Hey y’all. I’ll be buying my second mountain bike sometime next year, or maybe the year after (I’m a very slow shopper) and wanted to start thinking about which direction to go.
I currently have a Cannondale Bad Habit Carbon 1 from 2016 and have loved it for years. Honestly, I bought it because we are both Lefty’s. I do some cross-country racing and put 29er wheels on it for that. Then run it as a mullet when I’m not racing with a 29x2.4 up front and 27.5x2.8 in the back. It’s a “trail” bike and a very fun one at that. I’ve ridden it to race, on rolling XC and Enduro trails in Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, Oregon, and more and will do the same with my next one.
I love the bike as it is, but made a mistake of riding a friend’s Pivot Trail 429 and adore the feel. I also want something a little more racing focused, I think. While I enjoy going downhill, up is actually my favourite thing and the home trails I have are very demanding cross-country trails in Richmond, Virginia.
I come from road racing, so I have a bias for fast feeling bikes. I’ve been comfortable on the trail bike, but I’m curious about a true cross-country racing machine. I suppose that I could even get a racing machine and keep this one for more casual things. But anyway, I’m just exploring right now. My priority is having a good, fun bike to ride that can also race hard I want to and go up hills well
I am tall, so I’m interested in 32s that are on the way and am interested in the feel of Trail vs Cross Country bikes. I will be doing some test rides and hoping for some demo days over the next year, but wanted to just collect some people’s experiences here. I trust y’all’s opinions.
What’s the consensus on trail versus cross-country, different brands in those areas, and the 32er trend? I will take all thoughts on the matter. Thanks!
I’m a long way from a MTB expert, but a couple of thoughts…
Looking at current World Cup XC courses should give an idea of what a modern XC bike can do in good hands. If you want to ride chunkier stuff, you might want more of a trail bike.
What do you enjoy about downhills? Is it the challenge of choosing and riding the smoothest, fastest line? Or do you like to bump & bash and get big air? If the latter, are you ok with changing your style on a different bike? Plenty of people have a terrain park bike and a race bike and ride them differently.
I think you’ll find that modern geometry has made shorter-travel bikes a lot more capable on downhills than they were in 2016.
Did you see Jack’s review of the new Santa CruzBlur? On the face of it, it’s an XC bike, but SC have deliberately made it trail bike leaning. My bet from your post is it, or some other similar trail leaning XC bike would suit you.
I’m a roadie who now coaches my sons’ XC teams and I can’t stand squish slowing me down on the climbs or sprints! Only rarely do I feel “I could probably descend this faster with full suss” and then I just slow down a little.
I’ve literally never ridden one and have to admit, I’m kinda scared of the concept. My current bike has something like 130/110 on it and I’ve never even considered a hard tail. I guess I should do some hard test riding and see what a modern one can do.
I feel like there are a ton of companies making the bike you describe right now so you should try a few! Besides the new blur, you’ve got the revel ranger, ibis ripley sl, Ari signal peak, pivot trailcat sl, and many more. “Capable xc bike,” “light trail bike,” or the dreaded “d*********y” are how many are marketed. True XC race bikes are harder to find these days it seems - maybe combo of gravel supplanting xc racing for many and the industry in a holding pattern for 32”. Specialized epic and canyon lux come to mind. Hardtails are fun, but may not be faster depending on your local trails. Your mileage quite literally may vary. Almost all pros running full sus for World Cup racing and anecdotally I feel I’m generally faster when I can keep pedaling through chunk with help from the shock. I do get a kick out of riding my hardtail though.
I would look at one of the newer “xc+” bikes like the blur - just run fast tires for racing and toss on average tires for everyday riding and it will feel like two bikes.
in terms of 32 in, I would say if money is no object I would wait if I were tall and in your shoes - the early things I’ve heard have been good, and you’ve already waited since 2016 what’s a few more months.
if on a budget, I would just snag a 29er on sale - 32s won’t be marked down for a while since they’ll be novel, and I’m sure all the new stuff like tires and whatever new standards it requires for maintenance will be more expensive with limited options for a few years.
I’m 175cm so I’m not even sure 32 will work for me - will be interesting to see what all these bikes look like!
Modern trail hardtails are amazing, and I’m not that much slower on mine than on my full sus XC bike when descending. However, I am much more beaten up by the hardtail, and certainly couldn’t ride it as long/far.
That said, my hardtail is alu, and I suspect if I had a Fairlight Holt or similar high end, refined frame it might be a slightly different story, but there is a reason hardtails have become harder to find, and that’s because modern suspension is so good.
As for not standing the squish on climbs … that’s what lockouts are for. And actually, it doesn’t take that much roughness for the suspension to be benefical on the climb as well.
It’s been a while since riding in your neck of the woods. I raced the 2012 Shenandoah Mountain 100 on a single speed hardtail- not something I’d want do again in my mid 50s! I had a chance to ride some Richmond area stuff while I was out there.
Based on my memories of the trails, I would also consider something like the SC Tallboy. I think you could make it plenty racy, but have more fun between start lines.
As to 32”, I haven’t ridden one yet, but I can image them being much faster on some more open, Western US terrain. Not convinced they’ll be faster dodging rhododendrons.
I’m glad I’m not the only one in this space in the MTB Market… I feel like the default these days is bigger bikes …5-6"of travel…at least where I live!
I’m 42, but I grew up racing XC as a teenager, and did road racing in my late 20’s and early 30s. I’ve always ridden XC bikes until about 2023, when I decided to swap in my Rocky Mountain Element (2018) for a YT Izzo (130/130 ‘light trail’ bike) - at the time, I thought “I’m barely racing…maybe I should be on something a little more capable and fun?” …
Turns out, even a ‘light trail’ bike is a big difference when you’re someone who loves to climb. Don’t get me wrong…the YT Izzo I had was still a very efficient climber in the eyes of most people… but it was heavier, overbuilt, and didn’t give me the same snappy feeling on the ups that I was used to.
Just this last week I saw a deal on a 2026 Norco Revolver 130 that was too good to pass up…so here I am, going back to an XC bike (albeit, more of a ‘downcountry’-leaning one) after a brief foray into trail bikes. First impressions are super positive… 3.5 lbs lighter, significantly more snappy feeling, and other than a 4cm narrower bar it feels just as comfortable going down. …time will tell…I still need to put more kms on it.
That’s a very good 32 point. We have wiggly waggly trails here. Not much openness and very little straight. Plus I love to dodge and swerve. So maybe 32 won’t be the way for me.
If you come back, lmk! I’d love to host and ride with you.
Yea, that’s like exactly my energy. Everyone wants bikes that are more and more “capable”. I want a bike that feels like it wants to rip up a hill, not down a descent. I’m much more held back by my talent and guts downhill than a bike, I’m sure.
From what others are saying, it does seem like there are some bikes in this category for me, so I’m hopeful. The more the more possible sales.
Thanks! I’ll look at those. It feels like bikes are more marketed to “I can do it all” than “I’m fast” these days. I guess I need to look past marketing and feel more of them out. I’ll try those that you mentioned for sure, or at least see if they’re in the area.
my local shop said they expect Trek 32s to hit in Dec/Jan so I’m excited to give them a shot for sure. Idk if I’ll go that way because I do like a dynamic bike and they may be harder to turn. We’ll have to see.
I wouldn’t do a 32”. Marginally faster and marginally better ability to clear a technical feature. Much worse in handling, switchbacks etc. and the geometry etc will continue to evolve.
The Pivot 429 you mentioned is a trail bike, not close to an xc bike.
The new XC bikes are very capable for light trail use. Think Yeti ASR, Epic 8, Cannondale Scalpel, Ibis Ripley SL etc. they are all single pivot. Add the Pivot Mach4 SL, and the SC Blur. The latter slightly more ability downhill. These are 130mm rear suspension and 120 or 130 front.
Then you have the “down country” bikes like Epic 8 Evo. And the trail bikes like the Trailcat which is the newer version of the 429 you mentioned. 130 ish rear and 140mm front let’s say.
To race competitively , you’d want an XC bike but for fun any mentioned . These XC bikes I can ride on most front range Colorado trails but my go to is an older Ripley V4 or the new Mach 4 SL set up with a 130mm fox 36 SL.
Tires make the difference. And can swap in a race set for xc courses.
Really depends what you ride most.
Lockouts aren’t really necessary either. Support is getting so good on these bikes.
Coming from the other side of the spectrum, hardtail to XC (currently epic eco World Cup) to more recently demoing downcountry trail and even enduro bikes. I feel like there is a sweet spot for something that feels fast uphill, nimble, light, yet Very capable downhill.
To me it’s something like an epic evo, or a Silva avona. 130mm front, 120 rear, <66 head tube angle and >76 seattube angle, built well sub 25lbs…
If you’re not against maintaining some shocks, that a bike that you can race to a podium, and also capable of going down the rockiest fall-line and a total joy to bring to the flow park. And more importantly, the bike I love to take on the 12h adventure days in the Rockies. Perfect uphill, even better downhill
Thanks everyone, this has been fantastic. All of this is he whole reason I’m starting this shopping process 1-2 years early. There are so many bikes! Some of these I didn’t even know about at all. I’m going to be looking up demo days, rentals, and shops for quite a few to try to get some rides in over the next year. And I shall be staying on 29 I think.
Is there a good reason not to just go for a pure race bike, like an Epic Evo or Pivot Mach 4? I keep reading about how capable they are and I imagine that it’ll be fine for me. It’s not like I’m hitting jumps and stuff (I am a bit, but not really, idk how!) and I’m largely avoiding enduro trails, they’re boring imo!
People have been referencing tires as being a huge change, would that be like a race tire vs a trail tire? Does anyone have a good example of that?
For racing I’ll use tyres like racing ray, thunderburts, racing ralphs etc…
If I’m riding for fun somewhere rocky, fitting a trail tyre like a Hans Dampf or Maxxis Ardent completely transforms the bike. Its slower uphill but far calmer and more confidence inspiring going down.
I’ve tried Minions, but they made the bike feel like a bus. My riding is too tame for them.
Second hand or sale lines are definitely a good shout particularly with a lot of this years models now being fitted with internal routing through the headset, if you value your wallet you’ll want to avoid those, they have no place on a mountain bike. External routing was the first requirement I had when looking at a new bike this year. Andrew, a few posts above, mentions the Norco Revolver which fits the bill.
I’d definitely steer towards a full sus XC bike particularly with the lockout options available. I’ve gone from a Canyon Lux Trail CF to picking up an Epic 8 Expert in the sale.
