So my 26″ enduro bike is really a bit small for me, so it needs to go, and I love the big wheels so some sort of 140mm (ish) 29er seems the way to go.

I need a 25″+ top tube, 140mm up front, beyond that some nice to haves are things like bottle cage mount in the frame, and a 30.9 seattube to fit my current dropper post. If it wasn’t too pricey that’d be a bonus.

Currently the Norco Shinobi looks like a good bet. Be interested in anyone’s ridden a salsa horsetheif built up with 140 forks though (or knows where I could demo an XL? Moon on a stick also required).

Also looked at: Kona Sartori (fairly pricey, bit more XC maybe?), Bandit 29 (seems a bit short), Santa Cruz (How much ££!!), Cubes (seem too short), El Guapo 29 will be good value, but possibly a little short still (current 26 is a large EG), Speshy Stumpy Evo FSR would fit the bill if you could get ’em here….

…Suggestions on a postcard? Real world experiences also welcomed…

Yeti SB95- Pricey but beautiful

Ah yes, comes in “man size” too, but as you say £££££££££…

TBH I’ll spend most of my rides on the XC hardtail anyhow, so doesn’t seem worth spending megabucks.

The new Scott Genius bikes. Pretty sure they come in 650B and 29. Look lovely too.

Why are you building it at all then ?

Why not just hire one as and when you need it ?

A mate of mine did the Mega on his SB95 with 120mm forks- he had a great time.
You can now get em with 140mm fox forks, or 130mm revelations.

http://www.escapebikeshop.com/limited-edition-yeti-sb95-full-build.html

That ain’t bad!

Comencal Meta AM 29?

Trance x 29
Turner Sultan
Tallboy lt alloy
Rumblefish

forgot the banshee rune too!

Salsa Horsethief? 120 or 140 front, 120 mm rear, available in proper man’s sizes up to 22″
Also frame is on special at a tad over £800 with a Fox Kashima rear shock.
If I hadn’t just got a Trance 29er I’d be tempted by one of these and one of the new 2013 x-fusion 34mm 140mm travel forks.
SM

Why are you building it at all then ?

Cos I like bikes, is the simple answer. Though there are practical considerations – I generally need XL bikes, where could I hire any of the bikes listed above in a size that fits me? Also just because I’ll probably ride the XC bike more, doesn’t mean I won’t ride a bouncy bike much?

Trance is more XC. I want something I won’t feel like I might kill it if I spend a day on the uplifts at a DH track/ft bill etc.

Not looked at the turner, I have an irrational (?) dislike of them after seeing too many broken.

Tallboy Lt alloy – still very expensive.

Rumblefish, similar to the trance I guess in intended use?

Do banshees come in 29er? Will investigate… looks like 650b or 26 only? Not going 650b…similar parts to the XC bike is an advantage.

This for only £2,104 German website for an aluminium Stumpy 29er that they don’t import to the UK

Salsa Horsethief?

Yeah it’s on my shortlist in the first post, as you say, comes in man/gate size. Read reports of poor climbing/bob etc though, wonder if anyone had real-world experience?

Poor climbing maybe aint that bad if I can get a good fit on the bike though to climb in comfort, I’m rarely last up the hill anyway.

Tomaso – interesting. I wonder if the EVOs are available anywhere in europe…(and what speshy UK would be like with warranty…)

Can’t tell you on the Horse but the Fish comes in a little small IMO. the ‘large’ is a biggish medium rather than a massive monster… so beware that as the Horsetheif may be similar..

May I suggest

EDIT Sorry it’s 120mm 😳

If it is the same as cars then you should be able to buy anywhere in the Common Market and get the same warranty etc.

Do banshees come in 29er? Will investigate…

Banshee 29er:

http://bansheebikes.com/prime

Can’t tell you on the Horse but the Fish comes in a little small IMO. the ‘large’ is a biggish medium rather than a massive monster… so beware that as the Horsetheif may be similar..

Good knowledge, tho looking at the geo numbers the fish does seem short to me (620 tt). TT on the XL horse is 33mm longer than a fish, which is a good chunk bigger (large horse is 18mm longer than fish).

Eyerideit – looks expensive? A kingdom?

Banshee 29er:
http://bansheebikes.com/prime

Oooh and that comes in XL with a plenty long TT…

German Evo20er £2,439

And its in XL.
The main advantage is that its the cheaper aluminium version and the UK only get the carbon 29er FSR and that costs more £££££$$$£

Oh and the soon to arrive but unproven Titus El Guapo 29er may be just the ticket with 140mm travel

Oh and the soon to arrive but unproven Titus El Guapo 29er may be just the ticket with 140mm travel

I’ve exchanged words on twitter with Brant about this. I do like my current EG26er, but it’s too short really for all day comfort. The 29er is only 0.5″ longer, probably not enough for my ape-like arms…

Tomaso’s suggestion looks like a winner to me.

Would strongly recommend the Bandit29. I cant see anything else close with respect to value. Had mine for around 7 months, zero regrets.

dday – they look good, and I’ve read good things, but they don’t seem to size up that big (purely looking at spec sheets). How tall are you/what size are you riding?

The 29er is only 0.5″ longer, probably not enough for my ape-like arms…

Though perhaps you’re not noticing the effect that the steeper seat angle will have.

It’ll put the pedals further away from the bars? (~18mm longer “reach” for same ETT, + 15mm on the TT, or am I confused?) So about 43mm more reach, which is decent.

I’d quite like the bars to be further away when I’m sat down too though, as sat down spinning along it feels a bit cramped too. But then steeper ST angle also means I can have the saddle a bit further back keeping the same saddle-pedals relationship I currently have. Hmm ok. Shame they’re not in the country yet, will be over north over xmas could have called into OO/PX to sit on one.

I had a Horsethief until v.recently – unfortunately I only got to use it for 2 proper rides before it was pinched! (I’d only had the bike for 9 days). I really liked the bike and am very F’in annoyed that it got nicked – so I make no apologies for the following glowing mini-review.

I’d demo’d quite a few 29er full-sussers before getting the ‘Pony’, and I/my OH also had a Spesh Camber 29er (also nicked), so I’ve some experience of FS 29ers.

I read the review that mentions that that the Horsethief can be a ‘bobber’ on climbs, so before I borrowed the demo bike, I contacted Salsa for advice on suspension set-up. The guy at Salsa recommended starting with as little as 10 to 15% sag, then experimenting by increasing sag a little bit at a time to suit the terrain & my riding style. I like the challenge of rocky technical climbs, so I settled on 20% sag – with this amount of sag, I felt that it was a better than average climber off-road (on tarmac it could feel a little bit ‘ploddy’ even with tyre pressures bumped up and Propedal on). I did a few small jumps on the second ride and with 20% sag, was almost getting full travel from shock – so it seemed a good balance between climb/descend.

I ran the bike with the Fox 34 in 120mm travel, and it absolutely blitzed one of my favourite descents – it felt like a complete monster truck on descents – God only knows what it’d be like with the fork at 140. I had planned to try the fork at 140, but personally I think it might make the steering a bit wandery on climbs, and raise the bottom bracket too high for my taste.

Sizing wise, I’d agree with the previous comments. I’m 6′ with long legs and went for a Medium, as I prefer a bit of manouverability over super-stability. Even with the med frame, a 70mm stem/720 bars didn’t feel cramped, and I was looking to try a 60mm stem on it.

FWIW, if you go for a frame only, I think you’ll find that even the 2012 ones now come with a Kashima CTD shock (rather than the std RP2 that my full build bike came with). I reckon the CTD would be the perfect shock for the bike, particularly in trail adjust version.

TBH, the only other bike that I would consider replacing my Horsethief with would be another one, or if I win the lottery, a carbon Tallboy LTc. (Personally, I preferred the Horsethief to the alloy Tallboy LTc, which felt like a bit of an anvil).

Anyway, HTH.

P.S. Blatant bump of my stolen bike thread http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stolen-specialized-camber-29er-and-salsa-horsethief

Hmm ok. Shame they’re not in the country yet, will be over north over xmas could have called into OO/PX to sit on one.

I’m putting the reach and stack sheets together now and come out with numbers showing a 18in reach dimension (centre of headtube forward of the BB centre).

That equates to a 25.2in top tube length with a normal seat angle and seat tube position.

Cheers that’s very useful, reach is similar to other big bikes I’m looking at then. Encouraging, as I imagine the EG is gonna be the best value complete.

@IA I’m 5’9 on a large frame. The bike does encourage you to sit ‘in’ rather than ‘on’, and it felt a little odd moving from my (comparatively) long stemmed SS, but it feels real good with the saddle dropped on the downhill stuff. For a 29er long travel, it climbs far better than I ever expected.

I spent a long time going through the considerations you are. Its a big $ investment, and almost impossible to test ride a list of potentials. End of the day, your gut will make the decision for you, and you will enjoy your choice! Keep us up to date!

Its a big $ investment, and almost impossible to test ride a list of potentials. End of the day, your gut will make the decision for you, and you will enjoy your choice!

This may be truth. It’s only a bike/toy at the end of the day, not the end of the world if it’s not quite right.

I would go bandit 29 or maybe even orange gyro although its 120. Or forget fs and go PA 29.

MetaAM29

130mm revs. plenty of travel. Im 6’3 on an XL and its big! TT is 25.3″

I’ve got a XL Horsethief that you can have a ride on if you’re ever near Sheffield.
Can’t really give much feed back on it as I’ve only rode it 3 times as I’ve had shoulder replacement surgery,
Really looking forward to riding it in the peak once I’m able!

Freeborn not showing many mythics (banshee) on their site and no one listed as uk distributor on banshees either, shame as prime looks good

good review of the gyro here http://www.cyclistno1.co.uk/blog/longtermer-orange-gyro-pro-2.htm

crazybaboon – hope you recover soon. I’ll be up near wakefield for a few days end of next week/up to xmas actually, so I’ll have a think if I’d have the time to pop down to sheffield (be going past on the way up but no idea when).

How tall are you/how do you find the fit? Also how have you got it built up? Wondering also about rear tyre clearance.

Gyro’s get good reviews, but I’ve something against oranges, and if I didn’t I’d be looking at waiting for the new 29er five (or whatever they end up calling it).

I’m a bit over 6″ 4′ with long legs. The head tube is a bit short and I’ve had to run a stem with rise and a few spacers, there’s still a fair drop from the saddle to the bars. The top tube is long and fits me well. It’s got a purgatory 2.2 tyre on the back and there’s a fair bit of room, the brace on the seat stays is the limiting factor, 2.4 are supposed to fit ok.
I’m running a 120mm Reba at the moment, but I’ve got a 140mm revelation to go on when I get round to it.
Its built with a nine speed triple, but it’ll have a 10 speed double on soon

Cheers, 6’4″ here too and long legs, I like quite a bit of drop to the bars in general (on my DH bike i’d run the saddle and bars the same height, or even some drop to the bars).

It was clearance to that brace that concerned me, 2.2 with room sounds good though.

Fork wise, I’d be looking at 140mm for sure, I do wonder how much stick the horsethief is designed to take – though they do say it’s ok with 140s which is encouraging.

I’d be going 1×9 or 1×10, with a chain device.

I know I’m late to this topic but I’ve got a very similar situation – 6ft5 looking for a AM 29er to replace my enduro. Here are my conclusions so far:

Banshee prime – awesome geo for me (long top tube on XL, short chainstay slack ha etc etc) and cheap but a bit heavy. Going to be available through new distributor soon with fox or cane creek air. I’ve hopefully got a demo booked with the first full build in the UK. Available from feb I think in UK or already available through their german importer.

Stumpy evo carbon – light, great reviews but £££. Not in UK but on sale in Germany (HI Bike and others). They won’t post but you could get a cheap flight or if you have friends…Spec UK say they will honour an international guarantee if I buy one overseas. Demoing one in texas next month.

Others on the shortlist Yeti SB96 (I’m not sure about the longevity of the bearings based on internet chats), Intense tracer 29 (great reviews but I’d want an angleset and it all gets a bit expensive) and the yet to be announced Orange Five 29er (check out mtbcut’s instagram feed for shots of the 20″).

Personally wouldn’t have a horsethief as chainstay is v v long and I love the ride of my honzo (short cs long reach). If you’re after a hardtail then the honzo is amazing btw.