What style of bike XC or Trail?
infinitydreams
Posts: 56
I use to be into mountain biking about 20 years ago and have only recently got back on a borrowed bike.
Some of my friends bike at Swinley Forest and all have FS bikes including a Canyon Spectral Carbon 27.5 and another with a YT Jeffsy 29. I borrowed an older FS 26 and had a brilliant but knackering 4 hours.
I’m now keen to get myself a bike but want a little advice. I’ve also enjoyed riding hardtails and ideally as light as possible so FS bikes weighing 13-14kg seem heavy and the 29” wheels seem huge to me but guess you get use to them.
I was looking at the Canyon Spectral CF 8.0 but then I started looking at hardtails and now I’m confused.
My sort of riding will be a combination of Swinley Forest, tow path with the family, maybe and it’s a big maybe bike park Wales sort of thing once a year.
Based on this would a lightweight XC like a Scott Scale or Cannondale F-SI be ok? Or should I really go FS and deal with the weight gains?
I did look at Bird Bikes and their latest hardtail but the weight puts me off.
What other bikes for £2 to £3.5k should I be looking at?
Some of my friends bike at Swinley Forest and all have FS bikes including a Canyon Spectral Carbon 27.5 and another with a YT Jeffsy 29. I borrowed an older FS 26 and had a brilliant but knackering 4 hours.
I’m now keen to get myself a bike but want a little advice. I’ve also enjoyed riding hardtails and ideally as light as possible so FS bikes weighing 13-14kg seem heavy and the 29” wheels seem huge to me but guess you get use to them.
I was looking at the Canyon Spectral CF 8.0 but then I started looking at hardtails and now I’m confused.
My sort of riding will be a combination of Swinley Forest, tow path with the family, maybe and it’s a big maybe bike park Wales sort of thing once a year.
Based on this would a lightweight XC like a Scott Scale or Cannondale F-SI be ok? Or should I really go FS and deal with the weight gains?
I did look at Bird Bikes and their latest hardtail but the weight puts me off.
What other bikes for £2 to £3.5k should I be looking at?
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My Aeris 120 is about 14.5kg, and it doesn't bother me one bit while riding.
Bird Aeris 120 | Boardman Team 650b | Boardman Pro FS | Calibre Two.two
I have a mk1 Bird Zero and it is a great bike and by no means heavy.
I also have a Giant Trance and that is a brilliant bike for trail centres but not too big or cumbersome for more XC-oriented riding. However, if you are only likely to visit somewhere like BPW once a year the Anthem is probably better suited to your needs. The 2018 Anthems are 130mm front and 110mm rear travel.
And it all promised so so much”
Giant Trance 2 27.5 2016 ¦ Sonder Broken Road 2021¦ Giant Revolt Advanced 2 2019 ¦ Giant Toughtroad SLR 1 2019 ¦ Giant Anthem 3 2015 ¦ Specialized Myka Comp FSR 2009
Don't forget that your mtb ambitions are sure to grow. There are two ways to deal with that, buy cheaply now and save the money for when you really know what you want. Or, go big now, taking your lead from the mates you will be riding with.
For the latter, the Jeffsy appeals to me. I have ridden a few of these and I am astonished at what a great bike they are for the money. You have a choice between the 29er at 140mm travel, or the 27.5 with 150mm. With your money, the bike will be light enough to fit your brief.
I have ridden bikes from no travel up to 165 and for me the "one size fits all" category for general trail riding is a lightweight 130-140 travel FS. A lot depends upon the fit, so do a test ride. If you can't do a test ride, then compare the geometry with a bike that you can test ride.
As Steve says if you find a bike you like have a look at similar bikes by spec and geometry. For geometry, reach and stack provide a good rough comparison but be careful of stems as they affect things as well.
I believe that the 27.5 wheeled Jeffsy is lighter than the 29er version, despite the extra 10mm on the suspension travel.
Yet every manufacturer now has one in their line up, have been the standard wheel size for XC for years now and ar winning races in DH?
Ridiculous!!
On the xc front, I'm considering a Giant Anthem Pro or Santa Cruz Blur... Middle ground Santa Cruz Tall Boy, and Trail of Giant Trance or Santa Cruz Hightower...
My leaning is towards the Blur, anthem and tallboy as Recreational XC / trail is more my thing than trail / DH albeit I would do some easy (green / red DH) in the Alps, but I'm more of a technical rider from a road background than from a BMX past.
I don't like air as crashing hurts and I'm too old (45) and have to go to work in the morning!
I didn’t think researching and purchasing a new bike would be such a challenge, I do enjoy the quest though!
A friend just showed me Evil FS bikes, bloody gorgeous and I thought “oh bargain” at €3199 then I realised that’s frame only and full builds start at €5699
Really thinking I should be going light HT with good spec as I’ll do way more XC than bike parks.
Giant have a demo fleet. If there is a Giant dealer near you ask them to get an Anthem in for you to trial. They usually give you 48 hours for a test ride.
And it all promised so so much”
Giant Trance 2 27.5 2016 ¦ Sonder Broken Road 2021¦ Giant Revolt Advanced 2 2019 ¦ Giant Toughtroad SLR 1 2019 ¦ Giant Anthem 3 2015 ¦ Specialized Myka Comp FSR 2009
Not really, there’s loads of great bikes out there - doesn’t really matter which one you get you’ll end up with an awesome bike
Also agree with above - full suspension is much more comfortable and your body will thank you for it!
NukeProof Mega FR 2012
Cube NuRoad 2018
Previous:
2015 Genesis CdF 10, 2014 Cube Hyde Race, 2012 NS Traffic, 2007 Specialized SX Trail, 2005 Specialized Demo 8
I’ve found the opposite, very good service. What people fail to grasp is that if there is an issue then you are dealing with a company in another country and can’t just ring them up or drop your bike into a shop. I couldn’t justify spending the extra £1k on a similar specced Whyte/Bird etc.
Other thing to bear in mind is that any issues with the components just send them back to the UK retailer, I had an issue with my Fox rear shock and rear wheel, both went back to the UK retailer and were back repaired/replaced within 3 days - they even rebuilt my rear wheel for free after I broke a spoke after 12 months!
That is my experience too, 100% !
At Swinley, whilst there is nothing that needs full suss, I imagine some of e oedally parts could get a bit annoying on a hardtail. I have both and ride the hardtail more to keep my eye in on cornering (I can get a little lazy on the fs sometimes) but the fs everywhere else.
I find I can ride further on the fs without feeling so battered and my lower back can tighten up (previous disc injury) much quicker on the hardtail.
Pros of the hardtail are it gets up to speed quicker / accelerates better and on long draggy climbs it’s faster. Everywhere else the fs is quicker - and it’s an Enduro bike with 170mm/160mm travel and slack geometry - plus weighs around 32lbs.
At Swinley you could test ride Whyte and Bird quite easily. Maybe try the Bird Aeris 120 / Whyte t-130 / Bird Zero TR / Whyte 905. Whyte do carbon versions of the t-130 if that’s really a want you have.
I’d probably avoid pure xc bikes as they are generally less fun in my experience - the geometry on trail bikes is more playful and unless you’re racing xc they’ll be great.
The Jeffsy is said to be really good, but doesn’t it now have about 160mm of travel?
As much as I love my Aeris 145LT it’s not ideal for towpath bimbling.
If you go fs maybe make sure the shock has a lock out and pedal platform position - it’ll make life easier on towpaths etc. Rockshox deluxe rt3 has this if Rockshox, not sure on Fox.
09 Canyon Ultimate CF for the Road.
2011 Carbon Spesh Stumpy FSR.