having been mown down whilst commuting earlier this year I am about to get an insurance payout with a personal injury element. Thinking of treating myself with that to a lighter, shorter travel FS than my obsolete 35lb+ filing cabinet (2010 Alpine 160). As a born-again roadie and mad-for-it CX racer I am a bit out of the loop on mtbs, and having spent a day at the NEC show I came away thinking 90% of FS bikes look the same (27.5 wheels, short stem, radically sloping top tube, either 4-bar or top-tube mounted swing link) and couldn’t recall the difference between a Nukeproof, Transition or any one of a dozen other brands that all blended into one. Looking at spending around the £1700 mark.

Current contenders are

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/cube-stereo-140-hpa-race-suspension-bike-2016/rp-prod141147

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s183p5813/GIANT-TRANCE-27-5-1-2015

oooh carbon rims

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/Giant-Trance-27.5-2-2016-SAD.html

or the slightly leftfield

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/66808/Kona_Process_111_29er_2014_Bike

which gets rave reviews by owners here (we actually bought one for Munqe Chick but Wiggle had trashed it in shipping) , but seems to suffer rear shock wear.

Help me regain my MTB mojo, as the alternative is Sram Red eTap for my road bike…

Pretty sure you can get a YT Jeffsy for that money.

The new Bird Aeris 120 will probably come in around that mark with basic spec.

Or look at 2nd hand, you’ll get alot more for your money

If you fancy building one up I have a Giant Trance Advanced (carbon) frame, forks, shock, dropper post, stem, headset, front mech, and bottom bracket up for sale at the moment for £999. Pictures can be supplied and my email is in my profile. Size is medium.

I had the same debate as you may have seen and went for the 2015 Whyte T130SX as it has ‘better’ geometry than the later slacker models. The Process 153 was long low slack and i don’t know if the 111 would be the same. Paint wasn’t wonderful on the KONA either i must say.

The Giants are lovely and light, but felt a bit Mondeo for me…

The Specialized Stumpjumper FSR was right up there but sold out of 2016s and the 2017s are £1900

This Niner if you went 29″ was an absolute thing of beauty
https://www.stif.co.uk/mtb/product/niner-rip-9-alloy–x1-3-star-build-bike-blue/13478

Or look at 2nd hand, you’ll get alot more for your money

You honestly don’t in many ways you know. Even the FSR for example are doing £1200-1600 used… The Giants dont seem to come in that much below what PAuls Cycles are usually knocking them out for etc.

I looked long and hard recently for used and when you weigh up fork servicing, wheel truing, bottom bracket etc it actually made more sense to buy new.

Depends how patient you are 😉

And also how good you are at spannering

chrishc777 – Member

Depends how patient you are

And also how good you are at spannering

I’m good enough… but lets take for example a Commencal Meta AM29 i was buying. It was £800.

But on top of that it needs ideally a fork service £80, a shock service £80 (both plus post) and then a set of bearings at £35. You then add in the fact a wheel bearing was gone and the rim wasn’t quite right, so a new wheel ideally… You’re now up to £1150 and that’s before you find out the headset needs swapping, the BB is dead or the brakes need bleeding… You’re now getting close to Whyte T130, Giant Anthem money, both brand new and with Warranty.

Sure, you can buy a nice 2006 Stumpjumper for £600 and it needs nothing potentially… but it’s a 26″ bike, with old bits and do you really want that.

To pass the time, find me a ‘better’ bike ready to go for the £1400 i’ve just spent on the Whyte…. It may even be suitable for the OP.

Having said how uninspired I was by current bikes that Niner looks very nice…

I pondered it more than a few times… i thought and thought and thought… but when you have a budget you can often think “well, it’s only XYZ more for that…. then it’s only ABC for that ! ” you end up doubling your budget and spending a fortune.

For me, i set mine at £1400 in the end which was what i sold the KONA for and i am happy with mine (i hope)…

But if i’d been going up higher to £2000… well… you wouldn’t be able to order it !

Canyon Dude CF 8.0 😈

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mtb/dude/dude-cf-8-0.html

On the Process 111 – I wouldn’t worry about shock wear, especially if buying with warranty.

However it’s probably not much lighter than your Alpine and despite the short travel, it’s more downhill-focused than some of your other options.

Going downhill it’s sensational, but it can be hard work on the flat and slow uphill.

Have you looked at the Canyon Spectral?
https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mtb/spectral/2016/spectral-al-7-0-ex.html

You honestly don’t in many ways you know.

True, but I’d rather have this carbon Bronson for the same money as the Cube Stereo.

Bronson sold on eBay recently for £1761.

Whilst it may need a service and the new Cube won’t, ride both hard over a winter and and by Spring and they’ll be in the same condition.

Point taken Weeksy, but if you’re gonna buy a dog it’s gonna need some spending. What I tend to do is buy a new frame and build it up with new/used bits. My current Airdrop with 36s, X2, Pro 4/EX471 wheels, 150mm dropper and nice kit came up cheaper than anything you’ll buy new or used to that spec. Obviously this takes time and knowledge but I like the fact I get exactly what I want!

There’s a Trek Slash in the classifieds ATM for £2.4k with a massive spec, buying new £2.4 will get you a decent bikie but not a superbike like that

The only Bronson C i saw when looking was a black/pink one which is/was at £2250, i offered him £1700 and he came back with £2000 but i decided not to splurge the budget

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2015-Santa-Cruz-Bronson-C-Size-L-Upgraded-Spec-Central-London-/272390297393?hash=item3f6bba1731:g:qeEAAOSwgZ1Xu3Dy

But that’s still £600 over my budget… admittedly it’s not much over the OPs though 🙂

p.s. i’m not trying to prove a point or be argumentative here, i just like chatting about bikes 🙂

p.p.s I’m off out riding now so you get peace for 2 hours.

Weeksy I am at home with a broken collarbone so may take you up on the challenge! What did you get for £1400? base spec T130?

Correct Chris yeah.

I am in a similar situation. Have an original Giant Reign which has lots of upgrades. It’s a medium. Gonna sell it as I really need a bigger bike. I am looking at a XL Cube Stereo HPA 140 race that Dales in Glasgow are getting in for me. I think it’s about the same size a Giant Trance in Large. Budget of £1750. Need big L size or XL. Looking to drop travel from my Reign’s 160 as I don’t hit the jumps, large drop offs anymore as my back is stuffed.

Weeksy I am well aware of the perils of the sliding budget which is why I set the mark at £1700; I’m looking at about £2K P.I payout so have pitched low to give me some wiggle room, rather than picking £2K as the price point and then working up to £2.5K….

nobody, I already have a cheap fat bike (Wazoo) which has been ridden more than the Alpine this year, whilst I am a big fan of fat it’s still a lot of money on a bike with lower limits on it’s use (it would have to cover big foreign mountain riding holidays as well as local/UK trails). If the payout was £4K I’d get a FSer and a Dude…

Chapaking good point on the weight. I saw the Spectral at the NEC (one of the many identikit bikes I referred to) and yes it should be on the list for that price and spec(though none at that price in my size). I assume Canyon UK prices are going to rocket in 2017 so I’m surprised they are discounting 2016.

Come on guys I thought someone would suggest he spends the money on buying me a nice new MTB! Sigh …

I would go for that. If you arent short, than it will fulfil your expectations.

https://www.yt-industries.com/en/detail/index/sArticle/610/sCategory/509

yt jeffsy AL – 1710 GBP

galuska – Member

I would go for that. If you arent short, than it will fulfil your expectations.

https://www.yt-industries.com/en/detail/index/sArticle/610/sCategory/509

yt jeffsy AL – 1710 GBP

That’s a lovely piece of kit there… nice.

I still worry about warranty stuff on YT/Canyon etc. But if i’d seen that last week it would have been very tough to not buy it.

Yt Jeffsy all day 4 me.
Had mine 4 weeks pb’s set every ride so far.
Fantastic vfm and build quality is superb.

weeksy – Member

But if i’d seen that last week it would have been very tough to not buy it.

tut..tut 9th reply in 😆 😉

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-the-kona-process-looks-like-its-going-wtf-comes-in-next-though

I love my Process 111. True it’s not the lightest, but great fun.

Friends have bought canyon spectral & Jeffsy this year, both great bikes

Missed that… but with that level of detail i wouldn’t have actually known what you were going on about 🙂

That said.. it’s a 29er and i wanted to try 650B for this bike… so i’m still not too sad 🙂

No worries. Just messing 8)

I’ll happily recommend the Trance, prices have come down since the 650b was launched in 2014/15 and its built incredibly well and mine has proved to be reliable with minimal maintenance.

As stock they are a 140mm trail bike but can be built up any way you like.
Mine has run a 150mm fork before going to SX spec and fitting a 160mm one… the rear shock is 200 x 51 as supplied but a popular mod is to swap to a 200 x 57 giving 150mm+ of rear travel instead.
The alu bike is lighter than most rival brands carbon offerings and its strong, I’m not light at 14st and thoroughly hammer it on uplift days as well as my local mountain riding all over Wales, there’s no play in any of the bearings, the maestro/DW link suspension is incredibly plush while giving a solid platform to pedal on, it’s worked well with both Rockshox and now X-Fusion suspension, some people (including at least one on here) have fitted a coil sprung rear shock instead if that’s your thing.

I don’t generally subscribe to the ‘one bike to rule all’ school of thinking as hardtails are so different to FS…26 inch wheels now feel vastly different to 29ers….short and step geo is noticeably different to the long and slack way of designing trail bikes now etc etc….but I could happily ditch my other bikes and just use this instead, I’d probably keep two sets of forks (140mm & 160mm) as this seemed to make the biggest difference to mine….harder hitting, slacker head angle etc but I’d have every confidence in taking the Trance to wherever I happened to be riding that day.

I believe the frame can be purchased on its own too if you have parts you’d like to carry across from previous bikes?

It’s not that I wouldn’t recommend the 111. It’s probably still the most fun bike I’ve ridden. It’s just more of a winch-and-plummet bike than a singletrack rocket (unless the singletrack is dowmnhill).