Im lucky enough to have a few bikes of different types, and I’ve been riding MTBs about 25+ years.

I have followed new developments and fashion too, and I currently have a bike I’m struggling with. I suspect I’ve started to suffer skill fade from riding modern long travel trail bikes……

The bike i struggle with is a 2011 Trek Elite 9.8 26”. Its a fab full carbon HT, with tubeless xc wheels, XT and Bontrager race finishing kit. Its very fast, and has Fox 100 F series forks. I struggle riding it with my friends as I find Im quick uphill, but on the more technical stuff Im struggling to descend. I appear to struggle with narrow bars, and the required skill and concentration to get down at a decent pace. I think my other bikes which are full sus have eroded my tech skills so I cant really do the bike justice.

I really enjoyed a Commencal Super 4 I had a few years ago, so I was wondering what short travel 26 FS frame should I consider to transplant all my Elite parts onto, in an attempt to regain some xc style pace?
Or is the problem the change in position ( from my Remedy/Stereo 160c) and bar width?

I have looked at the TITUS Racer X which seems like it may be a suitable frame for my donor parts. Anyone have any ideas or observations?

Or if I have missed any options/ideas, im open to suggestions and the collected wisdom of the forum….

Many thanks

Stick some wider bars on it and try them first?

Giant Anthem with 120mm forks and wider bars 🙂 Many bargain 26″ frame to be found in the classified.

What do your friends ride?
If they’re all on 160/140mm Full Sussers is it any surprise that the HT is quicker uphill & slower downhill?

Current bars are 610mm flat carbons. I will try with a spare pair of 700 risers i have……

Paint it red or some cool Enduro colour if you want to go fast down hill.

The answer is definitely a Giant Anthem if you want to just move the bits over. You should be able to find a 26″ frame for about £300, sell your frame and get some wider bars (700ish worked on my Anthem) and you’ll be very happy.

No, its not a surprice, but im struggling with the inequality and not really enjoying riding it as hard as i can.

I ride with guys on trail rigs, but i also ride alone too

@ breninbeener, i have a similar issue buddy. I run a 26 ht kinesis, 100mm rebas 1×10 etc, after a recent visit to coedy i was the only one on a HT, all the others were on 140mm plus FS. I was ok in some parts, the rolling/flowy singletrack where i was just as quick, but anything technical I was slower on. Probably most of that is down to my skill, but i was certainly more “cautious” on the rocky drop offs on the beast.

I have a lovely FS which was in bits at the time, so in the newyear i will probably look at getting a Soul 26 and sticking some 120-140 forks on it

Surely the answer is 650b

some ideas
– shorter stem
– wider/higher rise bars
– bigger volume tyres
– drop the saddle a bit
– tweak the forks (compression/rebound/air)

I struggle riding it with my friends as I find Im quick uphill, but on the more technical stuff Im struggling to descend. I appear to struggle with narrow bars, and the required skill and concentration to get down at a decent pace.

If all your mates are on bikes better suited to technical stuff, is it any great surprise that you are slower than them?
I wouldn’t worry about it, or stick some wider bars on and get practising on it. Isn’t the Trek Elite quite a racy bike, so perhaps a bit twitchier on the descents?

a slacker hardtail?

Ragley Pigs going relatively cheap on CRC at the moment…

What skills have faded ?

I would say in general you’ll be slower downhill on a HT than a FS, that not due to skill fade that’s just the rear-suspension doing it’s job

750mm bars and a short stem would be a cheaper ‘suck it and see’ option than just jumping (arf!) in at the deep end and buying a new frame. You could pick up some decent stuff for less than £50 if you don’t need badge. Wider bars were a revelation for me 😀

I have an old Anthem X (2009) which was also a bit twitchy on the tech stuff. 120mm forks made a surprisingly big difference – might do the same for your Trek.

I just got back from FOD yesterday after my first ride on a Mondraker Vantage. Aggressive hard tail with 140mm travel, big tyres and wide bars. Previously I had been on a 29er hard tail with 100mm of travel.
I had great fun and rode the xc trails with a guy on a carbon 29er. The ups were fine and the downs fun.
The tyres and fork travel made the most difference.