How Much Travel Do You NEED For XC? Triple XC Bike Test

How much travel do you REALLY need for XC? We found out.

👉 LISTEN Charlie Aldridge is the UK’s rising star of XC    • MBUK Podcast  

V I D E O S T O W A T C H N E X T :

10-Min Suspension Setup - Don’t Waste Your Time 👉    • Grimetime  

DH WC Mechanic Top Tips 👉    • Spoke Tension  

I wanted to find out how much suspension travel you need to ride and race XC, outside of the World Cup.
I compared a Cannondale Scalpel HT against a Specialized Epic World Cup and a Lauf Elja, to see if hardtails can keep up with softtails or full-travel XC race rigs.
To complete my testing, I rode the bikes back-to-back, with experienced XC racers, and on day-long epic rides to get a thorough understanding of their pros and cons.
Find out which XC bike I think is ideal for racing, and which one I would buy.

To read my full test, with even more details on the bikes, check out the link below;
https://www.bikeradar.com/features/te...

00:00 Introduction
00:53 The bikes
02:20 Cannondale Scalpel HT climbing performance
03:42 Specialized Epic World Cup climbing performance
05:13 Lauf Elja climbing performance
07:06 Specialized Epic WC on technical climbs
07:50 Cannondale Scalpel HT on technical climbs
08:47 Lauf Elja descending performance
09:55 Specialized Epic WC descending performance
11:40 Cannondale Scalpel HT descending performance
13:06 Lauf Elja on flow trails
13:25 Specialized Epic on flow trails
13:53 How much travel do you really need?

Credits:
Getty: Piotr Staron / Contributor
BSR Agency / Contributor
Christian Kaspar-Bartke / Stringer

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