I have admitted it to me.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good bike! I've had lots of fun, it was the best I could find for the price I wanted to pay at the time I was looking. And as it was replacing my first MTB, bought new for £200, it is easily the best MTB I've ever had.

But, oh lordy, it's a heavy beast. And where it wants to be let loose to go down hills fast, all I do is gently pootle/drag along with both tyres safely in touch with the ground. When I look at it, it's with a little feeling of shame that I'm not using it to its full potential.

So having admitted that there are better bikes to match what I want and better riders for this bike, I'm now tossing a coin to decide if the answer is to MTFU or put up a wishful swap ad.

Is this common? It doesn't feel like a dose of upgraditis (I don't have the budget for that). I know there's a couple of serial bike-buyers on here, but is that because you're still searching for The One True Bike or because you're just a bit of a spendaholic?

ONly the ones I have sold 😉

Yes, but never at the time.

Yes a 20" Patriot 66 which should have been an 18" even though I'm 6'3". The 20" was just to big for DH.
The steel hardtail does all I need for the moment, 'company' bike due next year 😀 😀 when I've seen what all the companies are doing

only about 47 times…………. 😉

Only when I need to justify buying a new one.

Yup, bought more bike than I needed, turned it into even more bike than I needed and now ride either a Steel SS or a med travel Xc/marathon machine

Yup; a Marin Wolf Ridge – 2004 or (can't recall exactly) 2005. It was too long, too high, too 'floppy' in handling no matter what I threw at it!

Sold it and got a Soul! 🙂

Yeah I have bought lots of bikes that turn out to be the wrong bike for me driven by advertising, fashion or damn right stupidity. Now after 18 years in the sport I ride a steel SS, not because I have a beard (even though I do), not because I want to be niche, but because its is the bike that does everything I need it too. If I should one day move to the Alps then yes I will buy myself a new DH rig. Buying the wrong bike is just part of the learning curve of cycling. Hey if people didn't by the wrong kit this site would be rubbish. Imagine the Classifieds with out a constant stream of frames from Ton!

I have admitted it to me.

Bless. Can I suggest putting some nice, light tyres on it? Makes a huge difference to how 'core one doesn't need to feel.

Yep, bought a F/S for a move to the mountains that never happened, now I can't afford to service the damn thing.

Sold my lovely H/T first gen Commncal combi full of nice upgrades to pay for it.

Still got my eye on a C2W Boardman H/T from Halfrauds next that I intend to swap/change the frame on c.o the classifieds (and so it begins again….)

Scott Genius MC30, I hated it !!!

Bazzer

Yep, bought a pipedream torero after a rave singletrack review and a good price from pipedream.
Built it up, rode it, didn't get on it with, fiddled with it, took it to the alps for two weeks and still couldn't get on with the thing. I made everyone of my riding buddies have a go on it and they couldn't fault it but it just didnt do it for me.

Borrowed a heckler in the Alps which was loads better and since getting back to the UK I'm back on my trusty steel hardtail.

Plenty.

Two I really regret; Sanderson Life and a 2007 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR frame- it made it too easy. Everything was soaked up and easy. Hence I shot myself in the foot.

Yeah, the Patriot.
But i've had it an age so i'm permanently attached emotionally, but my riding/ ability/ bottle doesnt do it any justice.
But i'm keeping it…

Bought a carrera subway for commuting to work on throughout the shite winter, so not to ruin my road bike. Wish i'd bought something better cos it gets morr riding time than anything else now.

Chumba Wumba – Hated it… Had it one ride!!

I'm a bit of a tightwad, only buying a new MTB about once a decade.

Spent just over 10 years until this spring riding an Orange Gringo that I never bonded with. Liked the Pace RC36 EvoIII's (until they died) and the original Hope mini, but not much else about it. I doubt I'll ever buy an alloy hardtail again.

Thankfully I have bonded instantly with the R8 that replaced it.

My Pace RC303 never really felt like it fitted right. The Scandal that replaced it when the Pace broke was what was available at the time that largely fitted my criteria, but it didn't really want to be a trail bike and I didn't want an XC bike.

Chameleon for me. Should have bought the medium, but even then I found the BB height way too high. New eccentric BB model, by the way.

sor – what you looking at swapping then?

Yeah my Mongoose Tyax. The sizing and geom are perfect and it was very cheap. But on reflection, was too heavy. Spending a more on a lighter, less burly bike would have been better.

Still got the frame – might do something with it someday.

Focus Variado Expert roadbike for me. Man that thing was a dog.

I think my first ever ahem.."mountain bike" (£180 Townsend ATB in 1991) was def a mistake.

But at 12 years of age you just take what the shop sells your Dad, even if it wasn't set up right and the frame way too massive for the MBUK inspired off roading I tried to take it on every weekend whilst cursing it's lack of SIS shifting etc.

just out of interest sor what is it?

Selling my 22 inch frame and buying a 13 inch jump bike for XC might have been a mistake. Granted I was very quick through jumps/DH/Fast stuff. But eventually I had to sit down and my knees came up a bit to near my face!

Yep once here it is!

What was I thinking of? 😯

No, never, I have however often considered the fact that I have the wrong body/ skill level/ fitness!

Lol, i ferkin' LUUUURVE Mongoose Tyax hardtails… Bombproof!

Yes Orange Big-T thought it would make a nice tough do it all bike, just to heavy and a custom Ti Frame just never got on with it and the reissued Clockwork Orange just didn't live up to the fond memories of the original, current bikes all good.

It's tough to admit but not every bike suits and over the years you gonna have a couple of ideas that just don't work out but it's part of the fun.

after 10 years of dismissing hardtails as "not a proper bike" I realised with my laughable skill levels riding was more fun and easier* on a hardtail :o)

* and way cheaper 🙂

Only 1 bike since 1994. A 2000 model Spesh FSR (Comp, I think). Got taken in by the hype around full sus & got left a small amount of money, so splashed it on the Spesh. Rode it for just over a year before going back to my Marin Pine Mountain.

Prpbably should have thought about it a bit as I've never been fast on the downs, and have always struggled with power on the ups, so adding weight and bounce really didn't help. The clincher came when I was in the middle of fitting discs to the Spesh and was waiting for the additional torsion arm to come in, so rode my old bike on a ride in the Clywdians, expecting to get battered, and I didn't. Goodbye Spesh – lasted about 14 months.

Bought a Marin rock springs it never fitted me properly, I went out to buy an orange 5 didn't like the attitude of the shop staff, so left and bought the Marin on the rebound as I wanted a bike that day.
I also bought a custom frame, that although the geometry was spot on but I never really bonded with it, despite wanting to, I think that was in part due to my riding tastes changing.

I fear I may be at risk of being burned and banished, as the bike in question is a 456.

Yes, I'm sure it's a brilliant bit of kit in the right hands or built with less-budget bits. But this bugger weighs 32lb! I'm not even sure my last bike weighed that much!

"Lol, i ferkin' LUUUURVE Mongoose Tyax hardtails… Bombproof!"

Absolutely, they are like tanks, nothing stops them. It's me that's weedy! 😆

I think my Rock Lobster titanium was the most disappointing and short lived bike I had – about 4 weeks to give it a fair trial. Went back to my much chunkier but perfect handling Sunn Xircuit.
The RocLob was just weird in terms of geometry 😕
Stumpy M5 hardtail was too long for me.
Scandium Explosif was and inch too big.

My current bike a Thorn Raven Catalyst. I should have bought the Enduro.

I bought it configured as commuter, a job it did perfectly and I always had it mind that I would continue to commute and that should I ever no longer be able to cycle to work I could convert it to a mountain bike. Then after 2 years I thought why am I riding to work on the road when I could do it off road, and that's what I've been doing for the last 2 years. So I wished I'd bought a disk specific frame. The V brake is fine in the summer but it's a bit of a pain in the winter as it tends to get clogged with mud.

It had to be 140mm, it had to be single pivot and it had to be a Meta. When I was going well, it felt really fast..but it felt different from one ride to the next for me and I never really set it up how I liked it.

Replaced with a stell hardtail and I was much happier. In every condition, it just feels right

Went out on my rigid ss 29er for the first real ride today..Felt a bit crap at first, but when I relaxed, it wasnt 'alf good. (if not a little bumpy and knackering) Now I want to ride it all the time