Anyone aware of any website with photos, reports, etc., of the bikes the pros used at XTERRA USA or will use at Worlds? David K.
There is a media gallery with some photos and a video at http://www.xterraplanet.com/utah/index.html
If you want to look for specific athletes’ bikes, you can look up their bib # on the results and look up their personal photos at myxterraphotos.com
Or some of the top athletes have blogs - Conrad Stoltz and Leonardo Chacon ride Specialized, Josiah Middaugh rides a Felt.
I was wondering the same thing. I’m building a moutnain bike as we speak for long marathon mountain bike racing and XTERRAs, and I wouldn’t mind seeing what others are riding. I’m basing mine off a Felt, so I suppose that’s a good start.
And I bet if you send them an e-mail they can give you specifics on their bikes. I know Conrad has a lot of good tire/bike setup info on his blog (conradstoltz.com) - keeping in mind he’s sponsored by Specialized and will of course favor those products 
Alex Modestou, one of (or possibly the top) ameteurs here in the SE has a blog http://alexmodestou.com/ and he discusses his bike Open-0 1.0, though I’m not personally familiar with the brand.
The OPEN brand is continually featured on BikeRumor and MTBR. Seriously top-shelf stuff. Mountain bikes that weigh less than many road bikes. In fact, they recently build a couple XX1 builds that weighted less than the UCI 15 pound limit. There may be come decent insights in there, but I don’t know that his recommendations are practical for us mere mortals.
It would be awesome of Slowman or Herb did a few spotlights on XTERRA athletes and their rigs, and XTERRA set-up and fit. It’s a bit of a different monster, and with all the resources available on this site on tri-bike set up, it’s difficult to translate to a MTB in many cases. I ended up trying to find something with a sheepish seat tube, but the band is fairly narrow on mountain bikes, so you end up looking into handling characteristics more. Steep head-tube, short stays, and a lowish BB (which for some is a problem but for true XC and Xterra racers, I think it’s a positive), then make sure you can spin up the hills. Perhaps I’m way off, but that’s kinda how I narrowed in on bikes like the Cannondale F29, Niner Air 9 ROD, and Felt Nine. Felt seems to be popular among XTERRAs relative to pro mountain bikers, but so does Orbea, and I don’t know if that’s an artifact of athletes competing both on the road and on the mountain, or an artifact of the design of such bikes.
I personally ride a Niner RIP 9 (full XT build, triple chainring) and do fairly well on the MTB portion of the Xterras I’ve done here in the SE. Its my only non single speed 29er, so I don’t have much choice though If I had the $$ I would get an Jet 9 RDO/Jet 9 Carbon for my all purpose bike. My brother has an Air 9 RDO and its a sweet bike, but I stay away from the hard tails simply b/c I ride a lot of rooty trails and big mountain descents where extra rear cushion is nice.
Not totally off topic, but a little bit. I am in the market for a mountain bike, specifically a 29er Hardtail to be used for some midwest trails and eventually some Xterra races/tris. I have had a lot of success in purchasing used road/tri/running gear on ST, so I was curious where others got their used MTBR gear. I have been looking at mtbr.com (classifieds), pinkbike.com, craigslist and eBay. Just curious if there were others out there.
I currently have a FS bike and the people on the hard-tails are the ones that blow by me on the long, steep, rocky descents. When I trialed a carbon 29er HT, I found out why. On my FS bike (specialized epic), the FSR linkage makes it so the rear triangle is supper flexy and doesn’t track the way I want it to and makes handling twitchy and unpredictable. There are FS designs that I’m sure are better, but from the bikes I’ve demoed, Carbon hard tail 29ers are better at performing like a FS bike than a FS bike is at performing like a hard-tail (if that makes sense). All FS X-C bikes are trying to peddle like a hard-tail, and all carbon hard-tails are trying to design in some compliance, and the hard tails win in my book (at least for carbon/tubeless setups).
David,
As many noted, Specialized is very popular with a lot of pro XTERRA racers. The EPIC 29er is considered by most in the bike industry to be the best full-suspension XC machine available. Competition in the XC market is very steep however, and you really can’t go wrong with any major brand. The Scott Scale 900 (HT) and Spark 900, the Cannondale F29 (HT) and Scalpel (full-suspension), Trek Superfly and Superfly FS, Giant XTC and Anthem, Felt Nine and Edict nine have all been used to reach the podium in XTERRA races. There are tons of great smaller companies such as Niner, Santa Cruz, Pivot that also produce some sweet machines. I rode the OPEN O-1.0 bike this year as part of a sponsorship with my local bike shop and loved it . As I look to obtain a direct bike company sponsorship for my first season as a pro in 2014, I’d be happy to ride any of the major brands, as they all put in a lot of ton R&D work to produce great bikes. If you check out the top of the line models on the links above you’ll get a very good sense of what’s being used by professional XTERRA racers. Hardtails are favored on smoother climbing courses like the West, Mountain, and National championships, while full-suspension bikes dominate the more technical Southeast and East championships.
There are a few bikes in the list here that stick out to me as “one of these are not like the others.” I am not completely savvy to geometry and ride characteristics, so I don’t know how the variances completely carry out, but I think I have a fair grasp. The Scott Scale 900 series is one that sticks out as one that is a bit different. It has more of an “on-top-of feel,” as opposed to a “sit-in” feel, and also has a much slacker head-tube angle then the others. I rode it a few times and found it cumbersome while climbing and in slower twisty areas, but long straight fast stuff, it was really stable and fast. The Trek also sticks out, but I really don’t know how the G2 offset in the fork works with its also slacker head-tube angle. I’ve heard that it’s fairly telepathic and stable but lacks feedback, but haven’t ridden it to know otherwise.
The other bikes all have vary similar geometries (at least when comparing HT with HT and FS to FS).
In your experience, do any of the guidelines for regular tri-bike set up carry over to XTERRA set up (such as opening up your hims more than and the like)?
Thanks for the replies. XTERRA racers and their bikes are a more diverse group than the top road tri guys with their aero road bike set ups these days in my opinion.
I am curious about their all aspects of the top races set up from the decision to go hard tail or full suspension to their chosen stem length and bar width to the amount of drop (if any) from their saddle to their bars. I suspect that racers from the east and midwest have longer stems, lower and less wide bars due to the nature of our trails versus the more wide open trails out west
I race/ride a slightly upgraded XL Trek Paragon (current version = Superfly Aluminum). Hardtail with Stans Arch EX wheels with Schwalbe Racing Ralph on the back and Nooby Nic up front. Fox fork has been sent to PUSH for a bit of customization and added adjustability. Thomson seat post and stem and a Cobb Plus saddle. The wheels are set up tubeless with a mix of Stans and Slime sealant.
I will likely go full suspension when and if I get a new bike. One helpful thing I have going for me is three sons who are all about my size and who ride the same size bikes I do so any upgrade is offset by the cost of not having to buy a kid a new bike.
David K
With mountain biking I’d say it’s how you feel on the bike. Mountain biking is a lot of rider preference and I’m not geo savvy enough to know what angles translate without someone telling me what it’s meant to do. If you’re looking to buy, test some bikes out and see what feels right. Shameless plug: I love the Trek G2 geometry and am loving my superfly AL. The G2 offset is meant to increase the front to rear tire “Trail” which translates into more stable at slow speeds but still handles quickly.
Once you get a bike, I’d say getting an actual fit is just as important as a road/tt machine. Sure you’re going to be moving around when you ride for balance but I found that working out the best “static” position leads to huge gains in power output (can’t prove this as I don’t use power, just feel more efficient after the fit) and more control.
FWIW, I’m finishing my Niner Air 9 RDO build and used ebay, pinkbike and sales at Jenson, Chainlove, Bikewagon, etc. If you’re picky, patient and can build it on your own you’ll save a ton of money. I’ll be about $4k in when done for a fully custom sub 19 lb rocket that would retail closer to $10k… Good time to look for deals now in the fall.
I bought my first mtb in the 90s off of MTBR classifieds, bought my epic 26er of of eBay circa 2004, was about to build up my RIP 9 off of Jenson, pricepoint, nashbar when I found a used one on Craigslist. Be patient and you can find some great deals if you know what you want. Do some test rides first and make sure you’re getting what you want though
Older Epics had a lot of flex. My 2012 Epic is extremely stiff in the rear. These bikes are popular because they climb like a monkey and you can bomb down the hills. Of course steep drops are a no-no.
Thanks (and renolaw), good info! About a month from now there won’t be much riding in and around Chicago, so I have time to be patient.