I walk regularly in the Peaks and now fancy taking a bike on some of the famous routes perhaps with some of the local groups in my area.

I currently have a XC racing bike as my only bike which I love but when things go down hill and techy my a$£e twitches. This is 99% to do with my skill set and 1% my bike I know this.

But what generally is the bike of choice for the Peak riding lot. Bearing in mind my ability and fitness; I will not be riding a single speed ridged 🙂

anything with between 1-4 wheels (nitpickers – yes I appreciate bike is an abbreviation of bicycle, which means 2 wheels)
The Peak is like anywhere else, it doesnt need a special bike, you ride it on whatever

A short travel fs bike is the order of the day, IMHO. HT fine also with a nice trail riding geometry. Basically anything except a big bike – they’re a chore around the peak, there’s a lot of climbing and the vast majority of the bridleway descents aren’t difficult any way.

Having done a large part of it on a CX bike, I always appreciate going back to my full sus 🙂

I only have one mountain bike now after years of having 2.
I settled on a 140mm full sus with Pikes at 150mm. The Bird Aeris.

Most of the people I ride with (15-25 regulars) have a bike like this and often a second hardtail or faster full sus.

Orange Fives are common, as is the Bronson and Nomad (previously Hecklers).

Be prepared to service the bearings as The Peak is very hard on bikes.

(We ride from Bollington if that’s any use to you).

When I was young me and my cousin used to smash South Head and Jacobs Ladder on cheap rigids and if anything the trails have only got smoother nowadays! (agree with the small travel FS)

Be prepared for various STWers to claim that all you need is a fixed gear cyclocross bike with leather tyres and rod pull brakes.

Be also prepared to be pulled up on your use of ‘Peaks’

Followed by a discussion of neolithic tribes.

Ride whatever you like, but if I was headed to the Peak in autumn-winter time I’d probably be on my Five. I have also ridden the peak on a cyclocross bike, a 100mm hardtail, a 100mmm full sus, a 120mm full carbon full sus… and a Five. Each of these were fine.

It’s rocky and occasionally technical in places, but also slow and gloopy in others, and billiard table smooth in others where the trails have been obliterated by the Peak DC santisation scheme.

Take your pick.

If you are a mincer (like myself) you may need all the full travel skill compensation you can get.

I’m not local but ride in the Peak a fair bit. I’d echo what most have said, shortish to mid travel full sus trail bike.

However it’s also a lot of fun on a hardtail!

I did it for a few years on a 100mm travel XC hardtail, and had a blast. Given the choice a similar travel FS 29er would be it.

As said before the downhill sections can be techy but not what you’d call “big”, and there’s always an uphill waiting for you.

When I lived in the peak, I rode a 26er inbred most of the time with forks at c110mm. Mostly geared, sometimes singlespeed. Seemed perfect for all the climbs whilst still fun descending. Also had an orange 5 that was good too, albeit a bit slower on the climbs. Of the 2, I preferred the inbred for most of my riding.

Back then, most of my riding mates were on 100-130mm fork hardtails or 5″ full sussers. Hecklers were popular.

a modern ‘trail’ hardtail, with large-ish tyres (2.2″ to 2.4″) at sensible pressures (low-ish) should see you right.

or, if you’re full-suspension curious:

specialized camber
giant trance

Other great bikes are available, but you should be able to find a shop near you selling one/both of those for you to try/buy.

(they may well have other great bikes, they’ll tell you all about them)

shimano ‘deore’ is great, even if it’s not as expensive as slx/xt.

as a rough rule, shorter stems mean less scary descending, longer stems help keep the front wheel under control on loose climbs. There’s a compromise, try different stems.

(there are dozens of ways to adjust the way a bike feels, stem-length is a simple, and effective way to make a big difference)

Pick the bike you want, just make sure you put some decent, sensible weight rubber on it, preferably tubeless 🙂

my money would go on something like the current crop of shot-mid travel 29ers with “aggressive/trail” geo..

see
kona 111
transition
orange segment
on one codeine
spes camber evo
etc.. etc…

Nothing too delicate as its hard on bikes…
Then depending on how you ride/weight etc tyre up accordingly…
personally, I’m dual ply tubeless.

Short to mid travel full sus (durability & climbing prowess important) without a doubt!

You can of course do it on a HT/rigid/CX but if your going to hit the best rocky descents head on, at speed, hoping and jumping, not slowly using the grass banks, you will be thankful of a decent suspension bike that doesn’t fall apart like a sand castle after one ride.

I ride with a group of around 10 chaps twice a week in the Peaks, and most of us ride enduro/all mountain full sussers with around 140-160mm travel. I’ve had a YT Capra AL1 for nearly three months now and it’s great both up and down. One or two of the group are on lower travel 29ers (one a super slack Evil which is very cool) or ride a hardtail occasionally but struggle to really give it the full gun on the rockier, technical descents.

It really depends which trails you’re riding and what your focus is, but an enduro works great if you enjoy the tougher descents in particular. B

I’ve written a review of my Capra and there’s some info on Peak District trails as well on my blog: https://gorillainthepeak.wordpress.com/

I’ve been riding in the Peaks for over 20 years on everything from fully rigid to my current 150mm full suss, all have been fun but to hit the rocky stuff full on you need something solid enough or with enough travel not to pinball. Depends on your preference really. I reckon it’s worth choosing a bike that excels in the sort of riding you enjoy (yeah, obviously )

I’d say a ‘bike of choice’ is determined more by what the rider wants to ride comapred to what the terrain dictates..i.e. people ride in the Peaks on many different versions of bikes..

As many have said, it’s horses for courses.

The White Peak tends to be less rocky therefore a HT or short travel full suss is fine.

The Dark Peak however is a bit more demanding if you want to ride at pace. You can still obviously get round everything but to really hit the descents quickly, I’d recommend 140mm-160mm travel.

As others I’ve been riding there for 20 years on a range of bikes and, whilst the climbing is definitely easier on my XC bike, I’ve never ridden it faster downhill than on my 160mm bike.