Modern MTBs - do they make a bike for me?
Discussion
Caution grumbly old duffer content.
I'm 43. Ex DHer from 15/20 years ago but after doing some serious leg damage crashing gave up serious riding. Then wife and kids came along and the upshot was many years of not riding offroad.
I got rid of my full sus bikes at the time but kept my Clockwork Orange and a more modern (2003!) Cannondale F800SL with a lefty with lockout.
Recently I've been getting back off road and can't believe I went so long without doing it tbh. I'm loving it. Done lots in my local South Wales woods and also been to Afan and done the Wall and W2.
Now, the 'dale is very well suited to going up the tricky singletrack but it is really pushed on the way back down, I could do with maybe a bit more travel at the front and certainly rear suspension.
With that in mind I've been doing some digging about what bike I can get for say between a grand and fifteen hundred quid. All roads seemed to point to the Bossnut so with that in mind I went to try one out at Go Outdoors.
WTF. The geometry is unbelievable. The head angle is so laid back and that's before you sit on it and make it worse with sag. Couple that with bars wider than a motorcross bike and you've got a bonkers riding position.
Oh and don't get me started on larger diameter wheels and dropper post plastic cable routing clips. Gahhh.
Is it just me? Am I out of date? Or is the Bossnut more of a freeride/DH bike? I'd like something with sharper steering that feels less like a boat. What should I be looking at? Boardman FS?
I'm 43. Ex DHer from 15/20 years ago but after doing some serious leg damage crashing gave up serious riding. Then wife and kids came along and the upshot was many years of not riding offroad.
I got rid of my full sus bikes at the time but kept my Clockwork Orange and a more modern (2003!) Cannondale F800SL with a lefty with lockout.
Recently I've been getting back off road and can't believe I went so long without doing it tbh. I'm loving it. Done lots in my local South Wales woods and also been to Afan and done the Wall and W2.
Now, the 'dale is very well suited to going up the tricky singletrack but it is really pushed on the way back down, I could do with maybe a bit more travel at the front and certainly rear suspension.
With that in mind I've been doing some digging about what bike I can get for say between a grand and fifteen hundred quid. All roads seemed to point to the Bossnut so with that in mind I went to try one out at Go Outdoors.
WTF. The geometry is unbelievable. The head angle is so laid back and that's before you sit on it and make it worse with sag. Couple that with bars wider than a motorcross bike and you've got a bonkers riding position.
Oh and don't get me started on larger diameter wheels and dropper post plastic cable routing clips. Gahhh.
Is it just me? Am I out of date? Or is the Bossnut more of a freeride/DH bike? I'd like something with sharper steering that feels less like a boat. What should I be looking at? Boardman FS?
It seems they sure have. Looks like I need to be on the lookout for something now termed as aggressive.
I came across this review for a Ghost...
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/bikes/m...
Nice looking bike.
I came across this review for a Ghost...
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/bikes/m...
Review said:
Ride and handling: appealingly lively but less capable when the going gets rough
With an all-up weight (13.4kg/29.5lb) that puts the Kato at the lighter end of its mid-travel, full-sus peer group, you’d expect a lively ride. You won’t be disappointed. Grippy tyres on reasonably light wheels hook up well and accelerate quickly, giving the Ghost a hint of XC racing inspired eagerness that’s lacking from a lot of trail full-bouncers at this price. It’s still nudging the psychological 30lb barrier, but the Kato can be hussled along a trail in a way that some of the heavier competition struggles to match.
Backing up this get-up-and-go liveliness is a rear end that walks the fine line between responsiveness and comfort. The conventional four-bar suspension configuration paired with the CTD shock in ‘trail’ mode delivers a fairly firm feel that some riders will love, taking the edge off hits without ever descending into wallowy mushiness. The downside to this firm connectedness is the need for more rider input on slower, more technical lines – the Ghost isn’t a bike that you can simply sit down and pedal up a rocky, steppy climb on.
It’s as the pace picks up and the trail gets trickier that the Kato begins to come unstuck. Despite a fashionably relaxed head angle, the combination of a comparatively short wheelbase with a long stem, narrow handlebar and noodly fork makes for a squirelly handful on fast, steep or rocky descents."
Errr. The handlebar is 700mm (I thought my Cannondale one was pretty wide at 635mm) and the stem is just 80mm! 'Back in the day' that's a full on DH stem... With an all-up weight (13.4kg/29.5lb) that puts the Kato at the lighter end of its mid-travel, full-sus peer group, you’d expect a lively ride. You won’t be disappointed. Grippy tyres on reasonably light wheels hook up well and accelerate quickly, giving the Ghost a hint of XC racing inspired eagerness that’s lacking from a lot of trail full-bouncers at this price. It’s still nudging the psychological 30lb barrier, but the Kato can be hussled along a trail in a way that some of the heavier competition struggles to match.
Backing up this get-up-and-go liveliness is a rear end that walks the fine line between responsiveness and comfort. The conventional four-bar suspension configuration paired with the CTD shock in ‘trail’ mode delivers a fairly firm feel that some riders will love, taking the edge off hits without ever descending into wallowy mushiness. The downside to this firm connectedness is the need for more rider input on slower, more technical lines – the Ghost isn’t a bike that you can simply sit down and pedal up a rocky, steppy climb on.
It’s as the pace picks up and the trail gets trickier that the Kato begins to come unstuck. Despite a fashionably relaxed head angle, the combination of a comparatively short wheelbase with a long stem, narrow handlebar and noodly fork makes for a squirelly handful on fast, steep or rocky descents."
Nice looking bike.
Yep I’m afraid it’s you.
Sadly for OP the rest of us have seen this as a evolutionarily thing over the last 5-6 years so it’s less of a shock.
Truth is though as mad as they are (I rode a 2006 Enduro in original spec the other week and it felt like a shopping bike) you get used to it and it’s not as radical as you might think. Slacker and longer is the goal, more stability equals more speed, the wider bars and shorter stems are there to make the long slack thing rideable.
Give it a ride or two and you’ll get used to it and see how capable they are these days - a trail bike will out descend my old DH on anything less than moon sized rocks and it’ll pedal up the other side too.
Sadly for OP the rest of us have seen this as a evolutionarily thing over the last 5-6 years so it’s less of a shock.
Truth is though as mad as they are (I rode a 2006 Enduro in original spec the other week and it felt like a shopping bike) you get used to it and it’s not as radical as you might think. Slacker and longer is the goal, more stability equals more speed, the wider bars and shorter stems are there to make the long slack thing rideable.
Give it a ride or two and you’ll get used to it and see how capable they are these days - a trail bike will out descend my old DH on anything less than moon sized rocks and it’ll pedal up the other side too.
The newer technology in the shocks and geometry just make the bike handle better on rough terrain and downhill bits.
Not all change is bad.
I have the Boardman FS Pro 2016 version and thoroughly recommend it if you can find one. The spec cant be beaten for the price (Rockshox Pike and SRAM GX gears and 4 pot brakes)
Not all change is bad.
I have the Boardman FS Pro 2016 version and thoroughly recommend it if you can find one. The spec cant be beaten for the price (Rockshox Pike and SRAM GX gears and 4 pot brakes)
I'm in a similar position. Ex DH rider wanting to get back in the saddle.
My last bikes were a Super8, Morewood Izimu, and a giant faith. That's how long ago it was!
Everything is so different now. Everyone wanted 24 inch wheels back then. Now I can't find a 26!
I'm very interested in bike like the orange crush though.
My last bikes were a Super8, Morewood Izimu, and a giant faith. That's how long ago it was!
Everything is so different now. Everyone wanted 24 inch wheels back then. Now I can't find a 26!
I'm very interested in bike like the orange crush though.
Ive just stepped up from a 2008 Specialized Enduro to a 2018 Enduro. Put them together and you would think the 08 model is a current XC bike with triple clamp forks. Love the new bike but the 800mm bars are a joke (old bars were 700, new ones soon to be chopped). I have a single speed with some USE carbon risers and when they were fitted they were massive (650), I hopped on it the other day and thought, these are coming off! lol.
If you really want something with old fashioned geometry, buy something old.
I've been riding for 12 years now, and the new machines can do so much.
I replaced my DH sled a couple of years ago for a 150mm bike, and that is now so versatile.
Can still ride all the same tracks and do the same, if not bigger jumps, and can just ride back up now too!
I've been riding for 12 years now, and the new machines can do so much.
I replaced my DH sled a couple of years ago for a 150mm bike, and that is now so versatile.
Can still ride all the same tracks and do the same, if not bigger jumps, and can just ride back up now too!
I bought a Canyon Neuron (Nerve) last year and have been really impressed. As an upgrade from a 2008 Trek 4500 it seems fairly laid back but climbs well and is much more stable and confidence inspiring on the descents. It has a relatively steep head angle compared to other modern trail bikes. On sale at the moment too:
https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mtb/neuron/
https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mtb/neuron/
I had a long break from cycling and then bought a new Carrera Fury (so not cutting edge) a few months ago. My last bike was about 10 years old and was a completely different thing. I had gone for a fairly small bike as I was used to a BMX at the time, with 24 gears. My new bike is longer with wider bars and with 1x11 gearing, so a completely different machine and I prefer it. The Sram 1x11 is so much smoother than the mix of Shimano on my old bike. The wider and longer riding position is so much more stable and I find I spend a lot more time in the saddle rather than standing. Now I've got used to riding again, I'll be looking to go to a full suspension bike in the next year or so.
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff