another what bike thread!....
Discussion
but this time its mine, all mine!, buaw ha ha ha!.....an xc rider at heart i spend a lot of time at trail centres such as afan and cwmcarn, the bike wont be used for races but needs to be comfy enough for an very occasional all day epic...
proper downhill stuff just scares me, if it requires more body armour than an ice hockey goalie, i'm out!. i dont have the skillnor the confidence to hit big jumps/drops so dont need miles of travel or big beefy frames. the freeride park at cwmcarn (for those who know it) is about as technical as it gets on that front.
I am getting much faster on singletrack and even on my humble spesh hardrock pro can keep up with full sus stuff (although i am reasonably fit anyway, after a play on a friend's epic i realised that fs really does make a difference!). anyway i am not adversed to another hardtail as i can make them work at trail centres. however, cant actually decide whether a whippet like short travel ht or longer travel fun-orientated ht is a better idea. still havent fully decided if fs or ht is the best solution... but here are the contenders...
i have my heart set on a Lapierre Zesty 314, all the reviews point to a superb, do it all bike which can climb and descend without disgracing itself and is a bucket of fun. unfortunately, its right at the top of the budget...
other fs considerations: Trex Fuel Ex7,Giant Anthem 3, Spesh FSR <£1500
long travel ht: Whyte 905, Pace RC305, Genesis Alpitude
short travel ht: Van Nicholas Zion, Spesh Stumpy Comp HT, Scott Scale 30,
finally this is most liekly the last bike Mrs P will let me buy for a good few years so i need to get it right!....
Help....
proper downhill stuff just scares me, if it requires more body armour than an ice hockey goalie, i'm out!. i dont have the skillnor the confidence to hit big jumps/drops so dont need miles of travel or big beefy frames. the freeride park at cwmcarn (for those who know it) is about as technical as it gets on that front.
I am getting much faster on singletrack and even on my humble spesh hardrock pro can keep up with full sus stuff (although i am reasonably fit anyway, after a play on a friend's epic i realised that fs really does make a difference!). anyway i am not adversed to another hardtail as i can make them work at trail centres. however, cant actually decide whether a whippet like short travel ht or longer travel fun-orientated ht is a better idea. still havent fully decided if fs or ht is the best solution... but here are the contenders...
i have my heart set on a Lapierre Zesty 314, all the reviews point to a superb, do it all bike which can climb and descend without disgracing itself and is a bucket of fun. unfortunately, its right at the top of the budget...
other fs considerations: Trex Fuel Ex7,Giant Anthem 3, Spesh FSR <£1500
long travel ht: Whyte 905, Pace RC305, Genesis Alpitude
short travel ht: Van Nicholas Zion, Spesh Stumpy Comp HT, Scott Scale 30,
finally this is most liekly the last bike Mrs P will let me buy for a good few years so i need to get it right!....
Help....
It all depends on how much you want to spend, and what sort of bike you like.
All I can say is that the bike I ride the most (and there are a good number hanging up in the garage) is an On-One Inbred 456 Ti; genuinely the best bike I've ridden. You can build one for around £2k, which is a heck of a lot for a hardtail with pretty standard components, but the ride quality is fantastic, and even with my (mainly XT) build it's 23lb or so.
When you consider I ride this in preference to my Nicolai, Turner, Endorfin, Klein (amongst others), you can see how highly I rate it. Honestly, it's that good.
Ultimately all you can do is ride a lot of bikes and find out what you want. But I'd definitely go for the very best frame you can get - all the rest will be replaced over the years anyway.
All I can say is that the bike I ride the most (and there are a good number hanging up in the garage) is an On-One Inbred 456 Ti; genuinely the best bike I've ridden. You can build one for around £2k, which is a heck of a lot for a hardtail with pretty standard components, but the ride quality is fantastic, and even with my (mainly XT) build it's 23lb or so.
When you consider I ride this in preference to my Nicolai, Turner, Endorfin, Klein (amongst others), you can see how highly I rate it. Honestly, it's that good.
Ultimately all you can do is ride a lot of bikes and find out what you want. But I'd definitely go for the very best frame you can get - all the rest will be replaced over the years anyway.
I have an 08 trek EX7 and i cant praise it enough! its light enough for the flat and up hills and the fact that you can lock the suspension out makes it much easier. and for the downhill/rough stuff you have plenty of travel to get you through it. I bought mine as we were riding more and more at places like coed y brenin/ cwm cairn and it really fits the bill. the one thing i would say about it is the avid juicy 3's on mine aren't the best, but not too expensive to upgrade
all the shops i went too said the zesty was the wrong bike for what i wanted so i took their advice and looked at other things. the trex ex 7 is perhaps more what would suit the riding i do but the giant anthem 2, on close inspection, looks like a winner. just need to take one out for a few hours...
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