20 Best Bike For Rail Trails (2023 Updated)

As soon as you will take this bike out of the box you will realize how cool it is. Then you will notice all the nice details in it which show a great attention for quality from the brand. Assembling this bike was not very easy for me but I managed to get it right by reading with attention the instructions manual (basically the bike comes mostly assembled, you need to add the front tire and the handle).

The tires definitively take the spotlight, they are 4 inches wide and ready for any kind of terrain! I liked the orange details in the inner part of the tires, the orange matching other details on the frame.

Beside the all-terrain tires enabling you to bike over not-so-smooth terrain, this bike has 7 speed gears which will help you go even on hilly roads. Boys (or girls!) will have a lot of fun biking with this bike but they must be 12 years or up (the seat is adjustable so they can enjoy it for many years).

This is a quality, sturdy product and if your favorite teenager asked for a bike for the upcoming Holidays, give him/her a “cool” bike like this one!.

I’ve put maybe 50-75 miles so far and the rides have been good. However, some of the other reviews have indicated chain slips or unintended shifting of gears and I’ve experienced some of that as well.

My experience has been that when going up hill and I want to change from rear sprocket 5 to 4, there’s a lag in the shift or the chain slips/skips to sprocket 3. I have not noticed this to be the case in the opposite direction.

Upon further inspection of the teeth of rear sprocket 4, I noticed that some of the teeth are a bit more bent than usual to the inside which makes me think those teeth are not grabbing onto the chain; hence the lag or skip.

I think the bike would be so much better with a better quality rear cog set. Aside from that, I haven’t noticed any other issues. The bike runs a bit large. According to both REI size guide and the guide on Cannondale’s website, I should’ve been a medium but small fit me better.

If you’re picky, you may want to change the stock pedals for some better quality ones.

I finally upgraded from my 1990’s Trek mountain bike! I am a female rider about 5’4″ in height and I chose the XS to have a little more standover clearance. My inseam is 29″ and I have about 1/12- 2″ of clearance.

Cannondales seem to run a little large so if you are between sizes you may consider the smaller size. I have ridden about 40 miles so far on a variety of terrain since taking the bike home– everything from singletrack, to dirt roads, a sandy river bottom, and paved bike trails and streets.

This bike has handled them all with ease. I am particularly impressed with the range of gears for climbing. This bike climbs like a beast! It is a little slower on flats and descents and a little heavier than my old bike but for the price that is a compromise that I am willing to make.

Overall the 2×8 drivetrain has enough gears to tackle the areas that I ride. The XS bike comes with 27. 5 in tires. My old bike had 26″ tires and I do notice a big difference in the overall ride and feel of the bike.

The 27. 5 inch tires and the solid frame on this bike make the ride a little more plush. Although, make sure you adjust your tire pressure when you get home. My tires were pumped up to max pressure and that made for a harsher ride.

I changed the saddle immediately to a women’s specific model and that is MUCH more comfortable than the stock saddle. I may eventually change the pedals and grips but they are fine for now. I also took my helmet and wore bike friendly clothes to REI when I picked up my bike so that I could take it on a quick test ride and check to see if any adjustments (brakes and shifters) needed to be made before taking the bike home.

I had a small issue with the seat moving around and took it back inside and the techs at my local store adjusted it immediately and I was good to go. This bike is great for light to medium trail use.

I would not recommend it for big drops, jumping or black diamond trails but for general trail riding it is fantastic! For the price range and the features this bike fits my needs perfectly. You also cannot go wrong with purchasing from REI.

I believe they have added free tune-ups for the first year of ownership. If you are lucky enough to find this bike in your size, don’t hesitate to pick one up!.

Decided to go with the Trail 7 as my introductory bike for mountain biking. Have enjoyed it a lot and have put well over 500 miles on it so far – with over half of that being actual mountain biking. Overall, have enjoyed it a lot and have gotten a lot better at mountain biking since I got the bike.

Changing saddle is a great first upgrade as the stock Cannondale one is a crime against the human taint. I also changed the pedals and this was a good upgrade. Upgrading the stock WTB tires to some good Maxxis mtb tires was also a great improvement.

I haven’t changed the wheels, but the stock rims are 19mm internal width and this is weirdly narrow for MTB. Still happy with it overall and I have learned a lot with this bike.

I highly, highly recommend sizing down if you are on the low end of one of the sizes on the sizing chart. This bike runs large. I am a woman, 125lb, 5’7″ with a 31″ standover height. And after reading reviews for the lower models of this bike with the same exact frame, I chose to go with a small instead of the medium the size chart would have put me at.

I am very glad I did this because the small is perfect. The medium would have been too big. I do kind of wish the Small came with a 29″ tire option instead of just the 27. 5″, but 27. 5″ are fine still.

But otherwise, this bike is pretty great. It shifts extremely smoothly, rides well, and it’s light enough that I can pick it up and maneuver it around with my measly muscles. I do think this bike is a little bit pricey compared to competitions specs for this general price range.

It’s missing some key features that a lot of other slightly cheaper bikes have such as more accessory mounting points, internal cable routing, and a tapered headtube. I also think for this price it could have gotten air shocks instead of coils.

But beggers cant be choosers during these crazy times and once I saw this one suddenly came available, I snatched it up after months of hunting for an available bike. And thankfully, the red color isn’t nearly as obnoxious in person as I thought it would be!.

My wife and I purchased 2 x of these Trek Rail 5 bikes and have had no less than 3 cycles per week since getting them home. They are amazing fun. As a normal MTB rider for years I know what a normal bike can do, but these ebikes hit the ball out of the park, the ascent is so much fun, and with the extra weight decent is even better too.

We have been as high as 300ft up Mount keen, to shredding the trails in Carron valley and further. I have seen 18miles + on big off road ascents (despite being 17 stone). Amazing bike, and even better service from the Evans Cycles team over at the Glasgow Fort store, second to none after service care, whether follow up emails back and forth, questions answered, accessories sourced and purchased and advice given.

Great work guys!.

This is a very good entry level mountain bike. Lots of fun on fire roads and trails. Easy shifting with no issues at all, the rear derailleur with the clutch is really good. I changed the grips to lock on, and went tubeless.

We have a ton of goatheads in northern Arizona, you pretty much got to be tubeless. Paying attention to the inflation really makes this bike dial in. I know the front shocks aren’t rated the best, but I have had no issues with them at all.

For around town or bombing the trails, this climbs really well. I see a dropper post in the future.

Using bycyclesonline to purchase my first bike to get me into the sport was a great experience. The bike needed to be preordered but still arrived much quicker than I expected. The communication was brilliant throughout the the whole process.

As for the bike, I love it. I am a tall guy so I went for the XL and it’s fits great. Everything seems to be excellent quality and it is a whole lot of fun to ride. As I said, I’m new to the sport and this is a fantastic bike to learn on and I’m confident it will be more than capable for years to come as my skills progress.

Love it. It’s well equipped at a great price. Can’t beat it. Also can appreciate the aggressive modern hardtail geometry. My only gripe is with the budget spring fork but that can eventually be changed.

It has at least 120 mm of travel were most bikes in this category only have 100. Overall the bike is great and plan on upgrading it over time as parts wear.

I stop by the Chula Vista location every time I get the itch for a new bike, parts, accessories and now service. The team at this store is amazing! Helped my son find his first real mountain bike two years ago, got it fixed super fast now when it broke.

Consistently has a better selection of decently priced bikes than some other shops that only stock the top end bikes. Couldn’t help going home with a new full suspension Stance while waiting on my sons Talon to get fixed.

I recommend this shop to everyone I know who is looking to get into biking. If they handed out stickers I would put one on my truck. Great place for all your needs!.

For the money this is a great bike. I’m 56 and it had been a long time since I’ve bought a bike let alone ridden consistently after semi retiring from work. At my age I didn’t think I’d be going back to riding as hard as I did.

I like technical rocky, roots, grinding climbs and aggressive technical downhill. Bike climbs great but it didn’t take long for me to upgrade the front forks due to bottoming out the Rockshox Recon. Went to a 150mm travel Rockshox Lyric Ultimate.

Huge difference!! Bike handles way better and I’m no longer bottoming out. Truly impressed.

For an “entry level” bike, this sure beats higher level competition. I doubt that’ll ever need to upgrade. I took it to an advanced difficult trail with steep declines and inclines, rock, sand and roots, I was blown away by how good the grip was.

It really is a confident bike and I feel very confident turning and leaning at high speeds. The other impressive aspect is quality: I hit multiple rocks and roots, bottomed out several times on very rough terrain and this bike took it like champ.

The only thing I can point out is that the rear brakes are a little underpowered. Front is fine but rear ones you really need to squeeze them in to apply them! Not really an issue once you get used to it, but easy fix with another brand pads.

Shifting is snappy and accurate. It’s been 3 months now for me, riding twice every week, and still didn’t need tune up! Overall this is one awesome bike, and it’s loads of fun, which is what this is all about.

Great quality, awesome bike! I have no complaints about this bike, only good things to say! Love the bluish gray and red colors. Love the handles. The tool kit that came with that was so useful in adding my water bottle bracket to the bike with and lowering my seat.

Added a padded seat cover and I was all set!!.

This is my second sandals DS1 and I absolutely love these bikes -there’s only a few things I would suggest: they need better more comfortable seats – I have to replace them immediately they’re awful.

and also the kick stand? Why would you not have one on every bike? I think that’s ridiculous. It other than that I love these bikes for rail trails roads and commuting too.

I bought two of these Mountain Bikes for my teen daughters who are on the local high school MTB team. The bikes came well packaged and were easy to get set up for them. So far, the bikes are working wonderfully.

They have taken them road riding as well as on trails and they’ve performed beautifully thus far. Very happy with Moosejaw customer service as well as the Diamondback Hatch 2 MTB’s.

Bumped up a bit in quality from my last bike, not a Diamondback, which I rode into the ground (commuting and trail, fitness and fun). Loving it so far–fast, smooth ride, comfortable seat, great on road and trail, easy shifting and awesome hydraulic braking.

Easy to assemble. Didn’t have to adjust gears or brakes. I even like the color (no choice).

I am very pleased with my Hatch 3. The bike rides very stable and smooth. All shifting and braking are working fine. The seat is quite comfortable. I am adjusting to the 29″ wheels as I have never had them before.

Had to straighten a slightly bent front rotor and realign the caliper when I got the bike, but it is operating smoothly now. Would definitely recommend the bike.

So far, it’s a great bike. Very agile and sure footed. Shifts well and is comfortable. No complaints. The copper color is very cool. Don’t drop the bike in a leaf pile you’ll never find it (camouflage).

Happy with the bike. Big improvement by updating the wheels to Mavic SL Allroad. Stock wheels very heavy and not great build quality (gaps between sections of rim). Would buy this bike again.

I love, love, love this bike but if I could do it all again I would’ve saved a few more pennies for the 29 x 2 to avoid the entire year of issues I’ve had with this SX Eagle drivetrain. No matter what I do or my mechanic does this bike will not stay in tune.

Shifts perfectly after a tune-up on the stand literally every time but once you get it on the trail the problems start. Something happens between the 19,22,25,28 cogs either it ghost shifts into the higher cogs or won’t shift at all into the lower ones.

I usually get about 30 min of reliable, confident shifting after a tune before everything goes wrong and by the end of a most rides I can’t even get into the 11 cog at all anymore without basically bunny-hopping.

Put it back in the stand re-tune, 30 min of ride, rinse and repeat. I can’t begin to describe the headaches over this thing. Coming from a bike with a shimano xt setup I was just left with a lot to be desired from my first endeavor with SRAM drivetrains.

I write this review today right after purchasing a GX groupset to the tune of 550 buckaroos and hopefully this will alleviate my problems based on the advice of my LBS. But again if I had just saved the extra 550 I’m spending today I would probably just be looking forward to riding this afternoon instead of taking time out of my day to write this review.

If, like me, this bike fits perfectly into your budget and you can’t go any higher and you don’t care what I say and you do buy this bike you should be shopping for a good deal on a different rear derailleur at the least.

Warning. This is a very novice review. After riding my Stumpjumper FSR for twenty years it was definitely time for an update. I really wanted a Trek Fuel EX 8 but my local dealer was out of stock and in these pandemic times they said said that if I special ordered one it wouldn’t be available for months.

They had just received a Giant Trance X 29 2 and it had just been put out on display. The salesman said that while the components weren’t quite as good, the bike rocks and has a lot of fans. I went home and read a million reviews and I decided that I had to have the bike.

So I pulled the trigger today and purchased the bike. After a 20 mile trail ride to break it in, let me say, HOLY SMOKES does this thing rip. I felt like Superman on the downhills, and climbed like I never have before.

For having such an Enduro-ish suspension, it digs, and digs hard uphill. The Shimano system seems to function flawlessly and the Tektro Orion 4P’s are seriously legit. I’ve never owned a bike with disc brakes to be honest so I don’t have anything to compare them to, but wow.

The Fox Rhythm 36 is buttery smooth on the ups and downs. I may never know how that Trek rides, but man am I in love with this Giant. Holy smokes is she a bad bad girl.

After buying the Giant Reign Advanced 0, I was looking at the 27. 5 and 29r Trance bike for my young adult daughter. First off, the bike is just beautiful. We put a few pieces of oil slick on, and the bike looks like a scarab beetle.

Just great paint, and subtle colors splashes. Well done. The SLX drive train shifts really well, very fast to dump gears before a climb, and can shift under power. Unlike the review below, the 2021 Giant Trance 29 2 that we just received has the correct rim width and ETRTO of 622×30 with Minion DHF in 2.

3. Which is the wider “all mountain” sized rim width that created a wider tire contact patch and allows for the rider to put lower pressures without punctures. I wonder if it was it an earlier spec? There have been changes during the model year (for example the Reign had 160mm lyrics and 170mm DVO forks in the same year).

I’ve ordered the fork travel upgrade (130mm–140mm) from Fox for only $34usd, and this will slacken the head tube by a half degree, and provide a bit more travel. Take out one volume spacer and set sag to 30% for a bit more mid-stroke float.

Much needed here in eastern Ontario. The tire pressures from the store where ridiculously high (more than double the 22/24psi that was appropriate for the rider during store fitting. This made the first ride harsh.

After touching the tires and finding them at 60psi we just shook our heads at the dealer (this is not a road bike lol). The shifters and levers should be positioned inboard of the grips to allow for proper single finger use, and the reach adjustment for the lever is a great feature.

Brakes are excellent overall for this style of bike. If you rip downhill and want to use semi-metallic or sintered brake pads, the rotors will need to be changed as well (only downside to Shimano’s resin-pad specific system).

Bars have more than enough capacity to be cut down, which we did at home to fit. Overall very pleased.

Really impressed with everything from the packaging, tools provided, instructions, to the quality of the bike. A top experience. Bravo Canyon (especially in a super difficult market). Bike rides like a dream.

For the fit/size – my size, based on the Canyon size chart, was between an L and XL. This is a gravel bike, and the dimensions are therefore slightly different from a road bike, so I would STRONGLY recommend going UP one size if you are between sizes.

XL fits me perfectly.

My evaluation is 100% on the customer “service” not on the bike. I would have rated it 1 star but Canyon made it easy to return the bike and credited my card quickly. However, in general, my experience told me Canyon is for people who know everything about biking.

People who do not need any customer support. People who spend a decent amount of money on something and then do not mind being treated like dirt. Based on appalling customer support after I received the bike, I would not recommend Canyon to anyone who doesn’t fit in these categories.

I honestly thought this was going to be for reviewing EVO, so I’ll start there. Evo far exceeded any expectations for getting this bike out the door for me. I can’t say enough about buying from Evo. 10 days from the day I ordered my bike it’s now assembled in my garage.

The biggest holdup was more FedEx being, well, its usual slow self. As for the bike, it feels like a beast. Pretty simple getting it together and getting my dropper post installed. Some folks complain about that internal routing but I had no issues.

I just bought some new flat pedals for it in lieu of the stock nylon flats and I was on my way. Took very little time to assemble and calibrate everything. I haven’t had much of a chance to ride the trails because I did all of that on an extended lunch break, but I can already tell for the short up and down ride I did that this is exactly what I’ve wanted.

Bicycles online are great. The boys in the warehouse are very helpful too. I ride a full suspension bike and also dirt jumps (polygon trid). Always wamted something between these two. Fun on the trails and tricking on the street – endos, stoppies, manuals and jibbing off urban obsticles.

Plus a bike i can ride around on with the kids and not worry if ive scratched a carbon frame. The San Quentin 3 fills that gap in my life. Our relationship is now a year long and i am still in love. Have been so impressed with this bike, bought the new frame only for my son and we did a custom build using my parts bin.

And oh my is it the envy of the kids in the neighbourhood. Firstly geometry is spot on. Steep seat tube slack front end makes this bike a capable descender and super jibby and you can get airborne on demand.

Shes been upgraded to 130-150mm adjustable Cane Creek coil forks up front and better brakes. I find 140mm perfect set up. On the more flowing mid to steep trails SQ3 will beat pretty much allcomers. This bike is so quick so agile with the Helm coils.

The grip level is astonishing through burms, and the coil front keeps the front so planted and so sensitive that my cornering is significantly faster than my full sus. My mates on 150mm travel full suspension have trouble keeping up on terrain that suits the SQ.

Its a great feeling to smash past or shout trail to riders on full suspension rigs on the downs and schralp past, jibbing off trail features. This bike is a flow terrain slaying weapon with some upgrades and good technique its a blast.

Saying that, Sydney terrain is rocky steep and unforgiving. The SQ3 is harder on the body and mind and will always be slower on black steep rocky downs and ups than mid travel 29s. Option here is to run 2.

4-2. 6 DH wide trail tyres to soften up impact with tubeless. However i prefer 2. 3-2,4 tyres on her to keep it agile and scalplel like. Is the SQ a good climber and single track ride? On firetrails and smoother ups it really excels.

When doing rocky, steps, technical black ups its demanding and full suspension bikes are easier and less harsh. Hitting heavy duty vertical features really test your skills (thats a good thing). Will a San quentin improve your riding? Unequivocally , yes.

Hardtails teach better line choice, bike control, handling, body posture. Too many people ride sus bikes that mask bad habits and inihibit improvement without learning basic bike skills. The San quentin has breathed new life and a new lense on trails, jumps and grinds i have ridden 100s of times.

I continue to leave my full suspension bike at home and sling a leg over my mistress SQ3 at every chance, seeking to improve my riding and having more fun in the process. Finally to level set, what trails do i ride on my SQ – belrose bike park – yep on a hardtail.

Serata, garnia ( tech), twin peaks, the dam. mt stromlo (amazing riding SQ on their flow trails). Would love to ride her at Derby – covid permitting. Fitness rides and long grinds out to terry hills through cascades.

Ive even taken her in an XC race, no i am no xc racer – just for fun with mates.

I received my Occam early July after a very slight delay and ordering in June. I think I was lucky that Sigma received the full allocation they ordered, but suits me fine!! It arrived when I was told and was mostly assembled.

Only thing that needed setting up was the bars (which I was changing out spacers anyway) and to put my pedals on. One thing that wasn’t right was the dropper post. It was stuck solid and I needed a wrap wrench to unstick it.

It was the seat post tube caught on the internal cable and the cable housing itself was split causing an issue with post operation. I got it working of sorts for my trail day the next day, but informed Sigma.

Sigma were great, we agreed I could get the cable replaced at my LBS and they would refund the cost. Communication was great and after I sent them the receipt they refunded the cost immediately. The post is now like it should have been and works perfectly.

Overall the bike is brilliant for the price, climbs well, brakes are good (so far only used in dry conditions) but the speed and control on trails and technical section is great and what I would expect of a much more expensive specced bike.

Sigma Sports have been great throughout the transaction and their customer service puts other online bike retailers to shame. Well done Sigma, well done Orbea!.

I bought this bike about 2 months ago and I can not recommend it enough! I was obsessed with the 2020 Occam when I first saw its release about a year ago and then was able to save up enough money to buy it (the M10 model with the 34 fork).

The parts spec was exactly what I wanted with Fox suspension and Shimano XT drivetrain/brakes and fit in the weight range I was looking for (29. 4 lbs for a size large with XTR PD-M9120 pedals). I primarily mountain bike for fitness, but wanted to get a bike that wouldn’t hold me back on the way down, and this bike is exactly that.

It climbs amazingly well and the 140 mm of travel front and rear are more than enough to take anything I can throw at it on the downs (6 ft, 175 lbs). Since owning this bike, I have had no weird mechanical issues and the bike has been rock solid only requiring the usual post ride cleaning/chain lubrication.

There are a few minor things I plan on changing on the bike, but not immediately as I can deal with them for the time being. First, the grips are too small of a diameter and my hands fatigue a little quicker than they do with my usual grips (ODI Rogue Lock Ons).

Second, the tires are not my preferred choice and are a little too trail riding focused. I usually run a Maxxis Minion DHF in the front and a Maxxis Aggressor in the rear. Third, I will eventually switch out to a 203 front rotor for a little bit more stopping power, but honestly this bike has plenty out of the box.

The 150 mm Orbea branded dropper post was a bit of a question mark for me and in comparison to my previous bikes dropper (2018 Fox Transfer), it is noticeably slower on the return. Having said that, it has had zero problems so far, but will eventually be switched out for another Fox Transfer since I could easily fit a 175 mm in the frame with room to spare.

There has been only one glaring problem with this bike for me and that is the amount of pedal strikes I get in comparison with my old bike when climbing over rocky terrain. I rarely got pedal strikes with my old bike, but it happens pretty often on this one.

On my demo ride alone (the M30) before buying the bike, I had 8 in about and hour. Ultimately, if you experience what I did, you will have to modify your riding style and really think about when to pedal and when not to when going over certain features on the trail.

It still wasn’t enough to deter me from buying the bike since it was so good everywhere else, the build spec was exactly what I wanted, and the price was right where I wanted it. I am going to eventually switch out to 165 mm cranks and hope that this helps reduce the amount of pedal strikes I am getting, but even if it doesn’t do too much, I am still super happy with my new bike and would rate it 5 stars all day.

I know this review is a little late in the game, but hopefully the 2021 models are not too different so this review can still apply to just how unbelievable this bike is. Hope this review helps!.