Hi all, I’ve decided to give the Xterra/offroad tri world a go from sometime in January. MTB life is new to me, and I’m a bit conflicted regarding which kind of bike I should be looking at. The LBS is strongly recommending I avoid a XC bike, which they reckon will be really hard work on local trails when out with pals having fun, and tell me I should look at something more along the lines of a Trek Fuel. The XC idea appeals as I’m not that keen on leaping off stuff and bombing ferocious hills…I’m more interested in being able to get up long, muddy and rutted hills and so on, and maybe doing some multi-day trips between huts.
Any advice welcome - I should add that the LBS is very much a trail rider hub around here and although the owner is a great guy with a lot of knowledge, I don’t want to make a buying decision I later regret. I’m not keen on a hardtail as I think the smashing of my lower back would get old pretty fast.
1 - I would suggest you see if you can’t somehow try options before you buy.
2 - are you getting the bike to mountain bike, with the ability to do Xterra as a benefit…or are you getting the bike to race , and mountain biking as a side benefit / opportunity / alternative outlet?
3 - Do you plan to ride with friends or more solo. What do your friends ride and where do they ride?
This might be possible although probably not within the same brand (not sure how much difference that’ll make).
My background is all 70.3/IM - so the race part is definitely high on the priority list. I do want to be able to ride local easier trails a bit with pals though.
I’ll be doing a mix of social and solo. I am essentially a freelancer/contractor, so a lot of the time I am able to ride when others can’t. Pals tend to ride a mix of stuff from the local MTB park (Arapuke near Palmerston North in NZ, if you want to check it out) to long climbs up hills and multi day stuff. A mix, really.
I would not be worried about the brand too much, more so about getting some time on a trail bike (squishier ~140mm rear travel, 120+mm travel up front and a slacker/greater head tube angle) and an XC bike (all less of the aforementioned properties…although the lines between bike types is getting blurrier with each product cycle). The Trail bikes will typically be heavier. In a test ride, test things out like your weight distribution on the bike as you have to tackle climbs of different grades, find some things to roll over and what kind of confidence it promotes or fear it instills, try doing figure-eights in a pasture and see how tight and leaned over you can get, try some wheelies and try bringing up the front end with torque and weight distribution (light, intuitive, stable?).
I’ve done some quick recon of the trails in your area via MTBproject - not sure how complete the database is for international locations. However, based on the trail rating and some of the pictures I’ve looked through, I’m inclined to suggest going with an XC oriented bike (the majority of the destinations seem very doable and not at all remiss for XC oriented riding). However, my bike tastes are pretty unusual as I ride a rigid 29’er plus bike for anything and everything.
Good luck. Frankly, with the quality and caliber of bikes out there these days, its hard to go wrong. I’ve seen the new Fuel in the shop just the other day and its beauty of a bike.
As someone who’s just getting into the offload scene… I wish I’d gotten a full suspension trail bike (something in the range of 120mm of travel) and maybe even a 27.5+ bike at that. I’ve had plenty of incidents where I’ve had to dismount from my F-Si (sub 20lb 100mm XC hardtail) because I just didn’t have the confidence to ride through a gnarly section of trail (e.g. a steep descent with rocks and roots).
If I knew I was riding smooth single track all the time my F-Si would be perfect. However, if you need “one bike” to tackle everything off road I think you’d be hard-pressed to beat a 120mm trail bike.
I don’ t think there is a right or wrong answer to the question without knowing what kind of trails you plan on riding and racing. And I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer once we know what kind of trails you are riding and racing.
Both catagories of bikes are pretty good for 99% of the trails they are ridden on.
Yeah. So far, it looks like as long as I avoid hardcore downhill or enduro rigs I shouldn’t worry too much. Hardtail is now definitely out of consideration too. A mate told me this morning he didn’t enjoy his 29er and went back to 27.5…he’s a lot smaller than me though.
the short answer is no one person can recommend the perfect bike for you. take all available information and apply it to how you envision using said bike. mountain bikes are very different than tri bikes (and even road bikes) because different bikes suit vastly different purposes.
if i was buying a bike specifically to race xterra i’d want a full suspension carbon frame with between 90-110mm of travel that was best suited for 1.8 - 2.2" tires.
Useful. Thank you. Starting to look at Canyon…there’s always a worry that I can’t try what I’m buying, but as it’s my first MTB I won’t really know any different. The XC leaning full suspension thing is looking likely. Scott, Canyon, Trek and a few others have stuff I like the look of.
The advice above about checking what others in the area is a pretty good place to start.
All the bikes are getting really good in these catagories, very versatile.
Buy a frame with boost hub spacing and two wheelsets : 27.5 plus and 29er
Its only money and we’re here for a good time, not a long time!
I’ve just recently gone through this journey. I’ve been mtn biking for over 20 years, but have not purchased a new bike in a long time - switched to road racing for a few years. Over the past ten years or so I’ve been making due with my 100mm FS 26er with race geo, but riding sparingly. It was a nice bike back in the day, but now super outdated and not a lot of fun to ride on the chunky trails in my area.
Anyway, at this point I’m all about doing comfortable long rides on a capable machine. I was looking for an efficient climber but fun on the descents. I narrowed down my choices to the trek fuel ex, intense primer, and Ripley LS. I ended up going with the Ripley based on user reviews and getting a great deal. Like someone said above, the new bikes are so good now, it’s hard to get a bad bike from the popular brands.
If you want an all day fun bike, then a nice trail bike sounds like a nice fit - though your local trails are a huge factor in the decision. The more xc orientated bikes can also handle a lot more than xc racing - bikes like the Scott spark and trek top fuel come to mind.
I wasn’t able to test ride, but if you have that option then defiantly do that.
To me your question is basically like (for road bikes): “Should I get a TT bike or a gravel grinder?” The answer entirely depends on what you want to do. Do you want a race bike that you can theoretically play on, or a do-all fun bike you can theoretically race on?
If you’re in it more for fun than competition, the trail bike probably makes more sense.
I would demo as many bikes as you can, and there are tons of companies offering the opportunity. Only you will know what feels right to you. Make sure to ride some actual trail though while demo’ing!
By Canyon I presume you mean the Lux, in which case I’d avoid as it’s very race focussed. The Scott Spark would be an excellent bike if you get the trail version. The Rotorua course isn’t technical at all, though you’ll want to ride it a few times.
Yeah - I was referring to the Lux…that’s good to know, thanks. The Spark has been looking quite attractive, and I’ve also seen some sale prices for the Yeti ASR-T with complete builds at around $5700…again, I don’t know if it’d be too race focused a bike. The LBS recommends a Trek Fuel EX, which looks pretty burly…he reckons it’ll be great for having fun with mates on as well as Xterra type stuff. I still find myself leaning more towards something a little less heavy looking though.
When you mention “the trail version” of the Spark, which one do you mean?
The Spark comes in two iterations, and then about a million different model versions within those iterations. The Spark RC is the race version which is more aggressive and the standard Spark is more trail focused. I don’t think the RC is the bike you are looking for. Would you plan on riding Rotorua much? Unfortunately I haven’t ridden around Palmy at all so don’t know what your trails are like. Regards the Canyon, I love Canyon and have a Strive (their enduro bike) but their XC bike (the Lux) has very aggressive race geometry so isn’t very forgiving for a ‘learning’ rider!! The Trek Fuel EX is an excellent bike but is definitely overkill for the Xterra course at Rotorua, but without knowing where your riding will go over the next few years it’s very hard to advise!!! I think a good trail oriented bike with 120-140mm of travel (think Scott Spark, Specialised Camber) and you won’t go far wrong.
Ah cool - now I understand. Thanks for the tips. Am fortunate to have family across the road from the redwoods and we may be moving to Tauranga, so who knows what’s on the cards in the future.
If you’re planning on moving up here you’ll end up mountain biking more, I guarantee it! I head to the Redwoods one night a week from Tauranga, but there are also a couple of good bike parks in Tauranga that are pretty fun. Don’t be surprised if you end up mostly riding your mountain bike for fun!!!
As someone coming to tri with a history of different mtb styles and bikes, I would suggest a well pedalling trail bike as many others have already mentioned.
A bit more travel and slacker head angle will make the bike a lot more encouraging to try gnarly stuff on the trails and riding such bike (imo) is more enjoyable as well.
Modern xc bikes are also very capable but you must be a skilled rider to clear all the stuff with one. They aren’t very forgiving. That said, majority of beginners are probably going to be even faster on the trails on a light well pedalling trail bike than with an xc bike. Unless the route is just simple single track all the way.
Check out pivot mach 429 trail. 120mm front, 116mm rear travel with head tube angle of 67,5. It also has clearance for 27.5x2.8†tires. You can throw in another wheelset for very rooty/rocky trails.
