[Closed] Best enduro bike under 3k

If it were me and I was looking for a proper enduro bike then the Radon Swoop would probably be my choice....

Thanks for reply. Sound a little picky but don't know if 170mm is a little too much. I could be wrong though just felt like 160mm would be capable down and also rideable up

Whyte G-160 RS is a tiny bit over your budget, but very hard to look past. Or the S for £400 under budget with a lower spec.

Good as the specs on the direct go customer bikes are, I've heard way too many warranty woes with most of those companies to entertain the thought of a bike without a good dealer and distributor backup in the UK.

You'd build up a stonking Bird Aeris for that budget. I did just that and have zero regrets.

Heard great reviews from the bird but don't know if it is a little bit too similar to my xc bike. Sounds like I'm being picky really but don't want too much travel but want more than that 140mm I currently have to be a bit more capable. Going to have a look/ride a g160 if one in my local bike shop see how they ride cheers. Nobody rate the giant reign?? Or is it just overpriced?

Is it worth waiting for 2017 bikes on sale or is it not worth it? Not sure if most brands will be releasing 2018 bike soon or not

They normally release the new bikes around September/October.

I'd be tempted to look at who were doing demo days nears you, or which demo bikes local bike shops have in stock. I bought a Canyon without demoing it as my previous bike was an old one so any modern bike would be a massive improvement, but if in were to buy one now I'd want to demo first yo make sure it was better.

try Pinkbike for sale, plenty of great pre loved bikes there

plus 1 for demo, lot of money to spend on a bike you've never ridden, They all ride different and size up differently. Much depends on what how you ride. One company's medium is another's large.

I'd go Barrington Dandelion Pro or Van Der Osteriech Bedweteer plusboostvagina.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Drunk?

Drunk, or more likely thinks he is much funnier than he actually is

Second hand nomad. Or canyon strive.

Radon Swoop - MBUK Enduro bike of the year. Video as no link to full in depth review here:

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/enduro-bike-of-the-year-2017-radon-swoop-170-80-49545/

The swoop pedals better than some 160mm bikes, worse than others

But I probably already said that in one of the dozen or so similar threads you have started on here.

I have the Aeris mark 2 and its a very capable bike,No way can it be compared to a XC bike,
I went from a Giant reign to the Aeris,albeit 26" but the Aeris is miles better
it climbs amazingly,descends out of this world,The guys at Bird are amazing to deal with,any issue and they resolve it mega quick,For the price of the Aeris its about 1k cheaper than the reign,
My first ride on my Aeris i smashed about 20 secs of my PB on one of the steepest trails at Glentress

Airdrop Edit

£2899
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Thanks for all the great responses. I have posted several similar but that was when I had my heart set on a capra before I rode one. The large felt great in length but being 5,9 seat tube felt way to high. Might be worth having another look at the aeris and possibly selling my xc bike.

What's your xc bike? You mention 140mm travel, which sounds a bit more than usual for an xc bike. My experience is that geometry is at least as important as travel unless you're hitting massive drops. I've a 140mm bike (norco sight) and a 160mm (Vitus Sommet) and very rarely ride the latter now as the Norco is so capable. I appreciate the question refers to enduro. Having done the ard rock the last two years I'd take the Norco next time..

Nukeproof Mega?

It's a cannondale trigger 140/85mm travel. I do think it is a great bike but when i am on more technical trails think a 160mm bike will be built geometry wise to withstand and ride much more efficiently. I have also had a ride on a nukeproof mega as I really like the look of that bike. Probably the most out of any but didn't ride great in all honesty, felt very similar to the capra geometry wise. It's awkward being 5,9 as most bike I am in between sizing on a medium/ large

swainy90 - I'm a bike guide in the Alps and our team of 4 guides all ran Megas for a couple of seasons, now on Orange Alpine 6s. We also hired out Megas for a while. From our experience, at 5'9", you are absolutely smack in the middle of the range for a medium and shouldn't be considering a large.

I'm 5'11" and I would consider myself to be on the shorter end of things for a large.

Just our opinion of course, and by all means try different sizes, but your comment above about the seat tube being too long confirms this opinion for me!

Stevo thanks for reply and it was a large I rode on. In all fairness felt great top tube length just too much seat tube which will tie up with what your saying really. Will have to have a go on a medium to see how that feels, hopefully my local bike shop will have one in soon. Just done abit of fettling on the bird website and with shimano 11 speed with upgraded forks shock and wheels came to 2700. I've also dropped them an email regarding a few questions. It's a shame none of my friends/people that ride around Cannock chase seem to have one unless I have just been unfortunate and not seen one.

If I was after a bike the now I'd be looking at the airdrop edit

@swainy90
If your on FB look up Bird owners page as I know they do a lot of group rides and Cannock is mentioned plus Bird do demo days
I'm sure someone Down your way would give you a wee shot on there's to let you get a feel for it
I was lucky my mate had one so I had a ride on it and it felt magic

Per comments above - there's not much difference between a 160 and 170mm bike - you won't notice a centimetre difference. Of far more importance is the geometry and way it uses the suspension / pedals.

The radon swoop won a recent enduro group test with about 20 bikes in it. The Capra was considered short for its size - the other bikes didn't quite compete with the spec of the radon for the money.

The Edit was in that test and cam lower down the score sheet but I think that was due to the coil shock. Not everyone's cup of tea - it'd be better with an air shock if you like something poppy and move lively. With a coil it'll swallow everything downhill - so it depends what you want.

The Aeris 145 is in no way an xc bike - both men's and women's enduro races in the U.K. have been won on various spec of Aeris.

For £3k you could get one with eagle I think and decent suspension / wheels etc. If you went with Sram GX you could get lyrics a reverb and a piggyback shock etc and still come in under budget.

The Aeris has a pretty short seat tube so often you could fit a couple of sizes depending on the reach you want and pick a length of dropper post to suit. I'm 5'9 with longer legs but short arms. I've got an ML Aeris with GX, Yari 160mm, the basic wheelset and a rt3 deluxe rear shock. So far it's mega everywhere. Pedals uphill ok, really good on the flat and epic downhill. I've got a 120mm dropper (transaction ascend) and length wise that's perfect so far.

Thanks again for all the great replies. I don't know what it is but something puts me off the radon. I don't know if it's just due to the fact that I've never even seen one and it is never spoke about in any of the local bike shops. I have however speaking to several people including LBS heard great reviews regarding the bird. did the bird not even get tested by mbr then or was it just scored very low compared with others?????

I think the Bird missed out on the testing as the travel fell outside the arbitrary test boundaries, ie too much travel for the trail bike category and not enough travel (on paper) for the enduro category.

Or maybe they just don't spend enough on advertising with the mag 😉

^ True story about the arbitrary travel boundaries.

Yes the mbr test was up to 140mm travel and the Mbuk test was 150mm travel upwards. Aeris is 145mm travel.

When it says 145 does that regard the shock?? As you can put a 160mm pike fork on bird website

Yes, you can fit a 160 fork on it, 145 is the rear travel

Sounds like Bird would need to make a downduro spec Aeris for it to fit into magazine shootouts.

https://www.cube.eu/uk/2017/fullsuspension/stereo/cube-stereo-160-hpa-tm-275-rawnflashorange-2017/

My used 5x Yeti SB6c?

I'm with Rocketdog on this one.... I'm currently running the Stereo and it's a beast.....climbs really well and go does down like a cheap hooker. I've just stuck a offset bushing in the shock and it's transformed the bike. Have a look at Propain.com. I had a Tyee but they also do the Twoface, can spec it to what you want....don't be put off of the shock position.

goes down like a cheap hooker

Ok for the money, but you know you could have better?

Everyone has a opinion on what's good and bad. It's the easiest bike to ride that I've ever had over 20 years of riding. I did get the Cube at trade price Tbh......so was a no brainer really.

Specalized Enduro, Trek Remedy or Giant Reign 2. Plenty of others like the Whyte also available, no need to go for some weird brand you can't get a demo on.

I have an Alpine 160 in medium 17 inch XT all round for sale if interested?

Giant reign for 2500 quid,is a great bike I bought one as just loved the way it felt when I test rode it.Geometry is bang on,I use mine for 20-30 km route round peak district and it climbs as well as my old xc bike.

My advice is don't buy a kona process 153, it likes being in the air and going down hill far too much for my liking,hate how responsive it is on tight/steep stuff, it's embarrassing that I can keep up with people uphill on bikes costing 3 times the price. Above all else it's just too much fun.

Best bike I've rode has been the giant reign 2 but I do like with the bird you can build spec to exactly what you want. Hopefully go degla next weekend a test ride one. Not really thought about the kona. Rides well yeah???

Ha ha depends who you ask! I love it, some people hate it. It's not light and there are probably bikes that pedal better uphill but the second it points down I forget about it. I've toyed with buying lighter components and all that but I'm not into riding for racing up the hill. I want to ride up chatting to my mates then ride down as quick as I can! The kona let's me do that! Just go test a load of stuff and when you know you know

How does the Process 153 compare to the 134? The 134 seems popoybwhen I've tried it briefly and goes uphill ok. Is the 153 significantly worse uphill but a lot better downhill?

I've not rode the 134 so couldn't say, I have heard it's good but can't say anything more really. Did hear it's like t130 in the fact that it rides like more travel than it has.

I had a 153... if it wasn't worth £1300 i'd have thrown it in a ditch...

I nearly cried laughing when someone paid ME for it !

Harsh on the Process - is it that bad?!

+1 for the Reign although i may be a little bit biased. my only issue with the Reign 2 is that spec wise it made the bike a little bit sluggish but you can probably get a good discount on one which would leave you enough to carry out some upgrades to the wheels...however if you can afford to increase your budget a bit more and haggle down the price of the Reign 1...i think thats the one to go for

Every bike ain't for everyone! Loads of people love the capra, I thought it was average, rode well but didn't make me want to ride flat out like my process does. Only testing is gonna sort out what works for the individual

Agree on that point. Some bikes just feel right on riding - some don't. But that comes down to personal preference.

Every bike ain't for everyone! Loads of people love the capra, I thought it was average, rode well but didn't make me want to ride flat out like my process does. Only testing is gonna sort out what works for the individual

thats very true...i tried a sc bronson cc, a mondraker dunes, an intense tracer 275, a radon swoop, a transition patrol, a yt capra cf pro, a giant trance 2 and a giant reign (both versions)
oout of that bunch the mondraker, capra and bronson didnt do anything for me...the swoop was nice but the size felt a bit odd for me as did the bronson and capra.
the trance was nice if a bit overwhelmed in the company of the other bikes.
the intense and transition were fantastic but they cost silly money in carbon...which left the reign advanced. fantastic bike with sorted angles and kit ad rode just as well as the patrol and tracer but at a fraction of the price!

I think the answer is totally subjective. There is only your opinion that counts. What works for one may not work for another.
It is a bit like what tyre threads. How and where you ride will answer quite a lot of the question, but what feels good to the rider is subjective and could be more important than everything else.
I liked my Reign and it was fast, but the suspension did blow through its travel to easily. I prefer getting a kicking in the rough stuff on my White T130 for the speed it can pull elsewhere.
I still think the 2010 Stumpjumper I bought of Renton and fitted Marzocchi RC44Ti forks to was the best bike I ever had in terms of speed, followed by a Pitch with Lyrics.
I test rode a Bird aeris 145 last week and really liked it. I may wait and ride the 2017 Enduro at Grizedale in late June before making decision.

I've been riding my new Aeris 145 for a few weeks now. Only had one decent downhill run at CC - all the other rides have been local in Bristol so pretty flat so far. I've got PR's on the ups / downs and the flat already - and only one day has had ideal dry trails - all the rest have been a bit slippery.

Not convinced on the tyres I specified - in the wet they're all over the place - but then maybe that's because I'm going faster?