I’m looking to replace my Orange Five soon, and am tempted by something bigger. The Intense Tracer 2 has been on my list for a while and has recently been joined by the Yeti SB66 and a curve ball of the Bronson if all this 650b hype is to be believed.

I generally ride big all day epics in the Lakes with steep techy descents, and I’m doing the Mega next year.

What do you lot reckon I should spend my hard earned cash on?

Ibis Mojo HD??

Bronson C

There’s a good chance you should be able to demo any of those in the Lakes. I wouldn’t go for the Intense though…it’s quite a bit heavier than the others you mention, and after owning an Intense myself, won’t ever buy another (good bikes to ride, not to own).

EDIT: Do you really need 160mm travel for an all-day bike? I live in the Lakes myself and the fastest folk I know all have 140mm.

cotic rocket

For some reason I’m not that keen on the looks of the Mojo HD. No idea why, just don’t like it!

Bronson C is not going to happen – budget says aluminium unfortunately.

And no, I probably don’t need 160mm travel, but why the heck not?! 😀

Bronson

2014 Team Spicy.

Blur LTC, recycle your wheels and go for it, just got mine with 160mm forks and it feels awesome

SB-66 in that case 😀

http://www.nicolai.net/172-1-ION+16.html

+1 for SB66.
Just about to upgrade the Fox 32s to Pikes.

Although the headline numbers on these bikes might seem similar, they all ride quite differently. Personally, I wouldn’t spend the amount you’re considering without riding them all.

Knolly? Chilcotin or Endorphin with a 160mm fork?

Tracer 2! That’s the only one on your list that is a 160 bike, apart from when its in short travel mode of course! I ride mine all day or I ride DH and most things in between. I’ve ridden an sb66 as a friend has one and found the long top tube a bit strange and its not that light due to all the metal around the switch link. I found the sb66 to be a long travel trail bike, like a Remedy, but with extra weight. My tracer has had 8 bearings in a year and that is all, a lot better than the Intense of old.

Wheelbase at Staveley should have a Tracer and Yeti next to each other.

If you want a bike for all day epics then you want a bike that’s going to be comfortable also.
I chose the SB66 cos it’s long….couple that with a short stem and you have a bike that will handle great and give you room to breathe. Most similar bikes are short which makes them (in my opinion) no good for bike days out. I came from a Remedy which was a similar travel bike but was 1.5″ shorter VTT which meant long stem for comfort on longer rides. Which sacrificed the handling.

Yetiman – Member
http://www.nicolai.net/172-1-ION+16.html

+1

I’ve taken to keeping mine in the kitchen, so I can spend the day looking at it.

Have another curve-ball and go for the Alpine 160…

Definitely going to demo them, just creating a shortlist at the moment

Take a trip to Biketreks 🙂

Yes, I feel a trip to biketreks and wheelbase is in order

also have a look up at KMB & cyclewise for some other stuff

And that is exactly what I was going to suggest.

yeah! defo the carbon enduro!

mikewsmith – Member
Take a trip to Biketreks

POSTED 56 MINUTES AGO #
justinbieber – Member
Yes, I feel a trip to biketreks and wheelbase is in order

Scott Genius 💡
http://www.bike-treks.co.uk/543873/products/2013_scott_genius_730_alloy_650b.aspx

Transition Covert ❓

http://www.cannondale.com/2013/bikes/mountain/overmountain/jekyll/jekyll-3

Justinbieber – don’t know where you are in the country but I may well be selling my Tracer 2 shortly. Lovely bike, but I’m caught up in ironman training at the moment and it’s just not getting ridden.

Drop me a PM if you want pictures or anything, sure we can sort something out 🙂

The carbon enduro isn’t available as frame only, The full build is £7K and features house brand components, wimpy (and a bit poor TALAS) forks, Aviod brakes and it’s not actually as good as the other bikes the OP has already mentioned. Apart from that, it’s ideal.

Heckler (+10 mm)

Liteville 301 (my current bike).
New Banshee Spitfire (looks very promising and future-proof, supports EVERYTHING including these new 650b wheels. Well, Tracer 2 does this too :))

Vince you can have a go on the Nomad if thats on the list and you can try 1×10 at the same time mate

I went through this decision over the course of about a yaar. Thoughts were:

SC Nomad/Nomad C – A bit high, short in the TT, and a bit old, geometry wise. But was tempted – the Nomad C is very light for what it’s capable of, and SC seem to be ahead of the curve a bit with Carbon bikes

Bronson – Better geo than the Nomad, lighter (but not as burly), but 650b meant new wheels/fork for me and ultimately too much cash

Intense – Made by Intense, so no thanks.

Yeti – Hummed and hawed over this one a lot, in some ways I liked the idea of the long TT, but Yeti’s insistence on 150mm up front and the overall length had me thinking it’d be poor uphill with my 160 forks on it. Alloy frame is relatively heavy too, considering the travel.

Covert Carbon – For such a big premium over the Alu model, there’s not much of a weight difference. Think they played it quite safe and overbuilt it a bit. Was still high on the list, regardless. I just liked it.

Mojo HD – Liked it, thought about it a lot. Steep at the front, compared to some of the competition, though, but I was close to buying one with an angleset.

Scott Anything – having seen the shambles that was the Ransom (knew four or five owners), I’d never consider a Scott, especially one with a complex proprietary shock. Poor initial reviews for the Genius too.

Cannondale Jekyll – Wary of the pull shock, and it locks you into one type of shock. Didn’t think past that, tbh.

Enduro – Would happily have had one, but just so expensive, if you can manage to get one frame only. Full build insane money and some ropey parts.

Banshee Rune – Liked this a lot, good value, 650-future-proof, came with a CCDB, but 8.5lbs with CCDB is very burly indeed.

Ultimately got the Ion 16 ‘cos the angles all looked right, and I figured the build quality and solidity would give me confidence – I was right – fits like a glove, and I trust it. Could probably have saved a pound of frame weight with one of the above, glad I didn’t.

Turner Burner (I think slightly cheaper than some at £1695 in raw)

I said this on another thread, but it bears repeating…

Santa Cruz can be likened to Porsche: yes full of tremendous engineering and definitely high-performance, but every second middle-aged overweight businessman has one. All they need to do is get a little bit bigger and they’ll be just like Specialized.

Go for one of the smaller boutique brands if you want the same level of engineering, but a whole lot more originality. Turner, Yeti, Ibis, Nicolai are four that come to mind if you want your Pagani or Lambo, to continue the sports car analogy.

And lets not even get started with the court cases SC are throwing around. Now that they’re big enough, they’re trying to shit all over the smaller collection of boutique brands that they once belonged to.

And I say this as a former SC lover and rider… I’m not trolling, the Yeti court case, especially, disappointed me tremendously and put me right off them.

SamB – thanks for the offer, but it’ll be a new frame/bike bought through my company to save VAT and tax.

And lets not even get started with the court cases SC are throwing around. Now that they’re big enough, they’re trying to shit all over the smaller collection of boutique brands that they once belonged to.

Cripes, you’d best avoid spesh then. Some of their corporate behaviour is eye opening.

You can but into brand image if you want. I just buy a bike generally. The only people who stereotype you by what bike you ride are generally knobs anyway. Having owned Intense, Turner and Santa Cruz (amongst others); the porsche/lamborghini comparison is a bit bollocks (sorry obelix).

The Nicolais look nice – any reason for the Ion over the Helius?

justinbieber – Member
The Nicolais look nice – any reason for the Ion over the Helius?

Ion’s a newer platform – 142 rear, tapered headset, post mount brakes, reverb stealth routing all standard. A bit lighter than the Helius, slacker, lower, and possibly other stuff I’ve forgotten

Transition Covert (in true STW form of recommend what you’ve got)

Thanks HonourableGeorge – makes perfect sense now. Ta