What are these like for a do it all bike? Got chance of one but thinking it might be too heavy for general xc and occasional trips to trail centres,

I’ve had one for just over a year now and its the best bike I’ve had (Trek, Canyon, Orange, Giant previously)
Great going up and even better coming down. Use it for commuting sometimes too! I changed to 1 X 10 a few months ago too and its fine. Not too heavy (Obv depends on the components you have on!)
I love mine, its a really good all rounder, done everything from riding to work to Morzine last year and it handles everything.
Hope this helps

It will certainly ‘do it all’ as the bike is virtually bombproof and the 160mm of travel will see you you safe in all but the most serious of DH tracks in this country….however is it the most appropriate bike for the riding you’ll actually do?

You alluded to XC type rides with some trail centre use, perhaps the Mega TR with slightly less weight and travel would be better?…still a strong enough bike for the odd uplift day if required but much better for what you’re planning.

Also look at the Vitus Escarpe on CRCs website, that has 135mm of rear travel with a 150mm fork and comes in under 30lb, ideal for what you seem to be describing.

Basically I’d be looking at 140mm trail bikes (Stumpjumper, Trance, Remedy etc) and then the new breed of mismatched travel bikes (Escarpe, Mega TR etc) before buying a Mega AM which is essentially a mini-DH bike that weighs over 30lb and may end up being a bit of a slog.

Dirt magazine wrote an excellent piece in their Dirt-100 issue where they said: buy a bike for the riding you do as opposed to the riding you think you do!

We all think we shred in a foot out Sam Hill style but very few of us do!….most of us mince around the local woods (myself included) and only ever go somewhere truly challenging once in a blue moon. Do you want to be lumbered with a heavy, wallowing 160mm bike for the rare occasion you might go to BPW but moan and curse its weight and angles each weekend on your more usual local routes?!

Just about everything these days come with descent friendly angles anyway so don’t get hung up on ‘needing’ 160mm if travel, for most people the shorter travel TR version will be just as quick going downhill.

Deviant – great points! I only bought mine as it was on sale at CRC! Haven’t regretted it though, I agree about buying the bike for the riding you do. Does anyone really need 160mm in the UK? But an awful lot of 160mm bikes are out on the trails.

What are these like for a do it all bike? Got chance of one but thinking it might be too heavy for general xc and occasional trips to trail centres,

I have been round a couple of Welsh trail centres with a guy on a new Mega AM who thought exactly this.

He might pop up to add more personal experience.

Got chance of one but thinking it might be too heavy for general xc and occasional trips to trail centres,

Your thinking is right. By a hardtail or a short travel full sus like a Giant Anthem

True, it’s partly fashion and partly a case of if you have one bike you want it to be able to do everything including the Alps trip, the local loop with mates, the uplift day etc….the safe bet is therefore to get too much bike and ride around the shortcomings in other situations.

I love bikes like the Reign, the Mega AM, the Commencal V4 etc but it makes me smile when someone tries to pass them off as good all rounders. It’s like saying that because you could tip toe your way down the Fort Bill WC DH track on a sub 20lb XC machine that said bike is now able to double up as a DH rig, just because something is possible doesn’t make it a good idea.

The other cliche often repeated on here is: my 160mm bike climbs better than my 120mm bike of 5 years ago.

….well yes it would, there has been 5 years of suspension improvements gone into your new bike for a start!

Now compare pedalling efficiency and climbing ability on a bang up to date 120mm trail bike and a 160mm Enduro/AM bike….the bike designed for the job in hand will usually be better at it!….the longer travel bike will descend better and the shorter travel bike will pedal better, if this wasn’t the case people would be riding XC World Cups on Nukeproof Mega AMs and they’re not….for obvious reasons!….it doesn’t stop people arguing that black is white when defending the climbing prowess of their new long travel bike however.

I’d go Mega TR for the riding described by the OP.
If the OP is going to spend every other weekend on an uplift day then go bigger and get the AM version.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/nukeproof-mega-am-275-review-2014.html

I would like to add the more travel does not make it better on every type of DH.

For example on all the “DH” tracks near me, my camber is definitely better than my kona entourage in every way, more fun, faster and more efficient. Even at BPW i was gutted i didn’t get my camber out for the blues and reds, my friend was on his, so much faster and more fun, picked up speed with little or no effort, me and my friends on big bike could not touch them, we were ruined attempting to catch up, plus it was rubbish being glued to the ground. But then when i got on the blacks, rootier, lumpier stuff in the trees, the kona would have definitely been better.

XC and a bit of trail centre, a mega AM is not getting any advantage at all on the DHs, giving you masses of disadvantage along and up, so what would be the point?

OP, i’d be looking at shorter travel, maybe even a fun 29er (i’m biased because that’s what i now have, my trail bikes have progressively got shorter and shorter travel and getting better and better at what they’re actually for, started with 160mm then 130mm now at 120mm).

Depends what you call XC….

Having 2 bikes a 160f/140r Trail/Enduro/AM machine and a 100mm XC bike both have overlaps, for a do it all it would be somewhere in the middle (raced 4 day XC on the big bike so far and knocked out some good descending times on the XC bike)

I love mine but only in certain circumstances I.e steep and rough etc and great for uplifts. if it was my only bike it would drive me nuts as they are heavy and not as much fun as shorter travel bikes are.

Using BPW as an example I found that I’d rather be on something with less travel

I took a HT to BPW last week and loved the Blue runs but found myself wanting rear suspension on the Reds where the trail builders see fit to just dump massive slabs of straight edged rock all along the trail!….where were the natural rooty chutes and steep off camber traverses that normally appear in red runs?….it ended up being quite unpleasant in the end and put me off trying the Blacks.

Must get my FS built up but the imminent arrival of Shimanos XT 11 Speed groupo has meant yet another delay until that gets released!

I’d agree with the sentiments in this post- go for a moderately slack, short-mid travel trail bike. It’ll be more playful, spritely and engaging in most situations while still handling reds at BPW no problem at all.

Think Cube Stereo 140, Santa Cruz 5010, whyte t130, transition scout.

Thanks for all the input fellas, My original plan was to upgrade my 140 stump jumper fsr to a canyon spectral 7.0ex or similar which would probably suit my needs better however a mate of mine has offered me a good deal on his Nukeproof mega am in return for some work that is needing done on his house before he can put it on the market, long story!
I will ponder over this and try it out over the next few days I think riding one will make the decision easier

Depends if you want to start hitting bigger stuff, slacker longer travel bikes inspire more confidence and give you more margin for error – basically they are safer to ride faster on big terrain.

They also give you less upper body fatigue on long descents.

You definitely need to be honest abouy what you really ride – I fell into the trap when I bought my Rune. At the time I was doing a few uplift days plus sessions at local DH spots so it kind of made sense to lug 160mm bike everywhere. It’s not that much of a chore but these kind of bikes are hugely capable…it’s better than most of my old DH bikes and I’ll never push it anywhere near it’s limits.

Since I bought the Rune I built up a small jump / play bike hardtail which morphed into a slightly bigger play hardtail so I coud ride it properly. This has since morphed into a hardtail that fits me properly and gets ridden all the time. Since the end of last summer the Rune has been used three times! I do enjoy riding it when I do ride it but I always seem to grab the hardtail first.

I desperately wanted a Transition Patrol, but because I can’t get one (I’m a dealer BTW) I got the Scout.

And I am really glad I did.
I would probably still want the Patrol too, but the Scout does everything I need from it, and realy frikin well.

Currently using it on all the DH runs in the local woods.

I’ve got a 26″ mega tr which I’ve been riding for almost 2 years. I mainly ride xc and welsh tail centres but I’ve used it for uplifts and a week in Morzine. Mine’s set up with 150mm pikes and a monarch plus debonair and it’s enough bike for anything I can throw at it. If your looking for something fun to ride, reasonably light, chuckable and cheap I wouldn’t look any further than a mega tr. I’ve also ridden a mega am which is more suited to lots of uplifts and occasional xc and trail centres, but if that’s what you’re after the Capra is a much better bike.

There’s always comments like “this is all you need for UK trails”, but the fact is trails in our country are often just as rough/fast as anything anywhere in the world.

I agree with above, for your riding look at a 140 bike.

Your thinking is right. By a hardtail or a short travel full sus like a Giant Anthem

I’d agree with this, though it really depends on what and how you like to ride I guess. I’d say the same about the Spesh Enduro but a mate of mine loves his and rides it everywhere.

I have the original Mega and it’s a great bike, though only really comes out for proper mountains (like trips to the Alps.) Majority of stuff I get to ride in the UK it’s just too much bike. But then I like to go fast on the pedally bit too and much prefer a mid travel HT for UK trails.

Got a 19″ reign frame for sale. 150mm front and rear, and very light for what it is. Climbs well even without propedal on. Would be a perfect bike if it fitted me. Doh.

i have 3 megas, am 26, am 275, tr 275
ive always ridden 26 ers, but went along with bigger wheel wave. so i bought a 29er, (now sold), i bought 2 x mega 650bs ( now selling in the classifieds).
for the riding i do the mega 26 inch is perfect, i go twice a week singletrack and once or twice a week i go to a place in herts.
nearly all of my mates are on long travel bikes, most of us on 170 marzocchis. my am climbs well, and descends well and never feels too heavy too me.
i had an ibis mojo previously and enjoy the mega 26 at least as much.
2 weeks ago i went to bpw with a mega am 26″ and a mega am 275.
i was awesome on the 26 in the morning, and i found the swap to the 275 in the afternoon disastrous, i just couldnt ride it, and i was much quicker and coinfident on the 26 than the 650b.
im not good enough to generally be able to tell the difference from one bike to another, but i knew from the first corner that i was better and preferred the 26er. i think better riders than me might be able to handle the bigger bike better than me and have a different opinion.
bottom line for me and the riding i do is that mega am 26 is an ideal do it all bike

My feeling is that the current crop of 160mm bikes are faster than anything else when pointing down on most trails in the UK. Sure, dedicated DH bikes will be faster on the roughest DH tracks, and on smoother trails a shorter travel bike might be more fun. BUT I don’t think they win any pedal-ability battles against something like my (160mm, 29lbs) Canyon Strive. Obviously, a shorter travel bike is probably a bit easier to pedal to the top of the hill, but coming down I don’t think there is an advantage these days.

That said, for most people, it could be arguably more fun to ride a short travel bike. It’s zippier and it makes you work a little bit harder. I had loads of fun riding a 130mm bike (Yeti ASR-5) for several years.

I bought the Strive because I didn’t want to have an excuse to avoid riding the most difficult stuff / drops etc, and where I live (Dark Peak) a lot of the riding is very rough and I can make use of more travel. I’m reasonably fit and can certainly keep up with everyone I ride with on the climbs so the weight isn’t really a penalty for me. I’m well aware that the overall fastest / most comfortable / best “all day” bike would be something with less travel, and I suspect the next bike I buy might be short travel again. But it’s good to mix things up so I don’t think there’s a right answer. Bikes are fun.

Done a few runs down Some of the yair forest enduro sections on my 2011 stump jumper 140 last week then had a run on a mates Nuke-proof for the last run, thought it was very good. even though it was an xl frame and my current bike is a medium, Certainly thinking of Nukeproof now

Go for a Mega Tr, great all rounder bike!

I had a 26in AM for a year or so. Built to about 32lbs. Used it for riding locally (FoD/Yat), a few trail centres (Blade+Whytes in a day so twice up the whytes climb), BPW and a week in Les Gets. It was great for all those places. Definitely was happy to have the burly version in the alps with my cack handed attempts at the bigger drops. Still fun where a smaller bike would probably have been more appropriate as well.

Only sold it as I had my head turned by an Aeris. Bought on a whim really as CRC were knocking them out very cheaply. May have changed now but the AM’s had longer top tubes than the TRs.