[Leighton]

I've always been a roadie, but I'm buying my first mountain bike soon. I've never ridden one before, and I'm wondering what would be the best choice between the Cannondale Scalpel or the Cannondale RZ One Twenty? I can afford either, but I'm not sure which type of travel would be more appropriate, since I'm not sure what type of riding is going to be my preference.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mimi1885]

I think it depends on what kind of riding you would like to do. Scalpel is a race bike very fast up hill and thru the twisty singletrack, closer to what you are doing now. It's not the most comfortable Mtb.

RZ 120 is good step up bike more comfortable and more relax geometry you can do a lot it sits in the middle between the AM trail bike and XC or Race bike.

Another option would be RZ140 it's the most fun bike on the descend and it can still climb very well.

like I said earlier it depends on what you want to do, for me the more travel the better as long as it can climb because it makes the descend fun

 

[Leighton]

I've heard the Scalpel is a mountain bike that feels like a road bike. Perhaps thats the best choice.

 

[mimi1885]

Ya if you want to stay fast. It's not as forgiving as more travel bike but aggressive geometry for pedaling for sure. Most riders I ride with in the beginning goes for lighter faster XC bike but found out that more technical trail is more fun than just pedaling around so some ended up getting more travel trail bike.

Best is to check out demo around your area, try different types of bike on different type of obstacles, if you can handle more technical section with shorter travel then you are way ahead of the curve.