r/MountainBike

First off coming from a hardtail, this bike is awesome, fortunately my fork pressure from my Xtrada 7 came over beautifully, the shock took some dialing in.
This bike rides so smooth, you can still feel the trail but it takes a lot to jar you. In addition bunny hopping and jumping is just so easy, it literally feels like you don’t need to do any work at all just lift, and off you go.
Now for the unasked question, HOW DOES IT CLIMB?
Does it climb like a mountain goat? Well not exactly, it is no hardtail or road bike for sure, even after final shock adjustments there is the slightest hint of pedal bob, now it does have a lockout and it works very well if you are on a fire road or gravel road climbing. But for a more technical climb I want to leave the shock open.
After you finally get to the top the going down is the best part!! I hope it is across the board, but my dropper post lever is smooth and actuates smoothly, so the seat goes down no bounce just a little pressure and boom it is out of your way. And it is just so much fun going down, it’s like they wanted to give you a bike that was fun for all trails with the bonus of also being a mid travel enduro bike. Again you can feel it, you know it’s there but the way the bike is built, the components they chose just allows you to fly on the downhill.
I was a little Leary of the mt420 brakes but I shouldn’t have been. If you need to stop they will definitely stop you and do it in a hurry, I have had really no issues in the brakes. To be honest the way the bike looks and feels you would think you paid at least twice as much as you do.
Well those are my thoughts, hope you find them helpful, or at least slightly entertaining. Have a good night all

"The Cairngorms caught my imagination from my first proper visits in 2021 and 2022 filming for Trails on Trial, Winds of Change, and then later, the Scottish MTB Conference. The stunning natural landscapes, and the history of the Caledonian pine forests that are slowly starting to breathe more life. On this visit, I returned with my partner Christian purely for pleasure. To spend days exploring the heart of the Cairngorms on foot, but not before getting to know them by bike.

While it was sunny and warm on the approach to Beinn a' Bhùird, the temperature dropped as we hike-a-biked up to the highest elevations, and we found the plateau hidden beneath a layer of icy snow from the night before. The wind blew strong across the top and the layers went on.

The views were open and vast for the first half of the descent, then the trail evolved from smooth and open, to rocky and loose, to narrow singletrack flow, never too far away from granite boulders. Dropping down further, over 1000m in total, the sun lit the lower slopes and the warm smell of the Scots pine returned."

Photo: Christian Stenvall