For me it would be Lapierre Zesty / Orange ST4 / Gary Fischer Roscoe / Yeti 575 / Santa Cruz Heckler / Spec Pitch / Pace 405
don't know why really - just the ones that take my fancy at the moment, with Pitch as the "value" option
a custom hardcore hardtail 29r with 150mm forks....
Fair play, that's a good selection.
I'd like to see fewer bike tests and (even) more articles about riding.
nothing - I find ST reviews 99% irrelevant to me.
haven't they already reviewed most of those
Can't disagree with that. I know it's a bit MBR/WMB but how about Stumpjumper vs Fuel vs Orange 5/ST4 vs something Canondale vs something niche
why the ST4? surely if you were comparing it to a load of 6" bikes then a bit out of place?
Never seen the point of bike tests, just poping allong to a demo day would be a much better idea, especialy as afer reading reviews of spesh bikes I was convinced i wanted a large pitch pro.
ST (I think) review of stumpjumper hinted at short TT's, hence wanting a large, Dirt hinted at the stem's being too long, another eason to go for a large and swap the stem, and specialized website says large for my size (6ft, but with short legs). Having ridden a large enduro at a demo day I can confidently say it would have been a (very light) barge and not at all what I wanted!
thisisnotaspoon - well i think that is my point probably.......... most tests tend to be 5 inch bikes, 6 inch bikes, hardtails, "boutique" bikes, but I'd like to see how different types of bike compare eg I'd like to see how the shorter travel ST4 compares to the others. Similarly the Pitch. The general theme in my group is do-it-all type bikes - fairly burly but not overly heavy (27 - 30 lbs ish), can be used as your only bike. So I should add a hardtail in there - something like Pace 305 (?) or Cotic etc
I found the recent Kona something / Roscoe / Spicy test interesting as it compared different types of bike
richc yes - most have been tested, but not back to back
Personally I'd love for any mag to really put the phrase "all mountain" to the test. A group test with 5 -7 inch do it all bikes involving which would involve torturous climbs and even more torturous descents, somthing akin to a world cup dh track like champery. See whats what.
The long-term test write-ups are a lot more interesting/informative than the ordinary bike tests. The long-term tests give some insights that you wouldn't get from a demo day ride.
I'd like to se The Grinder expanded to fill the entire magazine.
Same components on all bikes different frames - Blur LT2, Tracer, 5spot, Hummer, Pitch... only because those are the 5 different frames I'm interested in.
However it does annoy me when a bike mag reviews a bike which you buy frame only but has different components, not really scientific, just change one variable!
Whatever they review a good 'un anyway, they just try and pigeon hole the bike into a niche (or, less cynically, into a riding preference) instead of criticising it.
I'd like to see a group of people who claim fs is just as fast as ht to ride a timed run down a rocky peaks descent on a decent full suss then match or beat that time on a similarly decent ht...