MTB Advice- Trail vs XC for Adelaide's Trails

[Josh99]

Good Day,

I will hopefully be moving to Adelaide shortly, and was hoping someone could offer some advice as to which bike would be a better fit for Adelaides trails

I currently have a Giant Trance 27.5 2 and ride a fair bit of single track. Am I wrong to think that XC dual Susser would be a better bet for the trails like Mont lofty and surrounds (Eagle Park)?



Looking forward to any advice you can offer.

Regards Josh

[jbchybridrider]

I only ride mtb's in winter and mostly ride road so cant give the best advice on what bike is best but after my hardtail broke I've been building 120mm fs bike. I have found the hills on trails here are very steep so gearing might be the first thing to look at, probably worth doing some rides here first before deciding what to do about your bike.
I have a 36t on the rear and double at the front but I really need a triple but I'm old and need the help I've only ridden at Eagle a few times and it's good but Fox Creek is best. You can ride from the burbs up Gorge Rd and take a trail there after Corkscrew Rd. (Heysen trail I think?) It's great in winter.

On Facebook there's https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=120995044577713 worth a look.

[trailgumby]

I don;t know Adelaide at all but it's more a question of what type of riding you like to do most of. If it's 50 or 100km endurance racing, the short travel bike will be what you use most. If it's all-day cruisy trial riding with (new found) mates, I'd stick with what you have at least in the short term.

A second lightweight wheelset will transform your bike.

I used to XC race on a 130mm travel trail 26er and was quite competitive amongst my mates until they all went to 29ers. I've now gone to a weight weenie 100mm travel 29er as I plan to race more but it's not nearly as versatile and it's taken awhile to get the suspension set up to where I'm happy with it on the typically rough natural trails we have around where I live. It's not rated for drops over about 600mm, so it's changed some of the trails I typically choose to ride. But at 52, maybe that's not a bad thing.

Ideally I'd like 1 of each. If I had the time over and had to limit myself to just the 1 bike I'd go the 130mm 29er and a second lightweight race day wheelset, probably a Cannondale Trigger 1.