Orange Five 27.5”
Orange Segment 29”
Santa Cruz Bronson 27.5”
Santa Cruz Heckler 27.5”
Kona Process 27.5”
Giant Trance 27.5”
Whyte G150 27.5”
Whyte s129 29”
Specialized Stumpjumper 27.5”

I think that pretty much every manufacturer makes a bike that fits into your travel spec. It comes down to suspension platform/spec/price/brand snobbery.

Was just drooling a little over the new Rose Root Miller. Sort-of big brand but sort-of unusual. They have 27.5″ stuff too.

transition patrol looks real fun
new ibis mojo

Banshee Spitfire 27.5
Banshee Prime 29 (quite burly)
Banshee Phantom 29 (lower travel than your spec, but very capable)

I’ve just bought a Stumpy 29er and it’s ace.

But if I were to replace my 26er Spesh Camber with anything, it would be a Bird Aeris.

Switchback Unveil 9
http://www.blueflowbikes.com/switchback-unveil9-frame/switchback-unveil-9

the carbon process 134 should be out by the summer, job done

saying that my alluminium one is amazeballs

Followed a Saracen Ariel around Afan t’other week and it looked a very capable bike.

Nicolai ION 16 650b and ION 15 29er

This is going to be a very long list there are so many good options.

Transition Scout
Transition Smugler
Banshee Spitifire
Banshee Phantom
Liteville 301

Another vote for the Orange 5 29 / Alpine 5. Some good deals about on 2014 bikes too.

I’m in this market too, looking for something as a fiftieth ‘treat’

Money isn’t really an issue but I’m finding it very hard to look beyond the Canyon/On-One/Bird etc sub £3k bike c/w Pikes and 1×11 options.

Why would I really want to pay twice as much for the same performance, or alternatively the same money for an SLX/Fox 32 based bike.

Because £3k is a lot of money to spend on something that you can’t see, let alone ride on first.
or because the geometry or sizing of any of the uber value brands doesn’t fit what you might be after, and at the end of the day those are the most important things to how the bike rides, not whether it’s got XT over SLX or another couple of dials on the fork.

Horses for courses of course but that’s why I’ve discounted any of the above from my shortlist.

Love my stumpy 29er with 140mm fork, built from a bikescene frame.

Mainstream but in a different league to the other full sus bikes I’ve owned before (00 jekyll, 04 bullit, 03 big hit, 05 enduro, 07 heckler, 08 patriot, two giant trances, salsa spearfish). Ok they’re not all the same sort of bike, but the stumpy is not far off the old big hit downhill and almost as good XC as the spearfish, and outperforms all the others almost everywhere.

With a decent shock, fork and wheels it would be even better than it is (needs a stiff fork and stiff wheels – I’ve got a revelation and crests which are woeful on a bike as capable as this)

Process looks good in both varieties. In fact loads of them look good. Is it possible to buy a really bad bike these days?

Same age as the OP as well! Happy birthday!

Yep, agreed. But then, our illustrious OP is a relentless brand snob and won’t be swayed, no matter how good the argument!

😉

Why would I really want to pay twice as much for the same performance, or alternatively the same money for an SLX/Fox 32 based bike.

As mentioned, you’ve got to test any bike you consider. Having tested a few recently I was surprised how different ‘similar’ bikes felt. Put me right off getting anything I couldn’t test.

But you can test most bikes, with a bit of effort – e.g. demo days, mates, blagging etc.

Mondraker Dune XR or a Foxy carbon.I nearly went for the Pyga but got a 29 Covert instead, that was a bad move. The Foxy XR however, total barnstormer.