[Closed] Opinions On Buying A New Bike - Enduro Too Much Or Just Right?

I have found a do-it-all bike is not at one end of the spectrum, so dont go too Enduro.

Also, its your legs, balls and skill that are most often the limiting factor.

There are some very capable "Trail" bikes out there, plus lighter tyres make a massive difference riding uphill.

Personal opinion would be go for the Enduro or Megatower.
Sounds like you're more bothered about descending performance than climbing or how fast you get round a full route, with the caveat of not holding up a group or leaving now energy to enjoy the descents. The 29er will definitely be better to climb!
Yea a full enduro might not be the prime bike for a local spin, but it wont prevent you doing it or enjoying it, while getting a bike that's ideal for the smaller stuff will hold you back at uplifts or the harsher Lakes descents.

Yep, you are right to be looking at long-travel 29ers for that kind of riding.

Will you be doing less of the trail centre stuff on the new bike? A 170mm rear travel bike might be a bit dull at places like Gisburn, but some pedal better than others.

A Spesh Enduro which is probably overkill for a lot of your (or anyone's) riding but will certainly be capable of anything. I ride a Canyon Strive for everything, I like it. Occasionally I wish I had a racier, lighter, bike but it's rare. You will be 'over biked' for the trail centres you mention but it's not crazy IMHO.

You will probably find that any modern bike will be faster both up and down than the Alpine, so you won't lose out on the climbs but will gain on the descents with an enduro-style bike.

WOrk out what you enjoy, if it's the downhill stuff, then the more enduro end the bike, the more you will be able to push those boundaries, if you want the uphills more, then lighter trail bikes, jack of all trades it's a trail.

Next step is looking at what you can get, the megatower and the enduro are great bikes, everyone i know who has one loves them, but again their climbing ability is more about the build, you can stick lighter tyres on, but they won't do well on enduro style runs, same with lighter forks/wheels/etc, you are giving up strength for better overall speed.

Personally, i had similar, i went full enduro, transition patro, 170/160, super gravity tyres that weigh 1.4kg each, coil shock, etc, etc, does it go uphill, yes, but slowly, does it give me confidence to push more stuff at the likes of BPW, Wind Hill, FoD, etc, yes it does.

Anyway, work out what you enjoy, build a bike around that, worry about the downsides when they happen, there are mitigations for everything, climb switches, two wheelsets, etc, etc.

IMHO don't buy an Enduro. But if you are set on it then buy mine when it comes back from Spec with the shock repaired imminently.

I have a Spec'duro 2017 Expert (carbon front end) bought on impulse after an Alps trip.

It is great for the Alps, and Finale, and for gnarr, but it ain't no use for really "Big days in the Lakes". It was great on four passes and other medium sized days out but whenever I'm doing a proper long day then I have to take the Anthem as the Enduro is just such hard work on anything north of 50km.

Shane really, because it's awesome going down, and indeed on short uphills ( it climbs better than any bike I have owned). But anything more than a shortish uphill then the weight starts to show.

So, I have one bike that is gear downhill, and one that it great on long uphills and flats.

Which is great if I'm in the Alps or finale or Corrieyairack or High Street but pants for all that in between stuff where I want to do like Ng rides without having to portage the gnarr.

Just get something in between

I've always ridden big bikes.

After ditching my first MTB in 2005 I bought a Spesh Enduro, everyone said it was too much "it won't climb" "you'll be over biked" and all that, but I loved it. Since then it's been Enduro - Lap Spicy, another Spicy, Cove G Spot, Tracer 275 and no my Bird 145LT, with a coupe of DH bikes thrown in when I REALLY want to be over-biked. That said I've been looking at a bike with 170mm rear, 180mm front travel and a 63 degree HA and thinking... hmm, we might have reached over-kill.

I mostly ride Trail Centres, but more and more local stuff, annual trip to the Alps and all on one bike. I even commute on it now and again.

6 months in and it's experience and technique that's going to help your climbing and not bigger wheels, that's not to say that new bikes don't have better 'tech' but you're still pretty new to this.

Get the Enduro and when someone tells you you're 'over biked' just tell them you like being 'under biked' for climbing and they're cheating on their short-travel or HA frames on the climbs.

So far its 5-2 to team full enduro.

Throwing out another option, what about an aggressive geo 150-160mm 29er such as the Orbea Rallon? 1 tick down from full enduro, would def be more than capable of any descents you hit and could be slightly easier to climb.

Go full Enduro.

In typical STW tradition, I would recommend the Megatower. Compared to my V2 Bronson I don't feel much difference on the climbs but the decents, yup...

Go for an enduro bike. They will be ideal for the type of riding you describe. Descending is obviously the strongest point but modern enduro bikes are are actually very good at climbing as well. I have an Orbea Rallon (150/160 travel 29er) which has been used for pretty much all my riding over the last three years or so and has never felt like too much. Lots of people online will tell you that you are overbiked for anything outside of the Alps but that isn't really a thing in real life so don't worry about it.
Also, going from 26 to 29 will transform your climbing.

Get the Spesh.
Great bikes and they actually climb really well (in my eyes). I can get up more on it than the carbon Stumpy I swapped it for.

Get the Enduro, they're awesome bikes. Mine's the year before (2019) they changed to the newer model, but TBH it's soo much fun, and it's ridiculously capable. I don't care that it weighs a bit than some other bikes, it's maybe a couple of seconds behind the shorter travel bikes I've owned on shorter climbs and maybe a few mins on some really long drawn out slogs, but really unless you're racing or have over-competitive friends, who the hell cares about climbing?

But in never misses a beat when pointed DH, and it's so much fun. Mines even got coil both ends to really make the weight weaners cry...

You probably ride more rocky stuff then I do in general. Most of my meaningful riding is in South Wales (Cwmcarn, Black Mountain / BPW) or FOD with some trips to Windhill and local trails in Bristol.

However I rode an Enduro bike with 170f / 160r travel (650b wheels) for the best part of 3 years for most stuff (HT for really tame stuff / playing on pump tracks) - and have gone back to a burly trail bike now instead. It definitely pedals better but still copes with all the technical stuff pretty well. Min’a 140f / 130r but if you looked for something 160 or 150f and 150/140r and 29er / not too extreme on the slackness that might be a good compromise for your mixture of riding.

I’m totally 650b so I’m not massively up on 29ers but there are a number of threads about such things recently:

Ripmo AF (not available for a while as out of stock)

Bird AM9 V3

Privateer 141

Santa Cruz Hightower

YT Jeffsy

Canyon Strive

Whyte S150

Norco Optic

I’m sure there are loads of others at this long travel trail end of things that I’ve missed off!

I'd say that it was definitely worth looking at the Jeffsy given what you said about your riding needs. Also anything that directly competes with the Jeffsy.

Just get something in between

Just get 2 bikes ... cheaper but upgradeable spec a short travel 29er and a alloy mega with Yari's for example...
Something like this will climb and do big days way better than a Hightower... and still do trail centres. Way overkill for Gisburn unless you do the DH line.

One of these will be more than enough for Revs or Dyfi
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/nukeproof-mega-290-comp-alloy-bike-sx-eagle-2020/rp-prod183316
You can switch dampers later and convert to a Yari
and you'll have change from a megatower...

I have a Spec’duro 2017 Expert (carbon front end) bought on impulse after an Alps trip.

It is great for the Alps, and Finale, and for gnarr, but it ain’t no use for really “Big days in the Lakes”. It was great on four passes and other medium sized days out but whenever I’m doing a proper long day then I have to take the Anthem as the Enduro is just such hard work on anything north of 50km.

Iv'e got a mega and last time it was used properly was Dyfi and Revs.
On the way home I went via FoD and it was way over biked for the DH runs. It just rolls over everything - no fun. Way prefer my Aeris MK1.5 set at 140mm on the back for places like that.

Go full enduro.  I have a 170 fr 160 rear 29er, coil both ends. Its does everything, and excels on the bits I love.

I personally wouldn't get a megatower, I'm still a little unsure what it is for. Have fun!

Its does everything

What really? The OP specifically mentioned big lakes days. You must be fit as hell to take a 170 & coil bike on big rides.

I personally wouldn’t get a megatower, I’m still a little unsure what it is for.

Er what? The MT is no different to other Enduro category bikes so this makes no sense.

You must be fit as hell to take a 170 & coil bike on big rides.

Nah, mines about 14.5kgs. it's fine, maybe 1-2 kgs more than a 140mm bike. It's really honestly not that much difference, big Lakes days out are knackering anyway, not much harder on a modern big bike.

@larry_lamb just my humble opinion, yours is of course equally as valid. I think it climbs ok and descends ok.

It had quite conservative geo 2 years ago when it came out, more so now.  Most enduro bikes now climb ok and descend brilliantly.

Recommend what you have time. Deviate Highlander. 140mm (150mm link available) 29er with a 160mm fork. Climbs well enough, not massively heavy, descends brilliantly. Designed n Scotland for riding in Scotland.

Fair few former megatower and enduro riders have them too 😉

@howsyourdad1 Opinion is not fact.

The geo is comparable with many other Enduro category bikes.

A Canyon Strive is even more 'Conservative' if you're talking about the fact it doesn't have a gnar 60 degree head angle but Jack Moir does alright on one.

The way some folk go on about pedalling longer travel bikes you'd think they're actually thinking of a dh bike!.

It's you that'll be riding it, not us lot! Buy what you want, you've been pedalling an orange around, anything else is gonna fell pleasant by comparison. 🙈😆

The way some folk go on about pedalling longer travel bikes you’d think they’re actually thinking of a dh bike!.

I had to drop my car off today 30 miles away .. (40 off road)
I could take a 170/160 Mega, 160/150-140 Aeris or a 100m HT.

Not only that I had a brand new frame waiting in the box at home just delivered.

Can you guess which bike I took?

Whatever Tracey rides, because whenever I see her pics it seems to be capable of, and just doing everything I’d want to do.

If you want a big bike, and it’s between the 2020+ Spec Enduro or the Megatower, then I can’t think of any reason why I would buy the Santa Cruz over the Spec.

Go enduro!

I've just got a YT Capra 29 Pro. It's an absolute beast downhill. I've just spent the weekend in Wales on it with a stop off at Flyup 417 on the way.

Bit draggy on the uphills at Afan but then generally I'm spinning up slowly anyway. Those long climbs don't really suit a punchy style. For local xc stuff I use my Stooge but for everything else the Capra is great.

I recently sold a Whyte S150 and bought a 2020 Orbea Rallon 170/160 model.

To be honest I bought it blind and on the first couple of rides realised I'd made a mistake. It just flattened everything I rode and made it fairly boring.

I sold the frame and bought a Hightower V2 frame and built that up instead. Dropped the forks to 160mm and the rear has 140mm. It feels much better for my type of riding. Climbs great too.

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Bird AM9, you won’t regret it.

If you only have room for one bike an enduro bike wouldn’t be my pick. I would be looking at something a little bit shorter shorter travel but with sorted geometry. My two picks would be stumpjumper evo or the priviteer 141. Both could be over forked if you felt you needed more travel and the evo can be over shocked (different length shock) to get more travel out back.

Ps I have a two bike set up of long travel enduro rig and hardcore steel hardtail and I wouldn’t have one without the other.

There's currently an Evil Offering and a SC Bronson in the STW Classifieds. Either of those would sort you out by the sounds of it. I'd go for the the Evil but I'm biased and I ride a similar one.

I had to drop my car off today 30 miles away .. (40 off road) I could take a 170/160 Mega, 160/150-140 Aeris or a 100m HT. Can you guess which bike I took?

I doesn't matter, I've one mountain bike, if I wanted to go and pick up the car, I'd pick out my bike...Here's the thing, after 40 miles off road, you'd be tired. Would you be 10%? 20%? more tired if you had used a bike with 20mm more suspension and maybe a couple of kgs heavier...who cares?

My two picks would be stumpjumper evo or the priviteer 141

The Stumpy Evo is certainly a bunch of fun, but TBH, it's also a  bit of curates's egg.  It has the geometry to really get going, but the suspension travel soon let's you know the bike's out of it's depth. Both the Privateers look like really good value fun bikes though.

Most of those 'big mountain' lakes descents you're talking about are regularly cleaned on xc hardtails.

I guess the question you have to ask yourself is which would you prefer: To become a better rider and be challenged occasionally, or just to go fast and have an easy time. Pick where along this spectrum you'd like to be and pick an appropriate bike.

Neither of these is better or more virtuous - but just about the kind of fun you want to have. Lots of people don't want to be challenged - look at the rise of big e-bikes for evidence of that.

The only odd thing is people who aren't self-aware enough to accept it.

You can become a better rider on a long-travel bike, you're just going faster as you're doing it.

The only odd thing is people who aren’t self-aware enough to accept it.

Really? you think that people ride e-bikes because they don't want to be challenged?  Only XC bikes are challenging? Long travel bikes are for folks who want an easy time?

Your post does read a little bit snobbish, sorry if that wasn't your intention, but it does read like that...

To become a better rider and be challenged occasionally, or just to go fast and have an easy time.

ahhhh these 100mm hardtail riding gods...

170mm doesn't turn your bike onto autopilot and do the riding for you. A bigger bike does however allow you to ride faster, go for rougher and more committed lines and hit more drops and gaps. All of these things are much more enjoyable than trying to pick my way down a hillside with a saddle at full height!

I guess its all horses for courses. A big travel bike will make the downs less fatiguing and give you more of a safety net, but the climbs will be a bit tougher. Whereas the opposite could be said for a shorter travel bike.

I just spent the week in Finale Ligure on my Norco Optic (140mm front, 125mm rear) and I loved it. it was a challenge on some of the longer, rocky descents, but nothing was unrideable on it. And I was keeping pace with my friends (starling murmur & ibis ripmo) and out pacing some strangers (oddly one on an Enduro and one on a Megatower). Obviously rider skill has a part to play in this. a fair few people commented how surprised they were to find out my bike had such little travel and 'tiny' 180mm rotors (without trying to blow my own trumpet!)

Its my one 'do it all' bike and it literally does do it all. Surrey hills, local longer rides, bike park wales, and anywhere else I end up riding etc.

for me personally, I rather have something a little more lively and challenging to ride the super gnar on, hence the shorter travel. But as many have said, the new generation of endure bikes pedal well, so whatever you choose, you cant go wrong! Oh and I guess on an endure bike, you will often be 'over biked', but never 'under biked'... so no excuse not to hit that 10 foot drop! 🙂

And one final point, it always surprises me how many megatowers you see, as I don't ever remember it getting overly positive reviews from the cycling press (unless I missed them).

renton

I recently sold a Whyte S150 and bought a 2020 Orbea Rallon 170/160 model.

To be honest I bought it blind and on the first couple of rides realised I’d made a mistake. It just flattened everything I rode and made it fairly boring.

This is exactly what I found ... though 1st couple of rides I was quite taken... then it got old pretty fast. I'd still take the big bike to Dyfi or Revs and to be fair it would have been nice at Havok but 90% of my riding it just smooths out the experience.

mark

ahhhh these 100mm hardtail riding gods…
170mm doesn’t turn your bike onto autopilot and do the riding for you. A bigger bike does however allow you to ride faster, go for rougher and more committed lines and hit more drops and gaps. All of these things are much more enjoyable than trying to pick my way down a hillside with a saddle at full height!

On my local riding my 100mm HT is way way faster ... but the main reason I ride it is when I'm riding with a younger and fitter mate. It makes the experience better for both of us.
Regardless I still have a dropper and use it for decent descents and jumps and gaps.

cha****ng

You can become a better rider on a long-travel bike, you’re just going faster as you’re doing it.

Yeah I now ride stuff on my XC HT I'd not have ridden without the experience on bigger bikes.
Where the big bike nursed me through some rubbish landings and bad line choices with experience gained I now just feel more confident.

Lots of people don’t want to be challenged – look at the rise of big e-bikes for evidence of that.

Most of my riding mates have ebikes, generally because they want to spend a larger percentage of their rides being 'challenged'.

Purist twaddle.

140/160 here. That's enough. Any more and it's EWS marketing and the needs of competition driving leisure usage. Lakes is more about how you set your tyres up, IMO.

I have an older enduro 2018 and am looking at both of these as a frame only upgrade for myself, the S4 Enduro is compatible to the XL Megatower size wise in reach , the megatower has a more BB drop but less travel (160 vs 170) but you can change the chain stay length on the mega with the long position being the same as the enduro I believe.

for the OP, I think it comes down to which you can get a better deal on, I have seen a lot of Megatower full builds being sold with a discount recently as this years have just come out which is a different colour scheme only really, no frame changes. I havent seen many places with the Enduro in stock let alone on offer, unless you get on well with your LBS and can try negotiate some kinda deal.

If you have time MTBR has brand forums and both of these bikes have there own sub threads for further reading up

Assume you mean 160/140 reggie?

Appreciate all the replies. They have all helped a lot and given me some good perspectives. It seems the Spec Enduro is the one that wins out and I was swaying towards this.

I need to go and ride them now and get a feel for the difference, as going from my 26 inch Alpine 160 is going to probably be quite an experience at first.

for me personally, I rather have something a little more lively and challenging to ride the super gnar on, hence the shorter travel. But as many have said, the new generation of endure bikes pedal well, so whatever you choose, you cant go wrong! Oh and I guess on an endure bike, you will often be ‘over biked’, but never ‘under biked’… so no excuse not to hit that 10 foot drop!

Having done the short travel thing, I can agree to an extent. On a bike with the right geometry, shorter travel is really good fun - and not 'much' slower in most situations. Things can get out of hand on rougher, steeper & faster stuff though I found. The biggest issues I always had was by the time you have a bike capable of being raced, or ridden hard, it's almost comparable weight wise as a bigger bike. My old SB130 actually weighed more than my new Enduro for example. The bigger problem was of the 3 shorter travel bikes I ran for a few years, is they aren’t up to constant harder riding. I broke them all, some multiple times.

Lots of people don’t want to be challenged – look at the rise of big e-bikes for evidence of that.

Not the case in my world. The reason I have one (and everyone I ride with who does too) is exactly the opposite. More riding for your money. Yesterday afternoon chasing the sun after work meant 22km & 1200m of descending in an hour & 15m. I’d get half that on my analogue.