Help me out with this, what would you choose?

I suppose I am looking for a bit of a do most things bike. I dont ride anything difficult or technical but like to ride at a fair clip and want something that will deal with mixed terrain and be good for doing some races and maybe enduros.
Both are around the 1200 pds mark, thoughts on best value

Bump, I’m interested too. Thinking of the £1500 Canyon with Shimano groupset…

Bare with me – ill reply with a detailed post when im near a pc later on today……

The Canyon will probably still edge it on spec so I’d go Canyon.

If you love massive tyre clearance & **** all chainset to chainstay clearance with a side order of chain suck so bad it nearly wrecks the frame as per my mates, get the lurcher. All with brand new rings & chain on an on-one built bike.

If not, buy the Canyon and struggle on with only 2.25″ tyres in the back

monkeyboyjc – many thanks, that’d be much appreciated.
steve_b77 – thanks for the heads up on the Lurcher, doesn’t sound good. I’ve got SRAM gears on my Boardman CX, and I must admit I’m not a fan and much prefer Shimano, and I don’t think the Recon is a great fork.
I can’t see anything out there that beats the Canyon on spec. 2.25 tyres would be fine for me as I’m an XC / wheels on the ground type / jey boy. This is my first choice, but keen to hear any thoughts.
Cheers
FTM

Get the Canyon then mate. The AL is plenty capable. I have the 26 inch version with 120mm and its superbly comfortable for all my riding (races, trail centres, Quantocks, Spain, FoD, Aston Hill) . Just in the process of going 2×10 with a shadow+ rear derailleur.

The problem is once you have a decent bike you’ll want to ride bigger and bigger stuff so you’ll start looking at the Torque or the FRX in no time!

I like On One and 29ers (have an og Scandal) and have long pondered getting a Lurcher but the Canyon obliterates the On One on spec, both minging bikes though. What wheelset on the Lurcher btw?

No fan of the German obsession with writing the manufacturers name on every available surface. And the lurcher, I dunno I’ve tried to like it but I just can’t.

ok, i have a spare 5 mins and i’m on the pc rather than phone. I’ve not had any experanice with the on-one though.

I’ve owned the Canyon AL29 (8.9) for 14 months now. Initially i had a warrenty issue with the DT Swiss for straight out of the bike box, which obivously gave me doubts about Canyon as a company. However Canyon UK delt with the issue quickly and efficently and within a couple of weeks i had a swiftly repaired fork back from Pace. you can read a bit more about it here: link
I’ve had no issues with the fork or any other of teh original components since and iirc they’ve ditched the DTSwiss in favour of Rock Shox for 2013.

As for components, its the usual Canyon Value for money although i have spent a few bob on upgrades over the last year, not because anything was ‘bad’ rather it wasnt to my taste – i’ve changed the bars (to lighter weight carbon ones), the chainset to XO with a slightly higher ratio (26/38 rather than the supplied 22/32), the rear cassette to an xt 11/32 rather than 11/36, rear mech to a shadow+ and the saddle to a selle italia sl.

The frame is the highlight of the bike though for me. Its what originally led me to buy this bike over a Niner Air or Singular Swift i was looking at at the time. There really are loads of ‘high end’ details, tapered head tube, bolt through axel, press fit bb, square to round seattube etc. etc. in fact imo if it didnt have the Canyon name on it, it could be mistaken for many top end manufactures. The anodised finish has been great, its not really got a blemish on it although the repaceable downtube protector is starting to peel (spares avalible on the canyon web site).

As for how it rides….. I’ve done around 1500-2000 miles in a mixture of commuting (30miles a week) and off road stuff around Bristol (Ashton Court LEigh woods etc) and around 10+ trips to larger trail centres in south wales and southern uk. I couldnt tell you if its the 29er wheels but its the best hardtail i’ve owned in the last 20+ years – very stable, climbs like a beast etc. The only negative is that the breaks over heat on some of the more technical welsh decents but thats prob down to me not the bike.

Cheers monkeyboyjc – that’s much appreciated. I’m hoping to be able to afford the 9.9 in the summer some time.
Surfer – what are your thoughts? And sorry if I hijacked 🙂

No Problem Fatmax 🙂

Thanks for the replies. The On One is Carbon however but a far less attractive bike IMO. Its also a bit heavier.
I have an On One Inbred which has been great but I know a lot of people have had issues with Chain suck.
I cant see past the looks of the Canyon plus the spec to be honest so I think I will be pressing the button on the AL 8.9 any day now!

I bought one of the £1100 Canyon 29ers in December, to try out this 29er thing. Great bike for the money, really capable. Probably the most sorted bike geometry wise I have ever owned, this is comparing it to the high end short travel FS bikes I have previously owned.

The Avid brakes are a bit kack, I swapped them out immediately for some XTs I had. I also snapped the KMC chain it comes with (not mentioned in spec), first chain snap in 9 years and 8 months. Everything else is good kit, all brand name stuff, like the Cane Creek headset and actual Syncros rear axle. There is zero OEM kit on the bike.

I liked it so much I put an XTR groupset, some lighter wheels, a remote lockout and lighter finishing kit on it, and have been using it as my race bike this year. I still use the Mavic wheels as training wheels, they’re stiff and reliable, and work great ghetto-tubeless with the supplied Schwalbe tyres.

Had the Al 8.9. I sold it.

Only as I loved the thing so much I bought the carbon fibre version. Great bike, sorted geometry, great kit for the price. I’d go for the AL 7.9, sell the wheels immediately and buy some chinese carbon wheels. They will transform the bike’s ride, and the wheels make a huge difference to a 29er in my opinion. Easy to drop weight, the cassette, seatpost, bars and stem can be swapped for lighter stuff without huge cost esp if you go second hand on ebay or the classifieds here for the contact points.

Warning, gratuitous pic coming up…

Out of interest, why are you looking at a lurcher and not a dirty-harry?

I have a Canyon 8.9 – don’t get hung up on the frame material as it’s a very high quality frame which is easily as good better than cheap carbon (can’t comment on the lurcher). Its the stiffest mountain bike I’ve ever ridden whilst not being skittish or comfortable. Probably down to the wide but fast tyres and the pencil thin seat stays.

Anyone ridden the carbon canyon and the current carbon Scott scale? I,ve test ridden the 920 and was really impressed with compliance from the rear end, almost felt like it had suspension so I was able to keep the power down through roots sections. I’d love to buy the scale but it is so much more expensive than the canyon for worse spec….

I really wanted a lurcher but the launch spec was out of my budget so I bought a canyon based on the killer spec. It was undoubtedly fast but I found the rear harsh (I bent the original seat post and replaced the saddle for a ti railed ritchey that I subsequently bent the rails on). For the record, I’m about 12 stone. In all I found it a bit soulless and sold it and replaced it with a swift that feels so much more alive. I think the guy I sold mine to has since sold it on as well.

I would suggest that if your bending rails on saddles and bending seatposts, your doing something wrong – not the bike…..

I never rode that bike outside of East Anglia. How hard a time can it have had?!

By the sound of it, quite alot… 😀

Been looking at those Canyons, they are REALLY good value.

not quite sure how they do it TBH,

no smalls left though 🙁

I’m an On-One fan but I think the Lurcher is in my top ten ugliest bikes of all time list. Canyon all the way.

Thinking about one of these canyons to complement my zesty.

Couple of questions

1. Will I ever want to ride my zesty again?
2. What size frames do you guys have and how tall are you?

I’ve never bought a bike that I haven’t ridden before.

(Sorry for the hijack)

I have johnny’s bike now :), love it, I’m a big fan of the never knowingly under bikes moto. My other bike is a Nicolai Helius AM over priced skills compensator, but seem to be riding the Canyon more and more.. Since I got it , it’s probably done a thousand miles or so including an xc holiday in Bulgaria last month. I love the way it eats the miles, I live in north Wales and its had a beating and I’ve not had any issues (I’m 15 stone), but obviously the seat and post have already been changed (change the seat again to an SDG), I’ve also replaced the brakes for the new SLX set and the rear mech for a clutched one.

It replaced a 100mm full sus and it is so much faster every where, especially up hill, but I was really surprised how much I’m enjoying it downhill. Also mine was a bargain…..

1. Will I ever want to ride my zesty again? Yes (although a lot less)
2. What size frames do you guys have and how tall are you? I have a medium and i’m 5’10” – there is a size calculator on the Canyon web site which is pretty good

@ten foot
I have the Canyon and a Zesty. I do ride the Zesty much less now but it’s still the bike of choice if the trails are rougher or fast and steep. When I lived in Bristol the Canyon was used for all of the local stuff, including the gorge trails where it was very good. It was also good a FOD and the less dh parts of the Mendips; it could handle the dh stuff just not as well. I’ve now moved to East Anglia with Thetford as my local trails and the Zesty hasn’t been used once. I’ll take it to the Alps later this year then I may sell it.
The Canyon is so fast on xc stuff that in most cases it’s just faster and more fun than the Zesty which flatten things out and seams slow and podgy in comparison. Oh and on my first ride on the Canyon I beat 80% of my local Strava times.
I got last years 8.9, I swapped the DT Swiss forks for rebas and have changed the cockpit to suit my preference, everything else is stock and I don’t feel the need to upgrade further.

For those kind enough to offer an opinion I thought I would give a little feedback.

Bought the AL29 and it arrived a couple of weeks back but last weekend was the first proper ride.
Like it lots although the head angle feels slacker than my Inbred but this could be due to the wheel size and them being more visible ahead of the bars if you see what I mean. Still havent done any technical stuff (at which I am unbelievably sh*t) and even on some of the local trails (which are hardly technical at all) it occurred to me that low speed cornering may be slightly different with larger wheels, something I need to get used to.
All in all though the quality of the bike and kit is ace and it feels very fast and sure footed. Canyon delivery etc was spot on.