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2011 will mark the 25th anniversary of me buying my first mountain bike, a Rockhopper, and I can think of no better excuse to buy a new bike, so it's time to think about which it should be. My current bike is a Thorn Catalyst and it will continue to take care of the off road commute and general foul weather riding but I want something faster and lighter to complement it. My riding is all on the South Downs and that is unlikely to change. I'm determined to finally get round to riding the SDW next year in a day so it has to be suitable for that.
At the moment top of my list is the new Ti456 XT build. A combination of Ti and full XT just seems "right" to mark such an anniversary. It's also a very versatile option, I'd probably start with putting my Rebas on it and SPD's but I'd also like to get on a skills course next year and finally learn how to ride off road properly, and if I do get better then It's a bike that will handle anything I might ever be brave enough to take on. It'll also run a hub gear without a tensioner and as a Rohloff user of 4 years that's another big selling point.
So given a budget of £2K what would you buy?
So given a budget of £2K what would you buy?
A custom steel frame, made specifically for you. Worth every penny.
A custom steel frame, made specifically for you. Worth every penny
I had a Roberts White Spider made in 1989. It was fantastic and I got exactly what I wanted at a time when there was very little choice of off the peg frames. However I no longer think that custom offers those advantages, just about every type of geometry is now avaliable. I also have a very nice 853 frame on the Thorn so for those reasons I've ruled that option out. I think if I hadn't done it before then I would have seriously considered it.
Hmm, fair enough! A valid response!
In that case, what about something a little esoteric like a Ritchey Breakaway? Or, perhaps something going back in time a little, like a Retrotec?