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The Trek EX8 for a change, fantastic bike that just get slightly better with each incarnation and totally flatters an average rider, for some reason it never gets the attention like the Five but I've owned both and love it.
Another vote for the 04 Enduro .
Another vote here for the '04 Enduro.
2004 Enduro. Mine is also still going strong, great bike!
05/06 enduro
or if we're voting for a series of bikes, the enduro in general despite its dodgy 07-09 phase.
hardtail - Cotic Soul, sus - Orange 5. Not cos they are British in particular but because they are evolved/refined designs. For me the Stumpy has done more than evolve, it is basically a number of different bikes that have shared a name.
Bit OT - for me the bike wearing the Stumpjumper name is now too "burly" I'd prefer the Camber to be the Stumpy and vice versa. Bit sad I suppose but just how I think of the Stumpjumper.
04 Enduro...t'was & is still a great bike.Might even ride mine again one day....
Pompino
Niner SIR9
Cos:
it take a great material to a glorious extreme
Clever EBB makes it compatible with hub gears, ss, fixed and you can even use a mech!
How can a rigid bike be so smooth and capable
It won't win cos very few people have the chance to ride one - our demo has done only a dozen demo rides.
Turner 5 Spot (in it's HL incarnation)
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Or the 04 Enduro (the poor man's 5-Spot)
The Pitch's grandad gets my vote too…
2003/04 enduro has it for me.
Orange P7. Great do it all bike, that has been continually evolved over the years.
Likewise for the Five.
Whyte 46
s - Member
2nd vote for Jordan
It can't be Jordan, she's actually an earlier model that's been extensively refurbished and given a new paint job.
+1 for the Orange P7 bought my first one in 1996 and got another one last year, seems to have continually evolved. great bikes.
for full suss i love the Ibis Mojo, truely a beautiful bike
The bike that stepped things up for me was the Giant VT (2004/5 I think). The first bike for me that was capable of a bit of everything from XC to full on DH courses and was good at it. Enduro's couldn't take the hits like the VT could and yes I owned both.
HT would need to be the Cove HJ, Great bike.
The Enduro is a very good choice. A bike that started the decade and has evolved with the progression of trails and ability.
Personally, I would shout for the Kona Stinky for the same reasons as above. It has evolved to meet the demands of it's riders. I would kill to get my Stinky Six back... 😥
Orange 5.
I have tried but I cannot pick one!!
Never had the [b]Enduro[/b] but do remember it as a transition moment to those sorts of bikes, one of the first to make gnar accessable to non-DH riders
Spec [b]Stumpy[/b] (x2 in the house) - great alround bike, very effective if a little safe 😉
[b]Inbred[/b] (x3 in the house) - great alround bike, alway good fun, amazing for the money
SC [b]Heckler[/b] - (only one) even better than the above two, again makes everything fun
Orange [b]Fives[/b] - (we have had two), very good, if alittle noisy and a touch clunky 😕
And a vote for the [b]Cotic Soul [/b]- an all time great HT - if I could only have one bike it would be one of these so I suppose I have voted!
2004 Enduro
Turner 5 Spot HL
SC HECKLER!!!!!!!!!!
I've lusted after one since I was 12 and finally got one this year. I'm 27 and so, so happy with it!
heckler
Inbred
Chameleon
Enduro
Owned them all (still got the chameleon), all amazing bikes. Hard to choose between the inbred and chameleon for 'most smiles per pound' but I think the chameleon just wings it.
Anyone on here actually ridden Jordan?
SC Nomad +1
Inbred
I've had the Original, 456 & Summer Season.
Surely it wins on numbers, simplicity, fun, being Northern and quite possibly showing us how much things should actually cost?
No, that honour goes to the Cove Stiffee and the Santa Cruz Cameleon (sp?)
Nope neither, i think a kona of some sort did that (IIRC the chute)
As for bike of the decade stinky will get my vote. It can't be the indred or any on-one lets face it. Once you've learn to sin and get to see other countries no-one (see what I did here I am pretty chuffed) knows what on-one is.
Orange Patriot... which then morphed into the Five ( when will people accept it's essentially the same simple can-crusher bike?? )
Actually the Americans love the on-one 29ers.
For me, personally, it would have to be the Cotic Soul.
And by a country mile.
I've had a heckler, a handjob, a motolite and a vf2.
Cotic has been the bike of choice since I bought it.
Maverick ML7 - The early american built one's. Beautiful.
+1 on the inbred
Simplicity, cost and most of all fun
Cotic Bfe
Giant NRS.
Specialized Epic.
Kona Stinky...affordable full suspension that worked both down and up.
Freeride/AM/whatever for the masses that couldn't afford a Patriot/Heckler/5Spot...
Actually thinking about it more surly crosscheck is the bees knees. geared ss or fixed, 23mm road tyres upto 1.8 29er tyres and owt inbetween and all the braze ons you could want.except front rack mount but you can't have it all (well if you fit lht forks you can)
Isn't this just people mostly naming bikes they've owned in the last decade?
I don't think you can have a consensus on the best bike because most people have not ridden most bikes that have come out in the last decade.
I might be wrong but certainly suspended bikes get better over time as technologies improve, everything else that's attached is better (braking for instance) and become more accessible and affordable; otherwise if as this has a few votes the 04 Enduro/Jordan was the best bike of the last decade it would still be the current Enduro/Jordan, they wouldn't have been the need to redesign, change or improve, no?
I think (and again I may be wrong) the idea is redesign to make better so that what's current is the best possible version of what's been, so it would follow then that the current Anthem is better than the first generation Anthem (having taken rider/racer feedback, testing over a longer period, better forks, drivetrain, brakes, they even moved the position of the shock).
True most of it is marketing testicles but the main point stands, jå?
Cotic Soul
That first bike, the Stumpjumper FSR XC, in black. That was my first full sus. I found it incredible, I remember going out with a mate, my first ride on that bike and I absolutely thrashed him down a descent I normally minced down on my hardtail. Couldn't believe how much faster and more comfortable it was. Won a few races thanks to that bike!
As for the original question, I'd probably go for the Enduro as well. the bike that brought 6" travel to the masses, the bike that made MBR sit up and say that hardtails were dead and that you *needed* a 6" travel bike for trail-riding (OK, they were wrong but then they're wrong on most things...) The bike is still basically the same, a few tweaks in design, obviously suspension technology etc but it's fundamentally the same bike, proof of how good it is.
otherwise if as this has a few votes the 04 Enduro/Jordan was the best bike of the last decade it would still be the current Enduro/Jordan, they wouldn't have been the need to redesign, change or improve, no?
Those of us still riding '04 Enduros (and there seem to be quite a few) might debate whether the newer bikes are actually all that much better, or whether they've just followed a trend towards longer travel etc.
My '04 Enduro has had lots of newer technologies thrown at it - pro-pedal shock, lightish 20mm bolt-through forks (including some a fair bit longer than it was designed for), wider trail tyres, uppy/downy seatpost etc. - and has just kept on getting better and better. It's also still reasonably light even by modern standards (the frame is just over 6lbs with headset and shock fitted for my S-Works one).
I reckon if Specialized had just used the old '04 Enduro frame for the new Camber they'd still sell shedloads of them...
As well as a couple of '04 Enduros I also own several of the other candidates mentioned (Soul, BFe, Epic, Inbred)!
epicsteve
I take your point but I think the original question was about the bike as was as opposed to the bike upgraded. So in your case only the frame is '04? As a follow on question have you ridden the '11 Enduro?
I take your point but I think the original question was about the bike as was as opposed to the bike upgraded. So in your case only the frame is '04?
It is only the frame that's '04 now, however using my spares bin I could easily put together an '04 build that'd still be excellent (if a bit heavier).
As a follow on question have you ridden the '11 Enduro?
Nope, and I doubt I ever will as it's moved to becoming a type of bike I don't need. On the other hand I am actively considering a new full-suss bike at the moment but if I do it's more likely to be a Stumpie FSR (possibly a carbon one) as it's travel/weight etc. is more appropriate for me.
DMR Trailstar is my choice, I havent ridden many different bikes this last decade though.
Specialized SX of some variety for a full sus choice.
an 11 year decade? (ought to be 2001-2010)
but I'll vote +1 for Cotic Soul
Cotic Soul, SC Heckler and Spesh Enduro are solid nominations I would say.