What kind of bike? Well you see it all at this race - full suspension XC, hardtail XC, single speeds, 29ers, you name it. Very expensive down to average bikes - no beaters for 500-ish km of hard riding! Many of the pro-level teams were on hardtails for some or all of the stages. Most riders were on full suspension XC bikes.
Our recommendations:
- unless you are racing to win overall (and probably even if you are) - go with a light full suspension XC bike. It will take some of the fatigue out of the long days and logging roads and allow you to really rip all of the amazing singletrack.
- even more important than the specific bike is making sure it is fully tuned and in good shape. This race is hard on bikes, so make sure you arrive with your bike set up like new.
Shameless plug:
Both of the DB teams were on a mix of some of the great products we sell. each team was on one each of a Norco Faze and a Rocky Mountain Element. These are light 100mm travel XC bikes that were nearly perfect for this race, with lockout on the forks and stiff damping settings on the shocks. And all 4 bikes were hammered hard and worked flawlessly for the 7 stages.