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Im not exactly down with the terms used in MTB, I have recently bought a new bike. It was within my price range and its great for riding on the road and forest trails. Its a "Carrera Hellcat II Limited Edition" 29er. Its got 100mm of travel (front suspension only) So i was wondering if this bike would be any good for doing some mountain biking trails. I know of one near to where i live.

If anyone could shed light on this i would be very thankful.

I am 6ft and weigh approximately 165lbs

Thanks, Jack!

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    1) There is only one way to really know: go out and ride. 2) Your location is important, as mountain biking in e.g. Colorado will be quite different from what you'll encounter in Iowa. Commented Apr 13, 2015 at 22:40
  • This is primarily opinion based so I'm voting to close on it. But you'll need to see how it works on the particular trails you ride.
    – Batman
    Commented Apr 14, 2015 at 0:43
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    To say what @Batman said a bit differently, everyone will have their own viewpoint. Mine is it's more useful for MTBing than my road bike.
    – andy256
    Commented Apr 14, 2015 at 2:06

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Looking at the component specs, its an entry level MTB, one better than a BSO.

80% of mountain biking is about the rider and his skills, not the bike. Shops won't tell you this, as telling you your riding skills matter most does not end in a sale of a newer season/more expensive bike. Cashed up middle aged execs won't either - many just want you to see how much money they have to spend on toys and cannot ride to save themselves - a lighter/faster/more forgiving bike hides the lack of skill. Competitive riders care what they ride - they have expensive bikes because 1/2 a second here and there makes a difference to them.

Where it will let you down is weight (Makes it harder to accelerate and not as fast up hills), front forks (Likely to have poor rebound control and bounce a lot - pogo sticks) and gear shifts will not be fast and crisp. Picking the right gears early will be critical to having fun, as will picking good lines in corners. The forks mean you will not have room for cornering mistakes and will probably have to enter corners slower than other. Being a hard tail, you will need better skills to ride fast, as they are less forgiving of mistakes than a softtail. It will also need more maintenance and tuning than a better bike, and probably wear out faster.

As far as trails you can ride - if the trail requires air time, the bike is not great. It would be OK on trail that can be ridden without having to do jumps, but is better suited to XC style trails rather than all mountain or down hill.

In the end, you won't break it any quicker than a better bike, so go out and have as much fun as you can on it.

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Just looking over the specs (having not heard of the brand before here in the US), I'd say what you have is a decent entry level bike.

With the Suntour XCM-DS forks on there I'd probably avoid doing any jumps. I'f I'm right, it looks like the fork has adjustable pre-load; if so make sure to tighten it up enough to keep it from bottoming out, if not you may want a to get a different fork.

For light entry level trail riding I don't see why it wouldn't work. Also, if the photo on the halfords site is accurate, you may want to think about getting some tires with more grip. Just be sure to keep the mechanical disk brakes adjusted & have fun!

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    The tires will be cheap tires, so new better quality tires will almost certainly have better grip, and also be much lighter. The small block tires in the pictures are great on hard pack and dry surfaces, they roll fast and have good cornering - it will depend on the trails he rides if they are suitible.
    – mattnz
    Commented Apr 13, 2015 at 23:18

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