time on the corners and it was just a painful experience! Still a very versatile bike, you can ride it pretty much anywhere and it'll be good fun but it's at its best on a gnarly trail.

compo

My mate swears by his Nukeproof Mega for trail riding and DH