Forum menu
Looking for a modern geo hardtail, but for XC racing, light trail rather than full enduro smashing.
What options are there for under £1000?
There's plenty of ~70 degree head angle short wheelbase XC options, but I simply don't find those bikes fun after riding more modern geo bikes. All the 'hardcore hardtails' seem to be built up burly with 160mm forks, but I want something light that pedals really well, but still feels stable.
This looks a good deal, https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/cube-reaction-tm-27-5-hardtail-bike-2018/rp-prod164834 but they don't have it in large so it's a bit short.
Not super fussy on spec, just needs to be light and with good frame geo.
Any ideas?
Longish, lowish, slackish. Light, wideish wheels. Dropper. Light overall, considering it runs dropper and big stanchioned 120mm fork.
Love mine 😎
Bird Zero TR? It's not XC race bike light but it's pretty light.
Cotic Bfe with a 120mm fork?
67 degree head angle, 74 degree seat angle, 428mm chainstays.
Frame is £499, with a good hunt around for second hand parts I reckon you could build it for close to the budget.
XC racing and Long / Low / Slack don't really go together. You might get towards a 68 deg HA on something like a Cannondale FSi, but you're not going to get one of those for a grand, and whatever you get it ain't gonna be "light" for that money either
Bird Zero TR?
Yeah, they are perfect frames. Over budget sadly, but the spec is great. Ideally one of them with poverty spec components ha.
That Marin looks pretty spot on. Ill investigate!
XC racing and Long / Low / Slack don’t really go together
I don't really see why not. Slackness doesn't affect climbing that much imo, and I see no reason why XC bikes are short, seem to be that you want stability? Same with low, whats the downside for racing?
whatever you get it ain’t gonna be “light” for that money either
That's true. But 12kg/27lbs for a bike that's £1k isn't bad....it's just not 'good'...
You aren’t getting a Cotic bfe or Bird Zero for £1k - even with very cheap secondhand parts you’re going to struggle - frame and half decent fork will take up a lot of that - add in group set and wheels and it doesn’t leave much (if anything) for all the other bits you need.
I think for £1k new you aren’t going to get light / strong / decent trail geometry.
How about this:
I think it’s largely the same as the Vitus Sentier vrx+ Frame I’ve bought which has sensible geometry. 66 degrees ish head angle and an average reach - without being either extremely long and slack or old style short and steep.
Built up with Pikes / gx 11 speed / Dt Swiss e1900 wheels / Maxxis exo dhr2 and Magic Mary 2.35 tyres / some cheapish but heavy finishing parts it’s around 29lbs so not too heavy. Without the ludicrously heavy seatpost and quite weighty wheels and maybe with lighter / more xc tyres you could easily slash some weight from that.
Do you want a full bike for under £1k?
Maybe one of the Vitus HTs from CRC when they come back in. I was racing a Cotic Solaris mk2 that I just sold for well under £1k, with a good spec.That wasn't light but it was "light enough" - and very nice to ride.
Maybe secondhand is the way to go anyway?
I don’t really see why not. Slackness doesn’t affect climbing that much imo, and I see no reason why XC bikes are short, seem to be that you want stability? Same with low, whats the downside for racing?
Same as big wheels on DH/enduro bikes. Fashion.
XC riders are all wannabe roadies* with predisposition towards keeping things close to road bikes, short travel, hardtail usually, steep angles.
DH/enduro bros are all roadophobes* and want everything as far away from a traditional road bike as possiblee, slack, long travel, small wheels cos that's what was on their DJ bikes and it's a bit stronger.
In reality there's more in common, but the feeling of speed or security as appropriate leads to people preferring different bikes for these things, even though they might offer no speed advantage or possibly a disadvantage in their chosen discipline. FWIW I reckon within reason the DH/enduro guys are closer to getting it right, except for the wheel size.
But the net result is you often have to choose one or the other. I think it was a Scott or a Giant I was reading about recently that had proper width bars and much slacker angles than they would've 2-3 years ago. But it's by no means all manufacturers offering this sort of bike. Therefore getting one cheap is tricky.
*Massive sweeping generalisation.
Or pick up a lightly used Boardman Pro 29er (black and green one) and upgrade the wheels, adding a dropper too if you want. Go a size up and they are long enough.
That's what I'd do if I wanted a cheap XC/trail bike.