I’m selling my trusty rockhopper and fancy building something a bit more burley. I can’t make my mind up between these two

Privee shan – better looking and 66 HA

Pig X – cheaper , slightly lighter

Will be used for general trail riding not quite sure on the full build kit yet but will probably be 150mm fork and 2x 10.

Any thoughts or experience of either would be appreciated.

Will be used for general trail riding

hmm, neither of those bikes will be much fun unless youre thrashing them. slack headangles dont work at slow speeds.

if your general trail riding is going to be thrashing them then im going to reccomened which one i’d want which is the blue pig x 😀 . ive got the standard bp and everything i want different about it has been addressed with the bpx (wider BB, bigger seat tube, bigger headtube, better steel) .

i dunno if im teaching you to suck eggs, but if youre going to be doing more xc (rather than all mountain) type stuff then youre buying the wrong type of bike.

The rockhopper is my second bike, I also got a stumpy evo 😀 and want to build up a HT that rides more like the evo .

I built the rockhopper up as a winter bike but have been surprised at how much I’m liking it. I feel that I’m riding it to hard and either it or me are going to break.

I like going down rather than up and the stuff I ride around here is plenty rough enough (peaks) Its not the Alps though and its still got to get me up to the fun stuff. I only ever ride 25 -30 max so an xc bike is not needed. I just want a doit all ht I can have some fun on.

I do like the pig x , its just that that shan is jaw dropping nice.

float – Member

hmm, neither of those bikes will be much fun unless youre thrashing them. slack headangles dont work at slow speeds.

Don’t agree at all tbh, my Ragley’s great when thrashed but it’s just as happy bimbling- it’s my allrounder.

my Ragley’s great when thrashed but it’s just as happy bimbling- it’s my allrounder.

That’s what my heads telling me , its just my heart is…..

oh and it will be thrashed 🙂

fyi..zulu bikes are uk bssed and have privee shans in stock. i really want one.

It looks ok but what is that gaping hole in the head tube about? That really is one dumb place to let water in!

FWIW I was also contemplating the Pig X after reading all the reviews,it seemed to tick all the boxes….apart Rom chainstay length. I wanted a flicky, easy to manual, trail bike ( hardcore ish ). Because of the chainstay length then started to look at the Stanton Slackline….short chainstay but head angle to steep…decision falls then to NS Surge, adjustable c-stays, low bb, steel, slack, works with different length forks,…or the Shan whichticks all the boxes but its built sspecifically with gravity enduro in mind..ie built for 160mm forks. Check the bb on the Shan as if I remember correctly it has a wierd bb sizing so check compatible cranks and the cost of them. Best looking bike out there atm imo. I just can’t afford one though hence I’ll be going for the Surge.

Price and press fit BB on the Shan may be considerations.

Shan looks nicer

Price and press fit BB on the Shan may be considerations.

And the weird headtube standard.

I sold my Pig X last year to fund a new 29er full suss but I would have another one tomorrow if I could. All the angles are pretty much spot on for this type of bike so it descends, climbs and deals with singletrack fantastically well. The Pig X is a great all-rounder but it’s in its element when the going gets steep and techy.

I used copter tape over the Shan headtube holes. Happily takes a 150mm fork too. (oh and XT cranks fit fine ‘n all).

I use my blue pig for general trail riding. I have a new stumpy, but just love to ride the BP 🙂 if I’m out for a whole day ride , or something really mountainous I rude the stumpy. But for 9 out if 10 of my rides, I use the BP. A typical ride on it is a 2 hr dh biased trail ride around my local trails, which are Bringewood / mortimers forest in Ludlow.

+1 for the NS Surge

great bike, just feels right

Thanks for the replies .

Well I’ve only gone and done it. Just bought the Shan in orange and black on looks alone. I’m guessing/hoping that they both ride in pretty simular fashion.

The last time I bought a bike without seeing or trying I ended up with a whyte 146 and that turned out to be a reet disaster so fingers crossed alls good this time.

Bb shouldn’t be a problem, apparently according to lbs most Giants have the same.

Its going to take a while to build up as the budget has been blown out of the water. I’ll post up some pics when it finished.

Good job gb1m! Nothing like an impulse bike purchase. I doubt you’re going to be disappointed. I saw one in the flesh the other days and looked like it was going full tilt just standing in the shop.

Nice to see someone actually getting one rather than just drooling over it. Looking forward to the pics!

I admire your boldness sir.
Fortune favours the brave!

What are you doing about the headset?

I got it from diverse distribution ,Uk distributor and they threw in a headset & BB for a very small cost.

They seem very nice chaps to deal with .

Blue pig would be great. Don’t know much about the Shan. For general trail stuff I’d recommend a 130-120 fork, don’t go mad and stick on a 160. If you must go 150 get one you can adjust down. It really does ride a lot better with a shorter fork, at least I prefer it that way.

Edit: my ragley is my all rounder too.

Heh, I did similar. Was all set for a C456 then blew the budget after reviewing photos of the two. While in the pub. Sigh…

Anyway, first ride on it today, took a while to get built since I’ve had the frame since early Jan. Very happy indeed, no regrets so far! Got the BB92 from Enduro Fork Seals in the states by the way. I hear good things about reliability.

Well I’ve only gone and done it. Just bought the Shan in orange and black on looks alone. I’m guessing/hoping that they both ride in pretty simular fashion.

Blimey, missed that, from posting a which bike question to buying one in 19 hours, that must be some sort of STW record! Don’t you know you have to agonise about such purchases for months?

Milko yours is the bike I was referring to above. I saw it in Pedal & Spoke. Very nice indeed. I confess I sat on it and I might have made a small sex wee whilst doing so.

Sorry.

That photos given me an itch. Review please.
The wife is going to be threaders.

is that a large milko?

hahaha, Fergus did say one of their customers had been very excited to see it, must’ve been you geetee! Fortunately I replaced the saddle before riding (wrong colour before) so your sex wee has done no harm.

Can only review based on 10km or so around Holmbury Hill for now, and feeling pretty ropey while I did it too – I actually considered not riding at all, briefly! But: it wants to go quick, maybe because I’ve only really ridden an SB66 on Fox 36 and Crossmax SXs for a year or so and this is a hardtail of course, but it really accelerates like a rocket. It also has all the requisite hooligan tendencies of being happy to flick about and off everything in sight. I dunno if this is silly but just the fact that it looks so fast makes me want to ride it fast, which helps. I didn’t find climbing difficult and it was certainly more than capable of dealing with Yog Pots/Telegraph/BKB at high speed (but most bikes are!).

Hard to draw many more conclusions yet – it’s lighter and simpler than my other bike but obviously heavier than a C456 would have been, so my “super light and flickable” isn’t everyones.

Oh there was a headset question from wrecker earlier – I got one ‘free’ with it from Production Privee. Since then I think Zulu Bikes have got UK distribution and I’m not sure they were doing the same deal, but PP certainly do make one for it. Looks nice, obv.

It’s an L frame yup.

Nice Milko nice

Don’t you know you have to agonise about such purchases for months?

Oh I did , many a night I’ve been searching forums for idea’s and inspiration (one thread had 140 odd pages 😯 )

Got it down to these two but just couldn’t decide. Made it worse as there was a pig x here in the classified’s, new and unused for £250.

But hey you only live once.