Whether for ride quality, build quality , warranty or even company ethos?

Turner. Company ethos. And you can often talk to Dave Turner himself.

Same goes for Ibis

Probably On One for giving you a chance to try stuff without breaking the bank.
My first 29er was a second hand scandal , my first fat bike a second hand fatty.
All good stuff and dirt cheap.

Dull as it is I like Trek. I’ve had about 10 of them, with not a duff one ever. I like the aesthetics and ethos of their top end road and mountain bikes.

Kona fan till I die
Steel 97 hahhana was my first proper bike, had About 10 konas since, still got 5

Probably Specialized.
Never had an issue or a bike I didn’t like.

Second is Trek.
Again, no issues, nice bikes, but rarely make the heart skip a beat.

All the bikes I’ve bought from smaller manufacturers have had issues.
I do hold a torch for Singular and Cotic, even though I’ve never owned either.

Just bought a Surly.
Love the bike, pleasant in communication but not keen on some aspects of their distribution.
It really let’s them down, to the extent that I’d hesitate buying another new one.

I do have a soft spot for Yeti. Despite killing both my 575 and 5 carbon. I still like them, but arguably my Liteville is better. Given the fragility of the Yetis and their high RRP, I’m unlikely to own another one.

Had a Giant bought from a Giant store. Bike was okay but shop experience was shocking. Turned me off the brand.

In total contrast – my experience with Bird has been fantastic. Great “ride quality, build quality, warranty amd company ethos”!

Jones. Brilliant to deal with, awesome bikes, my most favouritist bike in the whole world.

I love my Whyte FS and my Bird HT and both companies have been excellent to deal with. Worst was probably Cannondale (circa 2000) who took 6 months to acknowledge that the Coda brakes were prone to failure!

Turner for service and general quality, ride

But

Love Yeti…..though struggle with cost of the bearings for my Sb 95 but love the ride

SO is saying orange as well as turner

Specialized for being excellent to deal with and having a real warrantee.

Cotic for making pretty, accessible and fine riding bikes, and being honest, straight up people.

Kinesis for making my favourite bike.

Currently three Specialiseds, three Kinesises and sadly no Cotics in our garage.

I like my Santa Cruz… I like things like threaded BB’s and the fun the Syndicate have and entertainment they provide 🙂

After being a serial bike/ frame changer, I’ve had a Cotic Soul as my only mtb since 2008 and still love the bike, so I guess Cotic by default 🙂

Cotic – loved my soul and really bought in to the whole cotic fanboi thing.

Santa cruz – had five, never had a bad one in terms of ride, build quality or warranties (never broke one but the warranty has been a contributing factor to the purchase).

Orange – my first ever mtb was a P7 with red DX V brakes years ago, never forgot that bike and since then I’ve always hankered for another Orange, but have always been distracted by other brands. The new Four is about to prise my wallet open though, can’t wait!

UK: On-One for its well designed but cheaply made bikes and not frightened to try something new. Best bang for the buck and makes it cheap to experiment.

USA: Surly for much the same reasons. Their bikes are “sticky” in that folk tend to hang on to them while other bikes come and go in their stable. Especially the 1×1 and the Pugsley.

For a one only bike, it would probably be Singular.

If I was recommending a bike to anyone who wanted something mainstream it would have to be Giant. Good design, well built, no hidden shortcuts to make the bike look better than it is, honest bikes.

Cotic. Straight up well engineered, brilliant riding bikes (I have a BFe and a ‘mk2’ Rocket). No bullshit approach. Totally accessible and helpful team who clearly love riding bikes.

Giant I love my bike. Even with my poor maintenance it still keeps working super smooth like the day I got it. Excellent full suss for £999

Kona I just like them. Had a Kona Stuff in 1999-2000 was a awesome bike, last bike my step dad bought me before past away from cancer. Held alot of sentimental value to me that bike. Till it was stolen in 2007 was truly devastated.

Looking to get another Kona as when I think of them I think of my step dad.

Firefly – never owned one, maybe one day but the attention to detail is stunning.

Voodoo – when I had issues with a mangled drop out I emailed and was contacted by Joe Murray, who was really helpful.

Yeti, just like the ride from the climbing to the descending, there is also a healthy tribe scene in Asia.
Owned 3 in the last 6 years and only broke one.
Also Liteville, currently running a 601 along with my SB5c, the detail on the frame is brilliant.

I’ve always had a soft spot for GT so last month I bought a carbon sensor pro frame from Merlin and I’m glad I took the gamble. I had a triple triangle GT way way back and still have fond memories of trying to paint it in the attic as a kid.

Would have to be Specialized for me. The bikes always feel sorted. The quality of the frames and components fitted are up there with the best. Their customer service both home and abroad are first class and very quick to help if there is a problem.

All my favourite bikes have been cannondales. Had few kinesis frames that I really rate aswell.
The cannondales engineering and appetite for doing things their own way what makes me keep going back for more. Lefty fork pull shocks and the all frames are lovely.

Bit of a fan of Dialled bikes myself. I got an Alpine second hand and love it so much that I changed my Cove Handjob to a Prince Albert Classic. Mike’s a great guy to deal with too!

Specialized are a great brand who look after their customers.

Ellsworth, not so much..

Santa Cruz, liked them since I bought my first copy of MBUK back in, I guess, late 97, early 98, Rob Jarman was doing a massive table top aboard a polished Alu bullitt, that and the chameleon was the jump bike to have. I now have 3, inc a chameleon, and love them all. Not had any problems with any of them, but am confident jungle would be able to sort any issues.

Can’t fault specialized either, the 2 I have are ace, the guys at the local concept store are brilliant, and while I’ve had no issues, mates that have have been sorted out, often by going well beyond the call.

Got 2 trek road bikes, like their approach to road stuff, though they have that same approach to mobs and it’s not my cup of tea, but for road, pirsuing that last 0.1% works for me.

Another one for Cotic just because I loved my original soul and the 27.5 is frikkin awesome. And they’re from my neck of the woods which helps for the connection.

Cotic. Great bikes, open and accessible. Owner run. British.

(Honourable mention for Transition and Dialled. Giant I had was very good for a mass market brand, Specialized got me going 10 years ago with a basic bike which is still ridden today)

Turner
Great frames and excellent support if you need it.

Santa Cruz
Well designed for real trail riding, threaded bottom bracket , straight forward design and robust enough for me.

Evil Bikes

I’ll get my coat…..

And my own taxi

Hmm. I’ve got:
Giant
On-One
Orbea
Focus
Scott
Kona
Guerciotti
De Rosa

I quite like Canyons.

Pegoretti.
Not just a pretty paint job but a superb bike to ride.

The other choice is Giant, best bang per Buck and warranty in almost all types of road/cross/MTB

Gotta be orange for me, hankered after one for years, no idea why if I’m honest. Finally got one a few months ago and it’s awesome. Kind of a religion once you have one(like vw)
Love the fact that there a UK brand to.

Also cannondale. Love them and had quite a few, currently got a road bike.
Again a kind of cult following

MAXX

they make bikes up to XXXXL (!)
insane colour palette to choose from inc. glow in the dark
not insanely expensive

Jones, Jones and Jones

Spoke to Jeff a few times and he had some really helpful advice on my build choice. Both Shiela and Jeff were really helpful with shipping and advising on customs type stuff.

But the real reason they are my favourite bike brand is the bike is now 5 and it still makes me grin, i still get that ‘new bike’ tingle riding it. it never fails to amaze me, it rides so much better than anything else I’ve ever been on.

id never even seen, let alone ridden a jones prior to getting this built up and it was a massive gamble. all the import nonsense, 9 months waiting for it and all the tinkering getting it just right were totally worth it.

cant see me ever thinking differently… the hype around Jones is real in my opinion. Weird looking and mind-blowing bikes etc!!!

Turner for longevity, performance and quality of product.

Had loads of them – I like the small company ethic too. Always had any issues sorted out and the bikes ride fantastic. Dave Turner sets the bar high with quality too – he’s not hugely interested in corner cutting. It costs but so what.

I did like the fact they were still making in USA but that’s looking shaky with Carbon now. They don’t spend a load on marketing really and that’s a good thing.

Got two Czars and two Flux’s between us.

Mine are both totally emotive!

Orange, the first Mtb I became aware of was the original clockwork, and I have wanted one ever since!! I recently got a 26″ Five second hand and it is as fun as I hoped it would be! I genuinely love the bike 🙂
Cotic: first time I saw one I wanted one! Currently saving up for a Solaris 🙂

Cotic and bird seem to be v popular choices!!

I liked GT BMXs in the 90s, then they went a all Halfords for a bit and are now big wheels so I won’t buy a new one. I like Sunn stuff, it’s a bit rare over here and they did some lovely bikes BITD. (Max) Commencal for (his) their refusal to use cheaply-produced carbon fibre for frames.

I like the look of the new Cotic BFe26 but (fortunately for my bank balance) they’ve sold out of small frames.

I like the ones from the factory that makes cannondales, specialized and bianchi’s but quite like the german brands for actually making decent bikes.

Another vote for Whyte (there’s currently 8 in our house), when I’ve needed it their customer service has been excellent.