Which Cross Country Mountain Bike?

radderfire

radderfire

radderfire

Soldato
Joined
24 Sep 2007
Posts
5,180
Hi Guys

I want to buy a mountain bike, here are my requirements:

- Budget up to £1,000

- Suited to long cross country rides.

- Must be comfortable to ride, not too stretched forward a riding position, more a "tourer" than a "racer".

- Probably front suspension only, unless I can be convinced about full suspension.

- Enough frame clearance to fit good mudguards.

- Decent components.

- Would rather the handlebars had a bend in them as opposed to straight, so that I can easily make slight adjustments to riding position.

- Puncture resistant tyres if possible.

Your suggestions please.

Thanks :D
 
radderfire said:
Hi Guys

I want to buy a mountain bike, here are my requirements:

- Budget up to £1,000

- Suited to long cross country rides.

- Must be comfortable to ride, not too stretched forward a riding position, more a "tourer" than a "racer".

- Probably front suspension only, unless I can be convinced about full suspension.

- Enough frame clearance to fit good mudguards.

- Decent components.

- Would rather the handlebars had a bend in them as opposed to straight, so that I can easily make slight adjustments to riding position.

- Puncture resistant tyres if possible.

Your suggestions please.

Thanks :D
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For what you want go with a 29er and now is the ideal time to get 2014 bargains.

Up the budget and get a 2014 Specialized Crave Pro at circa £1200. Probably the lightest option and nicely specced.

On budget will be one of the 2014 cubes with various models with Fox or Rockshox Reba forks and slx/xt kit from £800-£1k

My money would go on a Trek Superfly though, as they have 15mm front and 142x12 rear axles so nice and stiff. Or if you fancy something a bit more trail orientated a Trek Stache 7 and you can get a 2014 for circa £900 if you have a local dealer willing to cut a deal.
 
Scrutinize said:
For what you want go with a 29er and now is the ideal time to get 2014 bargains.

Up the budget and get a 2014 Specialized Crave Pro at circa £1200. Probably the lightest option and nicely specced.

On budget will be one of the 2014 cubes with various models with Fox or Rockshox Reba forks and slx/xt kit from £800-£1k

My money would go on a Trek Superfly though, as they have 15mm front and 142x12 rear axles so nice and stiff. Or if you fancy something a bit more trail orientated a Trek Stache 7 and you can get a 2014 for circa £900 if you have a local dealer willing to cut a deal.
Click to expand...

Thanks, useful, and I do like the Trek make. :cool:
 
If you intend to climb any hills, avoid the 29er. A 650b (27.5) is a better bet for all rounded machines. A 29er is just about useful if you intend to cycle along the promenade of your local beach....and that's it.
 
Django x2 said:
If you intend to climb any hills, avoid the 29er.
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:confused: Surely you mean descending?
A 29er will climb things that other bikes cant. Bigger diameter wheels = longer contact patch on the ground = significantly more forwards traction.

Bigger wheels are not so good at getting down twisty, technical stuff though.
 
Django x2 said:
If you intend to climb any hills, avoid the 29er. A 650b (27.5) is a better bet for all rounded machines. A 29er is just about useful if you intend to cycle along the promenade of your local beach....and that's it.
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touch said:
:confused: Surely you mean descending?
A 29er will climb things that other bikes cant. Bigger diameter wheels = longer contact patch on the ground = significantly more forwards traction.

Bigger wheels are not so good at getting down twisty, technical stuff though.
Click to expand...

There is more of a division between brands this year with Specialized, Trek and Cannondale aligning to the 29er for xc/trail and 650b for longer travel am/trail whereas, Giant focuses on 650b through the range and Cube offers both.

Course, if wheelsize isn't an issue there are some serious 26 inch wheel bike bargains to be had.

Unless you are racing and measuring performance gains and losses by the gram and millisecond, then the choice of a 29er or 650b comes down to personal preference and your manufacturer of choice by the range they offer.
 
touch said:
:confused: Surely you mean descending?
A 29er will climb things that other bikes cant. Bigger diameter wheels = longer contact patch on the ground = significantly more forwards traction.

Bigger wheels are not so good at getting down twisty, technical stuff though.
Click to expand...

Bigger wheels are more of a handful at slow twisty uphill stuff. There is no (little) modulation between small movements at the bars which are required for steep uphill and massive movements at the wheel. The leverage of a 29er is beyond ridiculous when you need something that is responsive to small input in a non over generous way
 
Which bike is it that you've ridden? It must have some odd geometry.
None of the 29ers I've ridden have twitch steering - far from it.
Most people I know who have tried a 29er and gone back to smaller wheels have done so for completely the opposite reason: the steering is too slow.
 
A 29er, for me, was good for one thing. Riding quick on tarmac. Let's be fair, it's simple physics. A spinning large wheel is harder to control than a spinning smaller wheel. The sweet spot is 650b. IMO, anyone pretending differently likes to ride on tarmac, or really got sucked in to the whole 29er thing :p
 
29er, do not want. Would've been happy to stay 26" even though now 650B.

29" wheels are far too large, can't see them being any fun on some of the rooty technical stuff down here.
 
Django x2 said:
A 29er, for me, was good for one thing. Riding quick on tarmac. Let's be fair, it's simple physics. A spinning large wheel is harder to control than a spinning smaller wheel. The sweet spot is 650b. IMO, anyone pretending differently likes to ride on tarmac, or really got sucked in to the whole 29er thing :p
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And it's simple geometry that the angle of attack is smaller for a larger diameter wheel hitting a stationary object, so therefor rolls better over rough ground ;)
 
Django x2 said:
A 29er, for me, was good for one thing. Riding quick on tarmac. Let's be fair, it's simple physics. A spinning large wheel is harder to control than a spinning smaller wheel. The sweet spot is 650b. IMO, anyone pretending differently likes to ride on tarmac, or really got sucked in to the whole 29er thing :p
Click to expand...

You need to look at the application though, riding style and preference. I know people who only buy long travel hard-core hardtails but only ride cross-country by anyone's definition. One mate swears by his 140mm 650b ht, yet rides with tyres so bald it is pretty much a 26er and if he wasn't doing xc would wash out every outing.

What is clear now is that the 29er geometries are maturing and the bikes are improving throughout the ranges. It has taken a while for this to filter down from the high end race machines and niche manufacturers imo though. I only found the cheap 29ers handled like tanks at the bottom/lower end of the market this year. Once you got above £1k there was a notable difference.

The Trek Stache or Superfly, Specialized Crave or Stunt Jumper and Scott Scale (950 upwards) etc were great. Some manufacturers don't have it right though.

I found the 650b/29er Boardmans lacklustre and still can't get on with Cubes.

650b should be easier to get right as it is pretty much copy and paste the 26 geometries with a bit more clearance. I would add that despite being around for decades, there were/are still plenty of duff 26ers about that handle like junk both in ht and fs guises.

The quality of the bike and ride still does, as it always has, comes down to the manufacturer more than wheel size. There is as much variation in 29ers and 650b as there was with 26ers.

When I tried a range of bikes earlier this year, unless I wanted an all-mountain then the 29er hardtails outshon the 650b equivalents. 650b is relatively new still and was limited on 2013 sales stock available earler this year and then the 2014 ranges. More comming through in 2015 now.

I also note better value for money on the 2015 29ers and 650b with price drops too. Scott have brought the Scale 9 and 7 series down quite a bit for 2015. The 2015 Scale 950 or 750 at just over £1k with a Fox fork and st/slx kit make manufacturers with the Rockshox xc30/32 forks and deore kit at this price point look out of touch.

I personally moved to a Trek Stache 29er and would happily have gone for a Superfly or Specialized Crave. I have a 26er to use too though but prefer the 29er.
 
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