Actually thinking about it more surly crosscheck is the bees knees. geared ss or fixed, 23mm road tyres upto 1.8 29er tyres and owt inbetween and all the braze ons you could want.except front rack mount but you can’t have it all (well if you fit lht forks you can)

Isn’t this just people mostly naming bikes they’ve owned in the last decade?
I don’t think you can have a consensus on the best bike because most people have not ridden most bikes that have come out in the last decade.
I might be wrong but certainly suspended bikes get better over time as technologies improve, everything else that’s attached is better (braking for instance) and become more accessible and affordable; otherwise if as this has a few votes the 04 Enduro/Jordan was the best bike of the last decade it would still be the current Enduro/Jordan, they wouldn’t have been the need to redesign, change or improve, no?

I think (and again I may be wrong) the idea is redesign to make better so that what’s current is the best possible version of what’s been, so it would follow then that the current Anthem is better than the first generation Anthem (having taken rider/racer feedback, testing over a longer period, better forks, drivetrain, brakes, they even moved the position of the shock).
True most of it is marketing testicles but the main point stands, jå?

Cotic Soul

That first bike, the Stumpjumper FSR XC, in black. That was my first full sus. I found it incredible, I remember going out with a mate, my first ride on that bike and I absolutely thrashed him down a descent I normally minced down on my hardtail. Couldn’t believe how much faster and more comfortable it was. Won a few races thanks to that bike!

As for the original question, I’d probably go for the Enduro as well. the bike that brought 6″ travel to the masses, the bike that made MBR sit up and say that hardtails were dead and that you *needed* a 6″ travel bike for trail-riding (OK, they were wrong but then they’re wrong on most things…) The bike is still basically the same, a few tweaks in design, obviously suspension technology etc but it’s fundamentally the same bike, proof of how good it is.

otherwise if as this has a few votes the 04 Enduro/Jordan was the best bike of the last decade it would still be the current Enduro/Jordan, they wouldn’t have been the need to redesign, change or improve, no?

Those of us still riding ’04 Enduros (and there seem to be quite a few) might debate whether the newer bikes are actually all that much better, or whether they’ve just followed a trend towards longer travel etc.

My ’04 Enduro has had lots of newer technologies thrown at it – pro-pedal shock, lightish 20mm bolt-through forks (including some a fair bit longer than it was designed for), wider trail tyres, uppy/downy seatpost etc. – and has just kept on getting better and better. It’s also still reasonably light even by modern standards (the frame is just over 6lbs with headset and shock fitted for my S-Works one).

I reckon if Specialized had just used the old ’04 Enduro frame for the new Camber they’d still sell shedloads of them…

As well as a couple of ’04 Enduros I also own several of the other candidates mentioned (Soul, BFe, Epic, Inbred)!

epicsteve

I take your point but I think the original question was about the bike as was as opposed to the bike upgraded. So in your case only the frame is ’04? As a follow on question have you ridden the ’11 Enduro?

I take your point but I think the original question was about the bike as was as opposed to the bike upgraded. So in your case only the frame is ’04?

It is only the frame that’s ’04 now, however using my spares bin I could easily put together an ’04 build that’d still be excellent (if a bit heavier).

As a follow on question have you ridden the ’11 Enduro?

Nope, and I doubt I ever will as it’s moved to becoming a type of bike I don’t need. On the other hand I am actively considering a new full-suss bike at the moment but if I do it’s more likely to be a Stumpie FSR (possibly a carbon one) as it’s travel/weight etc. is more appropriate for me.

DMR Trailstar is my choice, I havent ridden many different bikes this last decade though.

Specialized SX of some variety for a full sus choice.

an 11 year decade? (ought to be 2001-2010)

but I’ll vote +1 for Cotic Soul

Cotic Soul, SC Heckler and Spesh Enduro are solid nominations I would say.

Cannondale Prophet.

They got the geometry spot on right from the start and never had to change it. The Five only in the last 2 years got similar geometry and has always been evolved through the decade. Enduro, and all the others, have also evolved and changed over time, even in suspension travel. The Prophet was bang on from the start although it seemed to take a while for people to cotton on.

Enduro, and all the others, have also evolved and changed over time, even in suspension travel.

While true, isn’t it also true that Specialized have continued to offer FS bikes which similar suspension travel even while the Enduro has increased it’s travel e.g. isn’t the new Camber similar in concept to the ’04 Enduro?

Not the same bike then is it. This is Bike of the Decade, not manufacturer or genre of the decade.

Not the same bike then is it.

Never said it was (and also don’t even think it’s relevant) – ’04 Enduro still gets my vote though. Could see snap-and-fail’s being candidates in other decades but not really in 2001-10.

Yeti 575. Most versatile bike out there. Much copied. The original.

I’m approaching the question as trying to define the bike that’s most responsible for taking us from what we were riding then (2000/2001) to what we’re riding now (2010). I’m also trying to make “we” encompass MTBing in general rather than STW, which may be a bit of an unrepresentative sample. 🙂

I only seriously got into MTBing (and STW) in 2002 but back then XC hardtails with 80-100mm travel forks being seem to be what was being ridden the most. There were still raging arguments about whether the pedalling efficiency of full suspension bikes would ever be good enough that it’d be worth giving up our hardtails and the jury was still out on the benefits of disc brakes.

What were the bike or bikes that really started MTBing moving towards wider acceptance of full suspension, long travel, slack-angled all-mountain/trail/not XC race bikes? I reckon the Marin Mount Vision, the early Marin TARA bikes, the early Enduros and the Stumpjumper FSR are probably where we should be looking for bike of the decade. Other bikes like the 5 have helped this evolution too but it seems that Marin and Specialized were getting bums on full suspension seats in large numbers first.

That said, in the UK (and maybe elsewhere but it seems mostly here) the full suspension bikes haven’t had it all their way. There has been a hardtail fight back. More specifically, at the start of the decade steel frames seemed to be dying out and long travel was something for full suspension bikes. The Inbred deserves a lot of credit for rebuilding a market for steel bikes and together with the Stiffee, the Zaskar (maybe before this decade), the Soul and a host of others signalled a trend away from the idea that hardtails should only be lightweight XC-oriented things.

So, bike of the decade should be one of the first popular do-it-all FSes, but there should be an honourable mention for the Inbred.

Heckler – simples!

I’d say the 2005 Enduro.

on-one inbred

this was a real game changer, Brant’s stroke of genius was figuring – it costs the same amount of money to weld some tubes together in good angles, as it does crap angles

now we are used to be able to get decent frames for not a lot of cash but pre in-bred this whole market segment didn’t exist

Enduro, and yes I own one so very predictable. The early enduros made me look at getting back into biking from my childhood as it looked like it had leaped fwd to a ton of fun.

It has.

Posted this in the wrong thread earlier:

If yer talking about a ‘bike of the decade’, then I think it has to be something as mundane as Specialized Hardrock, simply because it’s bikes like that which get more people into proper mountain biking than any bells and whistles fancy several grand jobby. £300 or so for a proper offroad capable bike. Yeah, that’d get my vote.

Wunundred!

hmm if 1990 id say a steel kona, so 2000’s i’ll go with beautiful hydroformed alu tubing from giant

GIANT REIGN 2005 or if you like hardtail GIANT XTC

non of this spesh nonsense…

04 enduro or orange 5 for trail riding.
orange 224 for dh.

Would have to go with Heckler or DB Alpine. Or both for a FS and HT. Done.

Islabikes Cnoc. Has got far more people riding bikes than anything else listed here.

Spesh Enduro 06 S works /endthread.

A cannondale scalpel is the most impressive bike I’ve ridden myself this decade. Probably way too narrow in focus to be bandied about as ‘bike of the decade’, but in terms of an innovative design that is very very effective for its intended purpose – truly top drawer.

As someone who likes riding CDales, the gemini is a far stronger design than the prophet IMHO. One of a handful of bikes that were miles ahead of their competitors at the start of the decade. I recall a guy in EBC in 2002ish telling me he didn’t rate it as he couldn’t see what it was for. Too light for serious DH, but too heavy for the trail. Sounds silly in hindsight with changing attitudes to trail riding.

Agree that CDale are not the leaders they once were – but considering they were flat out bankrupt in 03 they’ve done well to just stay in the game. They could have ended up like Schwinn or Mongoose. Shame about their recent HTs though – they’ve gone backwards from the glory days IMO.

In a market that is full of gimmicks and PR techno speak, it’s a sign that a manufacturer got it right from the start when a bike remains virtually unchanged and true to the original concept for years but remains popular with buyers and critics.

On that basis –
Orange 5

04 enduro for me.My mate had one the same time I had a orange sub 5.Always perfered his bike to mine.(Never told him that though :wink:)

ht inbred
trail five
freeride/dh demo

“04 Enduro” getting a lot of votes but wasn’t it just a big front rotor different to the 03 Enduro? (And those rotors got recalled from models fitted with Fox forks).

Other one here voting on the orange five or inbred 456.

The five is based on a proven uncomplicated design.
Has been consistent with review ratings throughout it’s subtle evolution.
And just does everything it’s asked to well. It’s a riders bike.

The inbred gets the nod over the soul(i’ve owned both) even though the soul had a very slightly better feel to it.

The 456 isn’t too far off it, but at the price it’s available at.
It’s the perfect way to get a bunch of welded tubes, that just suit the way you want to build it and use it.

It’s an affordable smile machine.

The Yeti 575 – mine is one of the first that came off the boat in late 2004, my mate had the Enduro ’04 at the same time and the Yeti was in an entirely different league. And it didn’t eat bearings.

If you look at the way trail bikes have gone since there seems to be more of the DNA of the 575 out there than the Specialized which felt a little less aggressive, a little less planted and a little heavier than even my substantially burly built Yeti.

Over the last 10 years I have moved from a Scott aluminium lightweight hardtail (Expert Racing) to an Orange Patriot (almost a great bike) to an Inbred (it really was the bike of the masses at one stage on here, but whilst it was good it didn’t really inspire the future that much… mine is still in bits about the place somewhere and my come back yet!), and onto the Yeti.

Then again, I haven’t really ridden the Yeti much in the last couple of years, and the rare occasions I have got out it has been the Marin Rocky Ridge that I have reached for… and that is probably going to be the bike to get me back out again properly.

Until I get a new one 😉