So, following the theft of my pride and joy last week, my insurance company have come back with some options… I find it hard enough choosing my bikes, and now the world has complicated things further by giving me bikes in THREE WHEEL SIZES too! So, help me choose…
Brief: Bike must be:
[list]fun to ride around all the trails in Tweed Valley, I live in Innerleithen, so needs to be a giggle on techy steep singletrack as well as classic trail centre nonesense.
comfy and efficient for big rides in the hills for when I want to get away from it all and head to the highlands. Talking proper all day stuff.
ideal geometry of long TT (23″ on a med) steep seat angle and slack head angle, short to medium travel.
… yes, I want the ultimate ‘One Bike for All Occasions’ choice.[/list]
Insurance can either: Give me a bike from their range (Wheelies Direct) up to the value of £3.5k, or a cash settlement for roughly 75% of that.
Choices so far:
From the Wheelies range:
The Safe choice: Orange Five Pro. Classic bike, will do the job, good spec and easy to sell on if I don’t like it.
The unusual choice: Lapierre X-FLow 612. Great spec for the money, all the stuff I like, Perfect Geometry for me, light and fast and playful.
The radical choice: Scott Genius 720. Good spec, but not quite as ideal as the lapierre, fairly light – supposed to do all that I want but it’s a crazy new wheel size… this could be the future, but could be a gamble that I’ll never be able to sell on if I decide to change.
Take the cash… and buy…
The fun choice: an off the peg Nuke Proof Mega TR. Cracking geometry, good spec for the money – leaving me a little spare cash for extras. Clearly not as flash a machine as above, as lower value, but could be a lot of fun and tough as old boots. What will it be like on those big rides though?
So, opinions please.