Hello,

I’m looking to get a full sus for trail riding, and for endurance racing – 12hour solos, 24 hour solos. But, it also needs to be my main trail bike too.

So… been looking at the EX9 series, the Top Fuel 9 series, Anthem…..

Anyone who’s seen my previous posts – re: stolen bikes, this one will be kept away from the home in a secure facility. Scumbags.

Cheers chsp,

Ricks

I reckon a 100mm – 120mm bike is about right.

Also, I find XC Race bikes a bit too steep and stretched for both trail riding and also for endurance races. for long distance stuff, I find I want something comfy, efficient and relaxing to ride. after 6 or 7 hours in the saddle, your head gets tired, so you don’t want anything too twitchy. IMHO.

I rode the EX last couple of years, did the 2010 strathpuffer and Kielder100 on it, amongst other events. Liked it a lot. However, Last autumn I decided I wanted somthing a little faster feeling and so swapped the frame out for a SC Superlight. I’ve got that built up with the same 120mm reba Maxle forks, 70mm stem and wide, low rise bars. I’m really enjoying this for general trail riding as well as long distance stuff.

Keeping things light where you can, but stiff where it needs to be, means you get a bike that can rack up the miles as well as pin it on techy singletrack trails.

What about the new cube ams pro 110?

I have last years pro 100 which is very similar apart from slightly less travel. It it has a fairly long top tube but i’ve stuck a shorter stem (75mm) and its been great out on the trails, really comfy. The frame is well built, especially around the head top so it can take a fair whack. It quite light too at 12kgs.

personally I think you need a different bike for both, one for trails, one for endurance racing,

I rode an 08 Stumpy FSR (120mm) at a 12hr and it was just about acceptable, but far too heavy, at Mayhem I rode a ’10 Stumpy FSR (140mm) which was a big mistake,
I really want an Epic for racing, but still want my Stumpy for my everyday riding,

if there is one bike it is probably a Scott Spark, but they apparently bob like crazy and there is a new one coming out later this year,

I have raced an anthem X during a 1 hour cross-country race at drumlanrig sxc last year, and found it to be absolutely untouchable by other full sussers ive ridden in the same category. The cube ams hasn’t got as efficient a suspension platform for climbing, in my opinion. I am basing this on having ridden a few different full sussers and found the anthem X noticeably faster at climbing. downhill, i didnt get on with the cube whereas i did with the anthem x.

for me, if it were my money i would buy the anthem. I dont own one, but i did consider buying on for short xc racing this year.

the anthems results speaks volumes about its speed. it came 2nd at the national champs (elite) in 2010… that was the carbon anthem X. and it came 3rd (elite) in the national champs in 2010 (aluminium version, ridden by dave henderson)

Tough one.. How much money do you have to spend? What trails are you on when racing/not racing?

I have Blur XC Carbon with which I rode The BC Bike Race last year, now I saw A LOT of Blur LT’s & Mojo’s & similar. Made me wonder if I had bought the right bike.. (I have a Blur LT as well) Short answer? No. The bike is so capable I would ride it almost everywhere but I use the Blur LT for bigger stuff.

You could with the right bike not need 2 but it depends & be honest what kind of riding are you doing? A 120mm bike would probably do most of what it sounds like your after.

What Im saying is the right bike can cover a lot of bases but it has to be the right one. Good luck & have fun finding out!

Yeti 5 maybe? maybe with travel adjust (120mm or 140mm)

Spesh Epic Evo

I did the Kielder 100, and various selkirk marathons on a stumpy. 140mm of travel is not ideal for racing but you can wind the forks down and use propedal on the rear. Flies downhill for normal riding.

How serious are you about racing, doing it for fun or to win?

I’d have thought 120mm would be best suited to both. It really depends on your budget as the upper end of the Trek Fuel X range and Stumpy range (especially once you hit carbon) are incredibly light compared to bike only a few years ago.

You’ll need to pick a bias. So what’s more important to you, race performance or trail performance. No bike is going to be perfect for both.

Cheers chaps,

The most important thing for me, only by a small amount is racing. If the bike is right I’ll use it for XC races and pairs events – but at the moment I have my XCPro3 earmarked for them….

Any more ideas?

One of the team has an Anthem and loves it, I just worry it’s not capable downhill…

I just love my 08 Stumpy FSR frame. I find it perfect for endurance stuff and trail riding. Its a fair bit lighter than standard spec, as I built it up, which helps for the racing side of things. However, I only race for fun and not really that seriously.
My lodger has an 08 Epic Expert which is a good race bike, but overall, not as versatile as the Stumpy. Its also no lighter, although does climb slightly better.

How about a Santa Cruz Tallboy? Wins plenty of 12/24 hour races but still pretty tidy as a main trail bike (will go 100mm or 120mm on the front).

But as mrlebowski recommends the Blur XC Carbon that might be good too if you don’t fancy the wagon wheels.

I use an Anthem for all 24hr, 12hr and enduro events including kielder etc and I have no wish to swap it for anything else.It climbs well and I rarely get passed when descending on it.

As an aside, are all the Anthem frames the same ( apart from the carbon obviously), just with different kit?

Sorry for hijack.

Anthem X with 120mm rebas is an great set up with some light kit is around 24lb.
Did two enduro’s last year as a pair and it was faultless even when my mate broke his bike on the third lap at 10@kirroughtree and we had to ride the Anthen in awful conditions non-stop for the rest of the race!

As a one ‘bike for all’ its the buisness.