Cross country bike good enough for most of NJ?

lycokayaker

lycokayaker

New Member
Looking at coming back to MTB. I have been doing a lot of road and miss the trails. I used to ride a Scott genius that wasn’t a great climber. Would a Scott spark rc with 120mm of travel front and rear do good for most of nj or be under gunned ? Help me out please


Bill
 
I ride on the less aggressive side but my 130/120 Ripley seems fine

I don't have any to compare it to, but it works.
 
IMHO you will be fine. A lot of people on here ride the State on rigid single speeds - or at least they did. I have happily been there - just not at their level.

Unless you have some health issues/warn out body (like me) you have a solid starting point to ride a year or so and figure out what your next bike may be - or just continue to love what you have.

A great person told me - “always remember to recycle, ride your bike again, and again and again.”
 
I run a hardtail with 120 mm, 27.5 mid fat tires. I ride this mostly chimney, Hartshorne. It suits me fine. I've done alumuchy on it with no issues. I'm in my 60s.

That being said, most people here believe 130/140 is the sweet spot for nj. If I was to get a fs, I get this.
 
lycokayaker said:
Looking at coming back to MTB. I have been doing a lot of road and miss the trails. I used to ride a Scott genius that wasn’t a great climber. Would a Scott spark rc with 120mm of travel front and rear do good for most of nj or be under gunned ? Help me out please


Bill
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Under gunned? Yes, if looking to do DH at Creek. 120mm would be fine. I'm one of those crazy rigid SS riders that @Johnny Utah mentioned. I also have a Pivot 429 with 130/120 that handles anything techy.
 
Plan on riding a little bit of everywhere. With the exception of mountain creek with the bike. Does have a dropper on it already. Want to try a race or two.
 
The travel should be fine, though I tend to prefer more than less. What's the head angle on the Spark? I think that would bother me more than anything on rocky descents.
 
It depends on a couple of things. Your skill/experience level. What you're companions are riding. I usually ride a Spot Ryve 115 that has a 120mm travel fork. I often push the capabilities of the bike, but my experience is from DH racing. I've found the limiting factor on that bike is the tires - I keep pretty light XC-race tires on it rather than more burly options. I've found this helps me mentally keep my DH-racer tendencies in check. When I ride that bike, I'm usually with others on similar bikes. When I ride with others on longer travel bikes and we seek out more aggressive lines, I'll ride my Megatower with 160/160 travel. Just about anything I'll ride on the Megatower I can also ride on the Spot, but I can be more aggressive and take more questionable lines on the former. But it's also not a lot of fun to ride the Megatower when the rest of the crew are on lighter bikes and the tear up the climbs.
 
What @Ian F said above is really on point, especially the part about your skill and experience level. I'm pretty new to the MTB side of things, so I have a shorter travel and longer travel option for myself. If I'm being honest, the shorter travel Epic Evo is perfectly suited for pretty much everything I ride, and is a rocket going up climbs. That said, I do appreciate the longer travel Stumpjumper Evo I have for when the trail gets rowdy, like on some of the descents at CR or Hartshorne. But it isn't the quickest bike going up.

So basically, get two bikes. 😆 😆 😆
 
lycokayaker said:
Looking at coming back to MTB. I have been doing a lot of road and miss the trails. I used to ride a Scott genius that wasn’t a great climber. Would a Scott spark rc with 120mm of travel front and rear do good for most of nj or be under gunned ? Help me out please


Bill
Click to expand...
One of my bikes has 130mm front and zero rear and I ride it everywhere so you'll be fine to start.
 
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Do you already have a Spark or are you shopping now? That's a fairly XC oriented bike although the head angle isn't too aggressive. Yes, it would handle most terrain around here. But unless you intend to start XC racing, I might suggest something a little trail oriented as it might be more fun overall.

If your main focus is going to be covering as much ground as quickly as possible, then sure, go XC. If you want to try more technical and demanding stuff, maybe a shorter travel trail bike would be the move. A good platform will enhance and encourage new skills rather than inhibiting. Ride a friends bike, find a demo, whatnot to see where you wanna be before dropping some coin.
 
I'd rather have a bike quicker at going up comfortably then down because you'll be spending more time going up. Downhills are fun fast but can be satisfying going slow.
 
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The bike I grab most is my Rocky Mountain Element 130f/120r. Geo > travel.

Weighs 28 lbs ready to ride and it's super fun...there's plenty of options in that category too. The Spark RC definitely falls close enough to that range...maybe a bit more racey like the Epic Evo or Blur TR but you'll be fine. Get on as many bikes as you can until you find one that really makes you excited to ride.
 
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