I reckon, if I could only have one MTB (plus a road or gravel bike) I'd plump for one of these
https://intl.bikes.com/collections/element/products/element-c50-22?variant=41230868873379
Hmm, I reckon I could've got one if hadn't spent out on that nasty ebike...
I agree with pretty much everyone else 🙂 that a short-ish travel FS bike would probably "do it all" for you. But!
All about compromises.
What on that list do you do the most of. Buy the bike that is the best suited to that.
Live with the compromises for what you do less of.
I spend most of my time on the South Downs, so my Epic Evo works dandy for me.
...it is all about compromise; but I think it's about compromising around what you most enjoy rather than what you do most of.
In terms of what I ride, it's like 90% fairly trad XC bimbling. But the bit I actually ride for is the other 10%, which is about puzzling my way down steep techy things without dying. If I bought a bike for what I mostly ride I probably wouldn't ride it because it wouldn't be all that much cop for what I actually want to ride, if that makes sense.
So -- what do you prize most in the riding that you do? And what are you willing to compromise to make that as fun as possible?
A Santa Cruz Chameleon 2022 or similar with a 140mm suspension fork and a rigid fork. Plus as many wheel sets as you have space/ cash for. Plus various bars and stems.
29er trail wheels
29er gravel wheels
29er road wheels if you really must
29er single speed rear
27.5 plus rear for extra cush at BPW
29er plus front wheel for the rigid fork.
I would start by seeing whatever spec/level of Stumpjumper fits within your budget and use that as the benchmark.
It's the standard answer for an all-round MTB that covers most of what you outlined needing geometry/travel/kit wise OP.
From there I'd just look at the ususal suspects:
Bird/Trek/Nukeproof/etc/etc and see if anything stands out in terms of VFM, weight, spec and most importantly geometry...
If not just get a Stumpy, they're alright.
Geometron G13 with 160mm fork, coil and air shocks to chose from.
https://geometronbikes.co.uk/bike-archive/g13/
List price of £5k for an xt build gives enough for the coil shock as well.
play on woods- it's great
long rides over dartmoor- it's great in the peaks
Ride Coast path- pass
Occasional BPW trips- I'm off to the dyifi bike park this weekend
Occasional big mountain weekend- it was great in Whistler and in torridon
Overnight bike packing trips- it's been great on the Jen ride for several years.
Hmmmm. For me the short list would be:
Transition Spur - I have one and love it. It does all I need and more, but I would quite like a second bottle cage inside the main triangle.
Santa Cruz TR - it has that second bottle cage and seems to meet the bill.
Rocky Mountain Element - 130 front, 120 rear and seems very capable.
Ibis Exie - just looks fantastic and with 120 both ends should be good for most riding with wheels down and a few jumps too.
Id be looking at:
Nukeproof reactor
Evil the following
Canyon Spectral 125
All are very capable do anything bikes.
S works leki 10k.
Canyon Spectral 125
I'd be very tempted, but I think I'd go for the 150mm version instead.
Or another long-ish travel trail sled with a burly fork.
Another vote for short travel full sus. Pretty much covers 99.9% of UK MTB needs.
only got 1 mtb at the moment, 29" SS hardtail with 80mm forks, but that was only coz it was winter when I had to send my bikes to storage.
But for the rest of the year if I could only have 1 MTB I think I'd go with the consensus, a short* travel FS, ie my stage 4.
*still struggling to accept 120mm is short travel
Pace
Hope hb130
Orange stage 4
Reactor
Basically a 130mm 29er
Not posted here much for months.
I'm another in the 120mm+ 29r FS camp as my only MTB.
In my case it's a 2015 Camber Evo that is far more capable than me (but I'm not that good compared to many on here I'm sure).
My most common riding is South central bridleway bashing and it's on paper too much bike for that but it doesn't detract from the ride, even though a light xc rigid bike would be just as much fun but it's perfect at my talent level for trail centres, the odd Wales trip etc.
Not sure it'd be much cop for bikepacking. I keep meaning to give it a go but ... Time...
I reckon I would be just as happy with a slack but light 120-140mm forked 29r hardtail. That's maybe the next bike for cost and maintenance reasons.
