This is the riding that I am mostly doing this year

Peak district
Sherwood pines
Cannock follow the dog
A week in Dalby
A week in Northumberland

These are the bikes I’m looking at (all 2009 models)

Specialized Pitch FSR Comp 14.9kg £978
Specialized FSRxc Expert ??kg £1,174
Cannondale Prophet 2 13.9kg £1,199
Commencal meta 5.5.3 13.5kg £1,255
specialalized fsr xc pro 12.42kg £1,369
specialized Pitch Pro 13.7 kg £1,399
specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp ??kg £1,565

any advice?

I have a 2008 Brodie Mettle for sale. It was a shop show bike, has been built but never ridden. rrp was £1699 this last 08 bike is £1100.

Full info can be seen here http://www.progressive-bikes.co.uk/2008/mettle.html

Let me know if you need any info and/or are interested.

Thanks

Si

Not quite what I was thinking but what size is it?

you have a real range of bikes there, 100mm travel lightweigths up to 140 bruisers and even something in between…
Surely you must have some idea of what would suit your own current riding, or where you want to do ‘ride wise’?
Use that to weed down the options, and aren’t all the ‘cheap’ pitches sold out?

I don’t think any are 100mm. this years FRS xc are 120. The pitch comp is available but you’re probably right about the pitch pro being sold out so I can cross that one off the list.

I’m looking for something which has enough travel to compensate for my lack of skill (crash over obstacles) but something that is light enough to pedal. I want one bike which can do anything not something which is either super light and fragile or has too much of a heavy downhill bias.

What would you suggest for the type of places I will be riding? The lightweight end of the scale or the bruiser end.

ahh sorry, wasn’t aware of the fsr’s going to 120mm…

Personnally I definitely say go for the lighter end of the scale unless you think you really need a dh missile!
But I’m no one to talk, as I’m looking for a prophet and live in the mountain-less midlands…

All the gear and no idea

CHEAP FFS! 1k-1.4k! cheap is like £500

How about a Carrera Banshee XXX, or a Boardman full suss. Both bikes get a fair review from MBR/WMBK. Not the lightest bikes, but plenty strong enough for the down once you pedal to the top. Both retail under the magic £1000.

Prophets are fabulous. You can build it up light or heavy, XC or “freeride”. I ride XC on one (no racing), I commuted, I’m taking it this Summer to Poland for 2 weeks of pure mountains. Get one and you won’t regret it.
Or you could buy a Rush, but I don’t know the pricing of them.

If you want light then I’d go for a Trek Fuel EX7 or 8 (especially the 8)over the Commencal Mata 5.5.3

A medium Boardman FS is approx 13.2kg – so lighter than most of your bikes listed. It is also an excellent ride – loving mine. I hated the saddle, and the tyres are a bit hit and miss, but with a few changes it is excellent. I ride pretty much the same as you, and although I would usually take my hartail to sherwood, I have ridden the Boardman there, and it was fine.

I do consider 1k to be cheap because the last 2 FS bikes I have had were proper cheap and needed almost everything replacing so in the long run I have spent the 1K ish and don’t have a very good bike to show for it. This time I want to get a bike which I will not need to spend any money on. Total cost of ownership puts me off bikes with lots of weak pivots so that puts a tick in the box for the prophet I think.

I have noted the thumbs up for the prophet but I read a fairly poor review on the rush and the geometry is one thing I really want to get right. (a tick in the box for the specialized?)

I was looking at the Trek fuel ex 7 but it doesn’t get quite such glowing reports at the others and the price at £1,550 is at the upper end of the scale.

The boardman fs comp at £799 is looking like a bit of a bargain

Thanks for the advice.

It seems strange to me that every second bike that I see is a specialized but their owners are less forthcoming with praise or criticism for them than the lesser known brands.

I’ve got an ’05 FSR XC Pro.

V.Good IMHO

Giant Trance X 3? Can’t recommend the frame highly enough…. was such good fun at Afan and can handle a lot more than I have the guts for

don’t mind admitting I love my stumpjumper, good compromise between a 100mm xc whippet and a 140 ‘all mountain’ bike

Pines have got a Meta 5.5.2 for £1400 atm, its a med.

The Meta 5 is not a lightweight bike. They must have filled it with helium to get anywhere near 13.5Kg*. Mine is 14.6Kg and is fitted with coil Pikes and otherwise XT bits. I’d be willing to bet the Stumpy is quite a bit lighter, even the Comp version.

*Mind you, the same is probably true of all those others you’ve listed.

From your list….I’d be looking at either the FSR XCs or the Stumpy.

I’ve got an 01 Stumpjumper FSR which has just under 100mm travel rear and a Reba team I recently put on the front (85-115mm travel). It is plenty strong enough for UK trail centres (although I am no good/too scared to jump and generally throw it about) and it was great for a week in Spain last yr.

Have you looked in the back of MBR or other mags? You can get some real deals at the moment…..looking through the latest MBR, I saw a £2000 GT Force going for £1200 and there are plenty of other bargains.

I’d look at the Giant Trance, or Trance X as was previously mentioned. There great bikes, and both can be picked up for around £1,300 i think.

Trance x 4 – £1,350

Although if I was you, then I would go for a second hand bike. £1200 would get you a very good sh bike.

I agree with Will, I got an ’06 enduro off the forum here, all XT and fox, bit heavier than the new ones, but solid and very very dependable, has got me out of a few hairy moments (read that as ‘it has compensated for my lack of skill many times’). Bike was in good nick, and properly maintained, all for £750, can’t complain at that…

I’d be going with a hardtail, having just re discovered the joys 😀

Tiboy – Member
I agree with Will, I got an ’06 enduro off the forum here, all XT and fox, bit heavier than the new ones, but solid and very

When did you buy that? Just curious as I’m about to sell my ’06 Enduro Elite and wondering what sort of price it will fetch.

Ta.

I bought it a couple of months ago, but I did have to collect it from Brighton. If you’re after the best price I would suggested splitting it, but ’tis a bit of hassle.

Not quite what I was thinking but what size is it?

The Brodie mettle is an 18″, if you were interested i would drop the price to 1k as i need to move it on.

Here is a review of the 2007 model http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/mettle-08-22737 which at the time came third in it’s category in the bike of the year awards in What Mountain Bike.

GT I-drive XCR? Bang on £1000 from Halfords, won the last MBUK/WMB group test for £1000 full suss hands down…

“The current i-Drive 5 is the best all-round suspension bike GT has ever made, and one of the best available anywhere for high traction, high trust riding. We found that it was more than light enough to upgrade to any top line spec you’ve got your eye on too, which makes this very well equipped entry level version even more of a bargain”

Dont be put off a Cannondale Rush.. I’ve had mine 6 months and its awesome. I went for the Alu Rush 5 with Fox F120’s- £1700 (i think they start at about £1100).
Who gave it a bad review? When i was looking into buying one i only heard good things. And all that talk about it being only good for marathons and climbing is a load of old cobblers. Also i had the opportunity to try a prophet too and thats very good, although i still think for all round riding 100-120mm is fine. My regular trails are Dalby/Moors and this weekend did Kiroughtree and Glentress. The bike was great 😀

The i-drive is no more though…… the 2007 model was the last. The replacement doesn’t get such good reviews

Not true about the I-Drive, it’s just not on the GT catalogue as it’s one of the Halfords-only models.

what about the Commencal Super 4.2?

Only £1299 or so from merlin, I’ve had one a couple of weeks now and love it. Lock out the front and back and climbs like a goat

Similar to the i-drive system, try a Mongoose Teocali. Choose your spec wisely and you can get some cheap deals on-line. KFS (Californian company) do a 100mm travel bike which got good reviews in another mag (oh the shame). Think it was a 604 or something, try bikeradar to read the review.

KFS was £800ish. You ca get a Teocali with lots of XT kit if you look around, think it’s the comp. Anyone know different?

I thought this thread was dead. I’ve been out of town for a couple of days and when I get back I find all this lot. I think the medium bikes are a bit too small. I have a large 19″ Specialized Hardrock and it feels just right. The mediums I have had in the past feel a bit cramped. I’ve been to a couple of Halfords and can’t find either a Boardman or a GT but the ride 2 work scheme is starting again and I can only buy a bike from a designated LBS if I want it tax free. Not Halfords this time. Sherwood pines also has a kona dawg for under £1000 but its a medium and it just doesn’t feel big enough. If I spend over £1000 I am perhaps as well off looking for discount rather than bothering with tax free.

Does anyone know what the reliability of the pivots/bushings is like on the specialized these days? I gather they only have a 1 year warranty.

abductee, when you say the dawg is a medium do you mean the 17 or 18 inch frame. I’m 6’2″ and have a 19″ Dawg Deluxe. it’s got satndard spec other than a set of Diabolus risers and a 50 mm stem, fantastic all day bike, and feels spot on for me. I put the 50mm stem on because I felt a little stretched when sat in the saddle, it also helped with coming down some of the steeper stuff around here.

It was an 18″ I’ve just had a look on the sizing guide on wiggle and 18″ should be good for 5’10” to 6’1/2″ and the 19″ for 6″ to 6’2 1/2″ so I should be at the upper end of the 18″ not the 19″. But it definitely felt a bit small. Oh and this years Dawg is £1,712

null[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/dawg-08-28294]null[/url]Yeah price increase was across the range, although looking at the reviews for 2008 and 2009 models,I’m glad I got mine when I did. Kona seemed to have meddled with the geometry to squeeze an extra 10-15mm travel out of the back end.

I’d definately go for an ’08 model, but then I’m slightly biased. I think you can still find ’08 deluxe dawgs for less than an ’09 dawg. happy hunting.

abductee….regarding your question on Spesh bushes. I replaced the bearings on my 01 Stumpjumper about 2 months ago (well the LBS did) – first time they had been replaced and it’s a 2001 frame. Admittedly it was a little sloppy when I got it changed, so it proabably should have been done 6 months earlier.
Bearing kit + fitting was only £60.

You can pick up a 08 Dawg Supreme for less than a 09 Dawg let alone a Deluxe!

That sizing from wiggle is a bit off. We shift a lot of these and usually find the 18 to be 5’9-5’11 and the 19 to be 5’11-6’1 although this is dependant on body proportions. Im 5’10 have stupid long legs (35″) and feel best on a 17.

Not generally a Kona fan but the dawgs just work.

If you want a good ride and excellent spec for the price get the new Boardman FS bike as it’s basically a budget stumpjumper. You get a lot for your money.