# XC vs. All Mountain



## bgar15 (Oct 9, 2016)

I'm new to MTB and I've seen these two terms tossed around a lot in regards to bike types. 

Can someone describe the main differences of these two types of bikes in terms of the trail types you would typically encounter with each?


- Cross Country
- All Mountain


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## l'oiseau (May 5, 2015)

Meh... most everything anyone rides unless they go to a dh bike park is XC (cross-country).

Cross-country bikes are generally lighter and more efficient with geometry closer to a road bike. Low end ones tend to just be less of an actual mountain bike and are geared more for riding paved bike paths and gravel roads. High end ones are for racing.

All Mountain are generally more or less some more modern geometry, more travel, a little heavier and tougher to handle jumps. Technically an all-mountain bike should be able to rip XC single track and dh bike park terrain.

Then there is Trail. To me that's a little more in between the two. It's what most people ride; not XC racing but not big line downhill. Some of the older, less aggressive All Mountain bikes are similar to the new trail bikes. Some of the new XC bikes are similar to the older Trail bikes (although that term is relatively recent).

They are just terms. Look at geo, suspension travel, components, weight, tires, etc. to really understand what you are getting.


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## JohnWhiteCD (Aug 28, 2015)

When I started mountain biking there was XC and downhill. I'm glad we have choices about where and how we ride as the industry has come a long way since then and buying options have proliferated across all disciplines. 

Still, I think most of these categories are a little bit marketing hype by the industry to sell us more crap. Granted it's good to have guidelines to negotiate such a wealth of choices, but really, companies have shot themselves in the foot by trying to pigeon-hole riding styles and attract buyers accordingly. Todays "All Mountain" is yesterdays "Freeride" and last decades Downhill and... Now any "All Mountain" "climbs like an XC bike" and their XC bike descends like an "All Mountain" bike.

The biggest offender is the "Trail Bike". Mountain biking is done on trails. Now we're sold heavier bikes with more travel to ride on the same trails we've always ridden, but only slower.

I like that we have options, but please don't tell me what kind of rider I am. I'm just a rider willing to sacrifice some aspects of my ride so that I can thrive in other respects. 






All mountain = more air. Or something like that.

-John


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## targnik (Jan 11, 2014)

XC = up faster, down slower...
Trail = up/down about same speed
All Mountain = up slower than the above, down faster than the above
DH = pushing up (shuttling up,), and fast as balls down...

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## KeithNorCal (Jun 7, 2016)

And then there are those of us who have to be different and ride singlespeeds or even fully rigid singlespeeds.


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## rlouder (Jun 26, 2007)

In terms of trail rating, blue might be considered xc, single black - trail, double black - AM. However, you can ride any bike on any trail. My xc bike is fine for all but double black, where both it and me are usually over our head.


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## faceplant72 (Oct 25, 2009)

xc 4inch travel
Trail 5 inch travel
AM 6 inch travel
Enduro 7 inch travel 
DH 8 inch travel.

This is a gross oversimplification and doesn't cover some of the new geometry trends or wheel size differences

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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

For me, this is about emphasis. XC riding means mostly riding XC trails. For me, a XC trail is usually singletrack and basically follows the terrain with few man built features and without pointedly seeking out giant boulders to ride off of. They can be mellow or very steep and challenging with lots of rocks and roots but the feel is pretty natural, for lack of a better word. And my wheels don't have to leave the ground for me to ride one. They might still - it's fun to catch some air. But I didn't have to.

My local riding area distinguishes between XC and freeride trails. I think just because our map's been coming out for a long time. What we call freeride are downhill-only trails that include man-built features and exploit the terrain more to be more fun. We have elevated woodwork, berms, various kinds of jumps, rock drops, etc. I think it's the addition of that kind of thing that moves a trail into AM territory.

Most of my riding involves stringing together climbs on XC trails and descents on those more heavily modified trails. I generally took it pretty easy on the air time a year ago, when I only had a XC bike. I took 'B' lines around the rock drops and usually kept at least my rear wheel on the ground on the jumps.

Last winter I got a 140 mm bike. It's much more forgiving and I'm now hitting more of the rock drops and clearing a lot of the table tops and some other jump features. I can also do most of that stuff on my XC bike but it's not very forgiving if I don't do it cleanly. Sort of a problem for learning.

A lot of riders aren't interested in climbing on trails. At my usual spot, they ride up on logging roads. There are also places in my region where they can shuttle in cars or take ski lifts. I see riding up the logging roads to descend enhanced trails as a pretty AM behavior. The bikes have a reputation for being poor climbers but their target customer has other priorities. By contrast, competitive XC bikes have a patchy reputation around being any fun to descend on, are very efficient on climbs, and match that target customer's priorities.


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## Tjaard (Aug 17, 2007)

yell of the above.

The All-mountain category has kind of died out, the hip term is now enduro. Meaning bikes that can be pedaled up but are meant to blast back downhill at warp speed.

XC bikes have snappy handling: super quick(aka nervous) steering and super efficient(aka uncontrolled) suspension

Enduro bikes have stable handling: super stable(aka ponderous) steering and super controlled(aka squishy) suspension

If your trails are smooth, tight and twisty, an XC bike will be more fun on the flat parts.You will accelerate and whip around tight corners. An enduro bike will be ponderous and boring on the flats.
If your trails are rough an XC bike will be scary and slow on the descents, an Enduro bike will be easy to ride flowy at higher speeds, having much more fun.

If your terrain and interest is varied, get a trail bike, they split the difference between XC and Enduro.
Within the trail bike category there is a lot of variation with some leaning more towards XC and other more towards Enduro, so test riding or reading reviews will be essential.


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## WWCRider (Nov 25, 2016)

Great question- I had the same- thanks to everyone who replied!


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## FJSnoozer (Mar 3, 2015)

The only place I wouldn't ride my 100MM Travel XC bike is in a downhill bike park or DJ course. 

For me, this bike with the right tires and a dropper does everything and is more fun (faster handling and more flickable) than a lethargic feeling 130+ travel bike. The most I would want is 120/120, and I don't need anything more slack than 70 degrees to bomb down hills fast. 

Just let off the brakes, drop the seat and get back. Let gravity do the rest. 

Technically, the All mountain or enduro bikes will have a slacker angle meaning the fork is racked out more like chopper than a sport bike. This slows steering and makes you less likely to compress the suspension and go over the handlebars going off drops jumps and landings while going over the. This is why body position is key to descending. any time you get the wheels off the ground, you want to land with the rear touching down just before the front like an airplane (50/50 is acceptable on flats).


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