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Hi, currently I have two mountain bikes, a whyte 629 29er hard tail for local tame xc type stuff and a Santa Cruz heckler fs for trips to Wales and back home in Scotland. Due to lack of space and the cost of running two bikes I need to replace them both with one "do it all" bike. I was thinking of a full sus 29er that pedals well and is a reasonable weight so I don't get dropped by my xc riding mates but could also handle a tear up on some rocky descents in cyb/Afan red and black runs!
Moon on a stick maybe? Any first hand advice appreciated!
Cheers Pete.
I've recently done exactly this. For exactly the same reasons 🙂
I've sold my Nicolai Full Sus and my Cotic Solaris in favour of an Orange Gyro. Not light (but then nor am I) but I'm really happy with it. Never done Afan but it will be perfect for C-Y-B for me.
If you like the Whyte what about one of those T-129s? That would have been in the running for me if I hadn't got such a good deal on the gyro.
The blokes at Alpine bikes seem to like the gyro
Dare i say it but a Stumpy FSR 29er Carbon ticks all the boxes for me. Had it about 18 months and is always the first choice for riding just about anywhere.
Simple advice: don't do it 🙂
One bike makes sense until you find out (just before that dream trip to Scotland/Wales) that it's cracked, or the suspension is shot, or the bearings have seized, or the brakes are leaking or any number of other problems have struck.
Mountain bikes take too much abuse to be able to trust that one bike will always be usable.
Some form of trail 29er like the Whyte T129, Gyro, Trek EX, Stumpjumper/Camber, Trance or Anthem etc
Which one looks good to you and what spec do you want for you budget?
Cube Stereo, 120mm, 29er.
Brilliant, light, fast, munches the miles, copes with the gnarly descents as well as the stiff climbs
roverpig
Simple advice: don't do itOne bike makes sense until you find out (just before that dream trip to Scotland/Wales) that it's cracked, or the suspension is shot, or the bearings have seized, or the brakes are leaking or any number of other problems have struck.
Mountain bikes take too much abuse to be able to trust that one bike will always be usable.
From experience this can happen with multiple bikes too!
Less bike is always the best option. Reduce the number of moving parts.
Therefore a singlespeed rigid fatbike is the answer.
This thread should be deleted. What if my wife reads this and realises that ONE bike could do it all?
Ha! Some good suggestions and some unexpected ones, don't know if I'm ready for a rigid fat bike just yet! One of the guys I ride with has just bought a carbon stumpy evo 29er, it's pretty awesome really but way out of my budget. Would be looking to spend around £2-2500 really after selling mine and raising some cash. The gyro sounds good, as do the other suggestions. Agree that one bike could go wrong at the wrong time but don't have much choice really.
I've read reviews saying that a fs 29er with say 120mm travel copes with the rough stuff as well as a 140mm travel 26er, any truth your experience? I'm not captain gnar shred but like a bit of downhill and a small drop/jump on occasion.
Other option would be frame only and a build, would it be feasible on my budget?
Bregante, how much did the gyro cost if you don't mind me asking?
depending on style
- anthem or an epic
- trance or a camber/camber evo
I have to make this decision in next month
As far as I can tell, the secret to having one bike to do it all, is to have quite a small all. For me, the closest is probably a really kickass longer travel full suss- but it has to be one of those that's nailed the "big bike that can ride little trails" thing, which is really a good trick.
Really didn't feel much love for the Gyro, it could be the ideal one bike for doing it all, not very well. Whyte T129 is a bit less interesting but cheaper and imo better at absolutely everything. Not that I liked it that much either but it made the Gyro look pretty poor imo.
Following on from [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-a-few-bargain-frames ]this thread[/url]
I got a large frame from probikeshop, with Fox ctd shock for just over £700 🙂
Last time I looked though, bikescene were doing them in custom colours for £999
Oh and Northwind,
that must be why mine suits me so well 😀it could be the ideal one bike for doing it all, not very well.
As much as my brain is struggling to compute the idea of just one bike....shudders....I'll say Camber EVO.
That was quite a grumpy post eh. "I recommend this other bike which I dislike slightly less" 😆
Whyte t129s fits the bill at the lower end of the 2-2.5k price.
While rolling wise I get that a 29er can get away with less travel I can't see how that works on drops which is where I use full travel more often.
I agree with you mrhoppy, what I meant with the travel question was more for bumps/rock gardens, but I would like the bike to be sturdy enough for a jump or two.
I don't want to turn this into a wheel size debate (I've followed a few on here!) but should I be looking at 650b. Fs too get the advantages (and disadvantages!) of both my current wheel sizes? If I was pressed I would have to admit to liking the speed and roll of the 29er over the 26"
how's about the canyon?
https://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3260#tab-reiter2
great spec for the cash as ever.
tho i'd probly not go for it myself cos i'd want rockshox spension!
and yes of course you should be thinking 650 : )
It's hard to not think about canyon bikes,but I've never even seen one never mind had a test ride,£2500 is a lot to spend blind.
Does look good tho!.........
Unless you are set on buying a new bike, can you not just use the Santa Cruz as your only bike? You may be overbiked on the smaller stuff but that's not the worst problem to have.
Somebody who joins our local rides turns up on a full spec downhill bike. He always gets the odd funny look when new people join but when he leaves us all behind on the climbs (or anywhere else for that matter) people tend to pipe down.
One bike makes sense until you find out (just before that dream trip to Scotland/Wales) that it's cracked, or the suspension is shot, or the bearings have seized, or the brakes are leaking or any number of other problems have struck
the thing about owning more than one bike is that this happens:
One of your bikes has a problem, but you want to ride, so you ride another one of your bikes. Do this a couple of times and you've put off fixing the broken one. But it doesn't matter at least your still out riding, and everything goes on happy until one day oh dear you have no bikes to ride and lots of bikes to fix.
Then it's a much bigger problem, because you really need to fix them all.
With just 1 bike, if it goes wrong, you fix it.
It's so much more zen.
llama - MemberIt's so much more zen.
Are you the [i]Dalai[/i] Llama then?
In classic stw tradition, I'm goingto recommended what I have, but hear me out. Giant anthem, but running 120mm fork, short stem wide bars, 1x10 and recently fitted a dropper. Ace on xc as designed for, extra weight added? Can't really tell, very good on the descents, ridden the beast in the peaks no bother, only time i felt under biked was on an uplift day at bringewood, and that was when I was running the fork at 100mm and long stem
Hooli, been using the heckler recently on xc stuff as the whyte needs chain/cassette /pads. To be honest it copes well albeit a bit slower being a fairly sturdy build, it just makes previously rare sketchy bits boringly easy!
Guess I want everything!
Wheelies have an Evo Stumpjumper (hardtail) ex demo bike going cheap
Not a 29er but built up my Transition bandit (26") with 150 pikes for under 2.5k and under 28lb. Its surprisingly good on the ups as well as the downs. I wouldn't discount 26" and bound to be some cracking deals around.
I've only got a Spec Camber, it seems good for all sorts of riding.
centralscrutinizer - Member
I've only got a Spec Camber, it seems good for all sorts of riding
26er or 29er?
Not a wheel size argument. Just curious as I have a 26er version.
Hooli, been using the heckler recently on xc stuff as the whyte needs chain/cassette /pads. To be honest it copes well albeit a bit slower being a fairly sturdy build, it just makes previously rare sketchy bits boringly easy!
Guess I want everything!
Put some really fast tyres on the Heckler for your local XC - quicker rolling and suitably sketchy on the interesting bits!
1 bike for everything?? A cautionary tale...
In December of 2011 I decided that 1 bike was all I would ever need. I went from a big ol' DH bike, and a little 'mess around in the woods' hard tail, to a 160mm bike that would do for everything, with a change of forks and tyres. For a while it did everything, a dh trip to the alps, trail centres, even a bit of road riding. Then I thought a road bike would be better for road riding, so got a modest specced one. Then I fancied a jumpy little hardtail, so build a single speed one mainly from spares. That was fun but not so good at xc/trails so built onto a more xc frame. Trouble was that wasn't so good at jumps so I got a BMX ( we are at 4 bikes now, try to keep up). I then (as part of some work I did for the lbs) I tested some more modern bikes (we are in 2013 now) and I marvelled at how much betterer they were than my 08/09 160mm rig. Weight and geo being the main points. So I sold my 160mm bike, to pay something toward the new one but delays meant I'd have to wait a lot longer than expected for it. Order cancelled and due to the money setting fire to my pockets, A new fast carbon road bike was bought at a massively reduced price. I then made the fatal mistake on going on a demo day, which saw me proclaiming on of the bikes as 'perfect' (125mm trail bike) and not having it in my life would be a travesty. So that was acquired. Then I started toying with the idea of a bigger fs bike for alps/big mountain trips and true to form, I fell in love with one (based on pictures) so when it arrives next week, that will tip the scales to 6 bikes for everything.
But I only wanted 1! You must be strong to keep away from temptation. And demo days.
It's a 29er, last year's model.
Why not just lighten up your heckler with the money from selling the other bike and use it as your only bike. There are tonnes of people that do it with that very bike in fact in the past I've been one of those people. Still a 1 bike owner but it's a Bronson carbon and I'm not gonna recommend it because of the ££££ associated.