Thinking of changing my frame and building up a lighter trail bike, present bike santaCruz Butcher 30.4lbs , just had to sell my 29er , I had the best of both long travel 26″ bike and a short travel 25lb 29er, but now its going to have to be one bike only,
type of riding I do is trail centers , xc natural stuff, and the odd xc race, the last one I did on the Butcher 😀 like to have fun on my bike and pop off and over stuff, nothing huge I’m not that good 😳
my list of frames looked at so far,
Blur TRc , Yeti SB66c, and the new 2013 Trek EX looks good, want something thats light ish and climbs well , with low BB , and around 67 ish head angle, and around 26-28lb,
Have also looked at the 29er s Tallboy Lt and the Yeti SB95 both seem to be very capable , any other suggestions would be great,
need my friend Rorschach to keep me on track 😀

Not ignoring you….honest.Laptop a bit ill and ipod is rubbish for typing with fat fingers!!

Stumpy Evo Carbon.

:DJust got a bandit it does everything you mention and you have a massive grin on yer face while doing it!

I’ve ridden a Trek Fuel and a Bandit, both are amazing bikes.

The Trek had very good manners and was a very composed ride. The Bandit was a very fun feeling bike, I wanted to hop and pop of every little bump in the trail.

Both will get you up a big hill and down some technical terrain but in slightly different ways.

Whyte T129S looks just the ticket for an only bike. Everything I’ve heard from those that have ridden the demo bike so far is fantastic, can’t wait til tomorrow night now when I’m finally getting a go on it!

I have a Scott genius mc10 all carbon fibre, highly recommend for trail use…great guide bike too!! 8)

I have a Trek Fuel and it’s great, but the mud clearance, very important in my locale, is rubbish.

I have my sights set on a Cotic Rocket, fantastic ride, just need some more pennies 🙄

Need plenty of that when on natural trails, where I live, peaty mud clags into everything, not such a problem on the local trail centres.

will have to go check one out ,

Bandit is that the 26 or 29er

Cotic Rocket looks to be a good bike , not sure on the weight o the full builds.

Anyone have an SB66 carbon, or the Santa Cruc TRc??

Hi Jeffus

Clearly being from Silverfish I’m a little biased but just to let you know that our Marketing Manager just did the Roc D’Azur (60km race in the mountains in France) on an SB66 Carbon and reckons it was incredible.

His previous bike was a Turner Flux so the SB is waaay more travel than he would normally use but he honestly cant stop rattling on about how great the SB feels.

Where are you located in the country? Quite a few of our dealers will have SB66 and SB95’s as demo bikes – maybe you could get a shot on one?

Rocky Mountain Element 70 MSL ……. don’t come up that often but managed to one off here a couple of months ago ……. head angle sounds a bit steeper than what your after but took it to Cwm Carn last Thursday and it was brilliant. Had a 575 before and found it had more travel than I needed.
It builds up pretty light at around 26 lbs .. just normal xt stuff.

…… just need the fitness to go with it but a great bike ….

From what you are after, I would heartily recommend a Blur TrC – amazingly fun and able bike that can be super light. Obviously it is super expensive, although a few ’12 frames in the sales – however it can feel like a longer travel bike when the going gets rough, whilst being rocket fast when you need it – the best of both from my experience

+1 what kinger said

richiethesilverfish

I was going to have a ride @ Oneplanet , but my daughter crashed her car and I never got a chance, the two demos had gone back,
I will ask if they can get another to try, and the Trc so I can compare both.
One of the staff has offered for me to have ago of there own bike , very kind of them , I will have a quick sit tomorrow hopefully.

Hi Jeffus

Yeah Oneplanet will be spot on as, like you say, they can provide you with a Yeti and SC and hence give you an unbiased opinion of both.

Good luck – which ever you choose you’ll end up with a great bike. 😀