a realisation that you have bought the wrong bike…

….or the wrong bike for you present time of life.

you thought it was gonna be the dogs, it is for 20% of your riding, it is ok for 40% of your riding, and it is plain wrong for the other 40%.

what do you do?, keep it and suffer, or sell it whilst it is mint and buy something more suitable.

can there be a certain bike for a certain time in your life? 😐

where are Hora & Renton when you need them 😉

Hang on…ton…renton…hmmmm.

Are you gonna regret selling when you need it for those 20%? Can you afford to keep it and buy another bike?

Sounds to me like you need to buy two more bikes 😉

What was it Ton ?

Are you gonna regret selling when you need it for those 20%? Can you afford to keep it and buy another bike?

mate, I am at the stage where I can afford any bike I desire….I just don’t like having stuff sat doing nowt. I would rather sell and buy something that will get used.

I think the amount of time I was off the mtb with illness, may have blurred my vision a bit…I was that desperate to get back in the mountains, I rushed my choice somewhat.

If the 20% is the most enjoyable bit then this can be tolerated.

I just don’t like having stuff sat doing nowt. I would rather sell and buy something that will get used.

99p posted and you have a deal.*

*(What bike?)

As long as it gets used every now and then I would keep it and get another.

If you don’t use for a year then sell it. You’re not gonna get much more for it if you sell now or sell in a year if it’s not been used.

I’ve just reached that exact conclusion myself.

Last year I bought a Giant Anthem Advanced 2, 100mm of carbon xc loveliness, it made perfect sense, I don’t jump, I like doing races and I like a light weight bike.

In the last couple of months I started to hate riding, I’m starting to enjoy having both wheels off the ground, I’m doing epic rides with my mates and cursing the realisation that I don’t actually want to race. I bought a bike that was right for what I thought I wanted to do;

I test rode a capra last night, even with knackered legs from beasting myself over 140 welsh miles on the weekend, it was a joy, I actually just wanted to play on it… the anthem is a great bike, just not for me where I am now.

I couldn’t justify keeping a 2.5k bike I don’t enjoy riding, when there is one that I reckon I’m going to love, I’ve put an order in for a YT Capra, the anthem will be going on ebay this weekend, the true mark of this being the right decision is that I don’t have the normal pangs of regret 😉

Ton, it was your post about the Enduro being “too much bike” that made me get the stumpy evo, and not something too much like the Mega that I was trying to replace.

So, acutally, thank you!

To your situation – if you are really not going to use it, sell it and get something that you will use (*cough* stumpy evo 29er *cough*).

HTH!
Kev

I always thought the saying ‘too much bike’ was a load of rubbish, until I bought this bike. but, it is.

our needs change as our riding and fitness and ability change, so I wouldn’t worry too much. You reckoned that the HT was knocking you around too much, so maybe a shorter travel FS would work better than the current one. But, given that you’ll lose a load selling it, and also that is is ideal for some of your riding, why not get another bike to cover some of the other stuff ? A single MTB is always going to be a compromise, no matter how good it is, so if you can afford a couple then you’ll have better tool for the job in hand. I always felt ‘overbiked’ with a 5, so went down to a Soul, but have recently added an Anthem, which helps my ageing broken body on more bumpy stuff.

Indeed, needs and wants change.

2014 I wanted “learn to jump” I ended up with a Commencal AM29… I took to Jedi, I took to BPW, I took to jump Gulleys… I jumped…I cleared tabletopes, I cleared small doubles and gaps.. I’m VERY happy I made the decision to get the AM29 as it helped massively with my confidence.

In 2015 I moved back to generic XC stuff and found the AM was lacking as it was ‘too much’ so I jumped ship and bought a Spearfish.. after some technical issues and debates I’ve now grown into the Spearfish and we are completely at one together and happy 🙂 it’s superb and exactly right for what I currently want/need.

Bikes are not like wives… buy them, sell them, swap on a whim… etc.

What have you bought, and what riding do you actually do?

I bought a dh bike last year, but had a trail bike to use as well. I only kept it for a year, but it was definitely worth it. Gave me the confidence to do bigger jumps, drops, steeper runs etc, which I now do all on my trail bike. If it’s a big bike, I’d say keep it and get something more do-it-all as well. The times when you will use a bigger bike pushes your limits, which transfer over to the smaller bike 🙂

I had this with specifically two:

Ellsworth I.D – I thought maybe it was too rad for me and I had to learn it.

A Chumba XCR? Just an odd collection of angles with a nice paint job.

If its niggling you that much it’s gotta go . I wanted a bike beyond my capabilities , but luckily I wasn’t flush enough at the time to make am expensive mistake . I wanted a fs cannondale but ended up getting a cannondale trail . Couple extra xt bits on it and she’s perfect .

Yeah, I owned not 1, but 2 DH bikes, loved them when I actually got to ride them – but it finally dawned on me that I was only riding it 4-5 times a year.

Worse stiff, if I was being honest with myself, the stuff I liked riding didn’t really need a DH bike, and the stuff that really did need a DH bike I never enjoyed because I was terrified all the time, DH bikes don’t suffer fools well either, you’d think they’d be piss easy to ride slow – but they’re not, they’re too heavy and too slow turning to be rode at 50% – if you’re in the right frame of mind and pinning it, they’re sublime – but the rest of the time it’s like trying to ride a Bull, exciting, but not exactly fun.

What have you bought, and what riding do you actually do?

I bought a enduro 29er, ride wise, I have been to the lakes 3 times with it since I bought it, and it was fantastic. also rode it in scotlaand at a trail center, it was fine again.
I will keep it, because I do go to the lakes a fair bit, and it was bought for that in mind.

I’ve had the opposite realisation. Bought a Five back in 2010 when I got back into biking after a long break. Probably too much bike for me at the time but wasn’t long before I was pushing my limits. As my riding ability progressed, the bike has changed from 140mm fork to 150mm and now to 160mm, offset bushings, gone from 3×10 to 1×10. The bike does everything I can ask of it from XC 65km+ to pissing about in local woods to uplifts at Antur, and the Alps later this year. There are other bikes more suited to a specific type of ride but it’s a very capable ‘jack of all trades’ and versatile bike. After 5 years I don’t have any inclination to swap it for anything else. Not bad for a bike I didn’t even demo!

Keep the enduro for when you need it and get something like a Smuggler for when you don’t need the Enduro.

I had that with my Pitch.

Utterly fantastic, on section 15 at Swinley. So that’s 71seconds of awesomess in 1h15min of drudgery (it was OK on F1, rollercoaster and whatever those other jumpy blue bits are at the end, but no better than anything else).

Now have a Fat bike, which is just fun everywhere, if a bit slower. But that does mean my 6 mile commute off-road drops to a 10mph average, which means I’m actually fitter as it’s almost double the time it takes on the Road bike (on the roads).

But I do have an itch to buy a Codein and some Pikes, take the Arch-EX wheels off my SS, and build up something from the spares bin with the Pitch bits. I think I hated the Pitch partially because I had so much money sunk into it which I never saw again and I just couldn’t get enough use out of it compared to my £500 hardtail! If it were cheap I’d care less.

I have an enduro 29 which was bought mainly to race enduros. It’s amazing. Very capable and surprisingly nimble.

Can’t say it’s ever felt like too much bike to me. It’s maybe a little dull if you are not putting much effort into it (not saying that you don’t)

TINAS are you still near Swinley?

Same here Ton. I have a Turner Sultan which for Swinley and the Chilterns rarely gets used because it’s way too much bike. However for trips to Scotland/Wales it’s great so happy to keep it for that and keep riding the hardtail & fatbike locally.

Rather than the wrong bike scenario, it sounds like a perfect n+1 opportunity 😉

I would say a 29er HT but as the thread says you found them harsh, then maybe a Camber or Camber EVO?

TINAS are you still near Swinley?

till the end of the month, then I’m moving a few miles away. Why?

I thought this about my Pitch which I bought in 2010. It’s heavier than other bikes for sure and has too much travel for a lot of riding. I questioned my choice a lot…..

But then I stopped thinking about it and just rode the flippin thing. Tow path rides, rides round the park, steep and knarly, long XC, downhill practice. Everything really. I just realised that even if I spent £k’s on a new bike all that would happen is that I might be able to move a little faster on the uphills. Other wise it’s still a bike, just ride it….

I still ride my 94 Kilauea, fully rigid with V-brakes. Yeah sure its not as fast on the rocky bits but hey ho, it’s still gets there in the end and if I’m slower than other people I would be better getting fitter and losing weight than buying new kit.

Ton, get something that is long and slack with less travel. A Transition Scout or something, the shorter travel will make trails much more lively but the bit of extra length will be a nice comfort on steeper stuff.

till the end of the month, then I’m moving a few miles away. Why?

Let me know if you fancy a post-work spin, I’m riding through it three days a week currently. Working and staying nearby.

I’m there tomorrow Mol, getting there about 3.30-3.45, another mate arriving about half 4, so could fit a pre-ride with you in and if you want to stay afterwards that’s cool, it’s just me and him and he’s friendly enough 🙂

email in profile if you need me.

I’d sell it. If it ain’t being used its a very cumbersome clothes hanger.

HTH

Ramp up the lo speed compression, get some lighter tyres and you’ll find it’s a different animal

Ramp up the lo speed compression, get some lighter tyres and you’ll find it’s a different animal

thought about swapping the tyres, what’s a good choice.
and why alter the compression?

Ton, get something that is long and slack with less travel. A Transition Scout or something, the shorter travel will make trails much more lively but the bit of extra length will be a nice comfort on steeper stuff.

I’ve never been completely convinced by that, I like my XC/trail bikes fast and twitchy to an extent. Low and slack is great at high speeds over rough ground but it’s as much at fault as excess travel/weight for making bikes feel underwhelming over average terrain. A 4″ travel bike with as slack geometry would still feel sluggish. Which is why (most) bikes follow a pattern of 4″/69deg, 5″/68deg, 6″/67deg, 7″/66deg or thereabouts. You can tweek it within reason, 4″ travel bikes with 68-67deg head angles were popular as ‘4X bikes’ for a while, like the Spesh SX (not the SX trail which was more like an enduro-evo), Blur 4x, etc, and some Americans still like steeper long travel bikes like Maverick used to make.

I’d like to see Giant make a proper Anthem-SX with another inch (or two even) on the TT and steeper SA, but I don’t think any slacker would help it.

If the shock you have is the Cane Creek, adding low speed compression will stop pedal induced bobbing. I didn’t think the enduro suffered much from that myself.

I ditched my Cane Creek, didn’t manage to get it dialled in no matter what. Now have a monarch RC3 which really suits the Enduro.

If your bike came with spesh tires, you’ll struggle to get anything much lighter without going for xc race tires.

If your budget can stretch, get some chinese carbon rims. Makes 29ers much more lively in terms of acceleration/direction change.

it doesn’t bob. it has the ctd shock, which works great. it is not even sluggish, it just has a lot of travel which I have got nowhere near using.
the 1st ride I did on it was ullock pike, after a 5 year spell of not riding offroad. it coped no problem, even I did. I just need to ride more challenging terrain on it I think.

I went through similar things until I bought my Yeti 575. It does everything really quite well, and although there are some compromises to be accepted, I never feel I’m on the wrong bike. I go to the Alps on it, trails centres, and epic XC rides, it does it all.

My 5 is the same mate, for the lakes and stuff like that its brilliant, trouble is I don’t have time to go up there at the moment 🙁

Which is why I want a racy hardtail for all my local stuff 🙂