Morning, thought I’d canvas opinion from STW’s collective wisdom on what variable travel full suss frames are available theses days. Or even over recent years, second hand. I’m thinking between 100-140mm travel, so something like the old-style Titus Motolite, Intense Spider or one of the Nicolais. Your opinions much appreciated!
Los

Isn’t the old prophet adjustable? That used to be a popular frame

No the Prophet is adjustable for head angle, not travel.

Scott Genius / Canondale Jekyll

Both have on the fly travel adjustment. Both a bit like marmite.

Bionicon is infinitely adjustable from 120-170mm.

Bionicon sounds like too much travel for me. Tempted by the Scott Spark traction control system _ anyone had any experience? Didn’t realise the Jekyll was still in production!

I was thinking of replacing my ageing Genius with the Spark, because of the TC.

I use it massively, though my style of riding tends more toward what I guess would be classed as marathon. Say 30-50 miles of rolling bridleways, when 80% of the time I’ll be in TC.

Big days out in the peaks I’ll use the full travel on descents, and locked out / TC for the climbs depending on if it’s paved.

It’s not just the travel, the geometry changes too (slackening as you add travel). The difference in climbing is noticeable, esp. if it’s a long road drag and you go to lockout mode.

thanks smaca, sounds like that’ll be up my street too

My Nicolai Helius Am adjusts from 120mm to 160mm

currently in 140mm guise, so i am very baised but its a great bike

I’ve had quite a few adjustable travel bikes (not on the go changeable mind), the funny thing is that I very rarely altered them and always used maximum travel.

One thing to watch out for is that if you plan to match the (adjustable) fork travel with what is set on the frame, the BB can end up being far too low. This is what stopped me from buying a Nicolai…matching the travel with a fork of similar travel is fine, wanting to use it with an adjustable travel fork isn’t because of the A-C height changing.

EDIT: Not sure if all that makes sense, but you might see what I mean. 🙂

thanks smaca, sounds like that’ll be up my street too

No probs. As I said earlier, they are a bit like Marmite: I love mine, but others hate them.

It’s one you really need to test ride. Even more important as I think the 3 way shock only appears on higher end Sparks so would be an expensive mistake..

I’ve been watching ebay recently and older Scott carbon bikes seem to be fetching strong money. Seen MC10s & 20s going for > £1200.

That’s not far off what I paid for mine brand new :O

Never been convinced by adjustable travel bikes. You’re still carrying the heft of a 150mm bike, the same tyres, shocks parts – even if you’ve adjusted it, it’s still the same bike. Well sorted platform shocks/travel adjust forks make some sense, if you want to go that route, but strikes me as a lot of complication and hassle for no actual benefit otherwise.

Like the Modo HD160/HD140 thing – go to all the hassle of changing the shock and linkage, and you have a bike that weighs the same and has the same geometry, but 20mm less travel. Why?

Like the Modo HD160/HD140 thing – go to all the hassle of changing the shock and linkage, and you have a bike that weighs the same and has the same geometry, but 20mm less travel. Why?

For a few reasons! One being wanting a strong frame with 140mm travel. The back end is a lot stiffer than the standard Mojo too. The frame isn’t heavy by any means either…when set at 160 the frame is very light for its capabilities. Also. anyone wanting one as their only bike would probably be better off with it set at 140. Depending on which travel option is used, the parts fitted will be to suit that preference. I wouldn’t ride mine set at 160 with the wheels and some of the other parts I have fitted, not anywhere that really requires 160mm anyway. 🙂

You could look at it from another angle and wonder why folk buy bikes like the Orange Blood and Cotic Rocket…heavy bikes for the given travel, but still popular choices.

I would take a look at last years Scott Genius. 150/120mm travel which changes the geometry making it a lot easier to go up and more confident going down.

I love the on-fly adjustment of the Genius.. Drop the forks, put it in traction mode and fly up the hills! But as above, you’re still carrying the weight, but it’s worth it for the downs! 😀

I am a bit biased as I have a Genius LT, I am certainly slower up hills than on the HT, but its about 30% heavier. Unfortunately the downs now seem a lot shorter.

d45yth – Member

For a few reasons! One being wanting a strong frame with 140mm travel. The back end is a lot stiffer than the standard Mojo too. The frame isn’t heavy by any means either…when set at 160 the frame is very light for its capabilities. Also. anyone wanting one as their only bike would probably be better off with it set at 140. Depending on which travel option is used, the parts fitted will be to suit that preference. I wouldn’t ride mine set at 160 with the wheels and some of the other parts I have fitted, not anywhere that really requires 160mm anyway.

I see what you’re saying – but it’s the same bike. Why not have that extra travel? Or if you’re going to build it with lightweight parts that can’t take the abuse – why not get the regular Mojo?

Oops… duplicate

Would you want 160mm travel when riding round a trail centre, Yorkshire Dales or similar? Even 140mm is too much a lot of the time.
The back end on the original Mojo is nowhere near as stiff as the HD, the geometry is different and of course you haven’t the option of changing the travel. The latter being a handy option to have if your riding style changes or you go somewhere that’s lift assisted. I’d planned to buy a cheap set of Lyriks, longer shock and to use some heavier duty wheels I have, for that. Like I’ve also said, even with the HD set at 140, it’s not a heavy frame…it’s lighter than some alloy frames I’ve had with less travel. Don’t mention the SL-R though, it wasn’t available when I bought my HD (you can’t change the travel, but maybe I could have lived with that).

los – have a peek at the Bionicon Golden Willow, the more XC focused model.

120mm travel, adjustable. One on Ebay going cheap ATM:

Golden Willow