Hello everyone …. Newbie to the forum but long term lurker and rider.

It’s a what bike thread I’m afraid, thanks for all your help!

My riding background:

Ten years riding in my teens/early twenties including National Junior DH racing back in the early 2000’s, used to be into jumping etc.

I had an eight year break and got back into MTBing about 4 years ago. I’m 35 and prefer not to fall off anymore!

My riding consists of:

• Regular local routes on bridleways (once a week)
• Once a month to a trail centre (Sherwood / Dalby / Gisburn / Sutton Bank etc.)
• Dales/Moors/Peak District epics in the summer.
• 4/5 XC races a year
• The odd enduro race each year
• One week in the ALPS a year

The main thing is I like to ride fast, my favourite thing is to go to Dalby on a dry summers evening for a 1hr 40 smashfest lap. When I’m not ‘on-it’ I like a bike that is fun and fast.

Current Bikes:

• Enduro = 2015 Norco Sight C7.2 650B (Carbon frame, 140mm travel each end, 13.5kg, 67 degree HA).
• XC = 2013 Cube SHPC Elite 29er (Carbon frame, 100mm travel, 10kg, 71 degree HA).

I ride the XC bike all the time in the UK. It’s FAST but it’s not always fun when the trail points downhill. It’s a challenge descending fast but I feel like I’m always hanging on rather than enjoying the ride.

I’ve pretty much confined the Enduro bike to abroad only or the odd UK endure race. I feel like the rear suspension isn’t needed for the riding I do, it saps pedalling efficiency and adds unnecessary weight which ultimately makes it slow overall.

What I want:

A hardtail bike that is in the middle of the two I have. I want the riding fun and style of the Enduro bike with 95% of the speed of the XC bike.

So idealy: Carbon frame, 29er (probably), 140mm ish fork, Sub 12 kg (ideally 10kg) with a budget of maximum £3.5k ish.

I’ve been reading about long / low and slack and all that gubbins but can’t really make head / nor tail of it … I think that’s what I want though. Nothing too radical though.

I’ve demo’d a PACE RC127 and RC129 and really liked them (preferred the 29er) but the 2.7kg frame weight puts me off (haven’t ruled it out though) … they seem to build at about 12kg so on the heavy side.

Also on the list:

Cotic Soul or Solaris Max.

Kona Honzo CR Trail (this would be top of the pops as the 2017 model is reduced to £3.5k but the parts spec. is very poor for the money).

What would you recommend? Am I missing something?

After a similar investigation, I’d settled on one of these:

https://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.php?product_id=4660&gclid=Cj0KCQiAs9zSBRC5ARIsAFMtUXHNSoNG_zgRksqmQvwwHkfATE1_0zB5vbORogQ-i6ry9lS79yI4ALsaApLREALw_wcB

…and you’ have some change for upgrades if you need some.

Transition Vanquish is what i’d get if I had a whack of money to spend on a hardtail.

I tried one for a weekend and would happily race it in an enduro.

A nice one from the other day…Skinwall goodness…

Santa Cruz Chameleon?

https://www.ubyk.co.uk/santa-cruz-chameleon-r-29er-2018/71149

Enough in the budget to go 140 on forks (is rated for them) and pimp it up a bit more.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Orange P7 S (or 29 RS)

They do look very nice and a I like the idea of a British Steel frame (hence the Pace option) but are they mega heavy? Have you weighed yours? The P7 29 RS might be an option but again finding reliable weight information seems impossible (short of going to the shop and weighing one). I know weight isn’t the be all and end all but I personally find it makes a reasonable difference to the way a bike rides. The difference between 10kg and 13kg is significant.

Transition Vanquish

Excellent suggestion thanks, i’d never heard of them and it looks like it could be right up my street. Will look into this one! Maybe the 650B Throttle for the longer forks as I’m not rigid on the 29er wheel size.

Santa Cruz Chameleon

Another good suggestion. The R 29 comes in at 12.5kg at £2349 giving some scope for lightweight bling upgrades.

As you’ve got the Solaris in there then I guess a Stanton Sherpa could be considered. Either steel for on budget but possibly a bit weighty or titanium for less weight and bollocks to the budget.

Just get a Cotic. You won’t be disappointed.

If your interested in the chameleon then buy it frame only at £599, PLENTY left over in your budget to bling it to the max 🙂

Considered a Whyte 909 at all?

909 v2

I have to admit when I wanted something of an all rounder to fall, in my mind, between xc and trail riding I ended up buying a Solaris.*

This was over 3 years ago. I started off running it with 100mm forks (even flat bars and bar ends at one point) but now with 120mm forks.

*I must add that I’d really wanted a Cotic since about 2008.