MTB!!!

Hello there fellow mountain biker!! Good to see mountain bikers here! What kind of riding is your thing? I’m XC / enduro. Too scared for the gravity but do like dh and a few little drops and such. Just to add:
I’m banged up right now after falling down the stairs today., because what’s one more injury to a mountain biker 🙄. Don’t we go through enough pain? It was a bad fall. I smashed my dozen eggs as I was carrying groceries. My 7yr old came to help me up 😆. But when I’m done with resting my butt with what unimaginable damage I’ve done to my butt bone, I’m keen to get back on the saddle.

Hi amorfati701070 😊. Yes It’s amazing how far you can push a gravel bike. Seen a few people take them on very mild green trails which is quite impressive but there comes a point where they are not efficient. A ht is a game changer 😆. The best teacher is a ht. I had one for years and years. It was a cheap crap one but still taught me lines.
Despite what people try to do or say they do it’s not recommended to use a gravel bike at a mtb park /on a mtb trail. It’s a bit like using a Honda Civic on a off road trail. You might get it through but it is not ideal. A ht really helps all round.
When you say XC riding do you mean blue trails and above? Or more gravel and green.

I ride a full sus now with 120mm of travel, slacker head angle, longer reach and steeper seat..disc breaks, dropper post, single chain as you’d expect ect.. it’s got air fork and lock outs on both rear and front. I’m very happy with it. It was hard to choose between the more aggressive enduro bike vs this one. It’s more aggressive than what you’d expect for XC because I do like to have fun out there with what most people think is enduro but it’s very much old school XC. I used to ride road and got used to cleats and so didn’t go flats this time. Very un cool.

My only issue was deciding on tires. I didn’t go for the 29ers. I’m on 27.5, fairly standard. But not for XC. I’m a short female and struggled with the standover so I opted out of the 29ers (so popular with people these days lol) but I guess riding a ht for so long I don’t really bother too much.
My daughter has a trek marlin 7 with 100mm travel on a coil but it has disc breaks, flats, turn key lockout single chain ring. It’s second hand. Big fan of that bike!

You are totally correct on the gravel bike as the old school mtb! Back in the day that ridgid was a the thing! I’ve even heard people putting droppers on their gravel bike! I’d go that lol.
I’ve actually come round to them and quite like them. When I first saw them I thought why not just get a ht, but I like the idea of putting away an easier 30k round trip on a fire trail before lunch. They are lighter and faster than anything I ride. Funny enough, I was thinking about getting one actually to build up some bulk distance riding.. just for fitness.
As for your question. I don’t know, extra travel will help. My old ht probably had less when I think about it. I took that thing down steep dh and rock.. My son who is 7 had 50mm on his little kid ht. He took his first blue few weeks back, nailed it. I was scared lol. He was like an old dude back in the day on a ridgid fork lol.. and honestly I’ve seen everything in the park now and nothing surprises me anymore and I’ve come to the conclusion I know nothing about anything.
After my son went full throttle, I felt it was an accident waiting to happen and would rather disc breaks and little more bike. He has a different bike now. I guess a fork will cost you weight on your bike?, it will add on kgs, any travel you get however will benefit you in terms of taking the edge off things.. You wouldn’t want it in a technical trail etc but it sounds like that’s not what your interested in… yet… (join the dark side .. evil laughing…)