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

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.

Submit

Name

E-mail

Comment

Ask Your Question

Your Name

Your Email

Location

Rating Perfect 5* Good 4* Average 3* Not that bad 2* Very Poor 1*

Review

Submit Review

FRAME - Zaskar LT Alloy Frame, Triple Triangle™ Frame Construction feat. Floating Seatstays, BSA 73mm, Boost 12x148 Thru-Axle, Tapered Head Tube

FORK - RockShox 35 Gold RL, 130mm, 15x110mm, Tapered Steerer, 51mm OffSet
CHAIN - SRAM SX Eagle, 12-speed
CRANK - SRAM NX Eagle, 32t
BOTTOM BRACKET - Truvativ Power Spline
PEDALS - Not included
REAR DERAILLEUR - SRAM NX Eagle
SHIFTERS - SRAM NX Eagle, 12-speed
COG SET - SRAM SX Eagle, 11-50, 12-speed
RIMS - WTB ST i30 TCS 2.0, 32h, Tubeless Ready
TYRES - Maxxis Rekon, 29 x 2.4", Wire 60TPI Exo
FRONT HUB - Formula DC-511, 15x110
REAR HUB - Formula DC-1248, 12x148
SPOKES - Stainless Steel, 14g
BRAKES - Shimano MT410 Hydro Disc, 180/160mm RT56 Rotors
HANDLEBAR - GT Alloy, 31.8mm, 15mm Rise, 5° upSweep, 9° BackSweep, 780 wide
STEM - GT Alloy Stem, 31.8mm Clamp, 45mm Length
GRIPS - Fabric Funguy
HEADSET - FSA No.42E, Integrated
SADDLE - Fabric Scoop Shallow/ Sport, Steel Rails

SEAT POST - TranzX Dropper, Internal Routing, 31.6

Colours	Olive
Sizes	Large, Medium, Small, Xlarge
Brand	GT
Barcodes	38675191419, 38675191426, 38675191433, 38675194274
SKUs / Part Numbers	G26151M10LG, G26151M10MD, G26151M10SM, G26151M10XL

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