Accoridng to MBR, 6" travel is perfect for riding along canal towpaths. 😉

I have just bought a 4" FS after years on hard tails and after a few months of riding and really liking it I am beginning to wish I had gone for more inches! It has definitely improved my riding and I am tempted to do harder stuff that perhaps more suspension would help. So fiddle about a bit to make it more everyday and you might find it will do everythng.

Alternating between light and heavy wheels makes a huge difference to how my bike rides. Heavier wheels and DH tyres makes it feel indestructible on the downhills but hideously sluggish for pedaling along and up. Lighter wheels and tubeless, XC tyres makes it feel a bit more skittish on the DHs but it's mailes nicer to pedal uphill.

I have a gemini which is a pretty big bike for general riding. Great fun, but I wouldn't want to ride it XC for longer than a few hours – starts to become seriously hard work.

Where these bikes lose out, IMO, is not on the climbs, but on the across bits. You just accept that they're not at their best climbing, and dig in. No big deal. Obviously they rule descending – but they're pretty poor at going over rolling singletrack. Riding a big wallowly pig bike through the woods is a wee bit boring tbh – flattish trails that feel really zippy on the xc bike aren't as good.

I've never felt "over-biked" (an expression I'll never willingly use, as it is mag-speak bollox imo) on my Yeti (not quite 6 inches).
Weight of the bike has a lot to do with it, so good idea to lighten the wheels/tyres.
I demo'd one of the classic 06 Enduros and it was a bit weighty going uphill, really accelerated well when you put the hammer down though.

Oooh, I know this one!

First dabble with full-sus after being a confirmed rigid singlespeeder for years was with a 4" travel Cowan DS – loved it but felt that a bit more travel would allow me to go a bit faster and try a bit more d/h so after a couple of l/t hardtails I went for a 6" travel Coiler – the extra confidence was amazing but it was hard work getting to and from the trails (and work) so after a good 7-8 months (that's a long time, trust me) I swapped back to a shorter travel full-sus (Intense Tazer with 130mm forks up front) – plenty slack enough to inspire confidence but still pretty nippy. Thought that this was 'the one' but upgrade fever struck and I swapped the forks for bolt-thru's (but 120mm, much lighter and considerably shorter axle to crown) and although the bike went like a little rocket uphill, I'd lost that confidence inspiring d/h ride. I wanted to ride downhill without having to slam on the anchors every time I came to a six inch drop 😳 😉 hence another swap, this time to a Santa Cruz Bullit . . . whoa!! . . . sit down, shut up, hold on (just don't expect to be able to climb anything at any speed 🙄 ). I really missed the 'pop' of my old Tazer so after just two weeks the Bullit's forks were lowered to 140mm and another Tazer ordered . . . pretty slack with the longer than recommended forks up front so I don't bottle the d/h's, 4" travel with lock-out at the back makes the climbs and the commute easier – spot on!! I guess travel adjust on the forks would make it near perfect but the old singlespeeder in me prefers to keep things simple (it's enough to have to remember to flick the propedal lever on the shock).

Not sure whether lightening up your bike would make a lot of difference – I'd tend to go for an air shock with lock-out and maybe adjustable forks. Never been one to worry too much about weight . . . just fitted a pair of big ass 2.35 tyres to the Tazer which have taken it's weight to just under 35lb!!! much the same as the Bullit but I know which I'd rather climb on.

Try an Orange Alpine 160

But personaly what did work for me is an Orange 5 AM
with talas 160 fork upfront

Weighs in at 29.5 lbs solid bike

Grumm rides his Pitch everywhere and loves it. I don't ride mine everywhere because I have another bike (Inbred) for 'XC' stuff and as a result my Pitch has morphed into a heavier, more DH style bike. And that's fine for both of us.
But the thing is we've most probably got the same bike, but set up differently, and that's the key to it I think. Get the right bike for you, and set it up properly and it'll be fine.
DezBs Yeti is set up nice and light and will be lovely on 98% of trails as a result. My old 575 was set up a bit burlier than his, and was an incredible mile-muncher too.

I think it's all about getting the right 6in bike, then setting it up for the riding you do. Yes, they will smooth the trails out a lot, but that's why you buy suspension, yes?
🙂

when it all goes wrong (which it invariably does) you would be going a significant velocity and its going to hurt.

That's the fun of mountain biking! Obviously not the hurt bit, but finding that limit: where it just might go wrong and doesn't 🙂

on the money, don't spend a fortune lightening the enduro, buy a hardtail as a companion bike. Either new if you've got the cash or 2nd hand if you're like me and tight/skint – best of both innit!

The wheels will make a big diference, but its the tyres you put on em that will really make the difference, my pal has an 06 Enduro, one of my favorite Spesh designs ever, I have ridden it in DH trim around our local tame loop and it was a pig, I have had a go of it with large ish XC tyres on it and its a lot lot more managable for pedalling about, if you got 2 sets of wheels why not run 1 as your big day DH setup and the light ones with suitable light fast tyres, and you got 2 bikes in 1..

Do you have the gemotry changing shuttle on your one? another thing pointing it to being an ideal candidate for a 2 bikes in 1 ride if you do.

My first FS was an '06 Enduro, after 12 years riding HT's. I still kept my '97 Lava Dome though.

At first I found the Enduro awesome, as we went out for fun pootles, there was no rush uphill and it was awesome downhill. However, riding companions change and groups get bigger. Combined with (at the time) dwindling fitness), I was finding lugging the 34lb pig around harder and harder. Occassionally it became a breath of fresh air to go out on the Kona, but then I found myself missing the Enduro when pointing downwards.

Eventually, with a couple of bouts of minor illness, stress at work, laziness and general disinterest I found my fitness at rock bottom, my weight up to 15st and was going out less and less. When I did, I was resenting the Enduro on rides where I found myself struggling and decided I neded a lighter bike.

I got a good price for the Enduro and had my heart set initially on a Remedy 8, but when a mate bought one, I felt inclined to go for something else (despite it being a very good bike) and set my attentions to an Enduro SL. Initial interest in aluminum models changed to a Pro Carbon as '08 prices started to come down. Before selling the old Enduro I'd considered just buying an SL frame and swapping the bits over, but had sacked that idea off, but I eventually settled on building up an S-Works.

The parts list grew and inevitably the cost, but buying the frame/forks/shock/stem/post/front mech for £1500 saw me build the whole bike for £2700, with Hope Tech M4's, XT drivetrain and Roval wheels. The bike weighs in at around 28lb.

My riding's rejuvinated, the bike is awesome up and down and I've lost 2 stone into the bargain. Certainly don't find it too much travel on any terrain and the HT doesn't get a look in now.

Ok, so I digressed. The old Enduro was too heavy to drag round when mates got fitter and the new Enduro is great – and no 6" isn't too much.

The OP was about an Enduro, hence the relevance.

Grinding up the hill……well see Mark Weir big bike lots of travel and so on, keep riding and get fitter, look at your technique and save money! 😀

or

get lighter wheels as stated.

Personally i have had big bikes sadly now sold my titus supermoto, 150 /170travel 36lbs 2.4 tryes over a timed course 10 miles with one long climb road and off road bits was less than 1 minute slower than my yeti asr 25lb bike, the titus made loads of time on the downs and stuck in the climbs nearly killed me mind you.I have always liked the comfort of big long travel bikes but I think 6 inch travel is too much for UK around 100 to 140 is about right, longish fork and you are away.