Light / fast MTB for 100 miles

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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573
Posts: 333
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:38 pm
Location: West Sussex, UK.

by 573

Hi,

I'm planning to build something light and fast that's capable of doing 100 mile trail ride this summer. The route is the South Downs Way, so 4,000 metres of climbing over a chalk ridge from Winchester to Eastbourne along the South Downs in the South East of England. My mileage is usually on the road bikes although I MTB too, but mainly for fun rather than speed / distance i.e. trail centres / jumps etc.

I'm thinking light, fast 29" hardtail. 1x12. Initial contenders that jump out at me are Scott Scale 900 series or Specialized Epic. However I don't want to spend a huge budget on this so Scott would probably be non-SL, Epic would be non-S-Works level. Say £2k - £2.5k all in.

Anything else I should be considering / any other advice anyone can offer please? Thanks.

by Weenie


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commendatore
Posts: 273
Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2013 1:51 am
Location: North Carolina

by commendatore

Depends what you mean by "trail." At 100 miles of singletrack I would look away from a hard tail.


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NickJHP
Posts: 462
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:22 am
Location: Canberra, Australia

by NickJHP

Here's Geoff Kabush leading the Iceman Cometh MTB race (which he won). He's riding an Open Up gravel frame with drop bars...

Image

mattr
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Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

commendatore wrote:
Thu Jan 03, 2019 5:41 pm
Depends what you mean by "trail." At 100 miles of singletrack I would look away from a hard tail.
573 wrote:
Thu Jan 03, 2019 2:56 pm
The route is the South Downs Way, so 4,000 metres of climbing over a chalk ridge from Winchester to Eastbourne along the South Downs in the South East of England.
HT or even rigid would be ok, depending on how much punishment you can take and how fast you are intending to do it.

Personally, it's a long day on the saddle, so i'd probably be looking at FS, cos i'm soft and middle aged.

bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

I did that route on a single speed rigid bike (gary fisher ferrous) in 10.5 hrs with a 61.5" gear, three years ago. you dont need gears just squint and charge although that failed a few times.

rigid is fine, hard tail is good. there no decent that needs a trail bike. A good XC bike is all thats needed. The 1n4 climbs though are not so nice funny though passing some on with wide range gearing on a single speed on a 15% climb. A full susser would be too comfy.

My choice would be Kenesis X or Orange clockwork both in 29er form.

the Kenesis FF29 is a great bike if you can pick one up second hand.

Marin
Posts: 4035
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:48 am
Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

If it can be done rigid/singlespeed, use a Gravel bike with fat tires.

573
Posts: 333
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:38 pm
Location: West Sussex, UK.

by 573

Thanks for the varied advice all. I had considered using a gravel bike. I've ridden lots of it on my trail bike (longer, lower, slacker geometry, more travel) and whilst that's been overkill, if the conditions aren't perfect it can still be a bit of a challenge that I think may be quite sketchy with drops and gravel geometry. I will look into it more though and look at some geometry charts etc. I think a suspension fork will reduce fatigue. At the back a well-sorted XC frame with compliance plus a compliant seatpost and a good flexible saddle (Berk Lupina probably) will provide enough comfort.

For reference I've ran sections of it pacing a friend running the SouthDowns100 race. Any bike is going to be more pleasant and easier than that.

I like the idea of Kenesis (and they're local) and Orange too - will look into both.

MC356
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:22 pm
Location: Los Angeles

by MC356

How about a Niner Air 9 RDO
I got this frameset a few months ago and built it up, spent about $3000 total and it weighs in at around 10kg
Image
https://www.competitivecyclist.com/nine ... IwNzU5OA==
Cant beat the $1299 frame price(while they last)!
BMC TMR01
Niner Air 9 RDO

mattr
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by mattr

I think import duty and shipping would probably kill it though.

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LeDuke
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Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Front Range, CO

by LeDuke

I’d get a Chinese carbon HT over a Niner any day of the week. More geometry choices, better weights, less than half the cost.


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bm0p700f
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by bm0p700f

My single speed is under 10kg and cost alot less than 3009usd with a 2.5kg frame.

There are no descents that are sketchy. You should see the head tube angle on my single speed. Its steep. The thing only had an 80mm travel fork back in the day. Now it has a shorter carbon fork. Just move your weight back and go for it.

Its the south fiwns way in a day. It won't be comfy on any bike. Its going to hurt and leave you grinning rolling into beachy head or heading for the Chaplin there to avoid throwing your bike over the cliff. I'm sure the Chaplin wants to save bikes as well as people.

scant
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Location: S.Wales UK

by scant

what else would you use the bike for AFTER you've done the south downs way? I'd factory that into the equation. if its just a one off hire or loan a cyclo-x bike for the day

Knoxxy
Posts: 73
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2010 12:45 am

by Knoxxy

I did the route last summer, during the very dry spell on a CX bike.
I’d definitely recommend a hard tail with suspension fork.
When the ground is hard it’s tough going with a rigid front end over that distance.

Knoxxy.

573
Posts: 333
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:38 pm
Location: West Sussex, UK.

by 573

scant wrote:
Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:57 pm
what else would you use the bike for AFTER you've done the south downs way? I'd factory that into the equation. if its just a one off hire or loan a cyclo-x bike for the day
Yeah good point. I ride up on the Downs quite often, I live 8 miles North of Devil's Dyke.

Current MTBing consists of trails (Leith Hill, Holmbury, Steyning etc) and trail centres with my kids. I'd like to do more offroad XC miles though and my current hardtail isn't really ideal for that stuff. I got into cycling as a teenager in the late 80s / early 90s riding MTB but hadn't done any for years until my kids got me back into it. I bought a Whyte 905 at the start of 2017 that's been a great re-introduction but it's a jack of all trades, master of none. I intend to replace it with 2 bikes; A fast XC machine and a full-suspension thing for trail centres etc.

by Weenie


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steveb77
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2018 1:22 pm

by steveb77

I'd go for a 29er HT with gears myself, it just makes life more pleasant.

http://www.flidistribution.co.uk/cleara ... 9-elite-19 this would be ideal and is an utter bargain if you're lookign at spending that kind of money and it fits you, I'm 5'11" and ride the same size. Wheels are tubeless ready and you#re only a set of allen keys away from 1x11 if that takes your fancy

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