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I am thinking of getting a new bike, something longer and slacker than my current bike. As this will be something of a departure from what I'm used to I'd like to demo a few options before I spend lots of money. Unfortunately for that, I ride XL bikes so demo bikes are not the easiest to find.
I'm looking for a long/low/slack or progressive geometry or whatever it's called trail bike. It doesn't need to have more than 140-150mm of travel and less could be fine. A 29er would also help make the huge frame look less misproportioned too.
So, what would you all suggest, particularly what might there be which I (an Edinburgh resident) could try out in XL? At the weekend I had a shot on an XL Transition Smuggler (thanks, bigjim!) so that may be an indication of the sort of thing I'm looking for.
Hightower, I reckon there will be on e rolling round peebles by Wednesday.... Just to to sit on one but a great looking bike and the 2 guys on them seemed to be having fun
The Hightower did look interesting but the price is pretty alarming. Also will there be a Hightower in the area in the coming week or an actual XL?
I would suggest looking at:
- Whyte t129; I've got one and can't get enough of it. Ridden XC marathons to some Enduro series. It does it all. Very competent for 120mm.
- Evil The Following; Great reviews and light, but expensive and questionable QC & CS
- Santa Cruz Hightower; New bike so unproven, but looks like a recipe for success based on the VPP platform on the Bronson and 5010. Expensive and you pay SC tax on it.
- Ibis Ripley LS
- Specialized Camber
- Canfield Riot; probably a bit OTT
- On-One Codeine; probably a bit OTT
The Whytes aren't available in XL, which I take as a personal insult as they're a lovely shade of orange...
I've asked at the Bike Co-Op and they don't offer any sort of demo service so while the Stumpjumper and others look interesting there's no easy path to a demo ride on one - unless someone on here has one and is willing to let me try it. 🙂
Didn't know that, sorry. They are ace bikes too 🙁
I was sat on Chris Balls hightower on Friday night, he was heading back to peebles and I think it was xl, though this was after some beers... [url= https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1645/24949811271_5c4f7ddcd6_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1645/24949811271_5c4f7ddcd6_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/E1JiDR ]IMG_20160212_184255[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikewsmith/ ]Mike Smith[/url], on Flickr
This was Cedric's, he was smashing some very good times alongside Graves and Keene on the 170mm enduro's so nowt much wrong with it.
Perhaps not entirely suitable as it's 650 rather than 29, but the Banshee Spitfire might be worth a look. I'm 6'2" and ride a large so I'd imagine the XL might be fairly large. It might be worth a visit to Pedals bike shop in Edinburgh, they do Transition and Banshee, and tend to have demos available.
Orbea Occam TR- i'm sure they'll get hold a demo for you.
Just built a Large 2016 Bronson coming from a Large 2015 & if the size follows through similarly on the XL's the increase in reach is very welcome & a great bike, mines set up with 34 150's in it & feels great.
The HT will be a really fast bike if you went 29er & would be my choice or a Whyte 130
Cheers
Mark
Specialized Camber is mentioned above but there's also the Stumpy 29er which is a degree slacker and 135mm rear, 140 mm front (same as the Hightower)
I've spoken to James at Pedals. They have no XL demo bikes but he put me in touch with bigjim, which is how I got a chance to ride his XL Smuggler. I currently prefer the Smuggler over the Banshee options but as I haven't ridden any of the Banshees (the Prime seems the most interesting) that's mostly for aesthetic reasons. I'm pretty sure though that it's an XL frame I'm needing, I definitely didn't feel overly stretched out on the XL Smuggler, anyway.
Transition Smuggler 😛
Yeti SB4.5c
What did you think of the smuggler? That might help to narrow things down a. bit.
double post
The Whyte T-129 is actually available in XL.... Also, the large G-160 is longer than most XLs out there, only beaten by Mondrakers and the Nicolai Geometron. Might be worth you having another look.
The Smuggler seemed promising but the conditions for the ride (quite a lot of snow followed by lots of trouble with my pedals thanks to very soft earth clogging up my cleats and SPDs) made it hard to develop a definitive opinion.
The Smuggler didn't do anything bad. I didn't feel too stretched out, climbing or descending. It could maybe have been a bit longer when seated and climbing but then its stem was at the short end of the recommended range for the bike (35mm, 35-50mm recommended) and the saddle could have been nudged back a bit on its rails.
On the more technical stuff we rode I was struggling with outside issues (mainly the pedals) which distracted me from paying more attention to how the bike felt. It didn't however feel unweildy despite having a longer wheelbase than any bike I've experience with. It felt manoeuvrable. I rode at least one bit that I usually find fairly challenging but despite being a bit distracted I got through it on the Smuggler with surprisingly little fuss. On faster and swoopier bits it felt good fun and easy to move around, but then again those bits always feel fun. 🙂
It didn't put a foot out of place, really, but perhaps due to the external factors it never gave me a stand-out moment, either.
Whyte T-129 - I hadn't realised that Whyte had started doing any XL full sussers. I'll look into that, ta!
Hmm, the T-129 isn't the Whyte with the lovely orange paint job. I am disappointed... Also, it's an XL with a 19" seat tube. Going by the Smuggler and its 19.5" seat tube it'd probably be OK with a 150mm dropper post (though the seat brace welds may be sorely tested) but not with the 380mm total length post its specced with. Who are these people with tiny legs and enormous torsos that need XL frames with such short seat tubes?
I would buy any of the variants of the Mega Tr frames CRC have on offer, this one is defo available in Xl, and build a bike round that.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-mega-tr-275-frame-rs-monarch-rt3-2015/rp-prod117264
I have the 26er with Marz 55 reduced to 150mm travel (the tr is 130 at the rear) and its an utterly brilliant trail/am machine.
Process 111s were going for some crazy cheap prices a while ago
Nicolai Geometron custom.
Might be worth seeing what the geometry on the revamped orange segment is like.
Thanks toys192, you reminded me about the CRC demo day at Innerleithen in May ([url] http://hub.chainreactioncycles.com/event/mtb-demo-series-2016-innerleithen/ [/url]). I've emailed them to see what in the way of XL demo bikes they'll be bringing.
I owned an Orange 5 before my current bike (Mojo SL) and one of the things I definitely noticed in the change is that the Mojo's rear suspension behaves much better under braking. For that reason I think I'll shy away from considering another Orange.
The Geomotron is probably a bit more bike than I need. In addtion given it's such an extreme version of the long and slack philosophy I would have to try it before even considering buying it - but at 200 quid for a test ride that's a big commitment for something I'm initially not persuaded about.
Are any of the discounted Process 111s still available?
Both the cheap ones are smalls. 🙁
If you can find an XL Orange Alpine Five, I know a tall chap that rides one. One of the most confidence inspiring bikes around.
Itd be worth having a chat with stevie D at I Cycles in inners about the Evil Following / insurgent too.
The new Nukeproof Mega 29er has pretty decent geometry, but a lot of travel, so not quite like the smuggler. http://nukeproof.com/products/mega-290-team-2016/
the saddle could have been nudged back a bit on its rails.
it's actually as far back as the limit marker, but you could squeeze another cm or something perhaps. The steep seat angle puts it further forward over the BB than older style bikes, which is good for climbing.
I've got a Smuggler, so I'm a bit biased, but if you are comparing different long, low, slack 29ers with short chainstays then you are getting into hair splitting territory. They all do pretty much the same job and seem to all do it pretty well. I had a demo on a (single pivot) Segment, which is a bit different to the (horst-style) Smuggler, but I'd probably have been happy with either to be honest.
It probably comes down to whether or not you want carbon and whether you've got a strong preference for (or dislike of) any particular suspension design. If not, then you might just as well buy the one that you think looks the nicest.
unless i've missed something, surely the pertinent questions are what do you ride at the moment and what sort of riding do you do?
once those are out of the way we can all go back to blindly recommending our favourite bikes / what we currently ride!
i'll also probably revert to my stock answers of santa cruz 5010 or bronson *delete as appropriate*
Chris has got an XL Giant Anthem and rides in the Tweed Valley. So it needs to have decent geometry to handle steep stuff, but also not have a stupidly massive wheelbase to make the tight stuff a chore.
The Bronson is an ideal valley bike. The 5010 *should* be not quite slack enough, but decent riders will make that bike fly around here, I'd argue it wouldn't help you build confidence on the very steep and technical stuff round here though.
roverpig - Member
I've got a Smuggler, so I'm a bit biased, but if you are comparing different long, low, slack 29ers with short chainstays then you are getting into hair splitting territory. They all do pretty much the same job and seem to all do it pretty well. I had a demo on a (single pivot) Segment, which is a bit different to the (horst-style) Smuggler, but I'd probably have been happy with either to be honest.It probably comes down to whether or not you want carbon and whether you've got a strong preference for (or dislike of) any particular suspension design. If not, then you might just as well buy the one that you think looks the nicest.
I'm a little predisposed against single pivots but otherwise I don't have much of an opinion about various suspension designs. I might though, if I got a chance to test more of them out. 🙂
Given the additional cost associated with a carbon frame I reckon one would have to impress me greatly for me to want to pay for it. Which again, would require a demo ride. Otherwise, well the orange Smuggler does look very nice!
I do feel though that there would be some benefit to test riding some more bikes. The Smuggler is at the lower end of the travel ranges offered by this sort of bike and is known for having a low bottom bracket height. I may find that something with more travel or slightly different geometry would be more to my taste. Buying a bike after a demo in less than ideal conditions without trying any of the competition doesn't seem like a great idea, to be honest, but it is not an unfamiliar situation for me and probably for many others who are not of average height.
sofaboy73 - Member
unless i've missed something, surely the pertinent questions are what do you ride at the moment and what sort of riding do you do?once those are out of the way we can all go back to blindly recommending our favourite bikes / what we currently ride!
i'll also probably revert to my stock answers of santa cruz 5010 or bronson *delete as appropriate*
The bike a new one would replace is an Ibis Mojo SL. I'm a trail rider. I don't race - not XC nor enduro. I've been on a bit of a skills plateau recently. I'd like to progress and I feel that one of these long/slack bikes could help me with that.
Edit: Rickon probably explains where I'm coming from/hoping to go to better than I did, though as I mention above it's my Mojo that'll get replaced, not my Anthem.
Do'h, forgot about the Mojo!
The Whyte G-160 or t-130 would be a great choice too, as they're very long for any given size, so it wouldn't look like a gate 🙂
Alpine have a demo fleet of them available too!
I think I will be asking in Alpine about the possibility of test riding a Whyte. I may need to supply my own seatpost though - 19" seat tubes and 380mm posts on their XLs! Who are they intended for, Mister Tickle?
The Smuggler is at the lower end of the travel ranges offered by this sort of bike and is known for having a low bottom bracket height.
Did you find the low BB to be a problem? I think a lot of the comments relate to the Mk1 smuggler. The latest version has a 5mm higher BB and comes with 170mm cranks as standard (rather than the 175s on the Mk1). But if you were still getting lots of pedal strikes then I guess it's still a problem.
Isn't the default answer to go into I Cycles and he'll sell you what he's got/can get whether you want it or not. 😉
roverpig - Member
The Smuggler is at the lower end of the travel ranges offered by this sort of bike and is known for having a low bottom bracket height.
Did you find the low BB to be a problem? I think a lot of the comments relate to the Mk1 smuggler. The latest version has a 5mm higher BB and comes with 170mm cranks as standard (rather than the 175s on the Mk1). But if you were still getting lots of pedal strikes then I guess it's still a problem.
I didn't. I was riding a custom build Smuggler mk1 with slightly longer than recommended forks. I don't know about the crank size. I'm not sure that I'd consider any of the trails I rode as particularly prone to causing pedal strikes anyway. I mentioned BB height mainly as I know it's one of the things where these bikes do vary, rather than because I noticed it particularly on the day.
stevenmenmuir - Member
Isn't the default answer to go into I Cycles and he'll sell you what he's got/can get whether you want it or not.
I should at least speak to I Cycles, though awkwardly they seem to be a Transition dealer at the moment. Given how much effort Pedals have been putting into plugging Transitions to me I don't think it'd be fair to consider getting one from another dealer!