130mm 650b full sus to cover everything, including limited bikepacking, XC and MTB Marathon type events, no actual racing though.

Thoughts? I keep thinking I could still do with a 29er hardtail XC bike……

Nope, won’t work.

Edit: been there tried to work out how many wheelsets I’d need to still be able to do everything I want and realised it was easier (although maybe not cheaper) to have 3 bikes, in balance I will admit my main concern was missing riding my cx bike, as while it’s the most impractical of my bikes, it often leaves the biggest smile on my face.

1 bike and no racing- Id probably go for a Kona Honzo or short travel 29er full suss

What wont work??

The bikepacking would be the hardest bit to fit in out of all that from one bike.

Something like an Anthem with 120 fork would cover the most of it.

I’m not going to say what bike I’m thinking of getting, but it could be regarded as behaving a bit more like a hardtail than a big soft full sus.

100mm xc full sus,preferably 29 might do it?
I am building a 29er ti hardtail with 29 wheels but with the option of swapping out to 650 plus.
Would probably cover most of the above including a bit of xc racing!
Thanks,
Max

Would have to be a Whyte T130.
It’s a compromise at everything, but it will do it all.
I’ve got one and I’ve done the Scott Marathon 100km, BPW uplifts (inc. blacks) and just finishing off some kit to take it bike packing.

It’s all personal preference in the end but for what you describe, if it were me, I’d be going with 29er HT.

Santa Cruz 5010 is ticking those boxes for me, though not done bikepacking and not strictly an MTB marathon but coped with Brecon Beast with ease (and so nice and fast to pedal up, comfy on the rocky downs).

As a do-it-all, it depends on the “all”. If you want bike parks, uplifts and bit of downhilling also, then no. But all the above specified I’d say yes. Myself I’ve got a Nomad as well for that stuff, plus a hard tail spare. So I don’t really have one bike, but the 5010 is fast becoming the one main bike I use everywhere. It’s even replaced the hard tail as the go to bike for night xc-ish group rides, in that it’s fast, light and agile enough to keep up.

And for a biased promote, check out a Bird Aeris 120 too 😉

can you have two sets of wheels?

short travel 29r that can run 650b+ as well.

i’ve barely ridden anything else since i built it. about to go back to 29 wheels for the winter slop and the local XC winter series.

Would also get a 29 er hardtail if I could only hve one bike

not really sure about a FS for bikepacking tbh but i never look at mine and think to take that instead

Only ever needed one bike…. Steel 29er HT (was rigid for 5) for the last 6 years and just changed to a 650B+ as my only bike, when you only have room for one you kind of make do with what you have, never felt held back at or limited at all.

Cheers, Steve

+1 for Kona Honzo, (29er HT) go for the titanium option if you really want a bike for life. I’ve got the 2014 Taro which shares pretty much identical geometry, the thing is a riot to ride trails and works well for longer distance and bikepacking events.

+1 29er HT – plenty of end of season sales atm. Use any money saved over equivalent spec/quality full-susser to purchase tyres and bike-packing gubbins 🙂

Tallboy3 if I wasn’t racing, could probably still get away with some small regional DH stuff & it would be fine for enduro still.

If it’s as good as I hope it is, I might end up selling my Patrol.

I tried this, well sort of, sold my 26er full sus then sold my 29er hardtail then picked up a Camber 29er 2016 model, so far so good. Well until I picked up a 6fattie as my other bike but that’s more a play toy.

I’m thinking my Salsa Horsethief could cover a lot of my mountain biking bases, so for your requirements a Spearfish might work.

One bike, no racing..?

Full suss Fatty.

Spearfish would be ideal IMO. I’ve ridden it on 100mile days, BPW uplifts and out on the roads…. it’s all good.

I thought this might be a real “one bike for everything” thread, like I’ve posted about before (but then, curiously, went from 2 to 3 bikes)! 🙂

Short of something really specialised – e.g. rigid singlespeed, massive travel DH bike etc – I can’t see why you couldn’t do all MTB’ing on one bike?

One bike for commuting, road riding, family rides and all MTB’ing is a different matter, though!

I’m thinking my Salsa Horsethief could cover a lot of my mountain biking bases, so for your requirements a Spearfish might work.

now ain’t that a thing.. i’m currently riding a santa cruz superlight (2007+ style one) 26er running 2.3s (the biggest tyres that will fit) and in my my idle googling about the ideal next bike for me, on paper the horsethief seems pretty much like the one for me. only thing is, i cant decide whether to go 650b or not. My mates who have 29ers keep falling off 😀

tbh as a short arse (5’7) i’m fine with 26, the issues will be component age and spares availability. I also believe if i’m fine with 100m travel now, anything else is a bit extravagant.

I have two bikes, i’ve never ridden my old HT again..

Would take my Solaris as my only bike if it was for fun use

I do most of my miles commuting (on the road) though so if it was one bike including that as well it would have to be my Arkose

I could lose my rigid bike if I absolutely HAD to, though that gets ridden the most for fun use strangely

Would miss my brompton too!

about to go back to 29 wheels for the winter slop and the local XC winter series.

What advantage will 29 wheels give? I thought the speed gains were marginal, and in winter slop I would have thought that was reduced?

If I was forced to keep only one bike, it would have to be this one. I’d probably have to cut my bi-yearly uplift day, but I could keep everything else and have a pretty decent time.

nedrapier

been tempted to do something similar if my swift doesn’t sell…. Alfine being used as a commuter might be a bit hard work for me but wouldn’t need much maintenance.

Cheers, Steve

Fat bike is the answer

You can get some 2nd wheels made up with 29er rims for when you want something a little bit less draggy

clearance more than anything.

what?
I rolled into work on a different bike again today (Mountain road ride tonight) and got asked how many bikes I had, my first response was good ones or just in total…

As said above, mid travel 29er, I had a Horsethief, it was perfect, good for edge of field bridleway bashing, trips to the Alps, Wales etc. Never felt over or under biked. Even used it for my (admittedly short) commute. I’m really struggling to work out why I sold it! 👿

they’re not common on the ground though are they? what horsethief alternatives are there?

i think specialized camber? (also mentioned above), transition bandit? smuggler? (whats yours jambo?) or kona process?

Junkyard –
Would also get a 29er hardtail if I could only have one bike

Me too. It would be my Yeti Big Top.. or something similar.

I’d probably go with the ~120mm 29er too. A hardtail maybe, but maintenance aside it’s not really helping the riding much, short travel trail bikes pedal well enough these days.

It’ll go uphill as fast as your legs can propel it, it’ll go down just about anything you’ve got the skill for, just maybe a little slower. Fat/+ bikes aren’t really addressing necessities so covering those bases is moot.

Depends where you live and ride though, if you only ever ride the archetypal ‘local singletrack’ that most of England is blessed with, then a rigid singlespeed is probably all you need. If you live in the Peak then something more forgiving with gears is sensible. If you want to ride everywhere you’re going to have more of a problem as no bike will do Fort Bill one day and an XC race the next without some compromises.

bandit 29. 120 rear, 140 front. about 30lbs and its not a light build. could shave some off that pretty easily.

Not weighed mine for a while, but its def lighter than most. Weight isn’t everything though.

I’m thinking what I’d have as a ‘one bike only’ is a 120mm all round, single pivot, short-travel full susser.

Short travel 29er fs, not 650b.

Maybe the Kona hei hei?

yeah hei hei trail is 650b

the new marin hawk hill is also a similar format. (650b).. i’ve had two hawk hills over the last 20 years. great upper-entry level bikes.

not single pivot though.. tbh.. i just want my current bike, with 650b and a ‘modern’ slacker geo..

I managed fine with an 26″ Anthem with 120mm forks for quite a while. I now have a 26″ rigid SS, a 27.5″ XTC Advanced and a 29″ Jeffsy CF Pro. The question is whether you want to only own one bike, and ride what you can on that, or really ride every sort of trail. If the latter, I think the Jeffsy comes really close – the penalty you pay on the climbs (or the flats) for it’s downhill capability is surprisingly small, and probably largely down to the tyres anyway. If the former, I think a 2017 27.5 Anthem (which will have a 120mm fork) would be spot on.

I’ve tried to have one bike a lot of times. Doesn’t work for me!

I’ve got a 130r/140f 29er or B+ trail bike (stumpjumper FSR) and a solaris which I like best with a 100mm fork (and it can also take my B+ wheels).

I’ve bikepacked on the stumpy but the solaris does it much better (being 5’10” I can’t get a decent seatpack on the stumpy, and the solaris is quicker over mixed terrain. I’d be hard pressed to choose between them, I really like them both. It took me a fair while to really enjoy the solaris, but I loved the stumpy the first time I rode it.

also got two road bikes, a race bmx, and a commuter :roll:. And I’m hankering over a new XC bike, but to be honest I can race on the solaris with skinny tyres and a longer stem for only a minor weight penalty.

I think a 2017 27.5 Anthem (which will have a 120mm fork) would be spot on.

It’s not my only bike, also have a Prince Albert, but I ride pretty much anything I’m capable of riding on my 650 Anthem with 120mm forks. XC. trail centers, rocky/rooty woods singletrack, even the odd black at BPW.

It’s a very capable bike. Though now I’m pushing my limits more I’m thinking about a bit more bike.

There’s still a 29in hei hei as well.

Just mentioned it cos it has great geometry for a marathon style bike. And I saw a glowing review for bike packing.