Enduro vs XC, Which Bike is Faster?

Cross country bikes have made insane gains over the past few years, and so have enduro bikes! Which one will prove to be faster in a head to head battle down a familiar trail? One of them happens to take a hotly contested KOM, so I hope you enjoy! :)

Why are we doing this? 0:00
Revolver Lap 0:56
Sight Lap 4:35
Splitscreen Lap 8:00
Bonus 12:00

[jeffward]

I figured they would be pretty much equal on a trail like that, but only because both bikes were running the optional Dale Stone Pilot Kit, which makes all bikes faster. 😁

[TheNickbb]

I think the answer is to always follow Doug, beautiful riding! A couple highly scientific follow up questions:
1. How much more does it hurt emotionally to crash wearing lycra?
2. Seriously, what's up with the travel? One XC dork to another, friends don't let friends ride 32mm forks. Life's too short...

[TheTrueOutDoors]

Crazy how similar they both are...but both bikes are getting rode by Dale...sooo that already equals a crazy lap time/success rate anyway!! Great to see the sight back in a video!

[d-nicebikes]

I was rooting for the Sight, but, the side by side was awesome. Great comparison, and your skill level made it as even a comparison as possible. Being a recent Sight owner, it's good to see how the bike handles a technical trail at (special human) speed. Shred on, Sir, Shred on - Derek

[lynxg]

OK, you asked for it and I enjoy this at it split, before I saw the conclusion, I said the Sight by a, you know what hair and I was right, however, you did take a few "creative" lines on the Sight vs the Rev, which opened up a few corners. Absolutely agree with you that this trail, IMHO, you don't need anything more than the Rev and it's more than capable on it, but can imagine that once it gets steeper, with bigger drops and rocks, the Sight would open a gap.
Now as you said, you wanted to know which was fastest and got your answer, but to/for me, on that trail, the Rev looked WAY more fun and you looked way smoother. Also, 2.6" DHFs :-o You didn't say what "XC" tyres are on the Rev. IMHO, on that trail, I can't think a good 2.6" "XC" tyre like the Rekon, even with the smaller and closer knobs would not offer some excellent grip, now if it was wet and/or loamier trail, then the difference would be for a more agro tyre like the DHF.
BTW, can't just drop that that thing weighs 23lbs and not give a full build for it. Also guessing that despite the Sight being more plush, the Rev being almost 2/3 the weight, is much more fun to throw around and fatigue level on that sort of trail has to be about equal, or even slightly in favour of the Rev.
My conclusion, unlike what most people say and think, most people aren't riding anything that requires something like a Sight, not even close and would do well to ride something in the 100-130mm travel range with a HTA between 67-68.5*.

[bermbossmtb]

Make sense they were about the same. For me it is all about my old bones :) Riding an XC bike on the trails compared to my AM just straight out hurts. Cool comparison though.

[daveharris]

I had a Transition Spur (120/120 29er) and a Transition Scout 140/150 27.5)
In Florida.
The Spur seems like the obvious winner...but I felt more comfortable on the Scout, and am able to ride my home trail faster with it despite its 3lb weight disadvantage.

[obomasinladen]

I’m going to go ahead and say it, following someone else’s line, especially someone that’s fast makes a trail so much easier. With that said, I’d be interested to see this again without a lead rider on one of the laps

[paulgiles]

Clearly yellow bikes are faster, but not as fast as green bikes!. 🤔

[wozm]

Difficulty in choosing which bike to take out is a very nice problem to have.

[Jacob]

I think its more of an overlapping window where both bikes will be +/- < 5 seconds. Both are well capable for various terrains
Great bro-science experiment, well done.

[jonatonlome]

Nice, but I think on the Revolver lap you should have been in the lead as well. While the other rider was at times a bit ahead, you were also pretty tight on him at times and possibly had to slow, let up a bit to accommodate?

[dmweyland]

this was very intresting test.. i would love to see a mid travel bike in this test as well... something like a pivot trail 429 with the enduro set up???or something similar...

[Qinhaocheng]

No wonder why I come back to this video today, and i was pretty sure the bonus clip was from the trail that has the drop I was always afraid of, but why is the landing heading to the right? then i noticed Braden's drivetrain haha

[marcsee]

Same. Depends what felt more comfortable for you.

[STSMotors]

hey! I'm a rider from near waterloo hoping to head out to BC one of these days. do you know of any good hydrocut level trails or trail systems? (I can clear most features at the cut)

[therealridedmc]

Honestly I thought the Revolver appeared faster but that could have been because you were following someone? At any rate I found the split screen compelling. It was literally back & forth until closer to the end. Can you share the location/trails this was filmed on? It looked fun!

[gabandkisheeemp]

Dale do you use 20% of sag in your forks when riding your xc bike im gnarly trails and what’s your comression setting if you don’t mind?thanks bud!i’m riding trail bike with 120mm travel of forks

[thepedalsadvocate]

I screenshotted your graphs several times.

[vert_n_dirt]

Now would a proper 130 or 140mm fork on rhe revolver, with the resulting 67 degree ha and 30mm higher bar height, close the gap?