It has been absolutely wonderful having the benefit of a trail-centre focussed Yeti SB-66 and a 20lbs 650b Cannondale Scalpel Carbon for the cross country stuff, but the sad reality is that I’m just not getting enough (okay… any) use out of them. Having the price of a new car tied up in both is just silly, so a decision was made to sell both and replace with just one bike… a bike that could take on the Alps, Welsh trail centres or a bit of xc fun & games (although not serious lycra-whippet xc).

The Scalpel is still awaiting a new owner, but the Yeti left this afternoon. I have a trips to the Alps planned for the end of the month, so the hunt was on for a replacement.

Originally I fancied a Canyon Spectral, but I’m not going to get one of those any time soon and I’m slightly concerned about the sizing. The YT Capra was next of the list, but again, no chance of getting one any time soon. I then stumbled across the Radon which is available and seems to tick all the boxes.

I have now just clicked the ‘buy button’ on a 20″ Radon Slide 160 8.0SE.

for almost bang on £2,800 to my door I get:-

full carbon frame
650b
Pikes
Reverb stealth
1×11 Sram groupset
top-end DT Swiss wheels
top-end Schwalbe rubber
Raceface finishing kit

The geometry also compares well with my size large SB-66 which fitted me like a glove.

I’m quite looking forward to it. The bike should be with me next week, so I will post up pics when it is here.

Very nice, lovely looking and great spec for the price. I hovered over the exact same bike for good while and nearly bought, it was only a slight concern over their warranties and servicing that lead me to wait and see what the 2015 spectral may be like.

Before I saw the Spectral they unveiled the Strive CF and I jumped in and ordered hours after release and before any reviews. Now a few weeks later im convinced that it looks and sounds the business, the geo and fit should be good. Hoping the reality matches up in September when it arrives.

my hand was forced somewhat by the fact that my alps trip is only 3 weeks away. I don’t get to ride very often (managed 2 day trips to Afan so far this year), so having a bike for the end of the month was absolutely crucial.

I’m not fantastically worried about the warranty thing. it’s a carbon frame and having totted up the spec list, if I did my usual thing of building from scratch using cherry-picked parts from the cheapest online suppliers, the frameset works out at around £350.00. £350.00 for a full carbon 650b 160mm trail frame complete with shock and with a 2yr warranty is fine with me.

I nearly bought the Raidon slide 170 last year,i was put of by the No UK customer service,plus having not seen any in the flesh,Still wish i had bought one as they are lovely well kitted out bikes,But ended up on My Giant Reign 2 and its been great,

Saw one at a race a few weeks ago. Looked lovely and much more interesting than the old Radons. They got a good review in one of the German mags too; came out best of the usual carbon-y, enduro-y suspects.

Got mine delivered a couple of months back. Went exactly the same route as yourself with a Canyon Spectral on order but twitchy over sizing, so I cancelled and ordered the Slide in a Large (20″).
Bike is fantastic, very happy with it and a bargain, bars are ridiculously wide at 800mm and I’ve cut mine down to 740mm.
I’m around 5’10” with a 33″ inseam and find the fit perfect fir me, it comes up very similar in reach to a large Heckler. The only minor worry for me was the reverb, as it’s a 150mm the reverb only sits about 3/4″ above the collar and the fact the large is really 19″(!) would mean a true 20″ would be too tall for me!

Fantastic kit for that price, but only 2 years warranty on the carbon frame would put me off.

Fantastic kit for that price, but only 2 years warranty on the carbon frame would put me off.

I was also looking at this bike until I heard about the 2 year warranty

PF bottom bracket too…

I’d rather have 2 bikes, than sell them to fund one.