I’ll start with the Cotic Hemlock. Brilliant fun to ride and so versatile but I still get comments about snapping and/or cheese due to the initial and well reported issues. What other minger is actually a super model?

Specialized Enduro. It’s all relative. Most people look down their noses at them because they’re from a big company and can’t/won’t entertain the concept that they are as good (maybe better) than a Yeti/Ibis/SC/Turner/Intense or any other boutique show pony you care to mention.

Jimjam I think that’s specialised fs bikes generally. Lots of anti comments just because it’s an S but functionally the two I have had have been great and there’s good spares availability / support so far as I can tell.

Boardman pro 29er. The amount of unnecessary labels on it is stupid and people are snobbish about a bike from Halfords but it’s super capable.

Nothing better than the look on someones face when they realise they’ve just been dropped by a halfords clown bike.

^+1

Bloody ace bike IMHO.

Most big brands (Spesh, Giant, Trek especially) wipe the floor with niche brands in almost every department. But serious cyclists will try anything to be different and stab themselves square in the back doing it. Some of these boutique brands are rather poor indeed.

Anything by Evil bikes.

edit: No wait, I got that the wrong way round didn’t I.

My 2008 enduro got a bad write up, and although ive replaced the chainstay, everything else is going well. And its a great ride.

I’ll be honest, I can’t remember the last time I read a negative review of a bike, certainly not in a magazine anyway.

Either everything on the market today is brilliant, or they’re not willing to risk potential advertising business.

Is the Boardman very xc orientated or does it make a good all round trail bike – hadn’t really appreciated the price of these things before.

I’d suggest Charge Bikes here. OK, they can be a bit overpriced at RRP but they are well put together and ride well in my experience. They aren’t afraid to do things a bit differently either.

Another vote for the Boardman 29er here – one of the best bikes I’ve ever owned and I have had high end stumpys and Treks.

Another vote for the Boardman Pro 29er very capable XC bike but I have found that the 100mm travel forks have limited its hooligan speed….I did email Boardman bikes to see how long a fork I could get away with without dying but they still haven’t responded!

PeterPoddy – Member
Most big brands (Spesh, Giant, Trek especially) wipe the floor with niche brands in almost every department. But serious cyclists will try anything to be different and stab themselves square in the back doing it. Some of these boutique brands are rather poor indeed.

I instinctively agree with you PP, mostly because I have ridden Treks and Trek-related bikes for years due – in part – to their straightforward reliability and quality.

That said, which boutique brands are you thinking about as being ‘rather poor indeed’, and what aspect of them?

My Mk1 Salsa Horsethief only got a middling review on Bikeradar, but even in a fairly boggo trim, I found it went up and down rough rocky trails just as well as my ‘garage queen’ SC Tallboy LTc. With a good fork and wheels on, the Horsethief was so close to the LTc that I really do wonder why the hell I bought the latter! Don’t get me wrong, the LTc is really very good, but I definitely feel it’s a case of paying for the name with some of these ’boutique brands’. As far as SC’s VPP2 suspension goes, it feels pretty much exactly the same as the Maestro system on my old Giant – which ate less bearings than my SC…hmmm

bubs – Member

I’ll start with the Cotic Hemlock. Brilliant fun to ride and so versatile but I still get comments about snapping and/or cheese due to the initial and well reported issues.

Mine is awesome, but I loved it literally to bits 😆 Broke every major frame component. Cotic, being awesome, replaced them all but still. Reputation deserved.

Most big brands (Spesh, Giant, Trek especially) wipe the floor with niche brands in almost every department.

Hmmm. I’m on a Giant reign advanced (alu rear, carbon front). I have owned Specialized, Commencal, Intense, Knolly, Turner, Santa Cruz and still have a Nicolai.
The manufacture of the Reign doesn’t equal that of some. The alu welds look a bit rubbish (not that it matters in practice) particularly compared with Nicolai (which really is stunning) or the turner or the intense. I can see that the carbon has been made in pieces and stuck together unlike the one piece of the santa cruz. Mind you, the expensive SC cracked after 3 years so it’s highly likely that the Reign will outlive it!
None of this really matters in the real world as the thing is remarkable on the trail, but I can see that they are not made to the same standards of some of the more spendy brands.

Oh, and my old Intense 5.5 is 7 odd years old now and is still being thrashed by a mate; he’s had zero issues with it!

Is the Boardman very xc orientated or does it make a good all round trail bike – hadn’t really appreciated the price of these things before.

Depends what you mean by that? I ride mine all over. I sold my Giant Trance to get mine and don’t regret it. It pops its front wheel up a treat and you feel sat in it rather than on it. I am by no means a MTB expert though. It just feels right to me and the £600ish it cost me 😀

I can see that they are not made to the same standards of some of the more spendy brands.

Because they don’t have pretty welds? Or use a different carbon construction method? 😉

I’ll wager one thing, Giant’s warranty back up in the event of anything going wrong will be better than almost anyone else’s.

I broke a NRS frame years ago, it was replaced on a next day delivery. With a new shock, headset and BB thrown in for my troubles. Nice.

My Marin Attack Trail from 2010 with the QUAD 2 setup.

I absolutely love how it rides and the actual look of it too.

I seem to be in the minority though.

Luckily I don’t care. 🙂

GT Sensor…it was bloody awesome.

Because they don’t have pretty welds? Or use a different carbon construction method?

I’ll wager one thing, Giant’s warranty back up in the event of anything going wrong will be better than almost anyone else’s.

Fair points! All. I have no interest in doing down a bike I have just spent a lot of money on, I’m simply voicing an opinion as objectively as I can. Pretty welds require a lot of care and skill so I do see value in it. One piece lay up? I have no idea but seeing the joins was a bit of a surprise. As I said, it really is a fantastic bit of kit and I’m happy with my purchase. I certainly agree with the support piece though, I’ll probably not be buying spendy “premium” again!

Tell us more about the sensor. My mate gas an old I-drive. Im always amazed what he can climb up on it despite his bike weighing about 10 pounds more than mine. The suspension seems to nether get deflected and digs into the ground. Are the modern GTs the same. It’s not as good on the downs a the bb is about 2 foot of the ground.

Some thoughts on the Sensor here… http://www.imbikemag.com/issue28/?page=105

Back in the day I had a Whyte PRST… I actually liked it. The front end tracked fantastically.

My now broken (soon to be repaired?) 2002 alu Kona Cindercone hard tail, it had the ‘exciting Kona ride’ which they go on about, and which actually exists imo, so that just changing direction for the sake of it was/is fun due to the geometry.

Going to ring Vernon Barker this week about him fixing the seat tube extension where it snapped off at the weld.

Boardman 29er is brilliant – best bike I ever had. I have sold everything else.

A thing I like about old hard tails is they can make reassuring commuter bikes, with discs and front sus to help avoid or get out of trouble. Going to use my Cindercone for that and have an Airzound horn fitted too.

Looking forward to riding it again.

I can see that the carbon has been made in pieces and stuck together unlike the one piece of the santa cruz.

Yeahhhh, no. SC may put a cosmetic layer on, but no one makes a carbon frame as ‘one piece’ with no joins anywhere!

I also agree on the big brands doing it better than the boutique brands.

That said. My Ragley Crag Vale road bike is the one bike I would never get rid of.

hhhh, no. SC may put a cosmetic layer on, but no one makes a carbon frame as ‘one piece’ with no joins anywhere!

This.

Giant are regarded as having probably the best carbon in the industry.

2003 GT Avalanche, I had 100mm recons on the front, 3x9sp Deore and Magura Julie brakes. It was an awesome bike. Did everything from commuting to Lake District trails and DH at Warncliffe. I tried so hard to break that bike but it was indestructible!

Yeahhhh, no. SC may put a cosmetic layer on, but no one makes a carbon frame as ‘one piece’ with no joins anywhere!

So they’re blatantly lying? I have no idea, but the finish on my old SC was better than that on my current (high spec) Giant.

One-Piece Lay-Up And Curing

By laying up and curing the front triangle all at the same time, rather than assembling pieces, we’re able to decrease the amount of material used by eliminating overlapping joints that have to be bonded or wrapped with carbon. Less material means fewer grams. This method is extremely expensive, since each size has to have a lot of dedicated tooling, and nothing is shared between each size.

http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en/es/about-our-carbon

I’m going to vote for me Easton Havoc’s – the internet told me that I’d die if I bought a set.

But they’ve been pretty much trouble free – one set of bearings in the rear wheel in two years. The rear one has seen better days now (well the rim has) but they’re reasonably light, easy to service / change axles, UST means piece of cake tubeless and were dirt cheap in the sale. I can’t fault them.