How to choose the best full-suspension mountain bike: A buyer’s guide

Full suspension increases comfort, enhances control, and helps you ride faster in rough terrain. There are many different styles of full suspension MTB available – from speedy XC racers to long travel DH machines – and it can be daunting finding the right one; this buyer’s guide will help you choose the full suspension mountain bike that suits you best. 

Mountain bikes are designed to handle a wide range of off-road terrain – from smooth forest trails to jump lines to highly technical, rock and root strewn backcountry. High volume knobby tires, disc brakes, and front suspension are key mountain bike components. Full suspension mountain bikes benefit from having rear suspension in addition to front suspension; further enhancing their abilities in rougher terrain.  

Full suspension mountain bikes offer greater traction and more control over rough ground, improving your comfort and confidence where you need it most. 

Travel – the total amount your wheels can move as the suspension reacts to terrain – is a good way to loosely group full suspension mountain bikes into different categories. Less travel usually equates to a quicker, more responsive ride, but maybe not as much comfort and control as with longer travel bikes. More travel usually means greater comfort and more control on steep and rough trails, but that can sometimes come at the expense of speed and may also carry added weight. How much travel do you need? Let’s dig into the differences here in this full suspension travel guide. 

100-120mm rear wheel travel. The emphasis here is on speed and efficiency. Lightweight mountain bikes designed to cover ground fast, these are ideal for riders who love to climb and favor fitness over the big adrenaline rewards of huge jumps and gnarly chutes. When choosing cross country MTB, look no further than our Lux family of bikes to put the hammer down, or the Lux Trail if you want your anaerobic threshold served up with healthy portions of challenging singletrack. 

120-150mm rear wheel travel. Blending the nimble responsiveness of cross country (XC) bikes with the confidence of more suspension travel and longer, more stable geometries, trail bikes offer an excellent balance of climbing and descending prowess. Most riders in most terrain will find themselves looking for a full suspension bike in this range; efficient enough to bag huge climbs and reward your effort, but confident and comfortable enough to let it rip when it’s time to descend.  

Check out the Neuron family for light and fast end of this spectrum, or swing a leg over the incredibly versatile Spectral if your trail appetite is for the rougher and wilder side of things. 

50-200mm rear wheel travel. Steep, gnarly terrain, big mountain and lift assisted high speed descending are the domain of these sturdy, stable, longer travel bikes. Along with ample travel to absorb whatever obstacles are in your way, enduro mountain bikes feature geometry that ensures you stay composed in the roughest conditions and at the highest speeds. Heavier tires, stronger wheels and bigger brakes withstand more aggressive riding, and frames are built to survive high speeds and harsh conditions.  

The Strive and Torque models can climb efficiently but are ready with progressive geometry and ample suspension to shred the descents, and the Sender is your World Cup proven ticket to pure downhilling nirvana. 

Geometry is the combination of physical measurements that defines how a bike will behave on the trail. Important individual aspects of mountain bike geometry that contribute to this final identity consist of head tube angle, seat tube angle, reach and stack, wheelbase, and bottom bracket height. These measurements are equally important in both hardtail and full suspension designs, but full suspension geometry is somewhat more complex because it has to take into account the suspension acting on both wheels.  

Check out our MTB geometry guide to explore each of these aspects in more detail and find the perfect setup for your ride. 

Some full suspension mountain bikes feature adjustable geometry. Depending on model, head headset cups can allow for steeper or slacker head angle adjustment; flip chips can raise or lower bottom bracket height; and rear axle flip chips can lengthen or shorten chainstay length. In each case, these adjustments can also have an effect on wheelbase, effective seat angle and reach.  

Individual geometry measurements are helpful information in your quest to find the ideal full suspension mountain bike, but don’t get too hung up on them. Remember that saying: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” This applies to mountain bike geometry in particular, where the way a given bike rides and handles is not only how all those measurements work together, but also how the frame is designed, what it is made out of, the effectiveness of the suspension kinematics and how well the selected suspension components match them. There’s a lot of science and engineering and just a little bit of voodoo magic in every good bike! 

Deciding what size wheels are best for you depends on a lot of things. These days, most mountain bikes are built around 29” wheels, but there are also dedicated 27.5” wheel bikes, as well as combined 29” front/27.5” rear wheel designs known as mullet mountain bikes, and plenty of internet forums where people love to argue endlessly about 29” vs 27.5” mountain bike wheel sizes (check out our full guide to 29” vs 27.5” mountain bike wheels if you're curious). There is no one “best wheel size for full suspension”, but rather a variety of options to suit rider preference, rider size, and terrain. 

• 29” wheels. For stability, traction and smoother rollover in most terrain, the big wheels are the way to go. This is the dominant wheel size for most XC and trail applications, as well as being the front wheel size of choice among downhillers. 
• 27.5” wheels. Smaller, more agile and responsive, 27.5” wheels excel in tight terrain and are popular with riders who want to get more physical and loose with their riding. They also make it easy to build frames for physically smaller riders, so you can often find small and XS frame sizes utilizing these wheels. 
• Mullet MTB setups (29” front, 27.5” rear). A popular choice with enduro and downhill riders, a mullet setup offers you the stability and traction of a 29” front wheel, with the agility, responsiveness and clearance of a smaller rear wheel. 

Proper fit is crucial in finding your perfect full suspension ride. One aspect of fit is based around your size as a rider. We offer most of our mountain bikes in five sizes — XS to XL, catering to a broad range of rider heights. Another important consideration when choosing a mountain bike frame, however, is how you want your bike to ride. Reach based sizing, where you select the size of your bike based upon reach measurement rather than an idealized rider height reference, lets you choose a longer bike for more stability or a shorter bike for more agility. Your ride can then be fine-tuned to your personal preference by stem, handlebar and saddle adjustments. To get you in the ballpark, we’ve developed our Perfect Positioning System to figure out what the best size mountain bike will be for you, regardless of model.  

Check out our MTB sizing guide - designed to help you choose the right mountain bike for comfort, control, and performance.

Carbon vs aluminium MTB, this is one of those eternal conundrums when it comes to choosing mountain bike frame material. When it comes to selecting the best material for your full suspension mountain bike, here are a few things to consider: 

• Carbon Fiber. This is generally thought of as the premier frame material, and for good reason. It can be designed to deliver some astonishing ride characteristics in terms of vibration damping and responsiveness, with an incredible strength to weigh ratio. When it comes to going fast and weighing less, it is pretty hard to beat. However, carbon fiber is generally more expensive to work with than aluminium, so it is usually found at the pricier end of the spectrum (check out our range of Canyon carbon full suspension bikes  here.) 
• Aluminium, the known quantity. We’ve been working with aluminium forever, and have evolved its application massively. It is a great choice for full suspension bikes because it is easy to work with, therefore affordable, it’s incredibly tough, and it provides an exceptionally stiff and precise platform to build suspension bikes around. Pro-tip: We’d pick high quality aluminium over anonymous cheap carbon fiber any day (explore Canyon aluminium full suspension bikes here.)

Determining how much you should spend on your full suspension mountain bike is a very personal thing. Good full suspension bikes are likely to cost more than similarly kitted out hardtails, because the designs are more complex and therefore more expensive to manufacture, and because there are extra suspension components and more frame hardware parts involved. We try to counter that by leveraging high quality componentry at competitive prices wherever we can, and by offering a strong direct-to-consumer value. You are buying your bike direct from us, and that saves you money. 

At Canyon, most of our models can be broken down into three distinct value tiers; Entry level, mid-range, and high-end. At the entry level, you can find very capable full suspension mountain bikes starting as low as 1099 euro. As prices start to climb, components get more expensive, carbon fiber appears more as a frame material, and the performance/weight/component quality matrix improves. At the very top of our range, you’ll find the CFR models. Canyon Factory Racing. These mountain bikes represent our most refined technologies, our most competition oriented frames, outfitted with the highest quality components money can buy.  

We design all our mountain bikes to withstand hard riding in brutal conditions. Our full suspension designs are built with high quality sealed bearings and carefully shielded components to ensure trouble-free performance in the most adverse conditions. That said, mother nature is a badass and she must be respected. So, some maintenance will need to be carried out from time to time. The good news – if you lean into a little bit of scheduled pivot maintenance and follow some regular suspension service intervals, your full suspension mountain bike will provide you with years of dependable performance and mile after mile of dirty satisfaction. 

Mountain biking is awesome. By heading off-road, you can unlock a whole new world of adventure and exploration. While you don’t need a full suspension bike to tap into the mountain biking experience, opting to choose a full suspension bike will enhance every aspect of that experience. You’ll be able to ride more trails, with more confidence and in greater comfort, and you’ll be able to enjoy your rides more deeply. There’s a lot to consider, though, and the sheer variety of bikes available can be overwhelming. So, dig around some more. 

We’ve compiled some guides here that will help guide you through the decision making process. Check out our comprehensive MTB buying guide, plus our dedicated entry-level MTB guide if you’re just starting out. Still unsure if a hardtail might be more your style? Our hardtail buyer’s guide can help you figure that out. And if you’re torn between a few options, our bike comparison tool makes it super easy to find your perfect match. 

And that’s a wrap - have a blast hitting the trails on your new Canyon full suspension bike! 🤘