Riding a classic MTB from a few years ago taught me a lot about what really matters when buying a new bike

I ended my last 'Price of everything, value of nothing' opinion column with the paragraph: “All I can say for sure is that whether it’s the temptation of the latest hyped bike or the biggest online discount, be very sure the product is actually suitable for what you want and something that you actually need. Or to paraphrase it another way ‘whatever the price, the best value will often come from spending nothing at all’.” What I didn’t realize is that the opportunity to prove it would come round so quickly or more timely after several days of wall-to-wall Amazon Prime Day promotion all over the internet.

Prime day was a while ago for this bike

While I’m normally the one dishing out test bikes to my weekly Thursday Night Fight Club pack for second opinions, a gravel-themed meeting with bike pack specialists, Restrap , yesterday afternoon, took me close to the start point of the ride but I was on a gravel bike. So as an amusing role reversal, I asked Ryan – one of the other hyaenas and ride host for the evening – if I could borrow a bike. The choice was between a brand new Canyon Spectral and a very ‘well-loved’ Santa Cruz Tallboy 3 from about seven years ago. And I thought ‘do you know what’ I loved that bike back in the day and it’ll be really interesting to see how it compares to the latest ‘ lightweight trail / downcountry’ bikes I’ve been testing recently.

To be honest it wasn’t really a fair comparison. While Santa Cruz’s free bearing replacements mean the VPP suspension still works as intended, the kinematic has more anti-squat than the Criminal Justice Bill. The Fox shock had a mid-stroke ‘catch’ that definitely suggested a service should have been done a while ago. The Fox 34 fork up front had that kind of grinding sensation you get from eating sandwiches on a windy beach too. The brakes were a mismatch of SRAM Code and Guide RE, with the lever of the latter so worn it looks like someone has got bored halfway through polishing it raw. The scarred SRAM cranks turning the 11-speed gear set round could certainly tell some stories and the DT Swiss XM1700 rear rim had a serious ‘sort of saved by pliers’ ding in it.

Or was it?

Looking at the baseline bike though, it’s aged OK. With 120mm of fork stroke and 110mm of rear travel, a reach of 450mm on a large and 68 degree head angle though, it’s not far off the current Santa Cruz Blur TR (120 / 115mm travel, 457mm reach, 67 degree head angle). The old top tube shock layout, lack of internal storage, shorter frame and generally less burly construction means it’s a lot lighter than the current Tallboy 5 (for the record: 130 / 120mm travel, 475mm reach, 65.5 degree head angle) too.

Despite being hardwired to start obsessing about the design and performance minutae of every bike I ride the second I sit on it, riding the retro Tallboy was a real surprise too. Sure the bite point of the brakes was slightly different and the Guide RE was its usually unsubtle self, but they were both plenty powerful. Despite its deep scars, the transmission was absolutely flawless, and to be honest, it was great to be back on a smaller 10-42 rear cassette without massive jumps between ratios at the top end. The way the suspension sagged into its travel (until the notch) when you weren’t on the power, meant the effective head angle felt more stable than the geometry charts would have you believe too.

Most importantly, it still felt really responsive and alive so when I stomped power into the light, tight frame, it properly delivered. The very visceral connection between pedal and trail, combined with a lot of rearward axle movement meant I was cleaning a lot of technical rocky, rooty power climb challenges that others were dabbing out on. Including Ben on his Tallboy 5, Dickon on his Blur TR, and most gratifyingly, Ryan on his Spectral.

Granted, the more skittish, shorter geometry and less-than-at-their-best shock and fork got pretty lairy on descents trying to keep the heavier, smoother bikes in sight. But when things turned up or tightened up again, guess which idiot was T-boning them in turns, or on stutter steps like some massively irritating younger sibling?

The one thing that did feel outdated

In fact, the only thing that was really noticeable as a downside compared to the latest bikes was the seat angle. Not only is it three and a half degrees slacker than the latest Tallboy , but it also slopes back straight from in front of the bottom bracket. That means the higher you run the saddle, the more pronounced its effect on rider position is, so it did feel a bit like I was riding like an Allsop Softride at times (yes, I am that old). Trying to keep the front wheel interested in gripping on climbs or flat turns while in the saddle was definitely a case of rapid relearning too. As long as I stood up though, the position was OK, if a little short, and for the suitably old skool woodsy dog walking singletrack rather than bermed park riding we were doing, it was fine. Actually thinking about it, I was even worse than normal through the one section of berms we did ride. And without trying to dodge the blame, the deep rearward compression of the suspension and shorter, twitchier geo was definitely part of that. Otherwise, the only thing really freaking me out was the creak and crack coming from the lightweight but long-serving stem and bar on steeper descents of sudden rock blunts.

So what’s the take home here?

Well hot on the heels of realising that even the most basic bike can still deliver a huge slice of joy to a journey , last night’s ride was a reminder that really good mountain bikes from a few years ago can still keep up with the latest machines in some situations. Sure, some aspects of the ride made me appreciate recent geometry and suspension developments more, but there certainly wasn’t enough difference in performance to upset the usual pecking order by more than a couple of places depending whether we were going up or down. And that to be honest, is how most of us measure the value of our mountain biking investments, whether it’s nose to tail on a trail or scrolling Strava stats after a ride.

It’s another comparison that throws up a lot of questions regarding value too. Once the terror stem is replaced and Ryan has serviced his shocks, he’ll have a really sorted bike for way less than buying something new. Even something I’d regard as high value like Specialized’s Chisel FS .

But to be clear this isn’t going to be the case in all situations. The Tallboy 3 was a brilliant bike not just an average one back in 2017, and it was priced at a premium to cover aspects like the lifetime bearing warranty that’s kept it going so well. The lifetime frame fault warranty means if it does ever die, Ryan will be hopping straight onto the latest equivalent for free.

If I’d borrowed a bike that was behind the curve seven years ago, or came at a ‘killer value’ price that hid cheap unwarrantied bearings and a now expired frame guarantee, the result would likely have been very different. I’d be very surprised if a 2017 e-MTB that’s been ridden as hard as Ryan’s Tallboy 3 would be remotely comparable to the latest bikes. If it was still rideable at all, I’m sure it would have sucked up a serious amount of cash in new motors, batteries, brake pads and drivetrain refreshes to keep it alive. But then built-in obsolescence and the true cost of e-MTB ownership is another opinion column I’ve been brewing for a while, so you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for that another time.