Opinions please…I mainly ride gravel, racing and lots of structured training. I just signed up to a XC marathon.
I like the sound of the Epic WC but everyone tells me I should get a 120mm XC bike.
anyone got one and love it? Or got one and sold it?
When you say you mainly ride gravel I assume that's on a gravel bike? If so the Epic WC probably isn't a bad call but personally it'd be a bit too racy. All depends what you're used to?
I got one for my eldest lad for Christmas, 2nd hand. It's a bloody lovely bike and an absolute rocket ship, he's come from an Lapierre XR7.9 which is a "normal" modern 100mm XC full suss.
He says the Epic feels faster as it's more hardtail like, but has the added bonus to the rear travel when the clever shock kicks in, it took a bit of getting used to and a bit of fiddling with the pressures, the fork is also ace despite what you may read about previous iterations of the Brain damper, this one is the new version and there's definitely no clunking of spiking, it's also pretty light at under 11kg in a size medium, which I'm sure is helped by the Roval 1 piece bar & stem combo.
I have heard that once you get into the 75kg range they're not the best, but if you're on the lighter side they appear to be an absolute weapon.
120mm IMHO is way too much for the vast majority of UK XC racing, let along gravel and marathon stuff, I now run a Scott Scale after moving from a 100mm 29er XC FS and it's perfect for my needs and riding, you could also consider one of those, mine is just over 10kg with XTR and carbon hoops.
Thanks for comments. Hard to know without having a go on one.
My comment was based on personally always having a trail bike as my main rider. I got a gravel bike but just couldn't get on with the low front and drop bars so swapped it for a carbon XC hardtail which was better but still not perfect. Swapped that for a carbon 120mm full suss that is more towards the trail end in geometry terms and love it. That's pretty much replaced my bigger bike as the most popular option.
If you ride gravel bikes and enjoy them you're more likely to get on with a proper XC weapon like the Epic imo. If any of that makes sense?
What's classed as a gravel ride nowadays? I only ask because I know that XC has moved on from 20 years ago - I assume the same applies?