Am currently window shopping for a ‘ride in the mountains’ bike to replace my knackered old rockhopper. I think something like the Broken Road will fit my bill of a bit of bikepacking as well as something that can tackle the stuff that’s too much for my gravel bike. I’ll probably ride it at a trail centre too. Budget is in the 2k region (can stretch for something awesome).

My rockhopper is from 2006 so I am very much out of date with everything* and have no clue what’s on offer. Are there any other bikes I should look at that are aimed at the same thing? I’m not dead set on titanium as long as I can get something reasonably light. I’m fairly certain I want front suspension.

*things I haven’t owned on an MTB include tapered steerers, dropper posts, wheels other than 26″, boost** and any chainset that isn’t a triple

**I don’t really know what this is, I’ve been riding road bikes a lot.

Just the broken road then? Maybe I’ll get that.

Secondary question: Worth paying a bit more for the reba over the recon if I go for the factory build?

I can’t answer your questions specifically, but if you’re anywhere near any of the Alpkit shops you can demo the bike for free – or you can pay to have a demo bike sent to you. I’ve not ridden the Broken Road, but I’ve had a Transmitter for a couple of years and been really happy with it. Neil at Sonder’s great at answering questions in a no-nonsense sort of way, maybe drop him a line if there’s anything specific you want to know about the bike and specs.

Broken road is aimed squarely at bike packing, a lot of reposts it handles the trails well too. It on my list for the future. Boost is just the spacing of the rear hub/axle.

Definitely worth it to get the Reba. Wheels are heavy on the spec build but easy to drop that weight later on

Thanks for the replies. The heavy wheel situation is amlost making me think of buying frame only then building myself. What could possibly go wrong with that?

Anyway, still wondering if there are any other bikes I should look at for this kind of use. Surely someone else is making light-ish bikepacking MTBS?

Loads of designed for bike packing bikes out there.

I suppose this might be a start https://bikepacking.com/bikes/

I’ve a Broken Road btw, love it.

Recons are heavy – they’re an OK budget fork but I think I’d be disappointed with them on a 2k bike.

Rebas come as standard on the 2k version, Recons on the 1.6k version.