Late night pondering, do I need a mountain bike?

I don’t have a mountain bike at the moment, I have a gravel bike which I like and does me just fine. I live in a nice area but the mtbing is awful and uninspiring but fun on the gravel bike.

Some friends have started mtbing again but both on E-bikes, we’ve been out a few times and this has me thinking I might get another mtb. I live in mid essex but will travel, Thetford, Bedgebury and Swinley etc.

So this brings me to my late night pondering and options

1. Do nothing, stay as I am and if we go somewhere cool like the lakes, peaks or Coed y Brenin (which won’t be that often) and just hire a bike.

2. Get a second hand hardtail (which have always been my bike of choice) something like a Stif Squatch, BFe, Slackline etc and keep the gravel bike or

3. Sell the gravel bike whilst it has some decent value to it and purchase something like a Cotic Solaris with 130mm fork and the also have a nice rigid fork because i do enjoy a good gravel pootle and still don’t need a mtb for where I live.

Apologies for my ramblings, had a late night brew!

2.

If you like your Current bike keep it and enjoy it.

I looked at hiring bikes. It limits you to trail centers and the like. It also limits you to what you can book.

2

I’d say 3. because I have a solarismax and ride it as an XC and gravel bike and when friends ride their gravel bikes I ride it and laugh at them looking stupid when we do anything singletrack-ish (which I try to plan into any routes)

3

But buy some more tyres too.

I do like shopping so it is between 2 and 3 at the moment.

2.

You want to keep the bike that makes your local riding the most fun, the most satisfying, otherwise you’re in danger of resenting where you live or the bike you’ve got.

Look harder, 4 is the one.

I do like shopping so it is between 2 and 3 at the moment.

… I mean that green Cotic is looking pretty sparkly right now ;)

Own the bike that suits your local riding? Driving to ride is not sustainable.

If you have money to spend get a bike that better suits your local riding.

Can you not gravel bike on a HT ? THat’s what i’d do… just do your gravel riding on that and your MTBing on that too. If you want to be crazy get a 2nd set of wheels and stick some fast rolling rubber on 1 set and more burly stuff on the 2nd and swap about for a given day.

At the end of the day if you do a 1 hour ride on a gravel bike and the same ride on a XC shod HT, it’d take about 2 minutes different.

Hmmm now I’m leaning towards number 3 and yes most likely in the green although if they did green/purple fade.

I don’t suppose anyone is in the market for a gravel bike are they?

3. Sell the gravel bike whilst it has some decent value to it and purchase something like a Cotic Solaris with 130mm fork and the also have a nice rigid fork because i do enjoy a good gravel pootle and still don’t need a mtb for where I live.

This, then get a 2nd set of wheels for the hardtail with gravel tyres. Don’t bother with the fork.

Unless you do a load of road stuff the hardtail won’t be that much slower than a gravel bike.

do I need a mountain bike?
I live in mid essex

No. 😉

This, then get a 2nd set of wheels for the hardtail with gravel tyres. Don’t bother with the fork.

Unless you do a load of road stuff the hardtail won’t be that much slower than a gravel bike.

I said that 2 posts ago :P :P :P

N+1 = 2 Certainly in this case.

My standard response to anyone asking ‘do I need a mountain bike’ ever, will always be ‘yes damnit!’

I said that 2 posts ago

Another vote for that option 😉😁

It’s what I’m doing/did, sold my gravel bike and replaced it with a hardtail with a burly set of 29″ wheels and a (to be built) set of 27.5 3″ gravel wheels.

2 for defo IMO. If you sell the bike you use the most and enjoy you will regret it but new (to you) bikes are always fun.

I have a gravel bike and have really enjoyed exploring around my local area, linking roads to bridleways, canals, etc. When I got it I also considered a XC HT as an alternative so when On One were knocking out rigid Whippets cheap I got one to compare. Having ridden plenty of the same routes on both there’s not that much difference in pace (although the XC bike is slower) but the Whippet just feels like harder work for the same result, especially on road sections. When the terrain gets a bit naughtier the flat, wide bars come in to their own but the vast majority of the rides I do on the GB don’t involve anything too rough.

That’s not to say I don’t like the Whippet but it won’t replace the Trig. I’ll probably fit some suss forks at some point so it sits neatly between the Trig and my Stage 5.

4) Move house ?

Id go option 2

There is no point selling the gravel bike which suits your local needs and you enjoy riding

My gravel bike doubles up as a road bike, im happy doing 100 mile road rides, gravel rides and even blue routes on it, anything more than that then the hardtail is used or for just pure fun then the e-mtb

The only time id pick option 3 is if was limited on storage space

oh god. I think I’m going to keep the gravel, I would miss it and Mrs Teadrinker likes the odd gravel.
Now considering option 2 but I’ve somehow also added an E-mtb from Orbea in to the mix.

Realistically, how much road stuff do you do on gravel rides? Road sections, especially on bigger rides are just so much better on drops so if you do a lot of that, keep the gravel bike.

Option 2 if you can afford it, option 3 if you can’t.

Controversial opinion warning: Grave bikes are pointless when decent hardtail options exist that are more capable and offer greater flexibility

2

(2)

what you want to do – riding wise – and what time and geography often limit you to, are so far apart that “one bike to do it all” would be a miserable compromise for one or the other. Or possibly both.

If you aren’t constrained by storage space, 2 bikes is the answer.

Controversial opinion warning: Grave bikes are pointless when decent hardtail options exist that are more capable and offer greater flexibility

Not just controversial but also completely wrong.

2. Don’t sell the gravel bike, especially if it’s what gets you out the house locally. Get a steel HT for riding elsewhere. Double the bikes means half the maintenance too doesn’t it?

The correct answer is always to buy another bike.

3.

Or 4. Get a Cascade…