really? i think the hatch is genius, shows where we are with carbon as well,

the less i have to carry in my jersey pockets the better

I wonder if the glovebox will fit a ginsters…?

Personally I think it’s a stupid gimmick.

Curtis Keene seems impressed going by this lol
Instagram video

I had a go on a 2016 Stumpy the weekend before last – my first go on a 29er of any kind. Compared to my ’09 FSR…

Suspension felt nice and plush and the tyres were a lot more grippy than my half worn Captains.
Cockpit felt weirdly low and close when stationary but fine when moving. Bars 100mm wider than I’m used to.
Seemed to bash through stuff more easily – not sure if that’s the wheels or the weight (four pounds more than my bike).
Rolled slightly better on fire roads, no faster on simple climbs, more effort to get round sharp corners but that’s slightly offset by being able to roll over stuff more easily.
Brakes were grabby, but they were brand new and only low-spec Shimano.

The week after that I dusted off my hardtail (and measured the bars – 600mm !) and surprised myself how much faster it is. A lot. Unfair to compare FS & HT I know but it’s over 11 pounds lighter and that is very very noticable. You don’t need FS around here (Swinley).

So overall I’m not rushing out to buy a new 29er. Would be nice to try the S-Works version though…

Satchm00, on the pinkbike review they said the 650b now has its own front triangle as opposed to your one that shared the 29er front end.

I like it, in aluminium that is. You don’t get the silly glove box with the Alu version so a slack-ish 150mm FS that rides well and still has a dealer network would be my choice, I’d upgrade everything else as I went.

Only caveat, Spesh seem to be converging the Stumpjumper and Enduro like Lapierre did with the Spicy and Zesty, difficult to tell them apart now IMO.

Strangely I like it. Having owned an old M5 S-Works a good few years ago I seem to have a bit of a thing for Stumpys.
I may check one out if a local shop has one in. Not sure about wheels size, might make my mind up once I see one but heart says 29er for me ATM.

Wonder when they’ll start discounting the 2015 models then. Anyone know?

It’s a big jump isn’t it between models. The trek remedy is the same. The remedy 8 is under 2.5 and the 9 is 3.5k

I absolutely despise carrying a camel pack, I love this idea.

I was thinking that, could be a lot of fun and better future spares.

Still way too much money though.

Wonder it its a niche on one will explore. I still think the “next big thing” should really be manufacturers pushing better mid range bikes. £2.5k is not an entry level, the old Pitch proved a sucessfull design, where’s its replacement!

On-One are down a designer. Check out Alpkit Bikes now, in association with a certain Mr Brant Shedfire Pact

True, but those alpkit bikes look a bit too niche, and they’re not 150mm FS bikes.

maybe, presumably a 142 hub would fit with a couple of bodged shims or even official addapters for most hubs, ditto a normal chainset would probably work with the chainring in the outer position rather than middle.

It’d be like having race and every day wheels, or a choice of tyres. I usualy have summer tyres on my light wheels and winter tyres on the heavier ones. The fatty would just get my ‘swinley’ tyre choice (something all round), and the 29er would get my ‘chilterns’ tyres (slicks in summmer mud tyres in winter).

Did anyone find out of the 650b Fattie would take a 29er wheel tyre?