What is a marathon bike vs a trail bike

[Johnny Lawless]

DON'T BUY NEW...unless you buy one of these Jeffsy deals. Awesome deals. 

http://za.yt-industries.com/cat/index/sCategory/563?utm_source=bikehub

 

I wanted an allrounder that can hit the trails hard and still do some XC miles if needed and went with a Pyga OneTen 29 with Pike 140mm fork and wide rims. Couldn't be happier...well perhaps I could be on a carbon Jeffsy

 

 

But you're not keen on a 29er so maybe not for you. Just try one before writing them off though. 

[Johnny Lawless]

i think many of you are stuck on the old tech/geometry and how xc used to be.  (kinda like how people still think bmw's depreciate the fastest)  how many of you saying xc bikes are twitchy, have actually ridden the latest xc bikes???

 

 many xc bikes now have a more relaxed head angle and do not feel like they want to throw over the bars.  i have a cannondale scalpel si 3 and a silverback sola.  sure the sola did feel twitchy at first, but my skills have improved and I fitted a grippier front tyre.  the scalpel feels very stable on steep downhill sections.

 

check out the cannondale range of "xxc" bikes as well as the scott xc range.That

That's kinda supporting our point isn't it? The XC bikes you're referring to is more stable etc only because their geometry is closer to the standard "trail bike" geo. They're also still the exceptions rather than the XC rule. We're talking generalised geo's here, not specific bikes.