If you could have one mountain bike, would it be a trail or XC bike?

[Craig Armstrong]

Since I started riding (not that long ago), I've heard various opinions regarding how much travel is necessary or what the best type of bike is.

 

Some say that trail bikes are just too slow and trade off too much pedalling efficiency. 

Others say that trail bikes are capable enough to climb and just much more fun on the downhills.

 

I also seem to think that the opinions online (from other countries) seem to differ to what I hear from a lot of South Africans.

 

What do you guys reckon?

Edited April 4, 2019 by Craig Armstrong

[Grease_Monkey]

South Africans are marathon bike verskrik. A 120mm travel trail bike is probably the best all rounder option for most people - you can do a few stage races, ride some lekker trails, and do it with confidence. Sure, there is a pedaling efficiency trade off - but there are other trade offs with a marathon bike. Modern short travel trail bikes offer in my opinion the best of most worlds - they are good at everything, and horrible at none - but that said they are not as good as a long travel enduro bike on descents, and not as good as marathon bikes at covering distance.

 

Most won't notice the shortcomings though, because most people do the type of riding that falls squarely in a short travel trail bike's intended use.

[DieselnDust]

South Africans are marathon bike verskrik. A 120mm travel trail bike is probably the best all rounder option for most people - you can do a few stage races, ride some lekker trails, and do it with confidence. Sure, there is a pedaling efficiency trade off - but there are other trade offs with a marathon bike. Modern short travel trail bikes offer in my opinion the best of most worlds - they are good at everything, and horrible at none - but that said they are not as good as a long travel enduro bike on descents, and not as good as marathon bikes at covering distance.

 

Most won't notice the shortcomings though, because most people do the type of riding that falls squarely in a short travel trail bike's intended use.

 

 

true story

 

120mm/130mm travel Light trail?Marathon 29ers or 140mm 650b

[Eddy Gordo]

130 or 140mm is perfect. On 26er wheels had 100m, 130mm, 140mm and 150mm. 150 is very nice and plush. But i feel for a good all round,bike depending also what you prefer more a 130 trail bike because its slightly more trail orientated than a 120mm. A 120 is more or less still xc but with more trail etiquette in my opinion.

150 is a good trail enduro bike, more orientated towards enduro.

[Robbie Stewart]

I also seem to think that the opinions online (from other countries) seem to differ to what I hear from a lot of South Africans.

 

What do you guys reckon?

Would you care to enlighten us to these differences of opinion you've elicited? I am rather interested to see what you come up with.

 

I personally think us Saffa's ride XCM bikes because of W2W, ACE, Sani2C, Jozi2C, 36One, Trans Bav etc. etc.

 

My main bike is a 120mm short-travel trail bike, which is all I've ridden t last 2 and half years. I have a XC hardtail hanging in my garage. At present unridden, but that's about to change due to consumable expenses. Groupsets are pricey...

 

I prefer trail over jeep track any day of the week, and get more enjoyment from 20km singletrack than 80km marathon slog.

[Me rida my bicycle]

Tallboy 2 with 120MM on the front best of both worlds. Climbs great and most playful/capable 29er dual I have owned and the only bike I have regretted selling.

 

It all depends on personal preference there's no wright or wrong some people prefer flying up and sacrifice some comfort/speed down others happy going up slower and bombing down the other side. But as mentioned there are bikes that's a great blend of the two.

You get very capable xc bikes and trail bikes that climbs good the Trek fuel springs to mind.

I was faster on the Fuel on the climbs than my lightweight Element.

But my favorite bike is a HT so don't listen to me.????????

[Craig Armstrong]

Would you care to enlighten us to these differences of opinion you've elicited? I am rather interested to see what you come up with.

 

Well I must admit that my sample group is very small, but the guys I ride with here in SA are all XC mal, like Grease Monkey said. They believe 100mm XC bikes are all you need, even for shredding the single track trails, jumping, etc.

 

This is in contrast to the guys on GMBN and other EU or USA riders who are all riding 140-180mm travel bikes and sort of look down on the XC guys in their lycra kit. 

 

With that said - Clearly the vast majority of voters on this poll have also opted for the trail bike route, so maybe the Saffas that I talk to are just the minority.

 

 

PS: This post has made me feel very happy about the 2017 Spez Camber that I just bought.

[henningvr]

I had a XC bike until recently. Got a 140mm travel trail bike (Silverback Slade) and I'm not regretting it for a second. I should have done this long ago.

 

Enjoy the Camber!

[TyronLab]

I think it greatly depends on where you're riding to be honest. I'm based in GP and I've ridden quite a few trails and races in this region, and I can't imagine anyone here needing to own a bike larger than a 140mm travel bike. The exception may be the Hartebeespoort DH track I've heard of but never ridden.

 

If I compare that to footage I've seen from the trails in KZN and Cape Town its all very tame and basic.

 

Personally I would rather have a trail bike for comfort more than capability. I don't aim for podiums in races, nor will I ever. I ride and race purely for fun. I generally have the legs to complete races, but not the butthole. And riding things like lumpy grass (which somehow always creeps into races) always makes me wish for a bike that's more forgiving, even if I have to work harder.

[DieselnDust]

Well I must admit that my sample group is very small, but the guys I ride with here in SA are all XC mal, like Grease Monkey said. They believe 100mm XC bikes are all you need, even for shredding the single track trails, jumping, etc.

 

This is in contrast to the guys on GMBN and other EU or USA riders who are all riding 140-180mm travel bikes and sort of look down on the XC guys in their lycra kit. 

 

With that said - Clearly the vast majority of voters on this poll have also opted for the trail bike route, so maybe the Saffas that I talk to are just the minor

 

PS: This post has made me feel very happy about the 2017 Spez Camber that I just bought.

 

 

I'm not sure what the long travel craze in the UK is all about because baring a few downhill courses they don't have any trails that would really test the capability of a bike with more than 140mm travel.

One needs to get over to the mainland and head to the Alps, Dolomite's, Pyrenees to get settled into a really great trail.

Even anything in Cape Town can be ridden on 140mm bikes.

 

Outside of the Alpien resorts and some places in the USA there isn't many places where bike with longer travel are needed outside of DH racing.

 

People buy them because they want to

[Baracuda]

After going to New Zealand and Europe, I realised that 99% of SA mountain bikers are actually off-road cyclists. There is a select group that do DH and Enduro, but most of us have little in the way of skills but are exceptionally fit. Most will nail 100km per day events, but can't ride a 1m high drop off or gap.

 

If you going to do normal SA mtb rides and stage racing, perhaps get a trail orientated XC bike. e.g. Pyga, Camber or similar with a slightly easier head angle and a 120-140mm fork. Best of both worlds.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Baracuda

[Grease_Monkey]

PS: This post has made me feel very happy about the 2017 Spez Camber that I just bought.

The Camber is probably one of the best when it comes to an all rounder - you won't regret it. I've got a friend who rides his to top 50 in the Epic, top 5 in 36One, even managed a win in W2W last year (not the one with pro men racing); and then on non racing days he changes the tyres and puts a dropper on and rides the hell out of black rated trails - even considering doing Kingdom Enduro next year on it. A marathon bike will never give you that adaptability.

 

So ja, buy what's going to give you the ability to ride the trails you want to ride. If it's a bit of everything you made the right choice, if it's just marathon - then a marathon bike would probably be best.

[Grease_Monkey]

I'm not sure what the long travel craze in the UK is all about because baring a few downhill courses they don't have any trails that would really test the capability of a bike with more than 140mm travel.

One needs to get over to the mainland and head to the Alps, Dolomite's, Pyrenees to get settled into a really great trail.

Even anything in Cape Town can be ridden on 140mm bikes.

 

Outside of the Alpien resorts and some places in the USA there isn't many places where bike with longer travel are needed outside of DH racing.

 

People buy them because they want to

I Would say the longer travel craze in some areas can be equated to the marathon bike craze here. It is what is considered cool/the bike to have, but just like marathon bikes are probably not the best option here, the long travel bikes are not the best option there - they just do overkill in the other direction as Saffas.

[DieselnDust]

I Would say the longer travel craze in some areas can be equated to the marathon bike craze here. It is what is considered cool/the bike to have, but just like marathon bikes are probably not the best option here, the long travel bikes are not the best option there - they just do overkill in the other direction as Saffas.

 

 

Marathon bikes work here because 90 % of the trails here in the WC are built around accommodating Marathon events or all morning epic trail rides. The lack of technical features is a legacy of many of those trails being originally built in the 90's when the bikes were very different and riders were only beginning to define what MTB is. These trails have evolved but they're all still perfectly rideable on an XC bike and are also focused around marathon and stage events. Event organisers now drive the trail requirements so we're marathon because thats where our market has evolved.

The UK doesn't have a strong MTB event focus. Maybe in last 5 years they've kicked it up but as far back as I can remember UK MTBer's were crazy for bikes like a Specialized Enduro when I was ridign the same trails on a CAAD series hardtail with 70mm travel. Those folks considered a trail bike necessary because their trails were muddy.

Their biggest events were poor;y attended XCO leagues and the very popular Shimano Sleepless in the Saddle 24hr series, which was basically about seeing how muddy you could the bike in 24hr and whose hub bearings would fail first. Even today the trail parks don't have a lot of elevation and gradient that requires a trail or enduro bike. Everythng is perfectly rideable on a steel 26er hartail. Many of the UK guys who come here for the Epic can;t believe how rough the trails and these are the manicured ones! The opinion among them seems to be that the longer travel bikes sell well over there because they like to dress up in kit.People use knee and elbow guards for the South Downs!

Actually they buy the long travel bikes for the one week of the year when they go to the Alps for a bit of fun.

 

A few years ago when I was spending a bit of time in Singapore, folks there were buying 140mm travel bikes basically because there one trail on the island that has a few black diamond sections (Bukit Timar I think it was called). It was perfect for a nimble XCO bike due to the very tight turns and steep damp climbs : 200m elevation around a 6km track.

[Headshot]

SA is marathon bevok.

[Jewbacca]

I'm not sure what the long travel craze in the UK is all about because baring a few downhill courses they don't have any trails that would really test the capability of a bike with more than 140mm travel.

One needs to get over to the mainland and head to the Alps, Dolomite's, Pyrenees to get settled into a really great trail.

Even anything in Cape Town can be ridden on 140mm bikes.

 

Outside of the Alpien resorts and some places in the USA there isn't many places where bike with longer travel are needed outside of DH racing.

 

People buy them because they want to

While I agree with you on principle, there are a few places on Mud island that are proper. There are lines in Wales and Scotland that need long slack machines.

 

The obsession with 'travel' is wrong. You know this.

 

A 140mm long, low, slack bike is not the same as a 140mm 'trail' bike. 140mm does not equal 140mm

 

You know better than this...