Long Travel VS Short Travel Bikes: What's Better?

Contextual information= context. 😅

Love you Phil! I’ve used your skills videos with my kids club. We’ve all learned a lot from you. But… “the most general mountain bike” is not a full squish. It would likely be a hardtail or even a full rigid. It’s all relative to our riding discipline, too, I guess.

Completely different bikes. Enduro bikes are big heavy and made for toughness, trail bikes are light and agile. I have a stumpy 140 mil travel
And a scott ransom 170 mil of travel that I can twinloc to 120. Completely different bikes. The stumpy you can ride allday and it'll b3 fun. The enduro bike is knackering to ride

Have you ever thought about an enduro e-bike such as the Orbea Wild? I have one. It's an amazing bike and I prefer it over my trail bike.

Ritchie Rude won loads on the EWS….with 150mm travel in the rear. Appreciate the Yeti SB150 has morphed to the SB160 now. The margins are blurred, more so between heavy hitting all-mountain and enduro racing. Also appreciate there’s only one Ritchie Rude 😂

I am shredding bikeparks with trailbike with 650b wheels and 150/140mm suspension for 4 years now and from my experience I can tell that if you want to push yoursefl go for enduro bike. Thats all. Thank u for your attention and God bless u.

Excellent video! I had no idea GT went D2C!

Overbiked all the way. In the end being overbiked will save your ass more often when you do stuff you are not supposed to do. Less bike more skill. Also being overbiked is very good for learning new stuff because added safety and confidence. Last year I was going pretty fast in bikepark with my enduro until I just hit a clonk because my damper bottomed out in stonefield getting stuck up on a rock just send me over the bars. If I would have been on my DH that wouldnt have happened. After that I was out for 6 weeks because my knee was all ripped.

I think if you wanna get better, go with an enduro bike. It’ll give you boat loads of confidence which is exactly what you need at that stage. Slack head angle will give you balls on the trial.

Outstanding video Phil!

I have 2 bikes I use my stump jumper when I’m starting at the bottom of the mountain and my Capra when I start at the top..

These awesome bikes aren’t inexpensive, so personally as an older rider (50+) I chose to get an enduro bike (Fezzari nka Ari Timp Peak EMTB) with 170/170 travel because it gives me the versatility to ride everything with confidence. I can ride flowy blues and quickly transition to black and double black trails without worrying if I have enough bike to save my butt on steeps and gnarly chunk. My last bike always had me wishing I had more travel and geo. Now, I’m set and always grinning from ear to ear after a ride because I’d much rather ride blues a little slower than avoid DB’s because I’m underbiked. 😊

how about hard tails?

im in my 40's i am somewhat serious with mountain biking , i can only afford one bike , so i got myself a santa cruz nomad v5, it just makes me happy to be overbiked

Over/under biked are easily the most over used terms in MTB.

there are people who only have one bike?

I’m lucky to own a few discipline from DH,Enduro,Trail, trail/Enduro HT and Trail HT. On my local trail with lots of climbs I’d rather use my hardtail trail. I find enduro more suited for bike parks only now lol.

I ride a full sus gravel bike with straight bars.

No wonder you rip, bmx background.
But seriously World Cup Downhill racing? I had no idea.
Makes sense now.
Cheers from New Zealand 🇳🇿

Underbiked on a XC ride? No problem. Underbiked on a DH ride? Problem. / Overbiked on a XC ride? Problem. Underbiked on a DH ride? No problem.

Under biked is more fun. 140 front 130 back. All you need

My quiver is based on WB. I can have three 140-160mm bikes, one with 1150 WB (Canfield Toir), another 1220mm WB (SB150), and another with 1290 WB (Pole Evolink), and they'll all ride differently enough for me to justify them all. Though, clearly, the one in the middle will get the most ride time, with me leaning to the longer bike over the shorter bike, which hints to me that my sweet spot WB is 1220 to maybe ~1250.

The way I like to ride, I know that I'd just be pointlessly tiring myself out with bikes that don't do as much work. I have great pedal endurance, but not so much with bump absorption. I'm the type who simply stiffens up under bumps that would overwhelm me and my suspension. I don't mind doing work if the bumps were spaced out far enough for me to recover, but I'd rather have the extra capability and make my work optional.

nothing is substitute with Suspension Travell, only with more Travell

Cross country is also cool , Phil!

Ive been riding a 140/150mm trailbike on my local trails for the last 3 years, and ever since last week, when i picked up my first enduro bike, i ride my trails 2x as fast

I took my 130mm hardtail to a DH park last year not realizing their green trails were still insane. I rode carefully and a little slow and had a great time. The best bike is the one you will ride.

My hardtail Scott Scale has been a pretty decent "do everything" ride, although I wish that I'd opted for a slightly smaller frame size (L is a bit too much for me)...

I ride a trail which starts mainly downhill and there are some super technical sections where a long travel bike would come in handy, but you end the ride with a climb and it’s not fun on a 170mm travel bike. Nowadays, bikes have better geometries, but it’s still tough. So I stopped taking my enduro bike out there (Canfield Balance) and started using my 130mm travel, 29er trail bike (Marin Rift Zone) and it’s been a such more enjoyable ride.

I exist soley in the long travel trail category. The best all rounder and for me i only have time to ride one bike and want be as comfortable as possible on it. I have two wheelsets exactly the same raceface arc carbon 30 on dt 240s with sapim dlight spokes, with the same cassettes and discs the only difference is tyres, for normal trail riding nobby nic 2.4 super trail soft front, speed grip rear. For park and enduro style magic mary 2.6 super gravity soft front and rear.

Knolly chilcotin with 160/151. Have a 170/167 setup I can throw on in about 30 min when I'm feeling frisky.

Obviously the bike you should get is for the type of riding you most complete. I’m fortunate to have two bikes both purchased used. An all mountain/trail bike offers comfort and performance for most conditions. 120/130 travel. I’m not in bike parks riding big air or overly rocky technical terrain. Then I have an XC race bike but that’s strictly for XC or race events I do.

I bought a YT Capra with 180mm front and rear cause in my mind i was going to spend a lot of time on lifts.....hasnt happened. Its a great bike down but not so fun up. Lot of suspension bob and the front end is very light on steep climbs. Know what i know now i prob would go 150mm and something that pedals better.

Do 20 mm of travel do all that much difference especially if the geometry is the same? I think for overwhelming majority of people it does not. Comparison between XC - class full sus (120 / 100) and 160/140 trail / enduro would have been more interesting IMO.

My Mk 2 Bronson with 150/150 ticks most boxes, would putting a 160 fork on it make much difference, maybe a bit?
It does me for local rides and the majority of bike park uplift days, although a longer travel bike is on the wish list for the more challenging bike parks and our annual trip to the Alps. Lot of money to spend on something that's going to get ridden about 10 times a year.
Then again a large majority of my riding pals now have circa 150 travel ebikes...

There’s gotta be some mathematical formula for this, like: terrain ± skill level = ideal travel

An e-bike fixes the ‘climbs suck’ part.

Phil trying to explain how awesome he is without sounding rude. You’re great Phil, we know that.

Any tips on getting/riding rigid frame bikes? Like a Surley Ice Cream truck or Tern’s new cargo eMTB (the Orox)

For me personally.. Obv budget is a real thing so this is just my quiver. 1-2024 Santa Cruz v10 2. 2023 Santa Cruz Heckler SL (enduro'd out) 3. 2021 Trance X 29. 4. 2015 KHS DJ50
If I would add one bike it would be a full power EMBT.. Which one, with the new tech I'll have to wait and see... but honestly the Heckler SL I could easily have as my all around bike.

I consider most bikes with 160+ travel as enduro

Fantastic video! Excellently done! I love how you explained things 👌🏼

You da GOAT Phil!

What would the 2023 GT force be classified as ?

Hi Phil. I have my gt force 2022. Can you explaine riding with the flip chip short and long chain stay.

Beautiful explanation 👍🏻

im stuck between choosing a long travel trail or enduro bike. mostly i ride big jumps, fast flow trails and big drops. i rarely ride hard tech trails, what would you recomend?

Got my first mountain bike in the 1980's when they started to be manufactured I would say. Before that I would take a BMX to the mountain. Ya! I'm old. LOL

My bike is same color as your Sensor(jade), so far love it! Little bit heavier so still getting my shock set up for my weight. But damn glad i found your channel

RIP GT 12/18/2024