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You can choose to trail ride on anything bar a DH bike, from a rigid singlespeed to a 170mm full-sus enduro monster. In fact I’ve seen that wide a variety of bikes on our group rides on twisty woodland singletrack.
Nothing new there. It's been like that for as long as I can remember. A very talented teenager in our group often rode his full on DH bike around the likes of Thetford and Swinley just so he could launch it off everything in sight. You might argue he was over-biked unless you saw the kind of improvised gap jumps he was doing.
I've always preferred longer travel trail bikes myself, having not ridden anything with less than 6" travel for the last 15 years. But now I feel that modern 5" bikes are more than enough for anything short of proper EWS terrain. Maybe the top 5% of riders might feel under gunned for pushing the limits, but the rest are just pretending unless their local trail is Fort William.
Just as 160 mm bikes are getting easier to pedal, shorter travel bikes are getting even easier and more capable of taking on the rough stuff. But the trails are not changing very much at all outside of race courses.
Went into Edinburgh Bike Coop to take a look at the Whyte 905 today (just in case the Bird Zero is rubbish or whatever) and saw an ex-demo Specialized Turbo Levo Comp for £2500. Looked brand new (guessing the demos are around the Meadows) and would have warranty/shop back up.
Gah - tempting!
Wait til you've ridden the Bird a couple of times then think of all the money you've saved. Loving mine.
“I’ve always preferred longer travel trail bikes myself, having not ridden anything with less than 6″ travel for the last 15 years. But now I feel that modern 5″ bikes are more than enough for anything short of proper EWS terrain. Maybe the top 5% of riders might feel under gunned for pushing the limits, but the rest are just pretending unless their local trail is Fort William.“
So you’ve always had at least 6” of travel but now that you’ve decided that you want less, then suddenly 95% of riders are “just pretending”?
Maybe you shouldn’t be judging competent riders if you’re a rider who says (to quote yourself) “I tend to ride mostly seated both up and down”? I mean WTF?!! Sitting down when going downhill?!!
“ an ex-demo Specialized Turbo Levo Comp for £2500”
My hardtail is a fairly awesomely spec’d Bird Zero AM. My full-sus is a base Turbo Levo with some choice upgrades. If you’re willing to chuck a big bike about then I really can’t fault it and it would be my one bike if I had to choose.
So you’ve always had at least 6” of travel but now that you’ve decided that you want less, then suddenly 95% of riders are “just pretending”?
Maybe you shouldn’t be judging competent riders if you’re a rider who says (to quote yourself) “I tend to ride mostly seated both up and down”? I mean WTF?!! Sitting down when going downhill?!!
I'm just saying 6" bikes have now grown way beyond anything I would ever need and would certainly slow me up compared to the latest crop of shorter travel bikes. But obviously I'm not in your kind of league. Happy to go for a ride though if you are ever around Woburn, so you can give me some riding tips.
I love that while people used to talk about how bikes felt to ride, now things just resolve into a endless statistical deluge of geometry figures: 'My reach is longer than yours etc'
ps: moshimonster, if it makes you feel better, I can never quite manage to expunge the memory of the video that chiefgroovewotnot once posted of himself nose-diving off a drop and straight over the bars. I kind of read anything he posts in the context of that, which may be unfair, but there you go 🙂
"ps: moshimonster, if it makes you feel better, I can never quite manage to expunge the memory of the video that chiefgroovewotnot once posted of himself nose-diving off a drop and straight over the bars. I kind of read anything he posts in the context of that, which may be unfair, but there you go 🙂"
I can never quite manage to expunge your response to that video and your consistently ****tish responses to my posts since then. Clearly you've never made a foolish mistake riding a bike as an exhausted new parent or learnt anything from any mistakes and become a better rider.
I can never quite manage to expunge your response to that video and your consistently **** responses to my posts since then. Clearly you’ve never made a foolish mistake riding a bike as an exhausted new parent or learnt anything from any mistakes and become a better rider.
I just find it all a bit incongruous that's all. I'm sure you're a much better rider than me and most of the other posters on here, but when you do the whole riding geometry expert thing, I just can't help remembering that video, which was proper nasty. Maybe that reflects more on me than you. Anyway, sorry if I caused offence. It genuinely wasn't meant in a nasty way.
I was recently very tempted by the new Radon Slide Trail. 29er, carbon front triangle and good spec for the money, start at under 2300 euros. In the end I decided I couldn't justify spending that amount so got a second hand hardtail. Still list after one though. They're very well thought of in Germany and starting to make more of an impression abroad.
"I’m sure you’re a much better rider than me and most of the other posters on here"
I doubt it, I'm an ok rider but I'm not an AWFUL rider. There's some really good riders on here!
"...when you do the whole riding geometry expert thing"
I'm a much better coach and engineer than I am athlete - when friends who are better riders than me are riding well I can see what they're doing and explain it to them, even though they don't realise it. I powerlift (badly) too and again I have a very good technical understanding and can analyse and advise lifters from beginners to a fairly high level, I just have that kind of eye and brain.
I'm the same when watching the World Cup DH - before the split times come up I can usually tell who's on a good run, better than the commentators. Sadly, this ability does not cross over into my sporting ability, where although I can be fairly good at something, put me in a high pressure sport situation like a race or competition and my brain goes all screwy and I totally forget how to perform (see old video disaster). Thankfully when playing bass, I'm not like that, I actually have a talent for making music happen (but I'm much better at making money from designing musical gear than making music!)
"Anyway, sorry if I caused offence. It genuinely wasn’t meant in a nasty way." Thank you, sorry for getting so wound up.
I think some of it is that internet thing where if you were one of my riding bunch in real life, we'd make fun of you - and each other - in a gentle way, but it would be really obvious that it wasn't meant maliciously. Sometimes that doesn't quite work on here 🙁
I still don't get all the geometry stuff though. It's just a string of random figures to me, though I get the basic idea. Just...
I was riding in Cumberland, British Columbia last week and hired a Marin Alpine Trail 7 for a day. It's brilliant! The bike I do most of my riding on has a frame only RRP similar to the full bike price, and to be honest it isn't much better or lighter. For your budget and requirements I think it would be ideal.
Tredz seem to have a 19" one in stock for £2,295.
I really liked the look of those Marin Alpine Trails too... I've always wanted a Marin since I was a kid. Before I decide to go cheaper I got put off the Marin due to all the marketing and reviews describing it as a good bike for "gravity oriented ridding"... Which didn't sound like what I do...
Finally got a chance to take the Bird Zero TR I got out today, after fixing an issue with the shifter and putting new brake pads in. The ad said the headset needed replacing, but it was just done up too tight. Like most things on it - previous owner must have been a gorilla.
Overall... It seems quite like my old bike. Which is good, as I liked my old bike. The head angle doesn't seem slacker. It should be, but then I'd raked the Titus out a little.
Wheelbase seems shorter and it's maybe a tiny little bit more nimble through tighter berms etc. Maybe not quite as fast rolling. The Brand X dropper is nicer than the Gravity Dropper I had before. The SLX brakes aren't quite as nice as the Hopes on my old bike.
The X Fusion shock isn't quite as stiff as my old Pike and was harder to get the air pressure right - full travel felt wallowy, taughter meant not getting full travel off jumps. Might replace this part some day
I do like the shorter seatpost though, can get further down for steep bits.
Overall, it's pretty competent in an unremarkable way, which, for £650, suits me fine!
I have a 2 month old Trance 2 for sale in the classifieds for £1500 that I paid £2400 for but have only rode twice.
https://singletrackworld.com/classifieds/advert/giant-trance-2-2019/
Thanks for the offer, but I already got a new bike