Works ok for me. I play around with their bike configurator almost daily at the moment!

27.5 Flux is a bit of a cross-over bike. I can still ride fairly rapid XC and still do the gnarly stuff too. Or as gnarly as like.

I always thought it was a fairly long bike? I’m sure it’s actually longer than my Czar.

I have a 170/165 Capra as my only MTB – never regretted having too much travel. TBF I do mostly ride the more technical stuff in the Lakes or do uplift days etc but I also don’t mind bimbling along canal towpaths or riding trail centres if that’s what other people want to do. It’s not that heavy and I can lock out the suspension so I don’t see what the problem would be really.

27.5 Flux is a bit of a cross-over bike. I can still ride fairly rapid XC and still do the gnarly stuff too. Or as gnarly as like.

I always thought it was a fairly long bike? I’m sure it’s actually longer than my Czar.

Mine is a 2009 26″ Flux, not your fancy pants 27.5 frame.

Latest Turners are definitely longer than older ones but are only ‘industry standard’ length now rather than a new school long/low. Yours however is size for size about 30mm longer in reach than my vintage, and 2.5 degrees slacker in HA.

OK for me Convert

Odd. I can access from my phone using 4G and could on my laptop on holiday on different wifi but can’t on my home/work wifi. Just get a ‘too long to respond’ error message.

Mine is a 2009 26″ Flux, not your fancy pants 27.5 frame

I was brought up on 26 fluxs:) Turner quite clearly split the Flux-family between Czar and Flux when the 27.5 came out.

I have a 170/165 Capra as my only MTB – never regretted having too much travel. TBF I do mostly ride the more technical stuff in the Lakes or do uplift days etc but I also don’t mind bimbling along canal towpaths or riding trail centres if that’s what other people want to do. It’s not that heavy and I can lock out the suspension so I don’t see what the problem would be really.

It’s the bit in the middle that longer travel bikes can struggle with – riding less technical stuff fast, like tight woodland singletrack or covering miles at pace. Trail centres tend to have enough flow to let bigger bikes carry speed and bimbling can be done on anything!

I was brought up on 26 fluxs:)

So did you notice a big difference when you went to the 27.5 flavour Flux. On paper they are pretty dissimilar.

It’s the bit in the middle that longer travel bikes can struggle with – riding less technical stuff fast, like tight woodland singletrack or covering miles at pace.

Wind the compression damping up and back off the rebound damping a bit – makes it feel stiffer and poppier. As long as the geometry is right, no problems!

Odd how too little travel is not really considered a bad thing but too much is. I can’t think of any situation where having too much travel would hold me back – climbing aside, but I don’t care about climbing performance as I’m not chasing any KOM’s. Hills are obstacles I have to negotiate to get to the next downhill. And it’s the additional weight that comes with longer travel is really the problem there, but have been in situations on a short travel bike where I’ve felt I’ve been held back. It’s a massive placebo effect.

Yes I know its all about rider skill at the end of the day, but i’ll never be a Brandon Semunuk or even close. If more travel means I can ride stuff the is beyond my skill level then bring it on – more fun for me. I’m all over the place, crashing into features, the wrong speed, taking the wrong lines, I need the suspension to soak up all the hits and enable me to survive the mistakes. It’s all good fun though and that is what it is all about at the end of the day. Ideally we’d all be on bikes with ‘the right travel’, but what is the right travel, and what is the right travel for one ride wont be the right travel for the next, but now we’re getting into n+1.

If you’re after a one-bike quiver killer then you need to make compromises and ultimately decide which end are you going to make those compromises. I personally compromised towards the downhill/longer travel side of the scale, others might make a different choice. It’s all good.

I think much of it depends on the magic feel. My old Stumpjumper of 2010 that I bought off here from Renton was awesome with Marzocchis 44 Ti.

I miss my 160mm bike only when it really rowdy.

Got a Whyte T130 and does ride very well, a great compromise.

Modern geometry will make the trails come alive…

birky – Member 
I went from 100mm 26″ Anthem to 140 27.5 Trance. TBH don’t really notice the extra travel that much, what made a far bigger difference was going from 71 degree head angle to 67. Penalty is the Trance is 3.5 lbs heavier.

This ^^^^^

I’ve recently changed from a 26″ 80mm Anthem to a 26″ 150mm Fr/140mm Rr Mojo HD (which I got for not much S/H).

The change in geometry from the (silly) steep Anthem (72 degree Head Angle) has massively improved my confidence at trail centres or pretty much anything pointing down. And while it’s not quite as fast as the Anthem on the flat or uphill, it’s no slouch either.

Don’t regret the change at all

There’s certainly less of a penalty for carrying around extra travel these days, so why not? It gives you the capability to handle the tougher stuff when required, but is ok everywhere else.

But, I’m not wired like that. Your own personal take on riding plays a big factor in this – one person’s white knuckle ride of death is anothers fantastic technical challenge.

I’ve learned that within certain boundaries, I’m wired to enjoy the struggle of technical trails, either up or down and the effort involved. ‘its ok everywhere else’ is not good enough.

My satisfaction comes from the quality of the ride, rather than my ability to ride everything or direct measurement my progression. This can be annoying, because it’s a much more ambiguous measure of fun.

So, for me, I need to match the bike to the terrain so that it’s not too easy, not too difficult, and this is where the concept of the funsponge comes in.

In the past, I’ve bought long travel FS bikes as my main bike, ridden them mostly everywhere and wondered where my sense of satisfaction had gone at the end of a ride. Sitting there pedalling, letting the bike do the work for me was stealing my fun.

I’ve now got a long, slack hardtail that is better matched to my local terrain that I have to work over and around the trail and I’m very happy with the reward it gives me in 85% of the places I ride.

I still have a big bike for tougher rides but actually it’s now my second bike.

I recently tested this in the quantocks, taking in some triscombe trails and a big natural loop. The big bike was a fun ride, but it was way more satisfying riding the same loop the week after on my hardtail.

So, where do you get your MTB satisfaction from?

I’ve got my mk1.5 Aeris at 150mm/150mm and use it for everything and I’m getting faster on the ups as well as the downs (and my back has stopped screaming after 20 miles). Modern bikes are so capable now that an Aeris etc + a bit of fitness work + focus on technique = you going a lot, lot quicker.

That said, I firmly believe that it’s 95% rider and 5% bike.

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Interesting thread. Am wondering whether my Stumpy has too much travel. I’ll give it a few more miles…..but prefer pulling out the chubby Solaris for the bulk of what I ride. Or when I don’t know where I am riding. It just seems to do everything a bit less effortlessly than the Spesh.

That said – I am hoping that I full in love with the Specialized in Wales in a couple of weeks.

Yesterday we had a ride around the Gwydir Mawr trail at Betws y Coed and I borrowed a mate’s Trek Remedy with a Lyric fork. My usual bike is a Mk1 Cotic Soul but the fork was leaking oil and threatened to spray it all over the front brake.

There wasn’t a moment when I wouldn’t have preferred the Soul. That trail is full of great rocky downhill stuff but all I had to do was steer to keep it on the trail. It just ignored everything in its path – so all the fun I usually get over the lumps, picking the right lines and feeling on the edge, was missing. Even though I was faster than my mates on their lesser bikes.

I could feel there was a level of ability and speed that would bring back the same sensations (albeit with major consequences for getting it wrong) but I know I’m never going to approach that level.

So, if I was buying a new bike today, and I had a choice between Giant Trance and Transition Scout, (both carbon and with Sram Eagle) which would be the most fun to ride?

I’d buy a patrol over a scout

I’d buy a smuggler over both of them.

I’ve just had my first weekend on my freshly built Stumpy. Done 2 days on it (and one run at BPW before freehub gave up).

Feels a lot more agile than my Aeris did and I really like how it rides. Feels like a short travel bike with how playful it is, but can handle rough stuff really well.

Think I’ve settled on this one for a while 🙂

I bought a Patrol and only sometimes wish I bought a Scout.

I’d have the scout because I too am a recent subscriber to the notion of enjoying shorter travel bikes more of the time. I like the look of one of those new commencal tr’s for example

Depends on rider, but my interpretation of fun is making bonus gaps and lines wherever I can, my current bike a 5010 is perfect for this, do I ever long for more travel, no. When I have had more travel have a longed for less, yes.

I simply found a modern enduro bike to be rubbish anywhere and everywhere. Went from DH bike and trail bike to a single enduro bike and back again.

Nothing can beat rough steep, flat out on a DH bike, an enduro bike just wasn’t there. The speed my trail bike gains from pumping and the gaps I get to make up just didn’t happen on an enduro bike.

Even weighing up trail bike at black mountain this week, it’s smooth and groomed (yes massive jumps), but seeing DH bike pedalling through moto line, looks gash, smaller bike, carry the speed. Have more fun making up lines too.

My FS is 140 rear, 150 front. I thought this might be too much too as quite a lot of what I ride is flat (either when out with the family or when getting to somewhere more exciting) but even on the flat this feels fine. I generally have it on the middle setting each time but then open it up fully in the woods or downhill. No concerns here.

I have a bike with too much travel. And a hardtail. I just take whichever I fancy, doesn’t always matter whether it’s the most suitable or not just has to be the one I fancy. I think the term funsponge is most appropriately applied to people who post on forums to tell others what they should want 😛

I had a TR Covert for a couple of years. I found it too much travel for what I was mostly riding. Huge fun when things got very rough and steep but that is probably less than 5% of what I ride.

I sold it and bought a TR Scout as soon as they came out. I am so much happier with the Scout. It can still do the roudy stuff that I did on the Covert, I just need to be more with it and I don’t get away with poor line choices so much.

geometry will have a much bigger effect than travel imo. Ive not had too much travel but i have had the wrong sort.

imo a top end 130mm set of suspension will massively out perform a 160mm budget bit of kit.

so you have the choice of a 160mm fox32 evolution or a 130mm pike. The latter will walk all over the longer travel bike in almost every situation.

Oh and if you do get a sorted shorter travel bike you get to say as MBR do that it is “poppy” as you carve berms, pump, gap and shred trails with your elbows high in an exaggerated cover shot pose.

My top three to demo would be Commencal Meta Trail, Bird 120 and Whyte T130. All great frames that come with well spaced kit that works without too many compromises.