Which Bike Should I choose?

Wow, there sure are a lot of bikes to choose from! Which one is best for me?

Well, since you’re asking…

Sedona has a great variety of trails and features for mountain biking. Everything from flowy, cross-country areas, to rock gardens, big drops, and chunky climbs. This also means that a variety of bikes will work depending on your level of comfort, cycling background (or lack thereof…), what trails you want to do and how you want to do them.

We have our bikes separated into various levels based on amount of travel and frame material.

  • Hardtail

    No rear suspension, except the seat stay and chain stays. Hard core, hard fun, hard on the butt and thighs. I always say there are two types of people that ride hard-tails (aka HTs):

    • (1) Long time, hardcore riders that feel rear suspensions take the fun out of riding; and

    • (2) People who don’t know they should be on full suspension bikes.

    We rent hardtails, most of which have dropper posts (because we’re not heathens!). We restrict use of our HT bikes on easy trails like Bell Rock Pathway and the first parts of Big Park Loop. The bikes would not be a good choice on any of the other trails. They come with XC tires which spontaneously explode as soon as they see a drop or go off of the allowed trails.

    We also rent them out for people who want to explore on the roads. The XC tires make them excellent road bikes when a ‘true’ road bike isn’t available.

  • Low Travel - Basic

    These are NOT XC bikes - those would be considered ‘Low Travel’, and we don’t have them in our rental fleet. They are fine bikes, and I (the owner) rode mine on the hardest trails in the area for many years. Our low-travel bikes typically have 120 mm of rear wheel travel, and 130-140 mm of fork travel. These bikes are great for getting out and exploring the area. They can handle all of the trails but won’t be great in the rock gardens or more gnarly areas. They are often lighter than the longer travel bikes, however, and typically make for better climbing.

    • Examples: Giant Trance; Norco Fluid; Niner JET9;

  • Mid Travel - Intermediate

    Advanced bikes are great all-around bikes that can handle the flow trails well, while still being able to take on rock gardens and bigger drops. These bikes have 130 mm rear travel and 130-150 fork travel.

    • Examples: Kona Process 134; Orbea Occam SL; Liv Intrigue;

  • High Travel - Advanced

    Our high travel bikes have 130-150mm of rear travel and up to 160mm forks. They are excellent for repetitive bumps or rock gardens, larger jumps and drops, and generally hitting the double-black areas with verve. The longer suspension won’t pack, or allows a slightly slower rebound while avoiding packing too early (compressing the suspension until it’s all used)

    • Examples: Kona Process 153; Orbea Occam LT; Niner RIP9; Intense Primer Expert; Giant Trance X

  • Specialty

    These bikes vary based on manufacturer and model. They are on the high-end of frame, components, and price.

    • Examples: Mondraker Raze R, Giant Advanced Pro, Scott Genius, etc.

This is just a simple idea of how to decide on the bike you want. People have different ride styles, and different preferences. You can always call the shop to help decide which bike is for you!