Was browsing in an LBS today looking for 3/4 baggies and spotted one of these – as you do:

X-Caliber 9

Looks a fairly decent spec for the money, was wondering if anyone had any views and experiences – considering trying the big wheel hype for my wheels on the ground, bridleway bashing, occasional red route style of MTB-ing

I have the Trek Marlin – bottom of the range, used as a donor bike. If you don’t mind SRAM, then its a really nice bike.
I fitted SLX group set and a manitou tower pro fork. It’s been faultless and has given me loads of fun miles over the last four years.

£75 of accessories free, too – not bad.

EDIT : Just read the spec again, and the SRAM bit is just the front mech, so even more of a no-brainer.

We run the X-Caliber 7 as part of our rental fleet. Good, solid XC hardtail that will take a lot of abuse and has no weird handling traits. Servicing is all very straightforward on the more budget build. Can’t really think of anything bad to say about it but check other brands like Cube etc out too.

Strangely enough I’m looking at one of these If I can sell my Cx bike , My mate has the X – Caliber 9 and despite a fairly budget fork It’s a good solid bike , It gets great reviews on about every mtb website as well. I was also looking at a Spesh Crave / Carve as well but don’t know how they compare. ?

Good bike but if you are looking at the Spesh Crave then you really need to compare that with the Trek Superfly not the X-Caliber which costs £350 less than the entry level Crave .