I've been reading the thread on what you did not get on with. So
What bike was instantly right for you.
Mine was
1 Khs Montana pro in the 90s
2 klein attitude race 2001
Both were nimble and responsive, nothing since has climbed like the klein.
My Curtis XC120
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Just felt *right* from day one.
My SS felt just right but then I pointed it uphill
Cannondale prophet!
My HL five spot, and my X-caliber, both just felt right straight away.. Even though there's ten years between em,
In fact the spot still feels good.. Even though its got little dinky wheels...
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DW Turner Flux
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And my old '08 Cove Handjob
This one:
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/77564901@N06/8148740832/ ]Snowy Soul.[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/77564901@N06/ ]Metalheart-UK[/url], on Flickr
Way, way, waaaaaaaay better than the Handjob it replaced. First time out was a real hoot, had me grinning from ear to ear. It rode like I remembered my old Explosif did (back when I could ride properly too).
My DMR trailstar. Felt good straight away and is getting even better!
My Hard Eddie, I wasn't sold on it at first (I wanted a FS). But now I love it, completely sold on the 29er wheel! Until I try a 650B I guess.
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My Genesis io id. And it becomes a SS this weekend for a trip to FoD.
Santa Cruz solo. Shame I can't afford one, yet...
My Malcolm Smith Racing from back in the day and my Jones now.
Been through most of the trends !!!! But just rebuilt this and it's all I need 🙂 🙂
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/54931015@N07/9576112425/ ]image[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/54931015@N07/ ]Plus one2010[/url], on Flickr
Specialized Demo 7
Commencal Meta SL
Cotic Soda with 130mm Revs. Just felt... right
29ers. Each one I've ridden has felt better for me than any 26" bike.
My Turner Sultan was the first bike I'd ever test ridden and I knew from the first time I went round a bend and over an obstacle that it was the bike I thought it might be.
Charge Blender
Scott Voltage
Roberts DOGS BOLX, perfect right from the start.
Yeti Asr sl, nothing I have ridden since has even come close!
Does almost straight away count? The stem on my BFe was too long on its first rode (90mm) so I put a shorter one on (70mm) for the second ride and it was perfect.
The build hasn't changed in the 18 months that I have had it!
Intense Tracer 275. About 50 pedal strokes in, I knew I had to have it.
99 Kona explosif - been looking for that perfect ht ever since. Never quite found it.
Ohhh, my Klein Attitude... Loved it.
And my Niner One9
Ok how do you do a quote thing?
Ohhh, my Klein Attitude... Loved it.
One of the bikes I wish I had not sold too.
My Solaris. So much so it's got me thinking about selling my full sus
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My 2010 Stumpjumper FSR. Felt at home on it within a few hundred yards of leaving the car park....love it.
I built up a ragley Piglet when the first came out, first ride up the road it instantly felt perfect and it loved it. Shame it snapped a few months later. Got a soul now, it's nice but not as 'right' as the Piglet was.
my 2010 anthem x 26, medium with fox set-up. Just so confident on it, felt i could take on any trail esp the ones that eluded me in the past. And bloody fast too. 🙂
It's been te only mtb I've used since I build it.
Light enough , climbs far to well for a big bike
And gives me huge confidence on the rough stuff
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Also love my late 70s steel road bike was a £100 bargain
Just feels perfect for me and only a tiny bit slower than my Sunday best bike
An old 2006 Santa Cruz bullit it made me feel very confident and able to do more than I should of been.
2004 Spesh Enduro. Nicked 6 months after i bought it. In my opinion Spesh have been going downhill since.
I also like my current Orange Five, but i can't say it felt instantly right.
Early 90's merlin mountain. Could not believe how different it felt to anything else I had ridden, lively, fast and just so much better than I imagined a bike could feel.
Some others have come close:
My mates Orange P7 was impressive the first time I had a go
Similar with an explosif
I guess it happens less often these day as most bikes are pretty good, there's very few complete duffers.
1992 marin eldridge grade which replaced my 1988 dawes ascent.felt like night had become day.
2002 cannondale F800 lefty absolutely loved that bike.sold it in a moment of stupidity 🙁
2007 Cotic Soda with 120mm forks
2012 Turner 5-spot with 150mm forks
Both felt good from the off.
2012 Spesh Camber Elite bloody great bike!
But now replaced with 2011 Enduro 😀
Spesh Tricross. Loved it from day one and still do.
1991 Kona Explosif with all the lovely xc pro stuff on it.
1998 ti Sonic boom
2011 Van Nicholas Tuareg ( only needed to change the stem )
Surly 1x1 specced by Matt (the ex ST ad man) when he ran the MTB side of Chelmer Cycles. Perfect from the off and still my favourite bike 9 (NINE!) years later. Gone through multiple drive train parts and tyres, but nothing else has been changed.
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Ragley MK1 Bluepig 20" loved it, beat the shit out of it Lee Quarry constantly. Sold it as usual, regret it ever since.
See other thread
All of jeff jones frames I've ridden..steel, ti, diamond, truss..all just feel right straight away. Elsworth epiphany, felt virtue and my black sheep have also just clicked straight away. Some of this could also be down to the fact that I'm super precise and anal with my bike builds and set ups, so I know that the first ride on something I've put together should feel spot on.
Seems a lot of old bikes felt right ! or was it becos we wos yunger then 8)
cotic BFe 140 revs
Kona Cindercone - 1986
My 456 is probably the bike that felt instantly spot on. I jacked in my fs bike for the parts to build it up and never missed it.
Not a chance I'd get on a bike and it would be just right - ok, maybe, but it would be a fluke.
Always something to change from stock.
'97 Lava Dome - great bike, but never been 'right'
'06 Enduro - felt almost right straight away, but became less so with time
'08 S-Works Enduro - feels almost there now, 4yrs after I built it and have changed it lots along the way.
I started a similar thread a few weeks back.
2004 litespeed obed - friking awesome frame.
Love getting out of the saddle and hammering it up hills
Cannondale scalpel 2012 - just fits and rides like a super comfy hard tail.
One special bike i'll never sell.
Beone carbon team frame 2012 - very light 1000 grams and just the most responsive geometry.
Strange but true, 2010 dahon mu XL sport - mental fun for a commuter. Rides far better than you'd think it should for a folder.
2011 Kona Explosif and a 2012 King Kahuna 29er both fit me well.
My Morewood Kalula:
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The most fun I've ever had on two wheels.
My road bike felt pretty great from the off too. It's a Kuota Kharma Race. No piccies, though.
i Like the Morewood looks ace!
Mk1 Inbred. Wonderful, it was like I'd found an old friend
The very first pompino.It felt pretty good from the start but then we just fell in love. On paper it was too big, too heavy and ugly as hell.
In reality it was perfect. More smiles per mile per pound than any other bike I've ever owned.
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/53067724@N00/168807764/ ]pompy1[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/53067724@N00/ ]Jon Wyatt[/url], on Flickr
Curtis S1. Even more so now its got 780mm bars on it:
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Believe the hype - these two instantly felt like the best bikes in the world:
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Not many straight off, but ones that feel / felt right:
[b]Inbred SS[/b], bought 2nd frame years ago, built with all the scrap bits, which I have never changed/had to service or replace - don't think it would suit many but always feels, within metres, to be just right.
My [b]Cotic Soul Mk 1[/b]: again bought very used and built up with 'grunge' parts, loved it, it was always great everywhere
Years later, trying to get that feel again, bought a new Soul, has never been the same : ( did I change or is that different
My [b]Merlin ti[/b] so different when new to any thing else up to then and still feels great until you point it down steep stuff
[b]Blur 4x[/b], needed to shorten stem twice, increase width of bars twice but now 'bloody' fantastic on any thing with a downwards slope
2010 Soul - loved it when I first got it, still a beautiful bike to ride
I had a knolly endorphin which is the best descending 140-160mm bike I've ridden before or since. Bit of a pig on the climbs. Then I had a DW 5 spot which climbed like a monkey but I just couldn't push it pointing down.
I now have a LTc which as an all rounder I'd utterly fantastic. It really shines in the corners and likes to get off the ground. Bonded with it as soon as I got on it. Can't see me ever selling it.
I don't miss the spot, just a bit too mild mannered although I do miss that batshit crazy lunatic knolly sometimes.
A gt 26 gt peace ss, felt so right, regret selling it very often, often find myself looking for it on The classifieds.
Marin Wolf Ridge 6.8 2009 model.
Its heavy at 33lb, but its the only bike ive ever sat on on & thought "yes".
Fit me perfectly, bars/stem/saddle all original although it now has a dropper post. It goes uphill well enough for such a big bike and downhill is a complete blast!
Its the first bike i reach for even when the route calls for the XC bike, its just so nice to ride.
Only two, my old Gary Fisher Tassajero and my current Yeti SB66c, hope to keep it for long enough for 26" to come back into favor.
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My 2000 Zaskar X.
My Scott Genius 60,just feels like an extension of me when riding.
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/68417415@N02/6223280138/ ]IMG00115-20110829-1348[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/68417415@N02/ ]aftershock961[/url], on Flickr
High end 95 steel Marins
Original Giant NRS team bike (Belonged to some Dutch rider or other. Had to give it back, but bought one straight awfterards!)
Batavus Single
Niner air 9 scandium, amazing from the start and felt great even with heavy wheels and tyres on, was gutted when it broke, and when my girlfriends broke in the same place i decided not to have another niner, i replaced it with a solaris which despite being steel manages to feel loads harsher than the air9 but still more flexy and less responsive.
3 bikes have felt brilliant from the minute I built them. 2005 Giant Trance, 2006 Spesh bighit3, and 2012 On-One Macinato.
Looking at the other thread I seem to be in a minority by loving my steel 456?
Bontrager Race
Orange 1993 Clockwork
Sanderson Life
- both bought as frames only and built up by myself
Kona Sutra - felt right straight from the box - improved with a Brookes saddle
1997 Team Marin - Couldn't believe how light and fast MTBs had got when I first rode it, or how powerful V-brakes were. Love at first ride and the relationship lasted a decade.
2007 Giant Anthem Zero - Ditto, but with disc brakes and (3.5inches of) suspension.
2010 Zesty - Demoed one out of curiosity, had to buy one. Loved how it pedalled and handled so nimbly for a 140mm bike.
2011 Foxy - Bowled me over staright away with its cornering ability and stability. If it hadn't turned out to be a tad long I'd have kept it.
My 2010 Giant Anthem X - felt super fast and I loved it on XC trails.
Nicolai Helius CC 2009 - built it up new in 2010 and instantly knew it suited my riding. Fitted a new shock to replace the DT Swiss on but it was basically right from the start. Still riding it now and no intention of changing it for the foreseable future especially since fitting a Revelation Ti fork which works so well with it. It feels so plush and like it has much more travel than the 5 inches on offer.
Kona Explosif 650b and the On One Fatty.
Ahhhh, my BFe!
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You know when you just jump on something, and it's light and responsive and that little bit springy and accelerates well and is easy to handle in the air and stable at speed and just a complete barrel of monkeys to ride. That. I have been known to quote that I could never love a human child as much as I love that bike.....might be a bit strong, but it's definitely a keeper 😉
My previous bike was an Intense Tazer VP, I think the contrast between the 2 really cemented the BFe as "right" for me. It was mushy, awkward, and short.
buzz-lightyear - Member
Intense Tracer 275. About 50 pedal strokes in, I knew I had to have it.
After testing about 6 120mm bikes on consecutive weekends, I jumped on an ASR5. I got exactly the same feeling. That was a Sunday morning, there was one in the post 24hrs later.
G.T Ruckus 2.0 '06. With a set of pikes, beefy wheels and single ring it became God.
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This:
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Giant Anthem 2007, bought in 2009 - And it still does feel bang on, long, low,light,flickable, climbs like a goat..!
My Blur LT2 - Bought the frame unseen secondhand and first time I rode it after replacing my Heckler I was grinning from ear to ear. Great bike.
All of my Fat Chance Yo Eddy's
And the 96 klein adroit
Singular swift
Ventana el toro SS
Dale prophet
Mojo HD and my cheap Chinese carbon 29er.
Hey Chunky, I've seen your other posts about your 29er, could you provide a link and/or some more info regarding what frame it is? I want one too! 😀
Cotic BFe. After getting rid of my Chameleon and getting a Kona Coiler to do the Mega a few years ago I got to missing having a hack bike I could just pick up and go ride anywhere. Built it up for about £500 with Pikes and a load of bits I had lying about and it just seems to fit the bill perfectly for me.
The missus' Whippet. Shame she threatens murder every time I broach the subject of making it mine.
My '08 Lapierre Zesty.
With the 80mm stem and 670mm bars it tends toward xc riding I'm now moving on and trying wide bar+short stem.
Patriot.
SubZero.
And most recently a Five.
6 years after getting this
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i've not even thought about getting another mtb