[Closed] can you use a 4x bike as a general bike?

course you can as long as you don't plan on super long rides 2 - 3 hours and you'll be fine.

depends on how you view climbing? an integral part of a ride or something to be suffered just to get you to the top again...

I have a Commencal Absolut 4x that I use for a variety of different riding. Apart from being good at, the obvious, jump spots and bmx/4x tracks, it's great in singletrack and general mucking about in the woods and I've even taken it to DH courses. However it's a lot shorter and more squat than a regular bike so it's not pleasant to ride for long periods of time when there's climbing involved, it does climb alright but it's not a bike you can ever really sit down on.

I would guess that if your tall its probably not the best of ideas but if your shorter then it might make sense.

Anyhoo look at the next issue because they are doing a group test.

No offence glyn, but isnt this a bit of a I want a time trial bike to race on, but also to carry my shoping bags off of the tri bars, Will this work? sort of question. I think you know what you want and should just buy it and learn from your mistakes.
I think the answer is it will go up hill if you can pedal it that hard and yes you could ride the coast to coast on it, but it just wouldn't be that comfortable. A mate of mine rides a 13" frame jump bike with about two inches of seat post and still whips us around most rides. He just constantly moans about his back problems, his screwed up knees and his numb plums. Take from that what you will.

I spent some time with a yeti 4x at the weekend.

I called Evolution this morning.

One will arrive tomorrow.

I did say i wasnt going to buy any more bikes. However, this is ace.

Its a special project one too, no 69/100

Pwned.

Way to go Genks! Is The Peter gonna be sold? Wait till Al finds out - he'll rip the p!ss.

I know people that ride them as their trail bikes with a slammed down seat, but then they do all (and I mean all) their climbing out of the saddle. I don't know how they do it, but they prove it can be done. They're ace fun for the good bits, so it's just down to how far you can compromise.

Only thing to check is the seat tube angle, if its slack then pedalling with the seat fully up, and especially climbing, will be hard work.

My Dialled has a 22 inch top tube and Im 6foot2, its not too bad and I just live with it so I can have fun on the downhills

No way am i selling the zesty!!!

Well, i recently built up an old Planet X Jackflash, with the intention to solely use it for jumps etc. But its proven to be more adaptable than that... Yesterday i took it on a 3 hour xc ride... I'd say if it has a longish top tube, and not too slack head angle you will be ok. My only problems, are the seat post is too short for proper seated pedalling, and it surrently weighs about 32 pounds... Oh an i only have a 38 tooth ring at the front. I wouldnt want to use it somewhere like the peaks, for an all day rides, but for a blast in the woods, its ok.

It was hard to climb on, fun on anything downhill, and OK on inbetewwn stuff.

So yeah, you can.

check out this article
http://www.leelikesbikes.com/setting-up-a-ds4x-suspension-bike-for-trail-riding.html

a 4X frame is a very specific frame geometry imo.
quite steep too iirc

surely you would be better off just getting what you would normally get, but a size smaller, with a slightly longer and laid back seatpost?

I don't ride a 4x frame, but I ride a NS Bikes Surge which is pretty jumpy and sized at 15.5", I'm 5'11. I use it for all my riding, xc, dh, jumping etc... I can happily ride it all day but I've definitely got slower going up hills from my last bike! Not a problem for me really as I just slog up the hills and live for the downhills, does mean that people have to wait though....the solution to which is just ride more and get faster on it!

Normally 4x bikes are not steep in the HA (mine is 68). Though there's a lot of variance between different manufacturers. Some are more like dirt jump bikes.

A smaller sized regular bike that compares in seat tube height (which is part of what makes them so nimble) would probably be too short.

Yeah mine is the first bike i pick up for bimbly rides down the sea front or jumping/posing sessions, but for XC its just too cramped.

I run my Blur 4X as a "trail" bike although in reality I don't think the Blur 4X is a "proper" 4X bike. It is definitely on the short side for all-day rides but I have spent 5 or 6 hrs on it without too many problems. If I were doing more than that I would just stick a slightly longer stem on and live with the compromise. The Blur 4X has a steep seat tube so seated climbing is fine. The only thing I want to add is an adjustable seat post because to make sense of the bike on the fun bits and the downs I tend to have the saddle quite low and it is a pain in the @rse stopping to lift it up to a more appropriate height for climbing.

Hell yeah! Especially for the vertically challenged. Stick a slightly longer fork on the front to slacken the angles a tad and you have a perfect short-travel d/h bike too 😈 . Loved my Tazer to bits but sadly sold it last month to fund a longer travel bike. However, I really missed the chuckability and pop of the Tazer, hence [url= http://mamadirt.fotopic.net/p60337895.html ]Tazer No 2[/url] 😛 . Just got back from it's first proper ride - despite running 140mm up front it feels less slack than my older Tazer (may be due to the lower front end, shorter headtube and reducer headset) but is just as confidence inspiring on drops and tech d/h - climbs fantastically too - it rocks!!!!! And at just 5'2" it's the first full-susser I've owned that actually has standover clearance - yay!

Only thing to check is the seat tube angle, if its slack then pedalling with the seat fully up, and especially climbing, will be hard work.

I never realised the importance of this until I owned an Original Intense Tazer (interupted seat tube, VERY laid back) that I had intended to use for a bit of all round riding (though not for proper XC). There was NO WAY I could climb on it at all as the seat angle was way too slack... Handled like a dream on the downs though!

mamadirt that bike looks the dogs b's i am also very small at 5'4" and own a tracer which I am putting 160mm forks on. I fancied either getting the trcer or the tazer for a general mucking about bike, so give me some more feedback on yours.
Cheers!

yeti 4x for sale if you're interested. its a long so plenty roomy!

What would you like to know Glyn? I did demo a small Tracer at Cwmcarn a few months ago - loved it - climbing was a blast but it felt steeper and longer than my Tazer - at the time I was running 130mm Drop Offs and to be fair the Tracer did have a longer stem than I would run. Actual toptube length on the new Tazer is 21.5" (slightly longer than the older model) and the back end is a tad shorter (don't reckon you'd want bigger than 2.1 tyres in there).

mamadirt, could you ride it all day for extended periods? I was on a morewwod 4x bike last week and while it was great for bombing about the woods, I want to be able to take it to Glentress and be able to get up the climbs ok as well as enjoying the descents. it just seems to me that a bike with slacker angles would be better for trail centres etc than you typical steep CC race bikes, they are very good at what they do but when you are a little short in the trouser the its hard to get a good fit.

Reckon I certainly could Glyn - don't do many all dayers though. I remember being very pleasantly surprised last year just after I bought my first Tazer and took it to mid-Wales for an all day ride. Despite its slack angles with the Drop Offs up front it coped really well with the climbs - I thought this was prob due to the short toptube and being able to get more over the front to keep it planted. The newer one climbs just as well but requires much less body English to keep the front end down - no wandering at all. I had initially planned to fit something like 120mm Floats up front once I've cleared my debts 🙄 as Intense recommend 100-120mm forks but at the mo' I'm more than happy with the Marz 55s at 140mm (I made the mistake of dropping the fork travel on the old Tazer and although it felt waay more nippy I lost confidence on the downhills).

Thanks for that mamadirt, now you have made me even more crazy as I cant decide what bike to get. I think a four cross on a wee person would be more of an all round bike but on a big guy it would be too small and only really suited to 4x etc

I think a four cross on a wee person would be more of an all round bike but on a big guy it would be too small and only really suited to 4x etc

Yep, spot on . . . sometimes being vertically challenged has its advantages 😛 . Kona are one of the few companies who make their 4X type bikes (Howler, Cowan DS and currently the Bass) in larger sizes too. Had a couple of Cowan DS frames which I ran singlespeed - lovely little bikes.

Only thing to check is the seat tube angle, if its slack then pedalling with the seat fully up, and especially climbing, will be hard work.

I never realised the importance of this until I owned an Original Intense Tazer (interupted seat tube, VERY laid back) that I had intended to use for a bit of all round riding (though not for proper XC). There was NO WAY I could climb on it at all as the seat angle was way too slack... Handled like a dream on the downs though!

Couldn't agree more. I push up, ride down. running XC tyres helps but climbing with the slack seat angle is horrible

just went on a 2 hour blast on my planet x again... It shouldnt be so much fun... I can see the other bikes not getting used much for a while...

Mamadirt - lovely new tazer there.
I would love one, however at 6'3" I think even the long would betoo small as an all round bike.

markd - Member
No way am i selling the zesty!!!

Ha ha. Been said before and duly noted.