Calibre Line T3 29 review

The Calibre Line T3 29 is a mighty fine first ‘proper mountain bike’, that will be a trusty trail buddy for many years afterwards.

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By ben_haworth

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https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/calibre-line-t3-29-review/

Nice review. And nice to see some decent budget bikes get a proper review.

I’m currently riding it’s predecessor the Line 29 and the only things I’ve had to change were the tyres, pedals, a 200m dropper and a -2 angleset to bring the head angle down to 63.5* which suits my riding a bit better.

For a bike that I bought as a stop gap in 2020 during COVID with the aim to get shot of it within 12 months has now been hammered at FOD, BPW and Cwmcarn, bike packed across Dartmoor, spent a week in Morzine, been fitted with a shotgun seat and hammered around numerous pumptracks. Not bad for £800. I’m glad someone at Calibre realised that good geometry does cost anymore than bad geometry.

pooiunt?

is 65.5 deg really considered steep for a hardtail? It didn’t seem there was anything mainstream that slack 3 years ago

My first “proper” mtb was a Calibre Two.Two, RRP of £399 but I got it on offer for around £250 IIRC.
Great bike and specced very well for its price – when it was eventually stolen the insurance paid out over £700 for it because the 2.2 was discontinued and that was the price of the closest equivalent!

https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/mountain-bikes/calibre-two-two-review

Anyway, I’m sure this is a great bike but somewhat shocked that £1200 is considered beginner territory nowadays. Will admit I haven’t looked at the price of bikes over the last few years but wow… wasn’t the Bossnut even under £1000?

For me, a head angle around 65 degrees is the sweet spot for a hardtail 29er. I’d say the geometry is spot on for a do anything hardtail.

I used to have a HT with a 65 degree head angle and I wouldn’t want to go back to that tbh. I haven’t gotten to the point where I find a head angle to be “too slack” and my current bike is probably around 63ish.

That said this does look pretty decent all round to me and I’m sure wouldn’t hold you back particularly.

Regarding hardtail geometry I like to use Andrew Major’s (NSMB and Meat Engines) rule of -2. I prefer my hardtail to have a head angle and seat angle 2 degrees slacker than my full sus to take into account the geometry changes from just the fork sagging/compressing. It’s worked well for me in recent years on a 130-140mm hardtail. I also like.

My hardtail to have as low a seat tube as possible (with a 200mm+ dropper) and a shorter reach than a 160-180mm full sus bike. I think my ideal seat tube length is about 425mm with enough space to fit a 200mm dropper.