What type of bike for Surrey Hills

bmxboy10

Hi, long term roadie here wanting to try some MTB riding plus fed up of the Mamil look:( Had hard tails before (Trek 6700 and Stumpy HT) and neither saw much off road action tbh but now fancy a FS bike with medium travel. Like the Specialized Epic but they are too pricey for me. Also looked at the Trigger with 120mm travel. Question is do you need a FS for off roading round Reigate and Leith Hill areas and surrounding bridal ways or will a HT do the same job? Currently have a Genesis CDF CX bike in the stable too:) Cheers in advance.

paul.skibum

Get a modern 27.5 hardtail with 120-140mm travel and a 68 or so degree headangle and you can ride anything in the UK.

Get a nice spec one, light, agile and fun.

njee20

Personal, you see literally everything on the Surrey Hills.

For me I like short travel racey bikes, previously various 26" wheeled short travel FS bikes (3 Epics and two Top Fuels most recently), but now riding a light 29er hardtail, and love it, and go faster on it than anything previously. That said, a lot of the trails are getting increasingly chewed up as the 'normal' bikes are shifting towards bigger and longer travel.

Personally as all the trails are generally pedally I'd sooner have something fast and nimble, rather than have to lug a big bike up the climbs to come back down again.

If I weren't racing, given a limitless budget a 100-120mm travel FS 29er would probably be my choice, that said, as budget clearly is an option I'd stick to a hardtail 29er, as it'll be lighter for a given budget.

YMMV.

crossed

I use either a short travel 29er, an Epic, or a rigid singlespeed 29er around Surrey Hills and never really felt under-biked.

Lately I've had the CX bike down there quite a bit and I can happily ride all the same trails that I do on the MTB on the CX bike with no issues whatsoever. I find that running the CX tubeless is definitely a benefit round there though.

ride_whenever

Fatbike

njee20

Friend of mine often takes his fat bike up there, and rides it further and faster than virtually anyone!

ride_whenever

I've ridden a few and they are fun, just don't get anything made by surly (especially the krampus)

I've just sold a mate a bear grease frame and it is super silly fun.

njee20

Mmm, George's is a Bear Grease, the frame actually weighs less than my Superfly!

I see Fairwheel Bikes have built a 20lb fat bike too, can't argue with that!

stubs

CX bike with tubeless tyres will get you round 95% of the trails or a nice 100mm HT will get you round the other 5% I would say anything else is overkill. I dragged my FS bike down when I went to see my cousin in Southampton having read in magazines and forums about the awesome Surrey Hills, armed with routes off Strava I went to find all the famous bits. Jeez I could see why there is is a convoy of cars with bike racks on heading North and West every weekend.

cooldad

stubs wrote:

CX bike with tubeless tyres will get you round 95% of the trails or a nice 100mm HT will get you round the other 5% I would say anything else is overkill. I dragged my FS bike down when I went to see my cousin in Southampton having read in magazines and forums about the awesome Surrey Hills, armed with routes off Strava I went to find all the famous bits. Jeez I could see why there is is a convoy of cars with bike racks on heading North and West every weekend.

Presumably missed all the best stuff.

curto80

ride_whenever wrote:

I've ridden a few and they are fun, just don't get anything made by surly (especially the krampus)

I've just sold a mate a bear grease frame and it is super silly fun.

Why the Surly hate then? I love my Crosscheck

milko9000

I ride there on a 150mm hardtail or a 160mm FS, never really feel overbiked as I just ride it more 'fun' for want of a proper word if I'm on the big bike. I'm sure I'd have a great time on a CX bike too although I expect I'd have to mince around a few things I normally plough over - I think both ways can be fun.
You can ride anything you like around there, as has been said you see all sorts. So, get whatever you like the look of probably! Or get a few test rides in to see what you enjoy.

stubs

cooldad wrote:

Presumably missed all the best stuff.

No idea we just used the Strava routes from the London calling forum I think it was. We did a route called Barry something and we were expecting something awesome and to be honest it was fun in a quickish sort of way but about as technical as a trail centre Blue. We met some lads at Peaslake village who took us round the "good" bits but it didnt do much for us. Probably because we had read so much about the Rad skilz Oresume mad trailz in the mags that it wouldnt live up to the hype unless it was Fort William.

cooldad

stubs wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Presumably missed all the best stuff.

No idea we just used the Strava routes from the London calling forum I think it was. We did a route called Barry something and we were expecting something awesome and to be honest it was fun in a quickish sort of way but about as technical as a trail centre Blue. We met some lads at Peaslake village who took us round the "good" bits but it didnt do much for us. Probably because we had read so much about the Rad skilz Oresume mad trailz in the mags that it wouldnt live up to the hype unless it was Fort William.

Presumably missed the best bits. Barry's isn't one of them, but there is stuff ranging from Singletrack to seriously scary. It's a big area and you need to be able to tie things together.
It's not Wales or Scotland, but it's not a bad place to live.

stubs

cooldad wrote:

stubs wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Presumably missed all the best stuff.

No idea we just used the Strava routes from the London calling forum I think it was. We did a route called Barry something and we were expecting something awesome and to be honest it was fun in a quickish sort of way but about as technical as a trail centre Blue. We met some lads at Peaslake village who took us round the "good" bits but it didnt do much for us. Probably because we had read so much about the Rad skilz Oresume mad trailz in the mags that it wouldnt live up to the hype unless it was Fort William.

Presumably missed the best bits. Barry's isn't one of them, but there is stuff ranging from Singletrack to seriously scary. It's a big area and you need to be able to tie things together.
It's not Wales or Scotland, but it's not a bad place to live.

I agree you only ever get to know an area if you live close by and explore. Just following a few KOMs off Strava doesnt get you to the good bits. The area does get hyped up as some sort of MTB mecca by the mags and forums that is why we were so disappointed when it turned out to be a smallish pleasant area with some short fun trails. A bit like dozens of areas around Britain that never get the publicity.

cooldad

Not that small really. I could take you on a full day ride and not do half of the regular trails.
As for the more hidden stuff...

njee20

It's not some massively technical place at all, anyone who says it is is a moron, but you can do 100 miles with less than 5% on road, and many thousand feet of climbing if you're so inclined. Not sure that small is a word I'd use to describe it.

But yes, most stuff is trail centre blue/red sort of trails - fast and pedally. Hence I'd have a short travel XC race bike. There is some far more technical stuff too, and I can see why you'd have a bigger bike if that was your bag.