Morning, Everyone.

My mate, who is relatively new to MTBs and currently rides a 29er hard tail, wants to get his first FS machine. He rides trail centres, the local one being Swinley, but may come out to the Alps in the autumn.

Current thoughts are:

Cube AMS 130 HPA PRO
Cube Fritz 160 HPA PRO
Giant Trance X2
GT Sensor Elite

All are 27.5.

I have told him to try some out and can lend him my Trance, albeit in 26″ flavour. I only know about Giant, so any advice from the STW collective brain would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Dom

The first FS bike will feel amazing
Try more after..

If your riding trail centres in the south (having seen vids of swinley rigid seems right) then getting a “and goes to the alps” bike is going to be quite different to everyday bike.

Where did he get his list from BTW? get out and try everything you can, don’t rush into it.

I’ve not ridden one, but the Frittz is a big big bike… Think I’d struggle to recommend something like that here. Though it gives him lots of room to grow.

What sort of alps trip? If it’s 500 runs of pleney then maybe a big bike’s required but if it’s white-room/trailaddiction type stuff then everything on the list will do it with style, and it gets hard to justify a massive bike for 1 week that works less well for 51 weeks.

The Alps will be a mixture of long climbs and fast(ish) descents over everything from mud to rocks, ie a ski resort out of season. Plenty of riding through the woods, too. It throws everything at you! I rode there on an old VT2, but have also used an Anthem and an XTC. The Anthem climbed brilliantly, but felt too little bike for the descents. The VT2 coped well, but felt old after the Anthem. I’m hoping the Trance will hit the spot in the Alps. I can tell my mate all this.

I don’t know where he got his list from – the internet, probably. His HT is a Cube, and we all like to stick with what we know. That’s why I’ve recommended a Trance….

Thanks for your help so far,

Dom

Echoing some of the comments above, get some demos. As for Alps, it means different things to different people. The riding I’ve done in the Alps and Sierra Nevada was easily managed by a 5/6″ “trail” bike which then works well back in the UK, but if I was to do anything that required a bigger bike I think I’d be tempted to hire for my Alps week rather than have a compromise for my everyday UK riding.

My mate rides the old fritz in 26inch and its a big girl. Far too much for swinley imo

Nukeproof Mega TR 26 on offer at CRC at the moment, would do everythig he wants with bells on. Can be built even burlier if he wanted for the Alps, but no real need.

I had a blast in the Alps last year on a 150mm hardtail, bombing singletrack and the downhill runs, so buying a burly bike for 1 week of the year and having to live with it for the other 51 is daft.

A good strong 150mm trail/light AM bike would be ideal.

Why change the wheel size? Why not another 29er?

As per other comments, Fritzz would be way overkill for most stuff in the UK bar uplift days.

Should be able to get something that bridges the gap between good in the UK and acceptable in the Alps. Trance or the Cube 130 from your list. Or what about the Sting which looks like an alloy version of the Stereo, and a bit less beef than the Fritzz?

Lapierre Zesty AM327?

Is he getting rid if his hardtail? If not and he only really wants to have a ride that copes with the big stuff in the alps, go second hand and get a cheap big rig that he could smash up

titus el guapo on on-one looks like a hell of a lot of bike for the money?
edit – if i killed, lost or had my five stolen tomorrow i’d seriously consider it.

Many thanks for the useful replies. I like the idea of bridging the gap (thanks mtbtomo), so I have passed your advice on. TBH, the Alps is not that important, so a big bike isn’t really a must. Something more trail centre focused that could cope with more gnarly terrain would be perfect.

Thanks again for your help.

Dom