Building a Long Travel Trail Bike    Back to: Long Travel Trail Bike Feature    Home

King of Plush?
Choices, choices. This time I'm building a bike with genuinely more of everything. More travel, more braking power, more weight' On the way to a final decision I short-listed a stack of worthy components, some were money-is-no-object chi-chis, others bargain basement value parts. I've tried hard to make sure the money is spent where it will do the most good. This means the working areas of frame, forks and brakes. One of my guiding rules has been not to over spend on parts which will need regular replacement. This includes the drive train and tyres, also those components where bargains can be found that perform well, like saddle and stem. The frame is the heart of the bike and also the most personal of choices, in the end I went with my feelings and plumped for the incomparable Mountain Cycles San Andreas DHS. It's a love (or hate) at first sight thing with this bike. With it's massive monocoque main-frame and replaceable seat tower it has to be the least cross country looking bike that ever flew up a hill. The Fox Vanilla R shock at it's centre is the king of rear plush and can transform the handling of almost any rear suspension design. Below I'll set out the parts I considered, rejected and finally settled on for the ultimate in long travel, cross country mountain bikes.
Frame