After a few years away from being up to date with bikes, i’ve now started listening to my knees and back, and may well be looking for a full suspension to help them out a bit. But, i’m only really looking at 4″ and normal 26″ wheels, so what is on the market these days that i should keep an eye on, or sort out a test ride, on the shortlist so far is Titus Racer X (last full susser i had, struggling to remember what it was like!), Turner Flux (bit expensive) and the Trek Ex8, but also looking at specialized, and may go a little bigger than 4″ for one, but looking at the stumpy Evo, does it have quite a low bottom bracket, just a query as i smacked my BB off a rock earlier today and if the stumpy is lower it’ll not be a good choice!

Are you *that* argee (Ryan)?

Giant anthem?

I’d have to recommend a Turner DW Flux as I have one & its perfect, with 120mm forks.
OR
Santa Cruz Superlight.
Morewood Zula.
Giant Anthem.

My riding suits 100mm, it’s the perfect travel for me (North Yorks, Northumberland and the odd trip to trail centres).

I had a Flux for a year or so, and a Yeti ASR-L for 6 months, a Meta 4 for a while but I’ve been on an Anthem (26″) for a year or so and I can’t see me changing it any time soon. For my riding style, it’s easily my favourite of that group of bikes.

EDIT: I often fancy putting a pair of 120mm forks in from my hardtail, I think the slightly slacker angle would stop the occasional problem on stuff like fast, loose corners where I find the front wanting to tuck in ever so slightly. Must try it sometime.

Fuel EX is a great all round trail bike, if you ride proper mountains but also race XC it’d handle both fine IMO.

Some good bargains on Anthem Xs around, just saw some with nice discounts on Rutland Cycling.

Stumpy Evo is a 6in bike!

Plus 1 for the giant anthem. Love mine. Just converted to 1×10 and for fast flowing singletrack its awesome. Acceleration is a strong point.

Yeah Martin, it’s Ryan, older and unwiser!

I’ll have a good look around at the anthem and others, to be honest it’s probably either going to be an older model in the sales, or secondhand if turner/titus/etc, i guess i’ll rule out the stumpy, 6″ travel is just a bit too daft for what i do!

anthem large frame amd magura durin fork 120mm for sale if you are interested see profile

^^^^^ This

Because like Dickie, I have one also !

I’ve had the Anthem as well but personally feel the Flux is the better ride. Much stiffer IMO and less bob out of the saddle. Does seem to blow through the travel with the correct sag though

Oh and the top class customer service ( that I’ve experienced first hand)

Hi Ryan,
Long time no see, I hope your well!
Like you I’m not getting any younger & I have a couple of FS frames in the loft (along with the Stiffee you may remember). I dug out my old Turner Burner & gave it a go again recently for reasons not to different to yours. Maybe it was the big & heavy tyres I built it up with, but to me my old 29″er Scandel with a suss post is as comfortable but certainly faster than the FS, but then I only ride really boring stuff these days, I hope you ride stuff more interesting then me 😳
Have fun & keep on biking.
Cheers.

I can vouch for the stumpy evo – great bikes for what they are but a bit less suspension? How much fun does this look? 😀

Stu, that looks lovely fella.

Anthem, Superlight, Blur XC (are these still 100mm?)

Yeah, i doubt any full suspension bike will be faster than the hardtail on the local trails, but it might give me a bit more time in the saddle, as i find my recovery times aren’t as good as before, and maybe a bit of suspension will prevent the thighs and knees taking such a pounding.

Hope it’s going well for you, good to see you’re still in the saddle, the turner burner was the type of thing i used to be after, but they’re now something different, it’s all very confusing as the 100mm bikes are all now 6 or more inches!

As for large frames, i’m on the small side, anything above a 17″ frame means i struggle to touch the ground.

Agree
I’ve got a stumpy evo
Had it a year and its been a love / hate relationship

First few months were great, I was fitter, able to explore the ability more ( and it has surprising depth there )
But since I’ve knackered my back I find it just a bit much

Was riding drumlanrig today and got a few pedal strikes in the open position on the shock, turning on the pro pedal helps the bike sit a bit higher , that said the low bb really helps it rail on berms and the slackish angles make descending really good fun

It’s fairly light given its ability although I get the feeling it could handle a bigger fork

In short I’d look at a camber evo or normal stumpy for your needs
Hth.

Pivot mach 4?

Ellsworth Truth

Cannondale starts at 120mm travel I believe.