Nothing has been decided, but keep toying with the idea of going back to a 29er Hardtail. I have a very nice 26″ hardtail right now (which I’d have to sell if anything), and a 26″ full sus bike, but maybe it’s just cos everyone I know that rides quick these days has a 29er (they pretty much do!) I’m considering it. So, what would be the options? Primary concerns would be good handling, pretty light, good VFM. Current thoughts, if it were to happen, and based on the fact I reckon I could raise around £1300 for my current hardtail if broken for parts (or around £900ish if I just sold the frame/forks/wheels) are along these lines…

Canyon Grand Canyon 8.9 @ £1209 plus delivery
Cube Reaction GTC Pro 29er @ £1349
Trek Superfly AL @ £1300 (but I could probably get at least 10% off a Trek)
Specialized Carve Expert @ £1300 (again, can probably get at least 10% off a Specialized)
On One Scandal frame + Reba/Manitou Tower + Stans rims on nice hubs and use my current finishing kit
Cotic Solaris + 2nd hand fork + much cheaper wheels for now

Those are the options I can think of right now that would come in around about at my budget, what else do you think might be suitable? Primary use would be general XC and trail riding, but I’m after a bike with more of an XC bent. My full sus would be retained also and it’s setup for more abuse. I currently run 1×10 on my hardtail, and a 120mm fork (though happy to go down to 100mm on a 29er), and will probably end up with a similar setup regardless of what it comes with.

FWIW, I REALLY like the look of this (and reckon as it’s a £2k bike, I could probably get 10-15% off it being a Specialized if they’re in stock), but it’s over budget… Although to be fair, I’d probably sell off the expensive X0 rear mech and the avid brakes, and just chuck my existing XT mech, shifter and brakes on…

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/stumpjumper-evo-29er-2012-mountain-bike-ec030694

Anyway… 29erists. What say you? I really liked my old 29er Inbred (18″ I’m 5ft 11 or just under), but it was very heavy, and felt a tiny bit ponderous on more techy stuff. I love the look of the Canyon, the Carbon Cube looks ridiculous VFM, the Trek I know will handle amazingly even if its a relative budget spec, the Spesh Carve just looks cheap IMO, the Solaris would be a dream bike but I fear I wouldn’t be able to afford it in reality and it’s a 5lb frame still, and the Scandal, well… Still not convinced. And as for a Carbon On One, no thanks, have heard too many horror stories about the On One carbon frames.

This is all pie in the sky at the mo, like I said, but indulge me!

I got a Surly Karate monkey for £639 a few months back. Ok, it’s single speed and rigid but I did plan to put an Alfine hub on it when one came up.. Now it’s got 8 gears (Alfine S/H on here) and it’s neat. Not missing suspension either.

Total cost less than £700 after selling the rear wheel single speed wheel.

The stumpy Evo 29er is an awesome bike according to a couple of mates who have them (and enough experience to know). Slightly weird spec though, and all the money at £2k.

Personally, I’d go the nice second hand bits route if I were you. Maybe a used Salsa El Mar or Niner. Or an older Scandal to get you going on the cheap while you wait for the right frame to turn up.

very heavy, and felt a tiny bit ponderous on more techy stuff

I loved my Inbred but thats exactly what I found after getting used to bigger wheels. I was looking for the same spec as you when I came to change, more of an XC/general trail bias but I specifically wanted steel as I liked the ride. Ended up with a Niner SIR9, & its a lovely bike. There is a new one coming out so if you could drop on the older model at a good price… 😉

The EBB means nice neat SS for the winter, & 1 x 10 for the summer. Only downside is 27.2 post but having tried a Gravity Dropper it spoils the ride. I think they are designed with a nice long flexy Thomson post in mind. Frame weight on my medium is about 4.6lb.

They work very well with the steel fork, but having tried both I wouldnt spend the money on the Niner steel fork (£180), as the Singular Swift one (£70) rides identically & weighs the same.
(Chop off the disc mounts & youd not be able to tell them apart…seriously!!!).

Dont write off going rigid on a 29er as the mutterings of a mad-man, it works a lot better than on a 26er.

Cheapest SS 29er full rigid is the Vitus Vee1 29er, I brought mine for £250 (complete bike) from CRC, I think they are £300 now, spend the money saved on sex, drugs & classical music. Queers gears are something like £30 extra.

Here you go Mark, as to your spec above, Version 2 Scandal 29er in Raw.

i have a canyon 8.9 -had it around 3/4 months now and i can highly recomend it.
Its changed a little since its arival in April – new saddle, grips, chainset (xo 42/22), seatpost etc. The changes are nothing to do with the original spec, more personal preferance and wanting to try a dropper seatpost. But i did find the 32/22 chainset undergeared for the area i live in, the X0 is 42/28 which im finding much better oh and i’ve changedr to a 11/34 cassette as well.
As for how they ride – fast….. i used to just keep up with my mates, now i’m faster than all of them, knocked 2.5mins off my fastest lap at ashton court too. I’d highly recomend it – not sure if i’d go for the 8.9 i were to buy it again, as the 7.9 is amazing value – but wheels and brakes would put me off personally.

However – there have been some warrnty issues with the forks which myself and others on here have experianced – link. It wouldnt put me off buying another canyon or DT swiss forks though as the warrenty repair was delt with quickly and easily, with lots of help and quick corespondance from Canyon UK.

my swift came up around £1300 a year or so ago

can’t really fault it – not sure that makes it ‘worthy’ as I’m far from an expert on these things

I have a Canyon 8.9, the only thing I’ve changed is a putting a Reverb on it (an upgrade option fron Canyon), the grips and a 10mm shorter stem. When I first got it I was amazed at how fast it felt (compared to a rigid SS 29er aor a 140mm 26er FS trail bike). The forks then went wrong and took a while to fix, since it’s been back it hasn’t stopped raining and so I haven’t ridden as much as I’d like but the forks still feel harsh, hopefully they will bed-in.
Like monkeyboyjc says the 7.9 is worth a look at if you can live with the brakes, I doubt there is little between the wheels.

If you shop around you should be able to do a XT spec with Hope/Stans for under £1500.

I got a Surly Karate monkey for £639 a few months back. Ok, it’s single speed and rigid but I did plan to put an Alfine hub on it when one came up.. Now it’s got 8 gears (Alfine S/H on here) and it’s neat. Not missing suspension either.

I’ve done the “heavy steel 29er with Alfine” route before. Liked it, but said if/when I get a 29er again I want a sub 25lb rocket not a 30lb plodder.

The stumpy Evo 29er is an awesome bike according to a couple of mates who have them (and enough experience to know). Slightly weird spec though, and all the money at £2k.

You see, to me, the spec looks spot on! Only thing I can’t find out at the mo is Spesh’s geometry, as on their website you click the geometry button and there’s nothing there. But I’m loving the 1×10 out the box with 720mm wide bars etc. And the “none more stealthy” ano black everything looks awesome I reckon!

Personally, I’d go the nice second hand bits route if I were you. Maybe a used Salsa El Mar or Niner. Or an older Scandal to get you going on the cheap while you wait for the right frame to turn up.

Could be waiting a long time for the “right” bits to turn up though, that’s the problem… Niner would be lovely, though not exactly common to find in a Medium size second hand (though that’s a thought, a friend races for Niner’s UK team, might be worth asking if I could get a discount on a new frame), the Salsa El Mariachi is errrr… Well it looks nice, but it’s a heavy cromoly frame basically, and not cheap for what it is either. IF I go steel, then I’d probably only consider the Niner MCR or RIP9 (if cheap enough) or the Cotic Solaris. Scandal’s appear to be a bit thin on the ground too right now, both new and 2nd hand.

Dont write off going rigid on a 29er as the mutterings of a mad-man, it works a lot better than on a 26er.

I’d keep a rigid fork most likely for horrid winter conditions, and Muddy Mountain Mayhems, but I like suspension too much for the rest of the time…

Sean, that Scandal does look nice, my reservation still is the geometry on them is probably a little steeper than ideal (IMO anyway) and they’re not in stock now (and being On One, probably won’t be for another 12 months when they’ll have stock for 2 whole weeks before they sell out).

chomp, I think the Swift is a nice looking bike, but it’s a bit old school 29er for me. They’ve got 450mm chainstays, it’s a heavy cromoly frame, I’m after something shorter and lighter to be honest.

monkeyboyjc and cheers_drive, other than the fork issues, you both seem really impressed with your Canyons. I’ve done a bit of internet research on this model, and it seems to get universal praise. The fork issue wouldn’t concern me too much as long as it was fixed properly under warranty (I will keep a 2nd bike I could ride in the meantime), the rest of the bike looks killer though, both in terms of VFM and geometry. Conversely I don’t like the look of the 7.9, those are the budget version of the Fox Forks, the wheels are quite a bit cheaper and heavier, the brakes are a bit poo and I don’t feel the £150 saved would be worth it as I’d spend way more than that upgrading the parts anyway. The 8.9, probably the only things I’d change would be the saddle, bars and stem, to suit personal preference, whereas on the 7.9 I’d have to change the wheels, brakes and other bits too.

If you shop around you should be able to do a XT spec with Hope/Stans for under £1500.

Like I say though, all pie in the sky at the moment, I don’t have the funds at all, they’d be coming through the sale of a bike anyway… I could obviously sell just the frame/fork/wheels/tyres (all the 26″ specific bits) and keep everything else which should leave me with £900-1000 to spend on a frame/fork/wheels though. Dunno. Is it all worth it?!?! I do have a very nice 26″ hardtail as it is…

Oh, and also seen the Giant XTC29er, both ally at £1399 and Carbon at £1699. Both look like great bikes for the money too!

If it comes down to it though, I might be heavily swayed dependant on what I can get a deal on through my contacts, and it’s likely I’d be able to get a much better deal on a Trek, Specialized or a Cube (or possibly a Niner frame) than anything else, just cos of who I know.

I could do you a good deal on a pretty much brand new scandal in19.5 flavour
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pop larkin, I saw it, but way too big sorry. I had an 18″ Inbred which was, if anything, a touch too long for me.

i really liked the Canyon but plumped for a Gensis Fortitude and after two rides I’m hooked on the rigid and simple clean lines and looks.

You won’t get a Cube 29er for a while, unless anyone has stocks.

I like the Genesis (I’ve got a Genesis Altitude currently) but I think they’ve missed a trick, and probably a lot of sales, by making it rigid only. If it came with a 470mm fork not a 445, and a very slightly steeper head angle so it was still OK with a 100mm sus fork fitted, I think it would be spot on. Whatever I get, I will undoubtedly be running a suspension fork at least 90% of the time on it.

Quite expensive for what it is too…

I managed to build this, mostly with bits from the classifieds for around £600 [Frame from Mr Chainslapp ^^^].
Ok, it’s not a looker, but I’m very impressed with the ride. You could build one for much less if you’re patient , or much blingier for £1k.

Hmmm, just found the geometry for this finally…

In my size, looks like a 590mm effective TT length (which is about right, anything from 585-600 is in my range), head angle looks slightly steep at 71.5 degrees (but that’s probably generic stumpy 29er geo and measured with an 80mm fork sagged), the chainstays are nice and short at 435mm, and the BB height is down in the weeds!

And US reviews have suggested even with the resin pedals out of the box, and inner tubes fitted (rims are tubeless ready as are tyres, but comes with inner tubes fitted from the factory), it’s bang on 25lb in a Large!

This is looking more and more like it could be worth saving up for… Could offset some of the cost by retaining my XT shifter, rear mech, cassette and brakes and sell the brand new kit off the bike to make a bit of money back perhaps.

Quite expensive for what it is too…

agreed but I wanted to disassociate myself from poor people on Yorkshire bikes 😆

Nobody with a Solaris care to chime in and let me know their thoughts?

Nobody with a Solaris care to chime in and let me know their thoughts?

I’ve done the “heavy steel 29er with Alfine” route before.

isnt a Solaris steel?

FWIW, medium SIR9 is 23lb with steel rigids & SS. Could probably shed another pound with lighter wheels. If your local to Lichfield your welcome to a spin on it.

But that Spesh dont half look nice though. 🙂

Stumpy Evo is awesome. Mechanic I work with in the shop has one. I personally wouldn’t go changing mechs etc, the one fitted is awesome, if not expensive to replace. Return spring on it is like a recoil on a gun.

He’s used it to commute 34 mile a day with Halo Twin Rail tyres, and also for the usual MTBing

isnt a Solaris steel?

Yeah but it’s sub 5lb in a Large… My 29er Inbred was only an ounce under 6lb! It will obviously be heavier than an ally or Carbon frame, but I’d be prepared to sacrifice a lb in weight for steel, just not 2 or more really.

i looked at the stumpjumper evo when i bought my Canyon – its not as nice in the flesh imo, and doesnt have many of the features of the canyon (bolt through rear etc) and the spec is no where near as good as the cheaper canyon 9.9sl…..

FWIW, medium SIR9 is 23lb with steel rigids & SS. Could probably shed another pound with lighter wheels. If your local to Lichfield your welcome to a spin on it.

Cheers, you’re about an hour away, if I’m coming up to Cannock sometime though I might give you a shout. Not that I can really afford one mind!

i looked at the stumpjumper evo when i bought my Canyon – its not as nice in the flesh imo, and doesnt have many of the features of the canyon (bolt through rear etc) and the spec is no where near as good as the cheaper canyon 9.9sl…..

It’s not all about spec though is it. I’m less worried about spec on a bike, drivetrain/wheels/brakes/bars/saddles etc. are all changeable in the long run.

Won’t deny that even probably the £1200 Canyon 8.9 has probably got a better spec, let alone the 9.9SL, but I am drawn to the Specialized! I’ve had 2 Speccy’s in the past, and both were memorably good for their own reasons. The Canyon looks awesome on paper, maybe I should try and get a test ride on them all before even thinking this any further… Might turn out my 26″ hardtail suits me better anyhow!

EDIT: I’m also likely to be able to score a 15% or more discount on a Speccy, a Canyon (great value as they are) I’d have to pay full whack plus the £50 shipping.

May I recommend the Kinesis FF29, you can always build it up with bits you have (if you’ve still got bits)

I looked at the Kinesis FF29 Steve, and must say I quite like the look of it. The one thing that puts me off though is it’s very steep, and everyone says it needs a 120mm fork on it otherwise it’s too lively. Supposedly it’s a 72 degree head angle even with a 100mm fork fitted, which is way steep even for a 29er! Would prefer shorter chainstays too, the Stumpy EVO 29 and the Cotic come in 10mm shorter in the chainstay as well as being slightly slacker.

What size is yours incidentally? They do look good it has to be said!

mboy – mines a 45cm frame, which fits nicely as I’m 5’11”.

It is steepish but I wouldn’t say it’s too steep, suits it’s intended purpose well, built up as a light XC/marathon bike.

If I ever get the money together I may try it with a longer fork just to see what happens.

45cm is a medium is it steve?

Does look good for your intended purpose, i just think I’d benefit from something slightly more relaxed myself.

Hopefully on Sunday going to have a quick look at monkeyboyjc’s Canyon as I’m passing by his way, on paper (if not in my heart) it looks like the best option so far I think.

Fair play, you can’t fit an angle set thingy either as it’s an internal roadie style campag head set!!

I’ll measure the angles in a bit & let you know

Just to let you know, with the Reba RL at 100mm the unsagged head angle is 70deg measured using the angle app on my iPhone which is pretty accurate