just wondered as a few years back it was all about the 6 inch travel and I have gone from 6 inch trail bike to 4 inch trail wippet ! I did have a hardtail for 2 years in between so maybe that taught me a few things ? :)maybe its better to be under biked at the trail centers than over …whats your thoughts 🙂

I went, 4 inch, 6 Inch, 8 Inch, 4 Inch

But thats another story

120 is the new niche

I have. For that very reason. I’d rather be having a hoot on a shorter travel bike 90% of the time, and feel a bit under biked 10% of the time than feel like I’m always dragging something around that is going to be much more than I need. I had to get the 6″ bike first to realise mind you.

I did ride a 140mm travel bike the over day and it did wallow quite a bit my superlight with 120 forks seems the right number

I’m swapping my 140 travel 31 lb bike for a 100mm travel 22.5 lb bike.

went from a hartail to 4″, never seen the point in riding round on a sofa*

*there are one or two people who race DH where it matters, but for joe public why? The trails being ridden now have always been ridden, maybe slower but still ridden.

I went from 5″ to 4.5″ back to zero

Hard tial for me after getting a Cotic simple it feels almost as smooth but Hardtail suits my er style ( or lack of)

Both my hardtails have soft as in flexi seatposts

Got both, 4″ XC/Marathon style whippet in an ’04 Mount Vision and a 140mm/5.5″ playbike in an ’09 Wolf Ridge.
Both great bikes but very different.

At the moment i’m enjoying the WR more but that may be because i’ve had the MV for 7yrs and the WR less than 1 yr. I must say though that had i bought the WR 3 or 4 yrs ago i would have sold it because i was simply not fit enough to ride it uphill. Nowadays, whilst i’m certainly not the quickest up the hill on the WR it doesn’t half kill me.
What would i keep if i could only have the one? I don’t know…

I’ve gone, 140mm F/S, 140mm H/T, 100mm H/T 29er and also rigid 29er! 🙂

120 is the new niche

goddamit i missed by 20mm again 🙁

3.5″ hardtail – 4″ bouncer – 5″ bouncer – 4″ hardtail 29er

I’ve gone from a SS rigid 20er (now sat gathering dust) to a 140mm Full sus so in my case a big no !

ooops, that should read 29er not 20er !!

yes i p/x’ed my 10 stumpy fsr comp 140mm for my 10 anthem x2 100mm.i actually ordered the anthem back in august 2009 (i think).when shop said they wouldn’t be able to get bike until feb 2010,i changed to the stumpy.the shop still ordered the bike,where it taunted me every time i went into the shop.the stumpy was a great bike,but way too much travel for where i ride (marlbrough downs,wandsdyke,cherhill,ridgeway) so in the end i px’ed it for the anthem.it’s the best bike i have ever owned 😀

I’ve gone – 4″/6″, 0″, 7″, 4″, 5.5″, now going to buy a 5.5″/6.5″ frame and build up a 120mm hardtail too, most likely a piglet.

I got rid of my xc bike and my DH bike and bought a 6″ bike, it’s great at pretty much everything. I long ago realised that I was too old and fat to be an XC whippet and too much of a pussy to be a DH god, this new “all mountain” thing is perfect for pootling around the local woods, uplift days, alps trips and it’s ok for all day riding too.

I seem to hover around the 150mm mark but angles etc have changed a lot to make my uphill a little easier with only a small compromise on the downhills

Never ventured above 100mm

Never seen the point

It’s because the mags say so.
18 months ago, they were saying things like “140mm is the sweet spot for UK trails”. Now they’re saying “you don’t need much more than 120mm for UK trails”. Both comments are bawlacks, it’s about getting us all buying new bikes.

I just keep all my old bikes so I have pretty much everything covered (except downhill) but then I can Knick the lads bike for that

150mm blue pig. make of that what you will.

i now just ride my transition bottlerocket. feels rad!

It was about 2-3 years ago that MBR insisted that riding was simply impossible unless one had a 6″ travel bike. I remember them once memorably describing a steel hardtail as “a good road-based winter hack bike” which caused a right old ruckus on here!

Since then, as suspension technology has improved and the ideal balance of weight/travel/cost has been found, travel has dropped again, most trail bikes are 120-140mm now with 150mm+ reserved more for “freeride”.

Even MBR now admit that!

last week i had 130mm on my hardtail. this week i wound the forks down to 100mm. so yes . less travel is the new cool. Until i go somewhere different and wind the forks back out 😉

Oh no am I out of fashion again? 6″ full suss and I love it.

Quite happy with one bike I can do local pootles on or do uplift in the alps.

i went 140 to 140 to 140 to 120 but with 150 forks then 100 with 140 forks and now back at 140 and coil lyriks on the front mostly set to 140.

none of it really matters its all good.

Had a go on my BMX the other day for the first time in ages. makes all MTBs seem a bit soft and lazy…

Tools for the job innit! It’s rocky and lumpy where I currently ride so I use the big bike, if I want to pootle about on non-lumpiness I take a lighter less bouncy one……………..

Went from 120mm stumpy to 0mm SS hardtail then 170mm SX Trail. I Don’t ride the stumpy at all now, maybe for the chain reaction at Ruthin later in the year, I like my SS every now and then but most of my riding is on my SX so it’s no from me.

we all should have a hardtail I think to brush up on our skills

100mm Kona Kula hardtail in the winter and a Rocky Mountain 150 mm full sus when the trails are nice and dry. Also have an old 80 mm Fisher Supercaliber hardtail and an Intense Tracer 115 mm full sus which see occasional action. Fox 36s and 150mm rear travel are essential for the type of gnar canal towpath freeriding I was partaking in earlier…

I don’t replace bikes enough to keep up with trends. 140mm ss hardtail and a 140mm full suss.

Both are fine for most of the riding I do.

My bike choices are mostly decided by what is available at the time. When I bough my full what I really wanted was something shorter travel but when you go shorter you got a lot more race orientated. IF the bike companies designs change next time I buy a bike then maybe I’ll go shorter.

Started on a fully rigid in 1995, then put some 80mm travel forks on it in 1997, then went to a 125mm full sus in 2006, 160mm full sus in 2008, added a hardcore hardtail with 130mm in 2008. Now gone back to a 100mm hardtail lightweight race bike. I genuinely thought I was bucking the trend with my latest bike, but it would appear I’m still a fashion whore, didn’t realise that the less is more thing was now the trend, hey ho. Like above, it’s all good, just riding bikes.

trail centres? the trail centres around here are designed to flow so rear sus just isn’t needed and a 100mm fork me does just fine.

I wish there were more slacker head angled shorter travel bikes.

I wish there were more slacker head angled shorter travel bikes.

That’s what the original On-One Summer Season was designed for, but it’s original idea seems to have been lost in the haze somewhere.

The bike i use the most has 95mm travel with 120mm forks, and is ideal, and its got adjustable head angle and bb height, but for the alps and peak district i gotta 6inch travel bike which is ideal, also.

I have a GT avalanche with 100 mm forks and a Cove Stiffee with 150 mm forks. They both feel different and it depends how I feel. I do like the Cove even though it’s a bit of a tank.

rigid to 80mm to 100mm & 130mm to 140mm, now 100mm 80mm (x2) and 50mm.

so yes.

personally never felt the need to go over 140mm, and the latest build will be 80mm