[Closed] Bikes that are fun everywhere

Oddly my ancient steel Rockhopper commuter, it looks like crap but is built with decent retro parts, I just smile wherever I ride it.

Funnily enough, we have a 20 year old (rigid) steel Rockhopper in the shed. Technically it is my wife's bike and a bit small for me, but I still wheel it out sometimes for a bit of fun.

Nope haven't got one that's fun everywhere. Big bike is fun down and rubbish up, XC is enjoyable on the climbs but rubbish on the descents, trail bike is just OK everywhere

My Kona Jake CX is a do it all bike, you never regret a bike ride. always a smile.

My NS Surge;

now it has new and good forks is by far the favorite at the moment. It's short and snappy in the singletrack, easy to ride on more XC rides if a bit slow, but I love it on jumps/pumptracks. Its a bit slower on DH than the full sus, but pretty composed, and pops off everything- and its mainly made of old parts and second hand oddments!

Nope haven't got one that's fun everywhere. Big bike is fun down and rubbish up, XC is enjoyable on the climbs but rubbish on the descents, trail bike is just OK everywhere

That's what I expected to find with my two (off-road) bikes. The FF29 is designed for XC use so would be more fun on tamer XC rides and the Five would be more fun on the bigger stuff. But, in fact, it hasn't worked out that way. The FF29 is faster 90% of the time (and there is pleasure in that), but the Five is always more fun.

Don't get me wrong, I can still have fun on the FF29 and the amount of fun I have depends more on external factors than on the bike. But some bikes just seem to put a smile on your face no matter how inappropriate they might seem.

I'm feeling this way about my Yelli Screamy at the moment. It rocked at BikePark Wales, it does local XC and ST riding perfectly well (any limit on speed is me not the bike, same with technical riding), it's fun, stable, fast and flickable too. It makes a nippy single speed, I think the short chainstays help on attacking climbs stood up.

I've been through half a dozen frames over the last couple of years and the process now seems to be reducing back to just one.

Perhaps I'll get a second wheel set so I can quickly switch between light XC and heavier trail set ups, that's still a fraction of the cost of a second bike.

If I ever "must have" an FS, I'll rent one.

I've only got 1 bike but love riding it so, for me, that's the bike that's fun everywhere 😉

Both my main bikes, that's what they're for really. Modern bikes are brilliant. Hemlock is a wee bit of a lump for easy trails mind.

But some bikes just seem to put a smile on your face no matter how inappropriate they might seem.

Sometimes I think having more than one bike only serves to highlight the inadequacies of the others

I have one mountain bike, a steel hardtail. I don't spend my time comparing it with other bikes, and it's always fun.

My Yeti 575 is fun everywhere. It pedals as well as some XC bikes, and can rip it when pointed down. Great do it all bike.

My Sovereign is nearly there, but quite heavy and a bit of a slog on steep uphills.

My old (2003) canti brake cross bike - makes everything difficult, scary and some parts downright dangerous, but it's bloody good fun and don't think I could ever sell it - although I'm tempted to get a disc cross bike so I can ride even bigger trails, for even bigger smiles!

Orange 5, Cotic Soul & Trek Rumblefish 29er all put a smile on my face.

I'm not a Orange, Cotic or Trek fan though. I don't like post 2008 5's with the slacker head angle, don't think my Solaris is anything special and don't like any other Trek bikes I've tried.

My Yeti SB66c, built up its just shy of 28lbs, can climb better than my old Stumpy FSR, downs are a hoot, I can take it anywhere and have good fun. Might not rip up hills, but it certainly doesnt slow me down and coming back down the hill it really does rip along.

Charge Blender for me.

I always have fun on Cotic X CX bike and Croix De Fer before it, both comfortable to ride, and where modern MTB's are so capable, my CX bike is a giggle riding off road, even the slightest muddy slope or little feature becomes interesting as you slip and slide about on things an MTB would find easy.

I think it is psychological rather than down to machinery. Any MTB is fun if you feel lucky to be on it and making the most of any trail you happen to be on. I've been using my hardtail to commute to work, and there is no off road, but it's just way more fun because I can manual over a few bumps rather than chatter over them on my commuter, or jump off kerbs...it's a state of mind I try and keep whenever I ride, so you get the most out of the bike and trail no matter what the bike or trail is.

Yes my bike is fun everywhere. It is always fun to be upon my bike What bike it is is an irrelevance - two wheels pedal bars etc maketh for fun.

What [b]tomaso[/b] says. All bikes on all trails fun. Sometimes, riding a "less appropriate" or "less good" bike can make things even more fun.

Fat?

I think it is psychological rather than down to machinery.

"Fun" being an abstract concept - absolutely it is.

My Kinesis XC3 with RS Reba forks. It does everything I want excellently and is very forgiving in tricky bits. Then put the 2.3 tyres up to 50psi and she is good on the road. LOVE IT.

kelvin - Member

What tomaso says. All bikes on all trails fun.

Go and do a 50 mile xc loop on a dh bike then come back and say that 😉

I've ridden my Jones further in more places and different terrain than any bike I've had and it's never been anything but fun. It's just a good 'bike', rather than a good road/cx/mtb/am etc categorised bike which really helps.

psychological rather than down to machinery

Yeti SB66c owner, get a smile just looking at it, and a big cheesy grin after every ride.

stewartc - Member

Yeti SB66c owner, get a smile just looking at it

My 2011 giant trance is brilliant. Not too big and heavy to pedal up a hill and it copes with everything on the way down as well. I love my steel hardtail, but if I could only have one, it would have to be my trance

All bikes on all trails fun

Contentious I know but I struggle to derive any enjoyment from simply being on a bike. BSOs and dull fireroads don't do anything for me.

Cannondale Beast of the East ,when BB where high, chain stays were short and THICK THICK tubes ruled , Grip shift ,hydro brakes and 18 years old ? makes yer think .I love it and ride it when i can ,the brakes are a nightmare to set, but are on/off and powerfull(anyone remember 1997)the bike eats thrashing, it is the second best frame behind a PACE RC200 ,retro heaven no other way.

Do you have one I could borrow Northwind?

My old (1990) Fisher has the smile per mile factor still.

Plus I was looking back at some of my summer ride pics last night and my top 3 rides were all on my 29er ht, which I'd bought for mile munching xc duties originally.

Loved my old SC bullit as well and wish I'd never sold it despite my Voltage being better in pretty much every other aspect.

My rigid Kineses decade versa SS built from shed and 2nd hand bits. Total build cost £270 but I loves it I do.

kelvin - Member

Do you have one I could borrow Northwind?

It comes complete with a 450mm seatpost to make it a super-efficient pedalling machine.

At the other end of the stupidity spectrum I took my old rigid carrera on the innerleithen uplift a couple of times, that was a great laugh but I wouldn't want to do it anywhere rougher...

My On-One Fatty!

my On-One 456!

Yup my Blur LT2 is well beyond my abilities in every way so it's always a laugh and I never run out of bike, it just feels right.

The first time I rode a Mount Vision on a test ride, it put a grin on my face and that I had to have one. Two years later I got a second hand one for half the price and I still grin just looking at it and when my nephew asked me, what bike would I have, money no object, I told him I've already got it.

My Sov. Alternates between: "hell yeah!" and "oh sh**" from moment to moment and finishes every trail with: "I feel alive". Not too shabby at attacking climbs either, despite its compactness. I'll be honest and say its slow compared to the Tracer275 both up and down and sucks on those straight line continuous never let up rocky trails you get in the North.

Curiousyellow pedalled it the other day and simply said " it's a big BMX" before quickly putting it down! It's peculiar character is not to everyone's taste. I'll never sell or scrap it.

Love riding my five and 456ti, both put smiles on my face like I've swallowed a cheeseburger guys

Of course, when talking about something as subjective as fun, it is bound to be largely psychological. I don't doubt that some of the joy I feel when riding my Five comes from the fact that it is bright (neon) orange! But it does seem that some bikes put a smile on our faces more than others and this is largely independent of any objective measure of how good they are. Obviously, the bikes that do it for us are as varied as we are and we've seen everything here; from rigid/CX bikes, through hardtails and 29ers to big bouncy bikes, which is only to be expected I guess.

In threads like this it's common for everyone to just post their own bike, and I'm going to do just that, but it is my 'one for all' bike and all that 🙂

My Blur TRc is fun everywhere. I used to have a Transition Covert, which was brilliant downhill and on most trails where it was easy to maintain speed, but it was fairly heavy and accelerated slowly, admittedly that was because I had a heavy(ish) build and very heavy tyres.

My Blur is very very fast, it accelerates with minimal effort, is light enough and active enough in the suspension to pump and jump off anything. On rockier downhills when the Covert would be a lot easier to ride quickly, it's still fun, the challenge is just different.

I have a sunn bmix. I'm shit on it, but its great.

Have to agree with the OP, my Five is fun almost everywhere. My Intense is better downhill but sucks if you have to pedal anywhere, my 456 is better is better on long non-technical trails but is not much fun on technical downhills or when it gets really rough, my Orange Air O is great fun street riding on a BMX track or 4X course but is too short to be any fun if you have to pedal anywhere.

I don't believe there's any bike that is fun everywhere though. The Five would get out of its depth pretty quickly on full-on DH tracks and that wouldn't be much fun, but that's why I have more than one bike.

Loving your bike is part of the joy of riding, especially, for me, since I started doing my own builds and maintenance.

Bikes are very personal items, sweat, fear, adrenalin, elation, are all parts of the experience that the bike is at centre of.

I've been riding two bikes in the past ten years, a Cotic Soul hardtail and a Santa Cruz Bullit. The funny thing is, despite the bikes differ so much, both are fun to ride on the same kind of trails. The old Soul is so fun that I'm now building a new one, that we are going to use also as a rental bike. Check out the progress of the new Cotic Soul build here: [url= http://www.hillsidecycling.com/news ]http://www.hillsidecycling.com/news[/url]

/Leo

I've three bikes, a Wolf Ridge with 160mm forks, an Orange Pure 7 and a Spesh Camber. The Camber is by some margin the most sought after...despite giving away 40mm of travel to the Marin it's an absolute hoot on the descents, plus it encourages me to attack the climbs. On flatter terrain, it just happily bimbles, never feeling like it absorbs effort but always dampening the bumps without complaint.

According to the stopwatch my Marin is the fastest of all my bikes around my local route by some margin, but I don't feel anywhere near as involved. If the trails involve climbs it's a PITA.

My ibis mojo always puts a smile on my face. I keep trying other bikes but the mojo just feels so quick, light (27 lb) and quick. It's fast up hill and it's fast going down and seems to be able to do anything I want it to. I try to ride my fireline ht 29er as much as I can, but it's always the mojo that gives me the most satisfaction and grin factor

My Blur LTc does it for me. Light enough and stuff enough to feel like an XC bike, handles the decent like a 160m170mm bike and everything in between. Smile when I ride it

Ive just found the love again for my 456 ss , lost the love and just could'nt get used to riding it again after riding a fs for months on end, its great for throwing about my local trails 😀

I'll counter the "post my bike because it's the funnest everywhere obviously" vibe of this thread by saying the my rigid singlespeed whilst fun is NOT fun everywhere, it feels a bit steep at the front and actually gave me stigmata at Afan.

I'll also say that my Ragley Bluepig is an exceptionally fun bike but on tamer trails i think you can actually hear it yawning. It needs to be ragged and ragged hard. It's also a bit of a lump.

I'm adding a new bike to the garage next year and it'll sit somewhere between the two existing bikes. It'll have big wheels, maybe a touch of suspension, it'll be lighter than the Ragley, it'll have gears and won't be a boat anchor. That bike should be fun pretty much everywhere but not as much fun as the Ragley on the harder/steeper trails.

That's the bike I want Billoddie,but what is it???

For the riding I do - S-Works Enduro seems pretty good, but I haven't really tried loads of other bikes to compare.

It's certainly a better all-rounder than the '06 Enduro it replaced and also it's counterpart in the shed - Kona Lava Dome

lexinoo - this?

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or this?

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My Steel Single Speed Avanti. It's not light, might not be the fastest thing around, but it handles impeccably and always puts a smile on my face (and when you don't have the gears you don't miss them, neither up, nor down)

TallboyC