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Guys, been on here a couple of times looking at the Canyon Nerve, and after reading various threads, was about to buy the Nerve AM 5.0.
BUT! My LBS has thrown a spanner in the works - is 150mm travel too much for UK riding? I ride a 100mm Anthem at the mo, but looking for more travel and stability for the bigger riding we're doing now.
So...do i go for the 120mm Nerve XC 6.0 or the 150mm Nerve AM 5.0? Same price, virtually same spec (apart from travel, and brakes)..help!
Big worry is i've never ridden anything with that sort of travel..am i going to get livid with the climbing on a longer travel bike? Or am i going to buy the XC and then want the bigger travel in a couple more years?
It's better to be over-biked than under-biked 
You'll eventually get use to the extra weight.
If you can stretch to two bikes then keep the Giant and have your 6" bike for sh**s and giggles. It's what I did.
Can you test ride some bikes with similar travel/suspension?
Does the am come with adjustable travel?
I wish! Will need to sell my anthem to fund the new purchase sadly.
Realman - yes, was thinking of trying an orange 5 from swinnerton to test similar travel.
the AM comes with rev's - i think they'll adjust to 130 and 140mm
AM all the way . . . . for me anyway!
Unless you're planning on racing it, or you really love climbing steep stuff, the AM might be the one you want.
Got a mate who just got a new set of revs, his goes from 120 to 150..
Think about what's more important to you I guess. What's the most common riding you do? What bike do you think would be best for that? How badly underbiked are you on the anthem, and how often? Would the AM mean you could ride more stuff? It's a completely different bike compared to the anthem.
To be honest, we tend to do xc during the week and trail centres on weekends - its then that i'd notice the difference - i'm finding i'm slower than i'd like or struggling with the bigger black stuff. Also though, tried out my mate's 120mm spesh and just found it more fun even on the xc stuff - popping off bigger logs etc.
In my opinion the XC is falsely advertised. It's obvious that Canyon have 2 other 'proper' XC FS bikes in the line-up, which bizarrely aren't called XC. It's a very capable bike. I borrowed one from a friend last year for a test-ride and it had no problem playing around with jumps, drops, etc. There's not much in the geometry between the 2, but then again, from your last post, maybe it would be better to be over-biked sometimes.
People worry too much about being over-biked tbh - mate of mine uses a Stinky Deluxe with Fox 40s for general XC stuff..
Edit: that weighs over 40lbs too..!
It's not so much the extra travel that you will notice on the climb but rather the extra weight. I think the general consensus has settled down to 140mm or thereabouts is the optimum for UK trail riding. 150mm is only 10mm more but there are 150mm travel bike and then there are 150mm travel bikes, i.e. the modern crop of 150mm bikes were previously 140mm bikes and were built to a target weight of around 27-28lbs. There was a previous crop of 150mm bikes, best empitomised by the 2005 SPeclialized Enduro, that were coming in more like 32lbs.
My point is this.
It's not so much about how much travel the bike has, it's more about how it uses it and how much it weighs. The orange Five is a case in point, light, effecient, fast etc. With a good damper, set up well, it will pedal as well as a bike with 120mm of travel, but it will be a little heavier.
If you're not too worried about carrying a few extra pounds then the Nerve AM will be able to evolve with your riding more readily than the Nerve XC.
I think they might be sold out for 2011. ( Canyon Nerve) Worth checking before commiting to something that might not be available
I was in an opposite situation to yourself.
I currently have a Remedy, and although I love thrashing it around, I want something lighter for faster climbing etc.
I have found that lots of hardtail riding, and riding with some good xc racers (they have Anthems) over the winter means I've seen what can be done on a xc full suss (they go off some big drops) and my bike handling now seems better then it used to be.
I ordered the Nerve XC 9 in the end - I will see when it arrives if I sell the Remedy or keep it to do some Enduro series type stuff.
on the off chance your anthem is a 14", i would like to buy it from you 😉
hi Olly, afraid not, its a medium - i think an 18 inch. do they make a 14 inch?!?
Singletrackmind - don't scare me like that! I'm just waiting for my credit card to have the necessary clearance and its ordered! I went and had a look on the site and they were quoting ten weeks (i think) for a medium orange Nerve AM 5.0 but had sold out the XL.
I have a 2011 nerve am and it climbs brilliantly. much better than my 456 hardtail!
Just bought mbr for the free socks. They've tested the AM 6.0 and given it 9/10
Dunno If that helps...
I,ve had my Nerve Xc 7 for a couple of weeks and absolutely love it. I had the same dilema of XC or AM . I think 120mm will do for most riding.I have been on a Ti hardtail for the last couple of years and a 100mm fullsuss before that. I found i enjoyed trail centres on the hardtail but just felt a little banged up the a*s*. I nave not yet tried the Xc on anything more than southern singletrack.
A friends brother just bought the XC6.0 - he couldn't decide between the AM or XC but the fact the AM isn't available for weeks swung it.
He's very happy with his choice. It's pretty much the same travel as a Giant Trance and who ever said they were under biked for trail centres etc?
Go for the XC, it's light, available and will easily do what you are planning.