If you we’re looking for a 29’er FS in the 100mm travel range for general trail riding, trail centers, marathons and XC racing, basically one bike for everything i want to ride. I’m no downhill trail thrasher but I’m not exactly a slouch either, so what would you go for?

I’m thinking either an Anthem or an Epic, or even one of those new Rockstar Carbons that are due soon

Anthem or tall boy.

This

Santa cruz superlight 29er. Looks really nice. Good price and simple.
Reviews suggest it isnt just an XC machine.

Nicolai Helius AC 29r custom ??

Whyte M-109 S
Superfly 100
Tallboy (weight might be a deal breaker unless you can afford carbon one)

All are very good. Tallboy the most ploughy, straightline and tough, Superfly the tidiest and a really nice mile muncher but still sorted trail manners, the Whyte somewhere in the middle but a lot fun and very lively if you can get the S model with Carbon wheels.

Budget?

niner?

niner – which one?

We’ve got a demo anthem to play on (medium) not too far from you.

I’ve always liked the Cannondale Scalpel. But I do like a Lefty!

Have been v impressed with the Spesh Camber I’ve been riding for a few weeks now.

Salsa Spearfish
I mostly use mine around here (Thetford, Tunstall, etc) but it was great around Dalby too. Just enough bounce to take out the sting but still a pretty rapid sprinter. Full set of replacement bearings is £45. RM Element not a bad bike but my mate went through a set of the ceramic bushings in double quick time and Evans couldn’t/wouldn’t get any in and after pushing took some out of a display bike. The Spearfish is also lighter. 😉

I wouldn’t hesitate for a second before I bought one of these: Orbea Occam

Rorschach – Member
We’ve got a demo anthem to play on (medium) not too far from you.

I think I’m heading in that kind of direction. Defo need to ride one, might wait and see if Dan will let me have a go on his

Tallboy carbon is too expensive as is the Nic, niners are in the same boat.

Spearfish is a possibility but I’m not convinced about the flex stay if I’m honest.

Don’t really like cannondales

Camber Carbon.

That Orbea is well nice but it’s bloody expensive!!

It is but the metal one is cheaper and the carbon rims cost a lot too. I’m giving this back sometime to try the metal one so ill be interested to compare them.

Turner carbon 29er 🙂

A mate is selling THIS if interested

Steve, I’ve sent you a text, but in case you don’t see it… I’m off riding the Whyte Demo bikes tomorrow night, T129 and M109 included. If you want a demo on either any time you’re back in the area, just let me know, I’ll get it sorted for you…

+1 For the Anthem – love mine!!!

mboy – could you either drop me an email or post here with your thoughts on the 129? Really seriously considering going that way now (129S)!

Cheers

Will do Capt Kronos

If you do decide to buy a bike, get in touch too, I’ll probably be able to help you out.

LBS was offering the M-109 S for £2500 which I thought was OK considering carbon rims and all.

You need to have a spin round on it yourself and make your own mind up AND compare it to other bikes. I was left underwhelmed. It has alot going for it – lofting was a sinch, the rear suspension worked very well and was super efficient on the climb with no bob. The Fox CTD fork couldn’t be locked out and had terrible bob when in the climb mode. LBS said the fork needed servicing… The fork steerer tube had been cut right down to the stem was on the HT. I usually run spacers. Small point but combined with a possible dodgy fork made the descending bar height quite low and compromised.

But there was something more fundamental which didn’t sit right. The bike didn’t feel agile, spritely and willing. It didn’t equate to a long-term fun ownership – for me, on the trails I ride it has to be said (woodsy, hilly, steep).

The RM Element I ended up buying, from the first few pedal strokes felt right at home. Quick, agile, alive. I just wasn’t totally convinced with the Whyte and it wasn’t until getting onto something else (including back on my much loved rigid – very different bike I know), in this case the RM I immediately could see the difference

YMMV of course. I’m looking forward to seeing what mboy makes of the Whyte bikes. Hope this long winded helps and gives you something to look out for. Good luck

Not sure if they’re available yet, but BMC are pushing their new Fourstroke 29er as one bike to do it all:

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/06/19/revealed-and-ridden-bmcs-2013-fourstroke-fs01-full-suspension-29er/

And they claim that their sponsored marathon racers AND freeriders are using it:
[video]http://vimeo.com/44228567[/video]

The carbon fs01 comes in quite pricey, but there are some interesting lower end models, including a reasonably priced alloy version.

I ride a 2012 Carbon Epic, i totally love it.

Riding wise i seem to ride pretty much the way you do. The bike has worked really well in every situation i have put it in, from racing short track xc to riding fairly rough natural trails.

It climbs faster than anything ive riden in the past and it certainly descends well enough. I only have one mtb and this seems to do everything that i ask of it. The anthem is another good choice but i guess looks count for something and i really dislike the entire Giant mtb range.

I have to agree with the looks thing, there’s something about Giant bikes, the straight TT & rear suspension layout…

I do like Specialized though and think they make dialled bikes – I own a 120mm Epic FSR 29, which I really like except for two things – it’s too much bike for my daily riding (not really a negative is it), and the other thing is the brain shock. It has issues – then you have to take it to a Spesh dealer, who charges £120 to service it.

Spesh replaced my shock & brain even though I bought the frame/shock from the US and the bike was just out of warranty, so top marks there for Spesh CS. Brilliant bike apart from that

Right, here goes, didn’t get a huge amount of time on the bike, but I rode a T-129S this evening and here’s some of my thoughts… Sadly didn’t get a go on the M-109, but hopefully soon I’ll get the chance.

Spent perhaps 50 minutes on the bike (spent the other half of the ride on a 29C Team, which was ridiculously quick and would make an ideal 24hr bike IMO) so not a huge amount of time, but was riding it on fairly familiar trails. I don’t like to use cliche’s, but probably because of the short chainstays and the slacker than normal geometry, you don’t notice the wheel size like you might do on some other 29er’s. The bike is lighter than you’d expect for a 120mm travel 29er full sus, which helps going uphill for sure. It’s certainly not as quick up hills as the 29C Team HT I also rode, but it’s no slouch. Suspect the M-109 would be more of the same only a bit quicker owing to less weight and a bit less travel.

Going downhills the bike is as you’d expect, pretty awesome. Incredibly stable, yet also easy to move around on, very forgiving of a clumsy rider for certain. I’d like a good day or two on the bike ideally in the future, as I suspect given time to get more used to it and setting it up exactly how I’d like it, I suspect I would get very confident very quickly on the bike and it would be quicker downhills than pretty much anything short of a full on DH bike.

The flipside is if you want a lively, playful bike to accentuate rather than flatten the terrain it’s not going to be the bike for you, but then you’d probably already be looking at a steel Hardtail if that’s more your thing. As a ride anything and everything as quick as you dare, for as long as you dare without it trying to bite back at all kind of bike, it’s probably pretty close to perfect. I also expect the M-109 will be very popular with endurance racers as on paper at least it looks quite similar though lighter and shorter travel, probably an excellent bike for bashing out lots of miles on.

My main criticism of the bike was the SRAM drivetrain, but then I’m a big Shimano fan and not so keen on the way the SRAM stuff works. But that’s not exactly hard to change if you wanted to, or you may well prefer SRAM to Shimano yourself anyway. Oh, and the Avid Elixir brakes, but again, big Shimano fan there too…

You can bet they’ll sell very well though, for £2k with a Reverb and spec it has alone will clinch it for a number of people, but people looking for a proper hooligan bike that’s still very quick elsewhere will love it for sure.

I’d have one tomorrow if I had the money and the space for it. Both would mean selling one of my current bikes though, so we’ll wait and see…

I wouldn’t hesitate for a second before I bought one of these: Orbea Occam

Very keen for a go myself, had a visit from Orbea rep today showing us their range. Shame he didn’t have any bikes with him, would have liked to have taken one for a quick spin.

Cheers mboy – will have to try and get a try out in a few weeks myself. Sounds pretty much what I am looking for in a bouncy bike (and will keep/rebuild the hardtail for times when I want to feel more connected).

Sounds like it would make a very effective all day bike for big Lakes jaunts 🙂

mboy – i demoed a T-129s for 2 days and came to pretty much the same conclusions as your comments above. Very fast downhill, extremely good in loose rocky terrain and the geometry was pretty much perfect for me.
However it was ponderous in tight switchbacks up and down, really had to swing the front end round and, like a lot of full suss 29ers i suspect, felt slow and hardwork on long smooth climbs.

Like you i hated the sram kit and the brakes are beyond useless… i also felt the frame finish was poor quality and some of the welding looked pretty shabby. A good bike for 2k though.

Would i buy one ? No… i prefer the more involved ride of my Ti hardtail.

like a lot of full suss 29ers i suspect, felt slow and hardwork on long smooth climbs.

Quite the opposite on my Tallboy C… on any type of climb, smooth or techy.

I like the sound of the Whyte M-109 and T-129, particularly with the carbon rims which would enhance the ride. I would have considered those when I was in the market for the Tallboy. No regrets though.

Book some demo rides if you can, that’s seriously the best way to make the right choice in size, geometry and what best suits your riding style. As with 26er full-sussers, there are big differences between different models with similar travel.

I have a Yeti SB95 which with 127mm of rear travel is a little more than you have mentioned but it absolutely rips. Has the shortest chainstays of any FS 29er so very nimble and the rear suspension does not wallow gives lots of feedback. Overall I have been v impressed after 6 months.

I’ve got a rockstar that I’m lovin..

Rocky Mountain Element 29er, easy decision!!

m_t_b – Member
I have a Yeti SB95 which with 127mm of rear travel is a little more than you have mentioned but it absolutely rips. Has the shortest chainstays of any FS 29er so very nimble and the rear suspension does not wallow gives lots of feedback. Overall I have been v impressed after 6 months.

CS’s are 17.5″ on the SB95 – there are many FS 29er’s with CS quite alot shorter than that

The SB95 has the same 17.5″ chainstay length as a SC Tallboy or Trasition Bandit. You’re right, this is pretty short for a 29er compared with a Niner RIP, Titus Rockstar, Orange Gyro, Trek Superfly, Giant Anthem etc with chainstays of around 18″ or more.

But it’s certainly not the shortest, the new Whyte M-109 has chinstays just under 17″ in length. Whether this will make it a better bike or not I don’t know though.

However it was ponderous in tight switchbacks up and down, really had to swing the front end round and, like a lot of full suss 29ers i suspect, felt slow and hardwork on long smooth climbs.

Gotta say I didn’t find this at all. I rode the bike down some tight twisty switchbacks and it certainly didn’t feel ponderous. Maybe not quite as agile as my own 26″ wheeled Ti hardtail, but compared to most 120mm full sus bikes it felt no different really, and certainly felt more agile than a number of other 29ers I’ve ridden. The super short (for a 29er) Chainstay length probably helps quite a lot there, even if the slightly long TT length makes the bike quite stretched size for size. Certainly if you’re normally a medium try a small just in case before committing to buy to be sure you’re getting the right size.

I had a go on a Trek Rumblefish at the NEC.
It was enough to have me planning how I was going to knock off the Tesco Express to fund it.

Fanstastic.

I’m keen to try out a Merida Big ninety Nine. Anyone ridden one yet?