SX vs SX Trail?

The SX Trail is a VERY versatile and capable aggressive bike. Had one for years and enjoyed every minute of ride time on it. It's very confidence inspiring on big jumps, and it's very flickable for a rather long travel bike.

The SX is just a blast in general. It kills jumps and drops, and feels like it has way more than 100mm of suspension on hard landings. Probably one of the most fun bikes out there.

None of these models will pedal great, but the SX will do better than the Trail version purely from a weight and suspension standpoint. They both suffer from rather poor seat tube angles for pedaling though. If you're gonna be hucking this thing all over the damn place, both up and down the mountain, then have you looked at any of the Enduro offerings?? Specialized even offers an Enduro Evo this year, which is basically a beefed up version that teeters on the edge of AM/FR, but it'll still probably pedal better than an SX would.

Also, what kind of jumps would you be hitting? The 100mm SX will do better on the steep bmx style lips than the Trail would. If you're smooth, this would be a really fun light duty AM/FR bike. It can take the big hits from jumps and drops, but it's the rock gardens that really tear up the little bikes.

As far as replacing the shock, I'm not sure on that. I know for a while the SX line used a proprietary shock set up from Fox that was different from all the other DHX offerings, so that may make swapping it complicated. Even so, I always find that bigger travel bikes like the trail ride really awkward when the suspension is set up way too stiff.

I have both, The SX 100 is pure race, much fun like a sports car,quick and nimble. The trail is kinda a cross between an xc and a dh bike. Both are the heat as far as im concerned but very specific genre of riding. If I was looking to pedal up and then huck down on a regular basis, The new Stumpjumper fsr offers 6" of plush travel that you wont be sorry you have to pedal it back up. The Enduro also is an outstanding line of bikes. Dont think they offer a RP3 to fit a SX trail. The SX and SX trail are not the same frame, very diffrent geomotry between the two although they look very similar. Anyway thats my two cents for what its worth

I've had both as well. A lot of it also depends on the build you are running too. My sx trail i had built up with beefier parts, and was more of a mini DH bike (so the pedalling suffered). I could have built it up with lighter, less stout parts to make it pedal better, but at the end of the day its still much more oriented for descending.

I have my sx built up more as an all around trail and xc bike than a slalom/4x type bike. (130mm fork, and I actually have a slightly longer i2i/stroke shock on the rear so it sits just a tiny bit higher).


Geometry wise, the sx is tighter and more nimble than the sx trail.


Also, FWIW both of mine are/were older models. I wanna say 2005/2006.

I had an original SX and it was a purely awesome bike. Perfect geometry and made riding so natural.