Hi guys, out of these two bikes for XC racing next year, which one do you think i should go for :-)?

9.4kg http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3018#tab-reiter2

or

10kg http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3021

The weight is a big factor and the 26r wins here and the spec is also very nice!

Decissions decissions!!!

I wouldn’t trust any stated weight without a picture as evidence, and 9.4kg is sub 21lbs, so pretty light for a cheapish production bike.

an xc hardtail is one of the few cases where i would be inclined to go for the wagon wheeler, once you get past about 100mm of travel 29ers start to suck major balls.

It is difficult to recommend a bike with such little info on your preferences, personally if i were buying a new bike to race on there is no way i’d buy a 26er, the extra weight will feel nothing by the benefits gained with the bigger wheels, but its the age old argument….Personally i think the canyon’s look great for the money, the carbon version in particular

http://chris-noble-mtb.blogspot.co.uk

Well, i bought a Cube Reaction GTC SL 29r earlier this year for racing and have just sold my Giant Trance X2 which i never used really.
I now have some cash in me pocket and was thinking about either training on my Cube and buying a slightly better bike for racing on or buying a cheaper bike and training on that whilst i race on my Cube. 🙂

See the 26er comes with gripshift 😕

mrblobby – Member

See the 26er comes with gripshift

Gripshift or wagon wheels, what a choice!

(To be fair, I’ve never ridden a 29″ wheeled bike, but I do know that gripshift are a really bad idea.)

Why? I really like Grip Shift. Plenty of people base it on really crap ones from yesteryear, but the 9 speed X.0 ones are great. Not tried the 10 speed ones admittedly.

I’d get the 29er.

I suppose id be training on a 29r and racing on a 29r so it makes sence really…

up til this year i had raced for 5 years using 9-spd X0 gripshift – totally excellent and never a moments hassle

Why not use the same bike for racing? There’s a lot to be said for familiarity….

Lol, (through choice) I use 10spd grip shift on a 29er.

I think that for the majority of xc races 29er is faster but I’m still not convinced it’s as fun as a 26″ FS.

29er and gripshift for me, love them both.

Forget them both and buy an Epic.

Wow. I am genuinely surprised that gripshifts still had so much support. Why are they so good? Sorry about the hijack…

shermer75 – Member
Wow. I am genuinely surprised that gripshifts still had so much support. Why are they so good? Sorry about the hijack

Simple.

One of the mag writers in WBUK/MTBR or whatever has a bike and says they’re great….

I think that for the majority of xc races 29er is faster but I’m still not convinced it’s as fun as a 26″ FS.

You are confusing ‘fun’ and ‘racing’, whichever is fastest is best.

yup all my bikes have 0x gripshifts!

cheap, very light, easy to trim, never go wrong, can dump loads of gears in one turn.

my new xc race ht will be 3×9 with 0x gripshifts. I’m going deore braking too (also well regarded for racing)

dont race what you cant replace – you thrash race bikes and things get broken!

Why would you train and race on different bikes?

I can see the appeal of a fresh bike, but you could get that with a spare set of wheels (with matching unworn chain to go with the cassette), and being a bit more regular with the gear cable changes and fork lowers services. With the added bonus that your training bike would be tip top too!

Fair enough, my only gripshift experience was from about 20 years ago. That was enough to put me off for life though.

njee20 – Member

Why?

You have to move your hand position to change gear.
A massive backward step after STI.

No you don’t. If anything it’s easier than triggers, unless you leave your finger/thumb on the shifter.