I'm looking at getting a 29er trail full suss. Anything betterer than a Escarpe VR?
Mainly be riding Afan trails and a few trips to BPW, and some other natural stuff.
I'm 6'2" and weigh 200 odd lbs! 🙁
Hoping to get interest free option and less that around 2.5k.
Been out of the game for a few years. Used to ride hard core Prince Albert type bikes but older bones now!
Whyte S-150 or start are doing a Hightower for £2600.
Several places doing the s150 cheap. Banjo cycles have one at £2000 new in a large.
What about a 0% credit card ad get a YT Jeffsy.
If not, Specialized stumpjumper is a great all rounder. I’ve always like the Scott genius too.
Sonder Evol 29 coming soon. The pre production model I saw looked pretty good.
Canyon Neuron CF 8.0
YT Jeffsy CF Comp
Bird AM9
"29er Trail" covers everything from 120mm lightweight trail bikes, to 150mm 'light enduro' these days, I'd suggest trying to get some demos in.
wheelie - is the 29er Sonder Evol the model they provisionally called the Cortex last year? It was 120mm I think and would be on my list.
Thanks for some new ideas! Any views on the Escarpe?
I've got the 2018 27.5 version, they're very good bikes, a bit heavy, the frame isn't the most refined but spec for spec they're hard to beat.
Demos are fun as well as helping you choose. Get on some ASAP. And welcome back!
I went with Whyte S150. I was a little worried initially with the 150mm travel but it actually climbs better than my T130 and T129 did, with the added benefit of being amazing when you point it down. Modern trail bikes are so capable.
I rate my S-150, noting that it supposedly only has about 142mm of travel as mentioned in mbr and on linkage analysis.
It took a bit of work to get the suspension feeling good, namely involving ramming the rear full of volume spacers despite a fairly progressive frame as there's very little stock compression damping, but the geo is bang on and the feel of the bike is great.
The spec isn't perfect though, the guide r's were swapped out immediately and the wheels are incredibly heavy and still quite flexy. Other than that though it's a great bike to ride as is immensely capable. I've ridden mine all through wales, done a week in the tweed valley and raced on it a bunch of times and it's been perfect. My favourite time on it so far was ard rock where on the flat out rough stages it held speed so well.
The spec isn’t perfect though, the guide r’s were swapped out immediately and the wheels are incredibly heavy and still quite flexy.
I think I'm on a similar trajectory with mine. Swapped the wheels for a set of Hunt Trailwide and it feels a lot more snappy. What did you swap the Guide R's for in the end? I've been giving some thought to this since taking it on an uplift day for the first time.
I really like my Guide Rs... the wheels though, yes- they need changing.
R or rs version?
Oi Cookie, bring it over matey.