Hi all after what seems like months of research I have narrowed my hardtail choice to 3 bikes. Could you let me know your thoughts on the forks and geometry (this is the hardest bit to get my head round although they all look quite similar). They will mostly be used for red trail centre routes with a little bit of xc.

I can get the whyte and orange on bike for work so they will end about the same price as the bird after saving 40% tax….

http://shop.birdmtb.com/zero/zero-3.html

I think i am leaning towards this one due to the lifetime frame warranty and because I am not sure I like the idea of internal cable routing. It has thru axles on back and front. However are the x fusions much worse than the revelations on the other two?

http://whyte.bike/gb/models/trail/trail-hardtail-27-5-650b/905-2/

Seems to be getting rave reviews, I am just not sure about internal cable routing and also whether geometry is too extreme.

http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/crush-am

Included because it would probably work out cheapest, most travel on the forks. However, no stand out reviews so might just be a bit average and I think the brakes are more basic?

Ultimately will get one of these 3, just want to pick the best one possible!

Well the whyte and orange outspec the bird. They are pretty much identical spec to eachother however the whyte has a hope rear wheel and slightly more aggressive geometry so that would be my pick. If you can get them on b2w does that mean you can try them at your lbs? Because that would be the obvious choice…

Lbs didn’t offer the chance to ride, they didn’t have pedals attached for a start!

O.O they actually had them there and knew you were looking to buy one and wouldn’t let you roll them down the street???

Thats pretty poor…

Whyte all day long for me with that geo, seems way more ‘current’ than the other two IMHO

Is there much difference between the orange and whyte geo, they both look pretty slack?

Test ride.
Test ride.
Test ride.

Etc.

I’ve got one o them there 650 Crushes but I’ve changed nearly everything bar the forks !,as there wernt the options available to spec change a year ago,but I’ve gotta say I absolutely lurve it !!!!..

Whyte is longer, lower and slacker, more up my street, hence the IMHO 🙂

You’ve a choice of forks on the Bird – Velvets, Sweeps or Revs.

I’ve been on a 650B Crush (Fox 32 version) for the past year and it think it’s fantastic, changed a lot of it now though. 1×10, XT brakes with 180/180s, Fat bars, 35mm stem. I’ve never felt it lacking in anything I’ve used it for. Got a reverb ready to go on but it’s just about to be shipped back orange for a respray in new Charcoal grey. And maybe some Pikes after that.

Whyte is longer, lower and slacker, more up my street, hence the IMHO

Just FYI the Bird is as long as the Whyte when comparing stand over and ETT length (which is the only two measurements that really count size wise), in fact the bird is longer in S & M sizes, and marginally shorter than the Whyte in L & XL, the BB is only 3mm different when running the same travel forks, and if you want we can slacken it slacker the whyte HA from the factory… FWIW most people that try the bird and the whyte and then go on to buy the bird do so _because_ of the head angle among other reasons, but of course there’s probably as many going the other way for the same reason!