Mountain Bike Buying Guide

Mountain biking is an incredibly diverse sport. Mountain bikes now come in three main flavours. They are XC, Trail and Enduro.

XC – short for cross country, are quick race bikes. They will normally have 29” wheels and come with 100mm of suspension. If you are mainly going to be riding bridleways and natural trails in the South East of England, where our shops are, an XC bike will be the quickest and most efficient option.

Trail – these bikes are designed to be pedalled up and down hill and for use on bridleways and natural trails, but also at dedicated trail centres. They normally come with 130mm or 140mm of suspension travel and can have either 27.5” or 29” wheels, but 29” is quickly becoming the norm. Trail bikes are good all-rounders. They won’t be as fast as an XC bike on the flat but they can handle a lot more challenging terrain, and a few jumps. If you plan on taking your bike to trail centres in Wales, or to the Alps, then a trail bike may be your best option.

Enduro – enduro racing is a thing in and of itself but many people buy enduro bikes for ‘aggressive’ trail riding and uplift days at places like Bike Park Wales. This generally means challenging downhill trails with some big jumps. With around 160mm of suspension travel enduro bikes can take some big hits. They are designed to be efficient enough to pedal up hills but really come into their own when pointed downhill. You get enduro bikes in either 27.5” or 29” wheel sizes as well as mullet setups of 29 at the front and 27.5 at the back.

Men’s and women’s mountain bikes

Nearly all the mountain bikes we sell are now unisex. All of the big brands have gradually stopped doing dedicated men’s and women’s bikes over the last few years. Instead they are focussed on producing bikes in a bigger range of sizes. So, for instance, the Trek Marlin 5 is a unisex bike that now comes in sizes from XXS to XXL large. This means it will fit riders from 4’ 5” to 6’ 5” and everything in between.

Read our full mountain bike buyers guide

Who are Orbea?

Orbea pronounced Or-bay-ah is named after the brothers who founded the company in 1840. Initially, the company manufactured rifles and guns. The company has been making bikes since the early 1930s and winning Tour de France stages for just as long. All Orbea Bikes are assembled at the Orbea Factory based in the heart of the Basque country in Northern Spain or in their facility in Portugal.

Orbea does things a little differently from many of the big American bike brands. As the heart of Orbea's manufacturing is still in Spain and Portugal Orbea can offer much more customised service. This includes the ability to swap out colours and parts on most of their higher-end bikes to suit individual customers through their MyO program.

Although best known for their road bikes Orbea are increasingly making a name for themselves as a mountain bike brand.

Read More About Orbea Bikes

Price Match at Cycles uk

We understand that price is important, so we regularly price-check our competitors to make sure we have the best offers available. We recognise that we will not always be the cheapest, so if you see the same product cheaper from any of our competitors then please get in touch via the form below and we will do our best to match any reasonable advertised price.

FRAME - Orbea Occam Hydro. Concentric Boost 12x148 rear axle. Pure Trail geometry. Internal cable routing. Asymmetric design. 29" wheels. Linkage compatible with OC multitool

REAR SHOCK - Fox Float Performance Remote Push-lock Evol custom tune 210x50mm

FORK - Marzocchi Bomber Z2 140 Remote Push-Lock QR15x110

HEADSET - FSA 1-1/2" Integrated Aluminium Cup

CRANKSET - Forged alloy, 32t

SHIFTERS - Shimano Deore M6100

CASSETTE - Shimano CS-M6100 10-51t 12-Speed

REAR DERAILLEUR - Shimano Deore M6100 SGS Shadow Plus

CHAIN - Shimano M6100

HANDLEBAR - OC Mountain Control MC30, Rise20, Width 800

STEM - OC Mountain Control MC20, 0º

BRAKES - Shimano MT201 Hydraulic Disc

WHEELS - Alloy, Tubeless, 29", 29c, 32H

TYRES - Maxxis Dissector 2.40" 60 TPI 3CMaxxTerra Exo TLR and Maxxis Rekon 2.40" FB 60 TPI Dual Exo TR

SEATPOST - OC Mountain Control MC21, 31.6mm, Dropper

SADDLE - Selle Royal 2058 DRN

GRIPS - OC Lock On

REMOTE LOCKOUT - OC Squidlock MC20 Remote, Dropper, Suspension 2 Pos

Please note: Manufacturers can sometimes change the specification of the products from time to time.