My 2009 Cannondale Moto is on it’s last breath, so time for an upgrade.

So I’m looking for a replacement bike. Scoped out ideas from mates and some online reading. Going for 29″ this time also want to try carbon.

Checked out Intense Carbine 29C online, my LBS had Trek Fuel EX 9.8 and Whyte S150CRS on display. All in similar price range £3600-3800.

Any other bikes I should look at?

Default answer is Jeffsy. My mate has the basic Ali one and it’s bloody brilliant (except for the constantly up-**** Monarch)
I can only imagine the CF one is a blinder.
There are also some deals round on last year’s Santa Cruz’s of various types if that floats your boat.

Mrs Hoppy has just got a fuel ex 9.7, it’s very nice, at £2.3k it was even nicer. Being pedantic the rims are a bit narrower than I’d want for an ‘enduro’ bike and despite loads of space above the tube to fit bigger it comes with a fairly restricted drop post.

Specialized Enduro Elite. Still a few about depending on size at a discount price of around £2700 to £3000

YT Capra:

winter sale Capra CF:
£2,599.00
https://www.yt-industries.com/uk/detail/index/sArticle/1246/sCategory/508
Only “medium” still available…

in stock Capra CF Pro:
£3,099.00
https://www.yt-industries.com/uk/detail/index/sArticle/1258/sCategory/77

The Capra is an extremely capable Enduro.
Price tag, for Carbon Enduro: hard to beat…

uuups

You were looking for 29 inch…
Think all Capras are 27.5 inch?

Jeffsy Carbon you get in 29 inch:
https://www.yt-industries.com/uk/detail/index/sArticle/1243/sCategory/508

But that’s no Enduro…
YT might be no option then for you.
😥

Whyte s150 C rs £3699 but im sure better offers can be had for cold hard readies

Cotic rocketmax?

Steel has carbon in it…

Orbea Rallon M10

£3900

but also 27.5″ :

Radon Jab is a 160mm carbon enduro bike for £3k

The new Radon Jab.
Carbon version of the Swoop

Around 3k.
But all 27.5″ ?

I’m looking at the same and my thinking so far.

Orbea Rallon: Sorted geometry but would need to spend around £4700 on the custom builder to get the spec I want

Whyte S-150: Great geo and spec alright other than the rims are stupidly heavy, which I’d want to swap out straight away, probably the guide r’s as well

Bird AM9. Great price and custom spec, but no reviews out yet and the geo is longggggg

Trek Slash: Can get a good deal on the 9.8 but I’ve heard nothing but bad things about the thru shaft shocks reliability.

@gotbike indeed, indeed. Not much carbon though, otherwise steel is too brittle!

I’ll check these out, thanks, guys!

And I’ve not 100% set my mind on 29″. And after a bit of looking, a lot of sweet bikes come as 27.5″. Decisions, decisions…

Specialised Enduro

Buy this two thousand pound spec carbon enduro elite…before I do!!!

Yeah, it’s ex demo, but SDB are top guys!!

DrP

It literally has to be a Rallon 😀

Pedals Rallon M10

Hi
Apologies for the hijack but……
I have a Large Carbon Jeffsy frame for sale.
Will be posting an ad shortly
Email in profile if any interest.
Cheers
Steve

Best bargain I’ve seen in a while, 27.5 though!
Enduro pro @ £3249…..saving £2500 !!in stock in L and M as well.

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/371837/products/specialized-enduro-pro-carbon-650b-2017-mountain-bike-red.aspx?utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=lowerfunnel#infospec

Paul’s have some nice Meridas in their sale.

Just got rid of my Carbon BMC 29er 160 front 150 rear travel for a Cotic Rocket MAX. My advice is try a few different ones before deciding, if you want a more all-rounder the Hightower LT is a very good bike, climbs so comfortably. Frame material would also not be a deciding factor for me, suspension design and geometry are much more important.

@DrP looks nice, but I wouldn’t risk an ex-demo bike with the bike shop on the furthest point of the country (I’m at NE of Scotland)

@fatgit sorry, want a full bike. Built too many bikes in the past to know the pain of custom build. Also lack time/desire to make a lot of small decisions, rather make one large decision -)

@mark_rich indeed look very nice. Also they have Enduro Elite Carbon 29 at £2.7K

@fr0sty125 Hightower LT is very nice indeed, but a bit out of budget with descent components. Carbon is a childhood dream and now I can afford it. Not that I need it much, but I want it!

Never heard of Radon or Orbea before (did I tell you I’ve been out of touch with bike marketing for a while?) so will pass on these. Also Orbea with the spec I want is out of my budget range

Bird AM9 sounds expensive for aluminium frame when for the same price carbon equivalents can be had with similar components. (And I don’t like the looks)

So contenders so far are (in no particular order)
* YT Capra CF Pro (Jeffsy is out of stock and a bit lightweight for my liking);
* Intense Carbine 29C Expert;
* Intense Tracer Expert;
* Whyte S150 RS;
* Canyon Torque CF9.0;
* Canyon Strive CF 8.0 (unsure about Shapeshifter reliability and how useful it is, need more research)
* Specialized Enduro Pro Carbon 650b 2017
* Specialized Enduro Elite Carbon 29 2017

Wish me luck! -)

If you subscribe to the Intense newsletter, they should send you a 15% off discount code to use before the end of the year. It would almost bring the Tracer and Carbine Pro within budget.

@Gachet – that’s a cracking advice. No pressure though.. end of the year is soon!

Selling my 2017 3 month old Large enduro elite 29er for £2200 if interested

@Gachet Just noticed this: “HOLIDAY 2017 CLOSURES 23/12/17 to 2/1/18” So whatever end of the year offering, it does not apply. And I almost started salivating on Tracer Pro…

Cheeky answer…
Not Carbon and not 29 but a great enduro bike
https://www.commencal-store.co.uk/meta-am-v42-world-cup-650b-brushed-red-2018-c2x22591348
and well in your budget

Interesting that you think the Jeffsy is too lightweight… I run mine with coil shock, 150mm fork and its a damn good bike capable of hitting well above it’s weight. The only weakness I have found is with the crappy PF BB standard that seems to plague the industry! Else it’s about the perfect bike for trail, Enduro and Bike park days!

@alanm can you drop me an email (see my profile) with some pics (or link to selling page). I’ll have a look. Though quite keen to have warranty and all the nice stuff that comes with a new bike.

Trailmax I’ve just checked the email Intense sent me and it says you have until the 31st of December to claim the discount. It’s a code you add at the checkout, so it doesn’t matter that they’re closed. It mentions that any orders after 20th December will be shipped the week commencing 2nd January.

@mikesmith Meta AM sounds pricey comparing to some other bikes in my list that offer carbon frame (my inner child demands a carbon frame) with similar components for £3.1K

@russyh I probably have no idea what I’m talking about. I feel like 140mm travel and Fox 34 will not be enough for places I ride. Last year SES races were effectively old gnarly DH trails but you still had to pedal up. And I struggled with my 160mm on a lot of these (though I suspect the bike is not to blame here!)

@Gachet – I did subscribe, but no offer yet any chance you forward me your code? (trailmax1 AT gmail dot com)

@russyh I just noticed Intense also has press fit BB. I suspect this is because of carbon in their frames!

the 3.2k spec is decent too
https://www.commencal-store.co.uk/meta-am-v42-race-650b-brushed-2018-c2x22591343

also as a self confessed carbon fan I’m impressed with it compared to a bunch of other stuff in the price range I looked at

If it’s a 27.5 you decide on then the Cube Stereo 140 HPC TM 2018 is worth a look, fox 36 Factory forks, DPX2 factory shock, fox transfer factory dropper, carbon front and alloy rear, 30mm Newmen wheels (which are 1700g so nice and light) and full GX eagle, £3500.

Might be a little short on travel at 140/150mm if you want a full on enduro rig and it’s more trail bike slack, not 65 degrees.

There aren’t many bikes around with full fox factory kit and a carbon frame and GX eagle for £3500.

Otherwise the Nukeproof 2018 carbon mega factory comes in at £3780 with the BC discount.

@ta11pau1 Indeed Cube components look very sweet. I’ll put this on my shortlist.

On Nukeproof Mega, XT components do not excite me that much, even at discounted price.

And what is BC discount? British Cycling Membership?

Discounting certain bike because of frame material is bonkers. Looking at turds by Cube over Bird for example & not looking at the Nukeproof properly because of the XT groupset.

If you think 10/15/20mm travel is making the difference when racing, you probably need to do a bit more racing first.

In fact, you are bouncing around all over the place – sounds like you don’t actually know what you are looking for, or really want. Spend some time having some demos – enjoy the process, as you are spending some wedge anyway. Buy the right bike, not the right deal, or just because something is carbon (as some who races a lot on a carbon bike, it literally makes no difference at all).

@HobNob Totally admin I have no idea what I’m talking about or what I want. Carbon because inner child wants one. You need to make child happy!
More time racing – absolutely. I never said I was any kind of success in racing -)

Problem with demos is lack of them in any vicinity. Next demo in my end of the world is end of April – that’s 5 months away. And none of the bikes shortlisted (so far) are on the demo list.

So a lot of decision making just now is just looking at pictures and thinking “that looks nice” or “mm… shitty web site with crappy pictures – don’t like that”. I’ll get more scientific later on in the process.

Care to elaborate re “turds by Cube”? and why Nukeproof is worth looking at with XT? (I had a fair bit of XT components – they are good, but not to be excited about. Remember inner child that needs to be happy?)

What size of frame are you looking at? I know of a large ex-demo Carbine for sale which I think is the ‘pro’ build version…Grey/Orange frame, Lyrik RCT3, Super Deluxe shock, GX/X01 Eagle etc. Might be reasonably local to you if you’re Aberdeenshire based. £3700 being asked.

@Yetiman I’m in Aberdeen, so shire is pretty local. Not sure what size need for Intense, I think I need M, but I’m between sizes M and L, so worth trying L out for size. Can I get contact details for that Carbine please?

PM’d you trailmax.

If the demo you are referring to in April is the Cycle Highlands event then there might not be that many sub 4k 29ers to try! They are great guys though and I’m sure they will advise you well. They also have a few ex demos Santa Cruz’s for sale – definitely a Hightower although it might be a Large/XL so maybe not suitable?

Obvious suggestion from me is what I ride – Orbea Rallon. Saw someone say that its spec is not as good as some others but seeing some of the other bikes suggested I’d suggest that the Rallon is competitive with most of them – almost all of them have some ‘compromise’ parts even at that price point. Orbea carbon frame warranty is also excellent!

Trek Fuel EX29 has a bit less travel than you might be thinking but you could get a carbon one cheap enough f you know who to ask and n=have change to get a beefier fork and better wheels etc!