just sold the Flux.

the original plan was to spend just under £1k on something like a second hand Trek Fuel and pocket the difference.

annoyingly, my personality doesn’t work like that, so i’ve been snooping around the following

Yeti ASR5 Carbon
Ibis Mojo
Turner 5-Spot
Intense Tracer

I would like a bit more travel than the Flux (120-140mm) but not too much extra weight. The Tracer is quite heavy and I am worried about the frame cracking stories, but there is a good deal on one over at Pinkbike.

Basically, i want to spend sub £2k if I am going to go down the expensive route.

What say the singletrackworld massif?

What’s it for ?

http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2560

Did you like the Flux? and want more travel? 5-spot it is!

p.s. I’m smitten with the way my Flux handles, climbs and descends. If I want to go bigger (and therefore would need more talent) I’d definitely have a 5-spot.

turner hands down

Well an ASR5 ain’t that much more travel – 127mm on the back end. That said, I love mine, it’s bl00dy good fun, even running “only” a 120mm fork.

If you want a turner, why not just buy a giant for less money?

Yeti!!!!!!

or dare I say Mojo as it’s kind of Yeti Money

i sold the flux because i liked the idea of taking circa £1k out of my biking collection whilst they were still worth something… the problem is that i now have a chunk of cash and a weakness of sexy bikes.

a giant is of course a choice but in these parts eveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeryone has one. I even have an Anthem X2 living in my bike house (belonging to my lodger)

Add a Reign to the list.

Amazing bike, light as, and not that expensive. Handles like an Anthem, but doesn’t batter you around as much.

It’s not as exclusive as the other brands, but I’ve only ever seen two out on trails – and one of them was in the middle of the Cairngorms!

Plus… you’re a numpty, you know you’ll get in trouble with the missus now 🙂

I usually choose value and performance over exclusivity, but then I’m poor so.

Have you riden any of them yet?

Surely tracer 2 as everyone should own a intense sometime in their biking lifetime.

Have you riden any of them yet?

of course not… never test ridden a bike in my life and loved every single one i’ve bought… lol

Intense Carbine !

Just been dribbling over a matt black yeti

Might have to sell a kidney
😯

Save money by buying the Alu asr-5. Unless your a die hard weight weenie, the carbon frame isn’t worth it.

There you go, a superb frame, and I’ve saved you money, what more could you want?

I raise you, Introducing THE Carbine SL available from your local retailer.

The Tracer should be fine if it’s after late 2009. Anything after this had a revised rear triangle as I recall. I’m pretty sure none of the ones with ISGC mounts had problems but you could check on somewhere like mtbr.

As kryton knows however , it does rather depend where you ride. Tracer loves big rocks and descents where the travel can be used and can be less than inspiring on smoother more flowy stuff …IMO of course!

I love my Trek bike, would touch any other brand if I had the choice!

Sb-66.

If you are spending that much try em. Oh + what Kryton said.

Surely it depends on personal preference/riding style/riding you actually do, then select the most appropriate product?

What people say is “good” on a forum isn’t exactly the most informed choice, is it 😐

What do you want from the bike?

What’s the reason for wanting more travel?

Am i being too sensible?

+1 SB66

+1 what deanfbm says.
After test riding many fs bikes over a period of time and saving up for what I thought I wanted/liked I ended up with something totally unfashionable, a Kona Dawg. Glad I did not get the Rocky Mountain I really wanted, turned out the frames were made of cheese!
I have tried the odd Yeti and have friends who ride them. I disliked it for 2 reasons 1) low bb 2)cables running under bb which are prone to rock strikes. 1 mate ended up hiking back to his car after a rock ripped cables off!

Current wish list includes Cannondale Jekyll and the Remedy

If you want a turner, why not just buy a giant for less money?

and less performance – the combination of the bushings, dw-link and the stiffness of the frames just make the suspension work a fair bit better on the turner – based on my testing of a trance-x and a 5-spot back-to-back.

Add the transition covert.
I have a 5 spot and 2 of my riding buddies have a Tracer 2 and a Covert. Obviously I prefer my 5 spot but I’d take the covert over the tracer any time. I was very surprised at how well it climbs! Great bike.

Cotic Rocket??????

I have a 5yr old Reign and test rode a Covert. Liked it very much does everything well and is capable of way more big stuff than I am. The Reign is a good bike but the Covert was better.

I am just curious about your budget, you mean 2k for frame only as you’ve kept the rest of the components ?

and less performance – the combination of the bushings, dw-link and the stiffness of the frames just make the suspension work a fair bit better on the turner – based on my testing of a trance-x and a 5-spot back-to-back

Maestro is dw link (according to dave weagle), so your argument comes down to the fact that it has a slightly stiffer frame, but is heavier.

And a lot more expensive. And I’d imagine that the new giants would have closed the gap a lot, though 2010 and before would not be as stiff.

I mean, sure; hate them for stealing a design, but people still buy treks over devincis for the same reason.

£2K would get you a covert frame and some nice new forks or a riding holiday!

I mean, sure; hate them for stealing a design

not hating them for stealing a design (although that is a good reason…)

but the fact was that, on the two bikes I tested on the same terrain within 40 minutes of each other, the giants suspension didn’t work as well, the turner just sucked up all the rough terrain and kept its line whereas the giant bounced around more.

The difference in frame cost was maybe 50%, but it was obviously worth it from how it worked.

Surely if you’re looking in that travel range you should be after the 575 rather than the ASR5 ?

RopeyReignRider – Member
As kryton knows however , it does rather depend where you ride. Tracer loves big rocks and descents where the travel can be used and can be less than inspiring on smoother more flowy stuff …IMO of course!

Explaining this would be a long story but suffice it to say I did have a Tracer, and now have an ASR-5. I so wanted to love the Tracer and tried everything to get it to my taste but couldn’t.

It’d be a classic tale of “test it first” as others have said – otherwise it could be an expensive mistake.

FWIW after that experience I spent 2 months riding 8 different 120mm bikes to get to my decision – I wasn’t even considering the ASR-5 as it was out of my price range. I tested it anyway, loved it and whilst sitting talking about the test bike over a bacon roll, someone showed me a websiste on an iphone with an ex-demo in my size. I secured it on the ‘net by C Card 2 hours later. 😀

the giants suspension didn’t work as well, the turner just sucked up all the rough terrain and kept its line whereas the giant bounced around more.

I was ready to concur, but irrelevant of the realities of the difference in suspension, that honestly does just sound like the giant was set up badly.

that honestly does just sound like the giant was set up badly.

whatever – both set up by the same shop by the same person on the same day – who wanted to sell me one of the bikes and owned a giant themselves.

Based on owning a Flux and having ridden my mates Anthem, I would say that the solidity of the bushing system had a fair amount to do with it.

Giant or Trek for me!

right… well having missed out on the yeti asr5 carbon on fleabay last night (2010 bike with stupidly high spec which went for £2,150.00 in the end), i have just agreed a deal on a 2011 Turner 5-spot build.

as soon as it’s paid for and enroute to me, i will post up more details, but i’m pretty chuffed with the deal and the spec.

looks like i will be staying in the turner family after all!

looks like i will be staying in the turner family after all!

Good choice. The 5 spot likes a coil though.