What hardtail £2000

[topgunkos]

Hi,

I am in the market for a £2000 hardtail for XC and general fun riding, what would you guys recommend in this price range? Carbon would be preferable.

thanks

[SteveSteveson]

For £2k? Got to be titanium, and built to the spec I wanted from parts.

[tjdixon911]

I've just recently got a Santa Cruz Highball - it's quick and fun at the same time.

Available in carbon or alloy although carbon will be stretching the budget a bit..

[AndyWoodall]

Have a look at Whyte. After someone mentioned here they were selling one I've been having a dig on the net and a browse in a nearby LBS I've previously never had occasion to go to and value wise they are up there with Cube and nearly Canon.

I've got a 29er hardtail to replace and want something that has all nice things about my full suss (Pikes, 1x11, dropper) in a hardtail but without blowing £2000 + on something like a Cotic Soul build (as nice as they are).

The model I'm looking at is the 905RS, £1600, Yari fork, 1x11, dropper post (albeit a KS one), tubeless ready. Looks like a complete bargain to me. The one up from that is the 909, geometry is similar but its full XT with Fox 34's for £1999.

[Rolls]

I had the same dilemma : you can't beat canyon vfm, but they were a complete nightmare with me, nd i had to cancel my order after waiting 4 months as they kept on pushing the delivery date back...
ended up with one of these :

https://www.evanscycles.com/specialized-stumpjumpe...

You may get lucky and find something similar for the money.. Its a fantastic bike!

[Mr Gearchange]

If it's fun you are after then I'd have a look at Ragley's range of bikes.

http://ragleybikes.com/

[AndyWoodall]

Forgot to mention I did have a look at the Saracen Manta Trail Carbon. Lovely frame (looks every bit as good as a SC Highball to me) but at £1600 I thought the spec a bit average, no dropper, 2x10, but I gather they ride really well.

[Chirpsean]

Have a look at the Giant XTC, lovely frames with some decent groupset options.

[Minnsy]

Got a Whyte 909... bought new in 2015, so has the pike fork, 1x11 sram, goodies galore!

An absolute blast. Light, responsive...

I see the 2016 909 is less than £2k, spec looks good. Still no dropper though.

Can't recommend highly enough.

[isv]

Salsa Fargo. Rare and an incredible XC, brilliant for long distance trips. Huge fun.

http://salsacycles.com/bikes/fargo

[AndyWoodall]

AndyWoodall said:

Forgot to mention I did have a look at the Saracen Manta Trail Carbon. Lovely frame (looks every bit as good as a SC Highball to me) but at £1600 I thought the spec a bit average, no dropper, 2x10, but I gather they ride really well.

Ignore me, the Mantra Trail Carbon is actually £1200, so actually a lot better value than I thought.

[AndyWoodall]

Minnsy said:

Got a Whyte 909... bought new in 2015, so has the pike fork, 1x11 sram, goodies galore!

An absolute blast. Light, responsive...

I see the 2016 909 is less than £2k, spec looks good. Still no dropper though.

Can't recommend highly enough.

Think it comes with the same KS one as the 905. Only 100mm drop but perfectly fine for a hardtail.

[Chirpsean]

The 909 definitely comes with a dropper, its on XT as well so for a shade under 2k its good value. The only fly in the ointment is that its not carbon. I nearly bought one before i chose the giant, but for me a more xc style suited my riding and the carbon frame on the giant is a thing of beauty.

[velocgee]

save some money; buy the 905 and use the dosh for kit and petrol to mountains

[anonymous-user]

Ritchey 29er custom build, should easily be able to get Reba forks, good wheels and XT level kit for under £2k if you shop around.

[andySC]

Canyon? I've had my new one for a month now and really like it. Strangely the change from 26 to 29 wasn't nearly as radical as I expected. It feels very nimble, more so than I was expecting. The Terralogic fork is amazing & the 11spd XT shifts feel very positive and light years ahead of my old 10spd tackle. The DT Swiss wheels are now running tubeless, lots of nice touches on Canyons, it's all XT, no scrimping on groupset components like many other brands do by mixing cheaper parts in & it came with a Conti Mountain King on the front & a XKing on the back, good combination it seems & so far I'm impressed. For an aluminium frame it weighs less than my girlfriends carbon Scott Scale 29er, it's not just the wheels that make up the difference either, with the wheels out of each bike the Canyon is lighter...all told, a great bit of kit & £500 under your budget.

Edited by andySC on Tuesday 14th June 23:49

[AndyWoodall]

velocgee said:

save some money; buy the 905 and use the dosh for kit and petrol to mountains

Might struggle now until Mid July. After this thread I decided to order one to be told all out of large until the 2017 model hits in July. Must be worth the wait though so long as they don't mess with the specs.