How much travel do you ride with?

[darren]

Looking at bikes for a female, and usually I hear women like having dual suspension for a mt. bike. The thing is do you ride a more XC 100mm of travel or like 130mm of travel. I have only ridden 100mm or less, and now I am on a 29er with 100mm of travel which is something different altogether. Was looking at a 13inch XLT Dakar that has 130mm travel front and back. The bike would be used for 24 hour races.

[riderx]

I can't see why you would need that much travel and weight for XC 24 hour racing. Is she really going to use 130mm of travel? or even 100mm? The Jamis web site has the weight at 33.25#, I assume the small is a bit lighter, but probably not much.

[DaveG]

I can't see why you would need that much travel and weight for XC 24 hour racing. Is she really going to use 130mm of travel? or even 100mm? The Jamis web site has the weight at 33.25#, I assume the small is a bit lighter, but probably not much.

For me, something with enough travel to take take the edge off and keep me from getting beat up is perfect for 24 hour races. Also, I prefer something on the stable side to keep me from doing anything stupid when I'm tired.

I had a Trek Fuel for about a year (3 inches of travel) and I thought it was just about perfect for those kind of races.

Dave

[punga]

Looking at bikes for a female, and usually I hear women like having dual suspension for a mt. bike. The thing is do you ride a more XC 100mm of travel or like 130mm of travel. I have only ridden 100mm or less, and now I am on a 29er with 100mm of travel which is something different altogether. Was looking at a 13inch XLT Dakar that has 130mm travel front and back. The bike would be used for 24 hour races.
That's a lot of bike for racing. I had a XLT before I broke it and it found that it did not pedal very well up hill. It was great for bombing down stuff, but not very efficient. If you're looking at Jamis, I'd recommend the XCR, with 100mm and considerably lighter.

And this is coming from someone riding a Stumpy w/120 in back and 130 up front, but the FSR is more efficient than the XLT not to mention lighter.

punga!

[paulson]

That's a lot of bike for racing. I had a XLT before I broke it and it found that it did not pedal very well up hill. It was great for bombing down stuff, but not very efficient.


I have to second that. I rented an XLT in November while out west....and the thing felt like a pig.....but yeah, good for bombing down stuff.

[liznotter]

My first thought is that it would be too much... like racing a recliner.

I bought my bike specifically for long distance racing. It has 100mm travel in the front and the Brain Fade shock in the back. I also bought a replacement shock for my older bike, with 100 to 130 mm of travel. I keep it at 100, since it looks like some sort of chopper when it's set at 130.

I don't know that FS is necessary, plenty of women around here ride hardtails. As with guys, it's a matter of personal preference.

Liz

[BikerMiker]

I've been racing 130mm for a few years now and love it. I'm bigger than most ladies out there and really enjoy NOT getting pounded. It's great for me.

That being said, I'm a bit of an outlier, to be sure. I think that for lighter riders (and riders in general) 100mm is great. I'm looking for the new XCR from Jamis this year. Both the XAM (XLT replacement) and the XCR (dakar xc replacement) ride a lot better than the XLT and Dakar XC of last year. The only issue for racing is the weight of the lowest end XCR. Stay away from the XLT this year for racing, for sure. The XCR expert is around 28lbs (below, I believe) and not super-expensive (warning: I have no concept of 'expensive').

The specialized Stumpys and Epics are GREAT bikes for racing. The Epic is a bit more xc-aggressive while the stumpy is more fun to ride and has a shorter cockpit. Both are light enough and I really enjoy racing the stumpy at 24hr events and the SM100.

Let me know if there are any bikes you want to ride and I can meet you (and the lady) at the trailhead for an extended, on-site test ride.

mike

[TrailVictim]

Find a used XS Titus Racer X 80mm.

[liznotter]

The specialized Stumpys and Epics are GREAT bikes for racing. The Epic is a bit more xc-aggressive while the stumpy is more fun to ride and has a shorter cockpit. Both are light enough and I really enjoy racing the stumpy at 24hr events and the SM100.I'll second Mike about the Epic. I LOVE my women-specific Epic...to race both of those types of races.

[soreback]

IMHO, 100 up from would be sufficient for what youre looking for, but i think you could do the 130 and those bikes would probably have a more upright relaxed fit which may help out on an endurance ride. i have a 140MM travel trail bike and a 100mm cross country race bike, and for me, the longer rides get the trail bike.

[eloach]

Keep in mind the weight of the bike compared to the weight of the rider. At 200 plus pounds an extra 5 pounds on the bike is not any where near as big of deal as it is for a 110 pound rider.

I might look at something like the Jamis Dragon Pro instead. Nice bike and probably real close to 20 pounds in that size. SC also has the Julianne (sp?) which is a good buy for the bucks and is female specific and FS instead of hardtail.

[jed]

Looking at bikes for a female, and usually I hear women like having dual suspension for a mt. bike. The thing is do you ride a more XC 100mm of travel or like 130mm of travel. I have only ridden 100mm or less, and now I am on a 29er with 100mm of travel which is something different altogether. Was looking at a 13inch XLT Dakar that has 130mm travel front and back. The bike would be used for 24 hour races.

Are you talking about 24-hour solo, or 24-hour team?

If solo, go full suspension. The suspension helps conserve energy over the long haul by minimizing the beating. For team, I think something more XC-race oriented would work best. For women, this often means hardtail, because a 25lb FS bike is a lot of bike for a 110lb woman. Unless she has outstanding skills, to the point where she can make up a lot of time on the decents, she will probably be faster on a hardtail.

130mm of travel is way, way too much for XC racing. 100mm max will do the job. For a woman, 80mm is probably ideal. You have to keep the climbers in sight on the way up if you expect to use your descending skills to drop them on the way down.

I race an Epic Marathon and it's an awesome race bike. I have a Stumpy FSR too, and I love riding it, but it's no XC racer; too heavy and too squishy. The Epic feels like it has an extra gear on the climbs, and is not much slower going down. If you are considering full suspension the Epic is really hard to beat.

[Mrs. Outlaw]

Most of the women I ride with (including myself) ride hardtail and some fully rigid.
Although the few that ride full suspension bikes love them!

Julie

[DaveG]

Keep in mind the weight of the bike compared to the weight of the rider. At 200 plus pounds an extra 5 pounds on the bike is not any where near as big of deal as it is for a 110 pound rider.

I might look at something like the Jamis Dragon Pro instead. Nice bike and probably real close to 20 pounds in that size. SC also has the Julianne (sp?) which is a good buy for the bucks and is female specific and FS instead of hardtail.



Probably closer to 25-26 pounds. Personally I don't think a few pounds +/- really matters for anybody. I certainly wouldn't decide against suspension just because it's a few pounds heavier. Whenever I've done long 100 mile races or 24 hour races I've gone FS for a few reasons:

1) It beats me up a lot less. Even for a 24 hour race you're still looking at riding 6+ hours
2) More room for mistakes when you're tired. When I get really tired II get sloppy, and the FS bike will make up for my lack of skills.
3) I'm almost always faster on a FS bike if the course is even remotely rough.

When I do the W101 next year I'll probably do it on my HT. It has a lot of road where my FS bike (a 5-spot) is totally overkill.

Dave

[darren]

The reason going for dual suspension, she is a road racer, so she will be faster the more she is pedaling. I ride alot of road, have noticed that the more I can pedal through things the faster I go. A great example is fountainhead, if you take the time of me on a hardtail, and the time of me on my dual 29er I am alot faster on that even though I am adding about 7pounds, cause I am flowing over things easier. Doesn't make you a better biker, but you are faster. I might end up going with a Hardtail with a thudbuster, for the price. The racing would be 24hour team race, OK will update with results, I like the specialized, I think out of the price league though.

[BikerMiker]

Can you say 'bikes on sale?' We've got some so let me know what size/model you are looking for. We have some wmns stumpjumpers and regular epics on sales. Lemme know.

mike