The Pinkbike Podcast: Episode 199 - Whose XC Bike Is it Anyway?

Oct 5, 2023
by Henry Quinney  
photo
Art by Taj Mihelich

Downhill bikes typically have 200 mm of travel, and enduro bikes around 160, but cross-country bikes could have anything between 65 and 120. Progressive and conservative bikes compete against one another at the highest level, and some of these bikes even seem like things you'd ride for fun. But where is the category going? And what do we think of the current crop?


Featuring a rotating cast of the editorial team and other guests, the Pinkbike podcast is a weekly update on all the latest stories from around the world of mountain biking, as well as some frank discussion about tech, racing, and everything in between.

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Music Corner

Alicia's picks:


Henry's picks:


Kaz's picks:


Editor Eric's pick:



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Podcasts Reviews and Tech The Pinkbike Podcast Charlie Hatton


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33 Comments
  • 19 0
 Right around the 57 minute mark, Kaz sums up XC (& DC) perfectly...For so much of the world, if you can only have one bike, the shorter travel bike is probably the better option. Add to that, modern XC & DC bikes are so insanely capable and versatile. They can be lightened sufficiently to be pressed into regular racing duty and/or beefed up to handle the chunkier stuff (provided that the rider is willing to exert more input).

For me, I come from the age where "cross-country" just meant "mountain biking". Regardless of whether you raced it, rode it on fire-roads, technical trails, anything and everything in between...you rode a "mountain bike". A mountain bike that is closer, from a speciation perspective, to a modern "cross-country" bike.
  • 9 2
 Exactly. Most of the PB commenters are so hung up on their "bruh" image, that they wouldn't realize they would have more fun on shorter travel bike.
  • 7 0
 @matyk: dude honestly there are some places where a DC and XC bikes just don't feel good. like I hate taking my short travel bike to rocky peak here in LA. Or say, bike parks LOL
  • 6 0
 @matyk: I do think pinkers are too hard on XC bikes and I love long pedelly rides but if all your doing is winch and plummet riding on the gnarlier trails in your area and aren’t interested in the mellower stuff then a longer travel bike is probably better, fun is subjective but getting bounced down a properly chunky trail on a hardtail or short travel bike at some point isn’t particularly fun for me. Fun is subjective, the idea that a hardtail or short travel bike is objectively more fun is just as elitist as people calling anything not an enduro bike not real mountain biking. Just people trying to justify their preferred style of bike as the objectively correct bike.
  • 2 1
 @mariomtblt: The OP was about "if you can have only one bike". Get the bike that's fun for the biggest part of the week where you do most of your riding. That is, the trails that are near to where you live. Sure there are some out there for whom that indeed happens to be some bigger trails but I definitely feel that the trails near where most people live are most fun and challenging on a shorter travel bike.

That said, and it is a silly mtb nomenclature thing where pretty much everyone is lost about what means what, but I feel that XC (at least on this website) seems to be reserved for the racing discipline. And when a bike is built for competition, you have a big compromise in terms of comfort, durability and affordability. And if you shift those priorities to something that makes sense for the riding you do, you may end up with something that's others would call DC, all-mountain or whatnot.

Whatever it is called, if can have only one bike, get the one that gets you giggles on the trails you ride most. Could still be a DH bike for some, could be a shorter travel bike for most others.
  • 1 0
 I liked this comment for the biology metaphor. Here's taking that thought a little farther, from one biologist mountain biker. There is more variation between riders than between bikes. Pick whatever factor you think is important, and line up riders from low to high, then bike categories from XC to DH, and the size of the difference is bigger between riders than between bikes. That means trying to explain or predict who's going to have a good time, who's going to perform well, etc, in terms of bike choice, is not likely to be really useful. Examples jump right out -- put a very fit, fast rider on an enduro bike (two major categories away from XC) in the local sport/inter class XC and they've got a shot of winning. Same with a top pro on a trail bike against CAT3 at a DH race. There's more variation in the types of trails+weather a randomly chosen rider frequents than the physical differences or performance differences between a dry and a mud tire. If we could somehow combine all mtb skill and ambition and everything into a super-metric and lined everyone up, we still wouldn't have some nice, tight normal distribution where intuitive facts like "most people are at or near average" are necessarily true. There's no good reason to believe the distribution is normal. So the idea that the average rider will have the best time on ____ bike is kinda nonsense, no matter what bike you pick. What someone else likes to ride, what lots of other people like to ride, neither is all that good a predictor of what some other randomly chosen rider is going to like to ride.
  • 2 0
 @vinay: There seems to be an assumption that if you have a XC bike purely for riding in the countryside/ on natural trails, and not for racing - then you're half mad. I have no interest in racing, but I like getting out on a reasonably light, responsive bike on natural trails.....Anything more would be overkill.
  • 12 2
 @henryquinney @pinkbikepodcast

Please consider for Comment Gold the final visual offered by Pinkbike user @gcrider in response to the request by user @deaf-shredder, "Can you enhance that?"

From Pinkbike article:

Video: Loic Bruni's Finals Crash POV from the Snowshoe DH World Cup 2023

Comment:
October 2, 2023
gcrider
Super Bruni was going super sonic.
Glad he is ok.
looking forward to watching the final final in msa.

His seemed to be going even faster in his final run .
and his line ever so slightly different when apearing from behind tree before the tree he clips
www.pinkbike.com/photo/25647401
www.pinkbike.com/photo/25647400
--------------
deaf-shredder (3 days ago)
Can you enhance that?
--------------
gcrider (3 days ago)
@deaf-shredder: Best I can do .Sorry.

www.pinkbike.com/photo/25651023
--------------
  • 3 0
 This was the most well formatted, well spoken request of a PB mod that I have ever seen, chapeau to you Big Grin
  • 1 0
 @aks2017: Aww, thanks.
  • 1 0
 Hennerz

Your North-American centric discussion about XC vs DH grass roots and making Europe seem as if they are all Lycra-wearing SiDs, completely ignored the amazing junior set up France had for the
gravity side of the sport. Maybe look into that for next time?
Arguably the strongest nation in the history of DH racing too.

On a positive note really enjoy your chats. Dario is a legend already and Kaz's suggestion about a Crankworx short track - why not combine a short track xc with elements of 4x. That would be awesome every pro rider could have a bash and its be viewer friendly and appeal to each side of the sport!
  • 2 0
 @HappyBiker19: we appreciate it
  • 6 0
 Pinkbike is awesome, but totally out of touch with the XC world. I currently live in SoCal, and “Enduro” reigns supreme. 130-170 bikes rule our trails. However, the Midwest is “XC Heaven!” Supercalibers, Anthems, and Epics rule the trails out there. I’ve lived in Michigan most of my life (up until recently), and you very rarely even see a Fox 36 out there, let alone a 170mm travel bike. XC bikes are much more prominent in other parts of the country than you guys give them credit for.
  • 7 0
 Henry asks if a world cup XC race will ever be won again on a hardtail...well PFP won this year's world championships on a hardtail, and Loana Lecomte came in 2nd on a hardtail just this week in Snowshoe.
  • 4 0
 Yeah, PFP has won the last 2 Worlds on a Hardtail.....And Loana is using a Hardtail in prep for the Paris Olympics.....
  • 4 0
 As a NICA racer in Colorado I have to say that every 3rd bike is a super caliber so the bike is very popular amongst xc racers but almost never being ridden by riders thinking about the downhills is only about the climbs with the bike
  • 8 2
 If only Levy had come out of retirement for an XC discussion as by far the most xc staffer...
  • 4 0
 PB is really missing Levy and Sarah Moore! This episode could have beneitted from someone who actually likes and uses XC/DC bikes.
  • 1 0
 I'm going to open another can of worms. Bikes didn't get that much heavier, most of them are just their "final form".
It's funny that Henry and Kaz label the Canyon Neuron as a downcountry bike, as it is a "light" or short travel trail bike. A couple years ago, it would've been considered a trail or all-mountain bike (still mad that this term is lost in history). An all-mountain bike wasn't that much heavier, if you consider the usage of a dropper and wider tires. The current all-mountain bikes, which are now known as heavy duty trail bikes, or short enduro bikes, around 160mm, are heavier than the predecessors, but they are currently used as earlier enduro bikes. This trend follows the time and all bikes except downhill bikes, are currently at least "one degree more capable", and 20mm more travel.
I still have an 2017 scott spark which had 120mm of travel, then marketed as a trail bike, but it would now be considered as a cross country bike with 130mm forks.

To put it into a "graph"
Earlier (Usually front travel, lower end can be seen as rear, except XC hardtails)
XC ; Marathon ; Trail ; All-mountain ; Enduro ; Park/Freeride ; Downhill
80-100 ; 100-120 ; 120-140 ; 140-160 ; 150-170 ; 170-180 ; 200+

Now:
XC ; Downcountry ; Trail ; Enduro ; Super-Enduro/Park ; Downhill
100-120 ; 120-140 ; 130/140-160 ; 150-170 ; 180-190 ; 200+
  • 1 0
 I just want to thank @mikekazimer for continuing to fight the good fight vs SRAM. It’s kind of ridiculous that the axs reverb has tapped out at 170mm for so long. If you have to shame them to join the rest of the world in offering a 200+ dropper then so be it! Keep up the good work!
  • 1 0
 Hearing Henry talking about Auto-shifting, i dream of him riding home on his SIS-shifted, Cantilever-braking, 1991 Ritchey steelframe Hardtail. Always being against the newest shit is such a easy position.
  • 5 2
 Am I the only one who doesn't like the music corner?... yah? Oh. Dang.
  • 4 1
 Can we get a real review on the new TRP drivetrain?
  • 1 0
 I'm one year in on my RM Element (having come from a TR Patrol) and there's not many places where it's felt undergunned. Seriously impressed by what a modern XC bike can do.
  • 1 0
 except it is not an XC "race" bike anymore
  • 1 0
 Great music pick Alicia. Funny coincidence that my tap dance instructor just introduced us to a Scary Pockets cover for our winter show
  • 1 0
 Most of the trails are near me are pretty mellow. While sometimes outgunned I really enjoy the efficiency of my Epic
  • 2 0
 "in no end of sight" is a marvellous Rickyism
  • 1 0
 With most bikes being full suspension bikes, where are the trail hardtails now? Were they just a fad?
  • 3 0
 Not a fad, they're just out riding
  • 1 0
 I think there are still plenty of trail hardtails around, and I at least still love them. Lots of smaller companies these days.

My personal thought/belief is that due to generally (overall) crappy rear suspension design in the past, at that time a good hardtail was a suitable substitute for a lot of riders. As consumers are becoming better informed, rear suspension (and fork) design has improved, so it's not as hard to get a decent FS bike these days.
  • 1 0
 Another piece of unverified trivia: “Yesterday” is the most covered song of all time







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