Fancy a bit of a change something with a bit more travel. Think of changing frame to an alloy Bronson and selling the 5010 frame or for a couple of hundred quid more I can buy a 2017 trek remedy 7 bike and keep the 5010 too.has anyone got any experience of how these bikes compare to each other I’ll mostly be riding hamsterley with the odd glentress or whinlatter trip.

The Bronson wasnt a good bike for me when I tried it. It wasn’t great going uphill and wasn’t great going downhill. Just average at both. I ended up with a nomad which I found a world apart when descending and for me a better climber than the bronson.

I’ve had both a carbon 5010 (the one before this one) and a mk1 carbon bronson. The bronson is fairly different from the 5010 and for me is still a great bike for descending. My OH has the current nomad and he often feels it’s too much bike except for Inners and the golfie.

I’ve just bought a trek slash, got it last week, loads of fun for such a big bike. I’ve heard the remedy is also excellent.

No idea about Santa Cruz, but mare just got a carbon Remedy with midsized wheels and is flying up and down. It seems really well put together.

Love the 5010 it’s a great bike just fancy trying to push myself next year and try some harder more tech trails and maybe the odd jump or drop off. Borrowed a mates zesty and the extra travel felt good I could probably do everything I wanted to do on the 5010 but think the extra travel might give me a bit more confidence on the rougher stuff

Bronson may be a good shout, nomad is a big bike that charges well. Loses some agility though which you may miss. Feel free to drop me an email, I’ve ridden a few of your contenders and could give you some of my opinions for what they’re worth!

Think the nomad would be too much bike for what I need don’t really fancy anything more than 150 mm travel. leaning toward the trek mainly because it seems better value for money I’d get a whole bike with a dropper post (which I don’t have now) for not much more than the Bronson frame only.

Nomad is a bike that liked to be ridden hard from my demo experience, it wasn’t the same until it was challenged. Mate has a Bronson and loves it – the ego says Nomad but unless you have epic as your regular rides the Bronson is the right choice.

I’m riding a 2017 Remedy 9.8, coming from a Norco Range.

I’d bought the remedy in the hopes it’d be a little bit more dainty and easier on the climbs. It’s definitely geared more towards the descents than past generation remedys.

It climbs fine when you get the lockout or trail mode working for you. But it’s a very capable 150mm bike. Reminds me of the old slash.

I rode an Sb5.5c and that was a bit of an eye opener in quite how well a 150mm bike can pedal. It was awesome. Is that on the cards?

I mirror exactly what Andy said. I had the mk1 Bronson and it was a mint bike. Fast, great climber and went down very well. I then demo’d and mk2 and hated it. I really wanted to love it as I was in a buying position but alas it was a non starter for me. My friend persuaded me to demo the Nomad straight after the Bronsons which I reluctantly did. That bugger blew me away. It rode like a slightly safer mk1 Bronson and climbed better?? Very odd. Anyway, from that I bought a new Nomad CC and have never looked back. I thought it was way too much bike when researching but having owned it since February I can honestly say there’s nothing I’d swap it for. Absolutely awesome. I’m around Chesterfield if you fancy a blast on a medium pal.

Climbing is definitely a factor don’t want the climbs to be a slog and not enjoy them. Never thought of the nomad always thought it was way too much bike for me but I’ll check them out.

For the type of riding I do, I find the (Mk2) Bronson a very good compromise. It does everything well. It’s happy enough on a pootle, a trail centre ride and an uplift day. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Mk1 though.
I tried a Nomad and whilst ideal for places like BPW and big trails, it was far too much for the average trail centre ride in the same my Reign advanced was. Just sucked the fun out of it for me. If I were racing enduro or DH-ing week-in week-out, I’d have gone Nomad.
There is no right or wrong though, just preference. If you want a cabby on my Bronson, you’d be welcome to. I’m in the Brizzle area.

Had a bit of a go on a Trek Remedy 8 2017 recently. The first obvious thing are the geometry changes from the earlier Remedy, is longer and slacker, but not too long and slack, mainstream conservative long and slack. I found the fit on the older Remedy a bit short.

In the high geometry mode it was quite nimble weaving through the trees on a twisty bit on single track, and acceptable on the descents.

Dropping it into low geometry and it certainly made a big difference to the bike, more than I would have expected based on the numbers. It was much more confidence inspiring on the descents, and felt a much more fun bike.

It climbed well, even in low mode, although did benefit from the mid/trail mode on the RT3 shock.

I’ve not ridden any SC bikes to compare it to.

neverbeentomoab – Member

Think the nomad would be too much bike for what I need don’t really fancy anything more than 150 mm travel. leaning toward the trek mainly because it seems better value for money I’d get a whole bike with a dropper post (which I don’t have now) for not much more than the Bronson frame only.

if ive read this right, why not try a dropper in the 5010 first? when i demo’d a 5010mk2 earlier this year, it was a lot more of a hooligan than the travel suggested. Had no issues chucking it about and didnt want for much more travel, but i did make use of the dropper to get the saddle out of the way.

you could then use some of the spare cash for a beefy pair of wheels if you were that way inclined.

^ yes, but man wants new bike.. 😉

Test rode both Mk1 Solo / Branson jobbies a few years back. Solo seemed eminently capable. Very capable in fact, Bronson seemed like too much – albeit amazingly capable – bike, for my xc-mince style of riding. T’was at Afan.

Both seemed very ‘neutral’, which could be a good thing, but I found them both a teensy bit dull. Well, especially, for £9k worth of top drawer Enve equipped bike anyhooo.

Trek are pure Evil.

… so all that suggests you would be better off sticking with the Solo and getting a dropper. 😆

There’s definitely an element of wanting a new bike rather than needing one I’ve had this one for 2 years and fancy a change. Might try and borrow a dropper though and see how that feels. Thanks for all the advice everyone lots of things to think about