So I normally ride in Indonesia. On road, but the road quite often looks like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ECgtpQrxh8

OTOH at least part of the journey will be on asphalt, albeit often potholed.

At the moment I have a bike like this. The fork is terrible. (Suntour XCR coil)

http://www.polygonbikes.com/id/bikes/description/2015-xtrada-6.0

My friend has just got one of these, used:

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/bikes/mountain-bikes/full-suspension/product/review-rocky-mountain-altitude-799-msl-15-48955/

It’s officially £8k, but I think he paid maybe £1500 used.

Anyway, my question is, I don’t think I want full sus, I think hardtail is the way to go as it’s sensible to keep things simple in Indonesia (maintenance is not easy!). But where would you need to go for something that would keep up with a bike like that on the sort of third world roads I’m talking about? I really don’t have any experience of better bike kit to compare between what I have now which is Deore + some cheaper bits and a cheap alu frame, and say XT, XTR, etc.

But what kind of bike would you want not to be embarrassed by that ? I know this is rather vague, but bear in mind that last time I went out with this guy I was on my cheap hardtail and I embarrassed him, and my other friend reckons that now this guy has this £8k beast it’s a completely different story….

I have to make it clear that I’m a wimp and I don’t really go full-out, I guess what I’m thinking about more here is pedalling efficiency climbing up undulating rocky tracks. Where am I losing out? Weight? Cheap frame? I already know my fork is terrible, because I’ve compared with an Epicon air fork and it’s night and day. Brakes obviously not great and levers not very nice, which does slow you a bit on the downhill (ok quite a lot, like I said I’m a wimp and hold the brakes down every hill). Fundamentally is it weight (me, being a fatty? + that of bike) + fork? Or is it really such a big difference between a Deore drive train a cheapo frame and an XX1 and a full carbon jobbby?

That’s quite a road. I wish my local trails were even approaching that rough.

I figure there’s a balance to be struck between having a bike that’s so capable that you wouldn’t be held back by one only half as good and hampering yourself with rubbish. Where that balance lies I don’t know but the ways you and he ride will separate you more than the bikes you’re on, within reason.

Did you embarrass him because you rode better than him or because he thought your bike was a pile of crap?
I have a friend who likes to spend loads of money on bikes. I look at them and struggle to see where the improvement really is.

When we ride together, we’re pretty well matched even though my bike is worth less than his front wheel.

I have another friend who tends to cycle all over the globe in out of the way places. His bike is steel and has 26″ wheels. Because a blacksmith can mend his frame, and you can get 26″ tyres in any village on the planet.

29+ hardtail with plenty of clearance.

I’d be going out with the guy in his new bike to see if he is really that far ahead of you first

Nice road. Maybe upgrade the fork and brakes on your current bike as you’ve already identified them as a problem?

If you want a new bike then a big wheel/big tyre bike will make that kind of terrain a lot easier, as above.

What I mean about embarrassing him is that we went out as a three and did our route of around 6 hours (90% unsurfaced road including a couple of river crossings) and of the three of us he ended up hitching a ride back on a motorbike. But my friend reckons I’m now a fat bloater because I’m in England not riding much and the motorbike-hitching man is now fit and has an £8k bike and I’ll be left way behind. But he might just be egging me on. ❓

Only issue is is it’s expensive to buy bike bits in Indonesia and hard to fit them so if I leave it then hard to revisit.

By big wheel/big tyre do you mean just a 29er, or are you talking about (something like) 3″ tyres as well?

I think it would be easier to climb that sort of thing on a short travel (120-140mm, say) full suspension bike, rather than a hardtail. Big wheels will help, too (29er or 27.5+).

Beyond that, it’ll be mostly down to the nut on the saddle.