One of the "perils" of having n+1 bikes is that you sometimes neglect to ride one of them for quite a while… such has been the case with my ASR-sl, basically it's been 'relegated' to be my wife's bike, replaced by my Enduro SL as my ride of first call. And I've loved the Enduro, coming from the ASR I revelled in the seemingly bottomless travel and the stiffness of the carbon frame and E150 fork, it's a real hoot of a bike.

What I didn't appreciate was that it is a little bit of a chore to get up to speed, fine once it gets there, but definitely a bit of work to do so… tonight due to strange circumstances I found myself on the ASR for the first time in at least a year, and **** me if it isn't quick! Soooo snappy of the line and up to speed in a flash, no bob, no fuss just boom… your up to 30km/hr in about 5 seconds! The difference in speed is chalk and cheese, which I guess is to be expected (4" XC racer vs 6" enduro type beast) 😆

The difference comes when it's time to bomb down stairs or jump of a ledge (I ride mostly in London, you've gotta make it as interesting as you can! 8) ) Then the ASR struggles, bottoming out all to easily under my 95kg… whereas the Enduro just eats it up and asks 'is that all? you chicken shite…'

So, I think I know what I want in my next bike… I want a full-sus that's as quick and direct as the ASR, but as capable as the Enduro SL on the descents… And if it can climb to boot (though to be fair I'm more a 'winch myself to the top' kind of rider!) then that'll be a bonus 😆

So… what fits the bill chaps? I'm thinking more and more the Ibis Mojo, in any 3 of it's variants (classic carbon, SL or HD)… but open to suggestions 🙂

new asr5?

I love my mojo sl – it replaced a five AM and a chameleon. I'm not missing either.

interesting… I may be replacing an Enduro & the Sub Zero, so a similar situation. And you say you don't miss the hardtail?

Any chance of a pic of your mojo? 🙂

The ASR5 looks very nice, especially in carbon 8) But I wonder if it isn't sitting a little too much on the XC side of my balance point… at a guess I'd say I want a bike that's 60% 'all mountain'/40% XC, something like that?

Hey psychle did you get my email yesterday?

yep, thanks mate. good points made 🙂 IIRC you went with a Mojo SL in the end right? If the HD had been available, would you have chosen that to have the extra 'reserve' travel? It's only 1/2 a pound heavier which seems a small penalty?

I went for a normal Mojo. No need for me to have the SL.

Would not have chosen the HD. My other 'long travel but don't need it' candidate was the ASR7 rather than the HD.

But I don't like any of the colours in the normal Mojo 😆

Would you say the Mojo fits my bill of an ASR crossed with an Enduro SL? That is, snappy and stiff to accelerate and keep at speed, but completely capable of jumping off things (not huge things!) and bombing down the steep bits?

What about an orange blood, short travel rear for pedaling, and bigger forks for hooning? Built lightish could it be the answer?

or try some bigger forks on the yeti.

it's the rear travel on the Yeti that's not enough for me, it's 'only' 3.75" and I find myself always blowing through it… if I bump up the PSI to help stop this then it's way too stiff for 'normal' trail stuff.

Maverick ML8.sorry but I looked at the canfields, great price but was not sure on the sizing had a yeti asr sl never really liked it, not over impressed with its climbing nor descending especially as it weighed 24/25lbs, and I am hoping to get my ml8 into the 28/29lb range with nothing too silly or expensive. Suspension wise the ML8 is the best climbing bike i have owned it will literally winch its way to the top of any climb, all its energy seems to go forward, downhill great for me solid stable and supple but I am not a downhiller in fact incompedent is the best description but i try. Cannot comment on the mojo but they look fab yet seem expensive.
Mavs are unloved and fugly to some for me it does the job, dirt described it as a fantastic forest bike, bargin price at the moment.

change the ramp up in the shock, add some grease into the air chamber to reduce the air volume and give you a faster rising rate. Trial and error though, but the grease wont do anyharm in there..

How about lose some weight from the Enduro?

Its 6" forks are as light as any other 5-6" fork, and I can imagine you could spend half the cost of an Ibis Mojo frame and lose a decent bit of weight off the Enduro.

DAK what an Mojo frame/shock weighs vs your Enduro frame/shock?

the Enduro is pretty light now (I've added a Traversee wheelset + Formula The One brakes), don't know what it actually weighs though… could drop a little more weight by switching to tubeless (keep meaning to, just been lazy!) and losing the E13 DRS guide/bashguard for something lighter, plus a lighter set of cranks I guess. Maybe a kilo or so of weight?

There's nothing really wrong with the Enduro in all honesty… it's quick enough (for what it is, it's actually very quick!) and certainly capable going downhill, I think I may just have a terminal case of upgrade-ite-ous!

Basically you think you want something in between your 4in bike and your 6in bike?

There's plenty of good 5in bikes out there, go and try a few out and you'll probably answer a lot more questions than you will by posting on here, I reckon.

You wont make an Enduro as fast a short travel XC bike, and you wont make a short travel XC bike as good at downs as an Enduro.

Basically you think you want something in between your 4in bike and your 6in bike?

5"? 😆 Not quite as literal as that (perhaps), I'm wondering if there's a 6" (or more) frame out there that can be as fast as the ASR (or at least feel as fast!) and as capable as the Enduro…

You wont make an Enduro as fast a short travel XC bike, and you wont make a short travel XC bike as good at downs as an Enduro.

I'm not so sure… these new generation bikes (Mojo SL, Yeti ASR5 etc) seem to be offering this?

There will always be some kind of compromise, that said ive thought of another that might fit the bill.

Cube Fritz?, really light 6 inch travel and my mates pedal phenomenally well, but I don't know what its like on the downs..

BUT

My first choice would be a test ride on an Orange Blood… Long travel front, shortish travel rear, I really think your answer lies in not tieing up the back end with huge travel.

http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/2010/blood/

ps, in 04 I put 5 inch forks on a 4 inch travel Stumpjumper, it was brilliant, was still an XC bike, but with the slightly increase in fork travel and the bit of change in head angle it rocked at trailcentre type stuff.. I bought an 05 Stumpjumper after that with 5" at both ends and it was still good, but just a slightly gangly XC bike, I rekon the 04 would have been faster up & down..

575? Maybe not quite as capable downwards as the Enduro, but there's got to be a compromise somewhere if you want the climbing ability. Which the 575 has in droves.

Mojo/Mojo SL/Yeti ASR5 YES
Blood No.

Reasoning as per your email Mark? does the Blood not fit into the same category (kind of)?

If you were to ride a Blood you would realise it's quite far from these other bikes.

Reasoning as per my email aye.

psychle, Bromley Bikes are doing a test day in April with bikes from Orange, Specialized, Yeti and Santa Cruz

Bike Demo

For god sake don't buy a Blood without trying one first.

It's great fun but a play bike really, probably slacker and slower than an Enduro.

I have an enduro and I know what you mean, I think it's just because it's such a loooong bike. It's really stable but it doesn't seem to carry the same sort of speed through singletrack as a 140mm trail bike and there are loads of them to choose from if that's what you're after. Personally, if it were me, it'd be a Heckler. I found it unbelievably quick and capable with a pike on the front

Y'know it is possible to have a slack bike that rides well DH and still accelerates quickly on the flat.

do you run fat soft compound tyres on the enduro by any chance?