What bike for flat rooty sandy southeast trails?

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What bike for flat rooty sandy southeast trails?
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flag hatchet78
Posted: Jan 25, 2021 at 9:33 Quote
Hello pbforum, first post. Been lurking a minute.

A little background info - dirtbike enduro racer turned mtn biker by lack of places to ride ohv. I picked up a Giant Yukon FX a little over a year ago, and have put a couple hundred miles on it. There's a surprising amount of mtb trails in northwest Florida!

The trails I ride are mostly hardpack single track with millions of pine tree roots and palmetto roots, with occasional sand pits. There's some up and down in the creekside trails, but nothing like the rockies or appalachians. Lots of tight switchbacks (to maximize trail mileage I suppose) and I'd say average speed less than 10mph.

I really like my Giant Yukon for these trails, but being a 26" with cheap components - there's not much reason to upgrade an obsolete platform. Plus I'd like a bit more ground clearance to lessen pedal strikes on roots (yes I know technique plays a factor here, but still)

Problem is - nowadays it seems that all advertising for mtn bikes is based on big mountain performance, and not so much on how it handles actual trails. Everything seems to be geared towards long low "slacked out" bikes.

I'm thinking that a more vertical headset/seat tube like an XC frame makes more sense than anything that even mentions "downhill performance" but whenever I look at XC reviews, it seems to be a recurring theme that reviewers remark on how they aren't downhill bikes and then shrug and say well you know how XC is...

The other fundamental issue I'm having is - It seems 29er is the way to go for ground clearance - but at the cost of tight trail agility.. It also seems that 27.5+ is a pretty interesting option but somewhat niche... But I'm not opposed to a regular 27.5 setup either - seems to be a reasonable compromise between 26 and 29. I just don't know if it'll have the clearance of the taller 29er.

So what say you? Bike recommendations are very welcome, as are any critiques on my observations. I'm still learning!
flag AdinK
Posted: Jan 25, 2021 at 10:33 Quote
hatchet78 wrote:
Hello pbforum, first post. Been lurking a minute.

A little background info - dirtbike enduro racer turned mtn biker by lack of places to ride ohv. I picked up a Giant Yukon FX a little over a year ago, and have put a couple hundred miles on it. There's a surprising amount of mtb trails in northwest Florida!

The trails I ride are mostly hardpack single track with millions of pine tree roots and palmetto roots, with occasional sand pits. There's some up and down in the creekside trails, but nothing like the rockies or appalachians. Lots of tight switchbacks (to maximize trail mileage I suppose) and I'd say average speed less than 10mph.

I really like my Giant Yukon for these trails, but being a 26" with cheap components - there's not much reason to upgrade an obsolete platform. Plus I'd like a bit more ground clearance to lessen pedal strikes on roots (yes I know technique plays a factor here, but still)

Problem is - nowadays it seems that all advertising for mtn bikes is based on big mountain performance, and not so much on how it handles actual trails. Everything seems to be geared towards long low "slacked out" bikes.

I'm thinking that a more vertical headset/seat tube like an XC frame makes more sense than anything that even mentions "downhill performance" but whenever I look at XC reviews, it seems to be a recurring theme that reviewers remark on how they aren't downhill bikes and then shrug and say well you know how XC is...

The other fundamental issue I'm having is - It seems 29er is the way to go for ground clearance - but at the cost of tight trail agility.. It also seems that 27.5+ is a pretty interesting option but somewhat niche... But I'm not opposed to a regular 27.5 setup either - seems to be a reasonable compromise between 26 and 29. I just don't know if it'll have the clearance of the taller 29er.

So what say you? Bike recommendations are very welcome, as are any critiques on my observations. I'm still learning!
I would take a look at the trek super caliber and pro caliber bikes. My friend has a pro caliber and he can pedal endlessly on that thing. The supercaliber should be about the same just a full suspension.

 


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