- [Neil] Cross-country bikes need to be good at an awful lot of things.
Above all, they need to be really fast climbers, but they also need to be good at
riding down in technical sections.
- [Annie] So let's have a look at how my cross-country race bike differs from
Neil's trail bike.
♪ [music] ♪
- Number one, lightness versus strength and reliability across the component
choice. My duty sensor is built for aggressive trail riding, so you can see
the difference throughout the bike. It's got really big, oversized carbon fiber
tubing, built to be nice and strong, alloy cranks, really quite chunky,
again really strong, and even the fork, it's a Fox 34, so 34-mil stanchions,
built for stiffness and strength.
- As you can see, my frame is a lot more slim-line. It's got a lot,
kind of smaller tubes, which means that the bike's a lot lightweight,
which really helps when you're racing to go up hills faster. And also I've got the
carbon crank, and the fork has got a carbon crown, as well. So it's all about
being lightweight, to maximize the speed climbing.
- Handlebar choice and position is a big difference from the trail bike and a
cross-country bike. I've got 760-mil-wide bars here, with a 50-mil stem.
This is really short and also really high, so it helps get that weight behind the
bike, great for going downhill and for aggressive riding.
- So on my bike, I've got the stem a lot lower, got the stem slung down as low as
possible. This has helped me keep the weight more over the front of the bike
when I'm doing steep climbs. I've got a narrow handlebar width, at
like 640, which, kind of, means that I don't need to go quite as
wide, not got quite as technical descents. It's more about the climbing and the
descending, so it's a compromise. And I've also got bar ends, so when I'm climbing up
steep climbs, I can get more of an aggressive position to power up them.
- Wheels and tire choice. For my trail bike, the tires are much more aggressive.
They've definitely got more grip. They do have added roll resistance,
and they're heavier. Similarly, the wheels have got aluminium rims,
and they are going to be tougher, but they will be heavier.
- When it comes to tires and wheels, I want them to be as lightweight as
possible. And for the tires, depending on the course, depends on whether you go for
the thicker and heavier protection tire, or whether you might go for the more
lightweight version. Also, depending on the course, sometimes you have more
sealant in, or if you can get away with it, you have as little sealant as
possible. Because with it being a rolling weight, you want it to be as light as
possible. For the grip, you normally go for one that you can, kind of,
get away with as much as possible in technical sections. You want to be able
to kind of ride fast in the technical sections but then have as least grip as
possible to climb with. Also, carbon fiber rims, again lightweight.
- Saddle height. On my trail bike, I have a dropper seatpost, so I can have my
saddle in that perfect position for pedaling but also have the advantage of
the dropper post to get it out of the way for the technical downhill sections.
- Whereas in cross-country, we just get on with it. You put your seat in the perfect
position for pedaling, and then you learn to move around the bike,
so technical sections, you just have to deal with it. Carbon seatpost,
again, it's down to being lightweight. When you add in a dropper post,
you add in the extra button, extra hose, just adds weight which you don't need.
- I've got a 130-mil travel on the rear and 140-mil travel up front,
so a relatively large amount of suspension to play around with.
So I like to set my bike up with 30% sag on the rear and about 20% on the front.
I also like to add volume spacers, so that I've got that first part of travel that's
really nice and compliant on the small bumps, but then I ramp up nice and hard
for when I'm hitting those big, aggressive drop-offs and for steep downhill riding.
- I only have 100-mil travel on my bike. Whilst it's really important that it's
compliant, and that it soaks up all of the bumps and all of the rough stuff,
I also need it to be really efficient for pedaling. I want all the power that I,
kind of, create to make me go forwards and not lose any through bobbing through the
suspension. I've also got remote lockout, which I actually use,
like, loads when I'm racing. It means that if you're at the start,
and you're sprinting down the start straight, or the finish straight,
you can have your bike pretty much rigid. So that straight line
power, everything's going forwards, rather than losing it through the suspension.
- Okay, so there's some of the things you need to have a look at if you're
trying to set your bike up for cross-country. If you want to see more
videos from GMBN, you can click up there for our feature on stem length.
- Or, if you want to check my bike out in more detail, you can check out my pro bike
if you click here.
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of the year. And also, leave us a comment if you think we've missed any
cross-country bike setup tips.