Ok – so I am wondering whether my Cannondale Jekyll needs upgrading to more travel. I have 135mm at the rear and am about to try and fit Shermans to the front

Anyway

What 'Do It All' bikes are out there that can handle anything fron XC to Trail to blasting down teh mountain in the Alps?

What does the Peanut Gallery think?

Would one need 160mm front and rear, more? is 150mm enough?

Does one need 1-1/5th head?

Orange 66?
Orange Alps?
Speshy Pitch?
Yeti AS-R7?

Your thoughts would be appreciated!

kind regards

Benjamin

Surely "do it all" must mean it can actually do it all. From xc race to dh runs. Wouldn't going for more travel ruin the idea? Unless you just want a big trail bike.

Sounds fine to me, so long as your not messing with the geo too much. Whats standard travel?

For XC & trail a Blue Pig

For the Alps DH stuff a DH bike off e-bay, Know a few peeeps who have gone down that route. Just ask yourself how often you NEED a big bike?

Dialled Alpine?

I would say that geometry and a durable frame/componentry are more important than travel. For a true "do-it-all" bike you need slacker geometry (around 67 degrees) for the descents, but also a steepish seat tube to help with climbing. However, it does depend on what your priorities are: If climbs are only a way to get to the descents for you, then you can build it so that it is biased more towards the descending part, and visa versa.

As well as those you mention, I would say these should also be looked at:

Lapierre Spicy
Banshee Rune or Spitfire
Marin Attack Trail
Trek Remedy
Spesh Enduro etc etc

Finally, a 1.5 headtube is the best bet, as it will allow you to run an angle reducer headset, if you want to slacken the head angle. As well as this, the extra size results in a stiffer/stronger front end with minimal weight gain.

jack of all trades, master of none

bionicon?
fully adjustable at the press of a button freind of mine has one thet iirc is 150 front and rear(new one got released this year cant remember the name) press the button and it changes the geo for climbing and its no heavy weight yet flies downhill

Secondhand Cannondale Prophet?
Shock in XC position for er…. XC and slacken things off in the FR setting for the DH stuff, with perhaps some bigger tyres.
With some U-turn forks it gives you loads of geometry options.

Depends what you mean by do it all. My idea of do it all today is very different to two years ago when my bike would have been more XC focused do it all.

That does really help though does it 😉

Think about where your riding is going and get a bike together based on that. As above geo is more important than travel.

Orange 5 AM with talas 36s.

Serious answer: Pronghorn LT. They are PHENOMENAL.
They've gone bust now, so you should get a bargain if you can find one.

I've got 6 mountain bikes in the shed. If I had to pick one, for all types of riding it would be a 100m travel hardtail
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29er!

The 'Last Herb AM' is on my list now – fastest trail bike on the planet apparently – according to those cunning linguists at Dirt mag.

One of them, a hardtail, a DH bike, oh and a road bike, and a hack bike, and a pub bike.

the only bike's you (ahem, I mean 'I') need 😉

All sorts of different answers there!

I have just got back into biking after a lonnng time…..too many knee problems.

Perhaps it is better to keep the Jekyll and cast about for a long travel steed if I ever travel to the Alps or travel up to Scotland. Being a hefty lard @rse – I do need a burlier frame!

Aside from that, I just wanted to start a thread and see what the other Forum members thought as I can always learn something new.

Thanks

Ben

can't believe no one has mentioned a heckler 😯
reasonably light weight, good descender, and not shy on the climbs.

yes, i know it's a yank!

Buy a decent lightweight HT for general riding, and 6" FS for the rest – with a couple of builds (say one light-esh and one heavy-esh).

I've a single HT frame, I've 120mm, 140mm and 150mm forks plus about 5 sets of wheels – with varying widths/tyres etc. Does everything from XC racing through to uplifts.

anotherstan – Member
can't believe no one has mentioned a heckler

Great bike, so long as you get a demo, because you'll probably need a size larger than you would for any other manufacturer.
Lets just say it, pretty much any of the 140mm trail bikes would be ok, theres not a really any awful bikes in that market and pretty much all of them would put up with the kind of riding most of us could dish out to one.

Ok – so I am wondering whether my Cannondale Jekyll needs upgrading to more travel. I have 135mm at the rear and am about to try and fit Shermans to the front

Great bike, as long as the shock is still in ok condition and you can still get the parts for it, why change it? They're great all round trail bikes.

Personally, wouldn't put Shermans on it though. I had a set, as did a mate, they performed ok for a bit, but are just a whole lot less reliable than Rockshox or Marzocchi…

Personally, I still reckon that a 135mm travel Jekyll with a decent 130mm travel fork up front, and some modern kit on, would be an awesome "do it all" bike. Light enough to race, enough travel to get you out of trouble on most trails, and tough enough to deal with the DH tracks…

I've got a 160-170mm travel full sus bike, and I can tell you they ARE NOT "do it all" bikes… They go down hills very well, but unless the trails are always extreme it will be very boring to ride as it will just steamroller over everything! They also tend to be a bind to climb on, yes you can do it, but lose 2 inches of travel and 5lb of weight off the bike and it will go uphills a whole lot faster!

"Do it all" is so hard to pin down

I clicked expecting to see a what off roader I can tour/commute on question

Thats not to say what you want isn't "Do it all"

My boring advice would be that your bike has enough travel until you start riding trails where you find that you need more travel

I'm a bit new to full suspension and haven't done anything that core on it but my fuel ex with 130mm of travel feels quite versatile to me…..

i think a 'do it all' bike is more about rider than the bike….

>Serious answer: Pronghorn LT. They are PHENOMENAL.
They've gone bust now, so you should get a bargain if you can find one. <

Then pray nothing breaks? 😉

Cube Fritzz if you are looking at Spicys and their ilk..

Do it all pretty meaningless really – people can and do ride the Alps on hardtails 😉

I swapped the old enduro for a SC Heckler last week in the attempt to go more 'do it all' I have to say I'm impressed. Good climbing angles. 30lbs so not too heavy. Only one slight criticism, I'd probably slacken the HA by 1 to 1.5 degrees. Apart from that, goes up well, down well and can be ridden all day. I'm a happy chappy so far.

Is this the bit where we all post our own bikes, and add "ftw" or "/thread" at the end?

Cool.

Ibis Mojo ftw. /thread

Or do we have to post that it's all about the bike, not the rider? If that's the case…

You could ride the alps on a penny farthing. I've personally singlespeeded my steel lugged tourer down super morzine and overtook 462 DHers who were mincing on £7000 thermoplastic 19inch travel super bikes. Oh, and they had dogs with them that bit me then a car pulled out without looking and ran me over.

I've got a 160-170mm travel full sus bike, and I can tell you they ARE NOT "do it all" bikes… They go down hills very well, but unless the trails are always extreme it will be very boring to ride as it will just steamroller over everything!

That may be true, but then you just ride faster. You really need to use them to push your limits, or else what is the point in getting one.

I have to admit that since I got my Banshee, my riding has become more dh orientated. I think it was headed in that direction anyway, but this bike has really opened up a different style of riding.

As mentioned above, I've come to the conclusion that you can do it all on one bike, but it won't be as much fun as if you have two – a long travel HT and a 6 inch bike with varying builds as mentioned above. I've got:

Marin Rocky Ridge – Surrey singletrack 27lb
Nomad light(er) build – Rocky scotish stuff 34lb
Nomad heavy build – Alps 38lb

That said i do need to eat a big sandwich of MTFU when ever swapping from the Marin to the SC…

Meta 6? My 5.5 has proved to be more than up for anything I've thrown at it, the extra half inch of the 6 should give that little bit more in the downs.
and who wouldn't want an extra half inch?

Can't believe no one has mentioned the Orange 5 or Blur LT.

ellsworth epiphany.. although i havent done it all on my one yet. still need to experience the breakage.

That may be true, but then you just ride faster. You really need to use them to push your limits, or else what is the point in getting one.

I have to admit that since I got my Banshee, my riding has become more dh orientated. I think it was headed in that direction anyway, but this bike has really opened up a different style of riding.

Yeah, but what if your trails don't allow it, cos you don't live in Wales, Scotland or the Alps? For some of us, sadly our local rides are a bit tame for much more than a rigid bike or a hardtail. I love my Giant Reign X, it's awesome and I can ride XC on it, climb hills etc. but then rip the DH's. But sadly, most of my local rides would really not be fun on it, cos they're too tame!

As mentioned above, I've come to the conclusion that you can do it all on one bike, but it won't be as much fun as if you have two – a long travel HT and a 6 inch bike with varying builds as mentioned above. I've got:

Personally, I've found doubling that number to 4 helps significantly with the fun levels! 😉

You should change the name "do it all" to "all i do". Most of us do different mixes of riding thats why we all differ in opinion.

My "do it all" at the moment is an "05 Enduro SX Trail with Lyric Ccoil forks & Rear Pushed Fox float ti coil shock. Can ride that up everything I need to, and have fun on DH courses in the Alps which im doing now. I tookit to Glentress & Inners a few weeks back too.

Ive left my Cove STD at home cos although its mega brilliant on DH I cant ride it up . I also left my dialled Alpine at home cos I prefer full sus comfort in the Alps. I am trying a bit of singletrack up here in Saalbach now so i need to be able to climb too.

heckler. db alpine.

A rigid bike always did everything 15 years ago so why not now?

Not much fun riding a rigid on an alpine DH course. It will raise your voice a few octaves i guess! A lot has happened both to courses, bikes and the way we ride in the last 15yrs!! I remember my first "MTB" about 20yrs ago…rubbish in todays standards…I suppose that was ok as my riding wasnt that good then anyway. Im deinitely an advocate of having more than 1 bike!

Can't believe no one has mentioned the Orange 5 or Blur LT.

I will.

Had both (5AM & LTc) the LTc is better IMO and the bike I kept. I now have a coil shock for bigger days and riding in europe and the monarch 4.2 for my normal trails.

The orange was a good bike but something didn't feel right. I find that single pivot bikes end up feeling wooden, like they are over damped to reduce bob but then lifeless when descending.

The blur is definitely a 'do it all bike'.

There's always got to be a tradeoff, particularily at the extremes of use, "do it all" isn't that hard to do but "do it all well", nothing does that IMO. But, some sort of big and chunky slack trail bike with a bit of adjustability and a few changes of tyres can do most things pretty well these days, a Five or Heckler or Zesty or whatever else with a not-too-heavy but not-too-weak build is a seriously capable thing.

My Hemlock can do it all, it's been down a world cup DH route and a world cup XC route and was good at both, but there's always a sacrifice. A £1000 halfords XC bike would be better for simple local XC than it is, and a Bighit would be better for full on DH than it is. But, it's a bike I know I can take anywhere and ride whatever's there on it.

morewood shova?

Lapierre Spicy

Just got mine, it climb as well as my 110mm bike, and is as good downhill as my DH bike.

If you knock off racing XC and Racing DH, I think and half decent FS from 125-150mm with a trail bias will be your best do-it-all.

I don't think you can do it if you throw in the racing and free-riding.