NS Define.... tell me more?

MBR had a write-up a while back - if I remember they weren't particularly convinced it was a 'winner'.

Someone has spunked a lot of cash on that one, and doesn't look ridden - why they selling though if it's so good.

Blokey seems to buy/sell if you look at his history, whilst he writes like it's his bike, i don't think for a single second it's 'his' in that context.

It would be to replace my Fuel EX9.8 and give me something a bit more boing/bigger bounce and slacker geometry than the Trek.

I bet the owner looks like this

LOL i'm a KTM boy, so it'd fit in quite nicely with my other Orange.

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52231593139_bbbc937e18_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52231593139_bbbc937e18_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2nzwyVi ]2022-07-21_02-46-59[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Still considering this one. Bloke wants £400+ my Fuel ex9.8.

Rode mine at FoD today and it's ace, but I wonder if a slacker bike would give me just a bit more confidence.

Can you put a slackset in the Fuel ? cheap way to find out .

I'm unsure as it's got the knock-block headset to stop bars)forks hitting frame, but I've not honestly checked.

What is the HA of the Fuel?

66.5

Don't get me wrong, I love the Fuel, it's an easy bike to like and ride. But is it the best bike for me, heck I dunno

@weeksy that pinkbike link is broken have you bought it already?

I have a define AL 150 so can chuck in my two pence if you're still interested in getting one.

No mate I've not.

https://m.pinkbike.com/buysell/3436264/

But I'm very curious to hear.

This for example is making me doubt the value on the bling one
https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/3197874/

Sure the bling is cool, but is it over £1000 cool, I'm not so sure it is.

But sure, I'd love more thoughts please

Jesus that first one is hideous with all that orange

I really like my define. It's a beast and will ride very differently from your fuel.
I've got the fox dpx2 air shock and it rides really nicely. I never think about the rear suspension in a positive way. It's not a great climber, not terrible, but the slack front end (63.7 degrees in the low setting) and low BB do make it a challenge in techy climbs. I actually run mine in the high setting for a smidge more BB height and the head angle is still 64 degrees
It's a fun bike, it's given me loads of confidence on West Yorkshire tech. That MBR review will have been tainted by the stock tyres which were awful, I swapped then straight out and it's ridden great since then. Currently running assegai/dhr2
It's not a poppy, energetic bike, but you can get some really good speed and fun, even on fairly flat twisty stuff.
I'm just coming up on two years of ownership, bearings are still good despite riding all year and all weathers. Seen me through Ard rock and a few trips to bpw

Edit. Fwiw I've no intention of selling my define for a long time. I'll put a better fork on it some day. I may try a coil with a progressive spring. But I'm in no rush to do either

Lol the orange is a bit lairy yes. But I don't mind lairy.

Thanks for the write up.

I've been playing on my lads Status 160 which I'd closer to the define, but not in the same trails/terrain as I've ridden the Trek. So makes comparing them slightly tricky.

It's not necessarily about "what would I be faster on" as that's not the question, but what would give me more confidence.

My xc rides locally, speed isn't an issue as such as it's either solo or with a slower mate. So going to a less fast bike isn't a biggy.

But we've got some days planned at bpw, risca, about, dyfi. Etc

I've ridden it in fairly tame stuff and still thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I don't do jumps so tbh I can't comment on how good it would be on that type of stuff, but it's given me way more confidence on tech and drops. It ate up Wibbly wobbly at bpw
I'm not a fast rider, but much faster on the define because of the way it rides.

Yea I’d almost certainly ‘walk away’ from the orange one in no small part due to the seller - ad for a high value and more time is spent on rules/px details/etc than actually describing the bike.

Neither the advert nor the orange bothers me much. The main thing holding me back is the worry that I'll be just as crap on the NS as I am on the Trek, but then have a niche bike I dont like.
The Trek I really do like and feel at home on it.

The Trek I really do like and feel at home on it

To me that says exactly what you should, or more precisely shouldn't do...

To me that says exactly what you should, or more precisely shouldn’t do…

I hear you completely.

My thoughts are leaning towards my lads Status really now to give me answers. My lads mate has a G170 and loves it, but it's needing a seat post repair currently so I gave him our Status for today. He came back absolutely raving about how epic it is lol.

I'm thinking I'll set the Status up for me and try some runs on it. See if the slack head angle and slightly more travel actually works better or just feels like it does.

If it does, I'll buy it off him and put the £1800 into his new DH bike fund.

So the Define is still tickling my thoughts and there's a deal to be done potentially on this one...

https://store.webuycycle.co.uk/product/ns-bikes-define-150-2-carbon-full-suspension-mtb-2021-large/

Obviously a lot less lairy than the other one that had all the Hope stuff.... but the deal would also involve me not putting in any cash either.

As much as i think my Fuel is worth more... the reality from Ebay seems to be that it's arguably not

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134215131126?hash=item1f3fd85ff6:g:4R4AAOSwAUJimksp&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoA9MiR%2BjAgyrboe4sfHXWW%2FzZDsQUu578iZn1L1PY%2BKbHVKWmW1ctV9WnObMgXWMvBanNgCSQDCG2%2FKhGZwa8A9t1iHDn20M1KuOl3C72ioyCJguFcPjENORVpr7sBIn7snVb2Ixi1Ehq1h57uhhWcnAOiBnCibcLnes6YzulWcNue%2FdRZbAVXyMRRnMGIpZpMQXCfiKgCmnSTv1PJHhhvI%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4CKiN7xYA

This has been listed 5-6 times on Ebay (and is currently on there too) and he generally gets a max of £2000. So as much as i think mine is worth more than £2000 and closer to £3000, the market dictates it's not.

So i'm incredibly tempted to go jump on the NS Define to give me a bit more Gnar....

Well you lot are no use....

I bought it.

We all knew you would

I've been thinking lately of some of my riding and thinking "wonder if i'd enjoy/go better on a slacker bike. The favourite was a Specialized Status but this came up and i thought "well, why not give it a whirl, lets see what happens with it"

It's got the right geometry, it's a fun playful and good thing, so what's the worst that can happen... well, lets find out hey.

A couple of posts on here kind of swung it for me really... So the Trek is outgoing and the NS Define incoming.

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52394450566_c481cf1743_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52394450566_c481cf1743_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2nPVfKY ]BD94D7B0-60CD-4187-B37C-B8F88A0625E2[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52394750699_ff28972978_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52394750699_ff28972978_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2nPWMYF ]149318AF-3694-48CB-8907-9180A442CBFD-scaled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52394959238_683ca92b7f_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52394959238_683ca92b7f_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2nPXRYb ]C2EB2928-D778-43E0-82C9-40848F5C3E8C-scaled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52394450531_ed372e7c1c_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52394450531_ed372e7c1c_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2nPVfKn ]D4EF6267-2091-41E4-8F90-494CC4666774-scaled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

High stack height and low BB?

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52393975507_ea59fa0d37_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52393975507_ea59fa0d37_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2nPSPxi ]geo[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

slacker head angle too.

Is that from Bike WOrks Derby?

May be same company, webuycycle

Yeh its the same company. They have very distinctive photos.

Nice bike - hope you enjoy it!

Phew, thought you were going to have a horror story

Never brought anything from them or even been in to be honest. I cycle past it twice a day though on my way to and from work!

looks good weeksy.

In a weird twist of fate i sent to my LBS guy, Stefan at Rotec Cycles and he sold it to the guy who sold it to the people i'm geting it from.

So he knows the history and how many miles and it stacks up that it's done very few miles..

The only downside is, i'm going to have to enter a race on it now

@weeksy no idea about how good they are to ride, but we saw a couple of these in the Alps this summer in the same colour I think -sort of 'root beer' colour. They looked stunning - we were having a beer in Les Gets and got up to go and look at what they were as we didn't recognise them and they looked so good!

If you like the Fuel but want a bit more aggressive, why not a Remedy?

This is a mate's bike and I can vouch for the condition. He's got a DH bike which does all the heavy lifting.

I don't think a Remedy gives that much more. A Slash does.

I want a simple straightforward transaction though, I don't want a load of messers offering PS5s on eBay etc. So this way I give them my Trek and they give me the NS, move on, job done.

If someone came up with the right Slash or Status 160 I'd have been all over it.

I thought you already had a Status. Is it gone already?

Status went for the 2nd GT Fury in a straight swap. Arguably it was 1 size too small for me really. But if the right offer had come in on the Trek I could've been persuaded to keep the Status.

Looks nice. What are you swapping it for next week.

Only joking. I’m just jealous that you have the time and funds to swap out a bike if you don’t get on with it. With so many to choose from out there it gets really hard to find the ‘right one’.

Although it’ll need a Knightrider ‘Turbo Boost’ to keep up with the young un!

And you’re managing to get a lot more miles on them than I do at the moment. Can’t wait for my kids to get big enough to go for a pedal with (currently the nearest I get is pottering around a pump track with the twins).