Zesty is an excellent all rounder, as is the Stumpjumper. They’d be the two I’d look at.

This thread will now descend into the usual Orange Five argument.

A friend has just gone from a 5 to a Stumpjumper Evo which rides really nicely. Orange is simple and fun but the stumpy is a better climber, smoother on the downs and still a hoot. Therefore my vote would go stumpy having ridden zesty, five and stumpy. No comment on Jekyll but aren’t they in a different travel camp to the zesty? More Mega, Spec Enduro range? Depends on your ideas of DH but the 150mm trail bikes can still be pretty rapid in the right hands and may be more fun on your usual trails.

Or the Canyon Strive depending on how much DH you plan on doing, might be overkill a lot of the time but you can still have fun, the bike doesn’t ride itself.

Remedy 8 is 2.5 RRP but you can get it for a bit less. Very capable 150mm frame (biased).

Cove Hustler?

ZESTY

As noted there are lots and lots of good bikes in that price range and for that usage, to add a couple to those mentioned above …

Bandit/Covert
Trance/Reign

FWIW the owner of my LBS was raving about the new model LaPierre’s which will be out soon. The 2012 ones were really good and basically sold out everywhere.

+1 for the Ibis Mojo Special Blend – managed to get mine down to around 26lbs without compromising too much strength and it only cost another £200 on top of the Special Blend..

i have a ornage 5 & love it but for 2.5k nothing gets close to the canyon .

I bought a meta am frameset bundle of crc last weekend and have just about finished building it up with full xt, reverb, haven bars and hope hoops for under 2500. Only thing not brand new are tyres and pedals which I already had lying around

I dont ride the bikes I recommend, the op couldn’t afford the bike I ride

Stumjumper FSR EVO!
But I can’t find one in my size…

Don’t be fooled into thinking more travel = more fun. It really depends on what terrain you’re riding and who with. 140-150mm travel bikes are a lot lighter and pedal better than they used to but there are a huge number of people out there who’d get more from a shorter travel bike for 90+% of their riding. IMHO.

Get a Rose as they are better looking than a Canyon! Are you on something? This is what you linked to, looks like a college project!

And as for the Canyons, dont be seduced by the XTR chainset, its there to distract you from the fact the frame is utterly uninspiring.

For £2500 you have a chance to buy something that will last you a long time and provide a lot of smiles.

First decide what travel you want, if you ride the peaks then 140/150mm will bring a lot of smiles, if you ride with Rugby MTB club it will bring tears to your eyes.

DO you like maintenance? Do you ride in the peaks? THEN a single pivot is worth having, otherwise dont worry about it!

Have a look in sales or phone dealers who stock what you are after over the next couple of months as the 2013 stock arrives. They will all take at least 30% off with some haggling which is best part of £1000 saving, or look at it another way, your now able to look at £3500-£4000 bikes! They will all have XTR level gear AND decent frames unlike the Canyon.

Lastly, go ride some bikes, try different suspension out and see what you want, you will have more fun on something you are happy with than something you thought was good on a website as it had the all aluring XTR chainset

p.s. I ride a prophet which is a wise mans Five, because it works and i cant find a reason to change it, id prob have a carbon blur in dreamland but kids have put pay to that