[Closed] Would 120mm be fine for red and black trails?

My ride style is [s]I tend to ride aggressively and to thrash about and nail berms some decents and good trail riding but not a jumper or ride off big drops[/s] mincer

That red one's pretty!

Either, or. You clearly don't know what the **** you're on about so get the one you like the look of the most (which is the red one :))

2 different bikes really, one is plus with squishy rubber the other is longer travel - think it was reviewed here, the commencal would be my bet being slacker and more fun looking

Any mountain bike is fine for what you are doing.

would a 120mm travel be fine for red and black trails

No, impossible, you need another 30mm of travel for that.

angles make more difference than travel in a lot of cases (and when casing)

There is no definitive answer to this.

The longer the fork the better suited to going in a straight line over rough stuff, the shorter the better for going around corners.

FWIW the best effect of changing fork length I have ever noticed was losing 1" of axle-crown by switching out a 130mm coil recon for a 120mm reba on a 456 evo 2 26er. It really did unlock the handling of that bike.

Since then (it was nicked) I have used 140mm Sektors on a 45650b (a good if unspectacular bike) which then cracked, so I put the fork into a Dartmoor Primal 27.5 frame which handles much, much better.

If in doubt, I'd err on the side of shorter travel fork, but have a look at the BB height and see which bike would accommodate a shortening or lengthening of fork travel better, then you at least have the best one for swapping the fork (if the bank balance allows).

Oh, and the guys above are right - geometry is far more important and generally speaking it is better to have less travel but of a higher quality (i.e. if all the damping etc is better).

The commencal looks nicer.

[img] [/img]

Any bike will do, its just a matter of what suits you and what you can put up with.

All trail centres are different, you adapt yourself to them on whatever bike your on.

Recently I rode Afan on my Capra (big Enduro bike) and rode it on my Scott, 120mm XC bike. Both did a fine job and both left me happy. I just altered my riding style and expectations slightly.

Recently I rode Afan on my Capra (big Enduro bike) and rode it on my Scott, 120mm XC bike. Both did a fine job and both left me happy. I just altered my riding style and expectations slightly.

I ride everything on a rigid bikes. Trail centers are probably the easiest things on a rigid bike as they're so predictable!

I'd go with shorter travel and slacker angles if I was buying a bike purely for man-made trails. There isn't really any need for much travel as you're not dealing with long rocky sections which would sap your speed, and all the jumps have nice mellow transitions, so you need just enough travel to keep control. So hardtails are a great choice!

TBH, I'd go with neither, the fork on the Trek will be a letdown, the Commencal I personally think hardtails stop making sense past 130mm of travel, past that they feel like you just have a waste of fork on the front as the back won't follow it.

If it were my money, I'd be looking at a second hand Genesis Tarn off Ebay (there's a medium Tarn 20 for <£600 a the moment), and if I was worried about a 2nd hand bike, either a bike maintenance book or a course with the spare cash.

I ride everything on a rigid bikes. Trail centers are probably the easiest things on a rigid bike as they're so predictable!

You need to go to better trail centres

That aint your average Welsh/Scottish red or black is it though? That's an EWS stage in Australia.

Still looks crap 🙂

true but it is my local, TBH my wrists would object to riding most UK trail centres rigid, unless you want to prove a point why bother 😉

I ride only rigid, nowt to prove it's just cheaper in the long run

Thanks all for your input so far. Im curious why bit of negative thiughts on plus size wheels bikes, there not too bad etc no ine even tried one.? At mo currently thinking building up new Commencal Meta HT frame i got still the 2016 model i got cheap new from Commencal. I could build that instead with 140mm forks so balance of the 120 - 150 mm forks.

I did enjoy the Trek with plus tyres. Thought it rode up and went down fine.

Sorry for typos as im not the greatest with typing on a tablet. Or spelling ;p

To answer the original question - Red and Black Trails can both be comfortably ridden with 120mm of travel.

150mm of travel may be overkill for some of the riding you do (especially if you are a mincer on the drops etc.)

As to Plus, I have no experience here so will shut up.

Of those two bikes, I'd buy the Commencal.

unless you want to prove a point why bother

You live in Australia

[img] [/img]

We live in Britain

[img] [/img]

120mm? Are you mental? Certain death 😯

Thanks all for your input so far. Im curious why bit of negative thiughts on plus size wheels bikes, there not too bad etc no ine even tried one.? At mo currently thinking building up new Commencal Meta HT frame i got still the 2016 model i got cheap new from Commencal. I could build that instead with 140mm forks so balance of the 120 - 150 mm forks.

Nothing wrong with big tyres (my only MTB is a fat bike right now). They do struggle in mud though, but that's rarely an issue on a man-made trail.

The other issue is are you as GNARRR as you say you are? The faster you ride the less benefit you get from big tyres. I can pull my fat tyres off the rims at Swinley (humblebrag) if I run them at normal fat bike pressures (<10psi), so they end up at >15psi which makes them feel quite hard and the bike reacts like you's expect. On natural trails without the unlimited grip of Swinley I don't corner anywhere near as fast and have no problems at 8psi or even lower.

If your budget is limited but you're mechanically competent enough to build a bike, you could always start off spending most of your budget on a frame, forks, wheels and tyres which make 95% of the bikes performance. Then some deore brakes, singlespeed, and bargain basement finishing kit. You'll perhaps have to replace all those at some point but they're cheaper than buying an OK bike to start with then blowing the budget with a fork upgrade. If you wanted somethign really hardcore you could get a Last Fastforward frame, revelation RCT3 forks within your budget, but then that relies on you having a somewhat well stocked spares box in the garage for everything else!

I'd get the red one it's nicer.

I tend to ride aggressively

Bet you go down a storm with the other trail centre riding peeps, try being more polite and then life will become easier.

The OP is 661 blue pyjama boy and I claim my £5.

Op, you have 20mm more travel than you need.

Steve_b77

Oh I've not seen him for ages matt we need pix 🙂

No, impossible, you need another 30mm of travel for that.

No. no. no - that would make you overbiked by approximately 12.5mm, fACT!

I would imagine a 2018 120mm Meta Trail hard tail is not far from being launched - would that be a better compromise.

Head angle on the Trek looks to cause certain death.

Either would be fine - just obviously they'd be slower than a decent FS.

The bikes are actually quite different - the 150mm travel commencal has a 65 degree head angle - whereas the Trek has a 68 degree head angle. So the trek is likely to steer sharper on twisty trails, but the commencal is more laid back and will probably be more stable on steep / fast trails.

In terms of spec I think the fork is better on the commencal - I'm assuming the recon is moco rather than turnkey damping?

The commencal is also a bit lighter. Brakes are both not too great - not sure which is better.

I'd go for the commencal I think.

How about a vitus sentier? CRC have it on sale for £889 [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-bikes-sentier-vrs-hardtail-bike-slx-1x11-2017/rp-prod146561 ]http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-bikes-sentier-vrs-hardtail-bike-slx-1x11-2017/rp-prod146561[/url]

I'd add the 2018 Vitus sentier to the list, recon gold RL, full SRAM NX 1x11, and a choice of either 27.5+ or 29er versions, 130mm on the 29er and 140mm on the plus model, £1000 so £900 after the CRC discount.

Also they've gone to boost spacing for 2018, and proper boost with a thru axle, not the crappy "boost QR 141*9mm' on the Roscoe.

Either would be fine - just obviously they'd be slower than a [s]decent FS[/s] rigid singlespeed.