Another vote for the Heckler with 36s, it’s impossible not to have fun.

Mind you the Chameleon with 140mm floats is a whole pile of fun too.

They both hit the spot as soon as I swung a leg over them.

My Cotic Soda! Having tried on Ti hardtail (Setavento, Rohloffed) that just didn’t excite me, it was a bit of a gamble to buy a Soda with no test ride. But it just works and is chuffing great!

The first Konas I rode back in about 1990

2005 Turner Fivespot. Just seemed “right” as soon as I set off for the first time.

Oooold FSR I got on the ebay for £200 some years ago.
456 Summer Edition.
Saracen Havoc 😀 really!

GT STS aka the plastic pig unitl I snapped the headtube!

Parkpre Ti frmaed xc bike

Cannondale r200 (darkside 😉

I love my Sanderson.
I get excited like a big kid each time I get my bike gear ready. I am going back to all my old routes and they feel so much more fun on it compared to my old HT.

Kona Hoss – felt instantly comfortable and really allowed me to push my technical riding. Not too heavy, looked great and was a bargain too.

Giant Trance – bought the frame and stripped the Hoss. All the fun of the Kona but 20% quicker through roots and rocks. SMASHING! Loved it so much I bought another recently.

My Soul. The Soda I got later never felt as good, then I broke it anyway so I’m back at home on the Soul.

Oh yeah, got to add the mark 1 Heckler. Couldn’t afford one at the time.

Raleigh Chopper

Giant XTC Carbon 18 lb XC build,
THE best bike i have ever ridden.

Merida team carbon ,
comfy as a sofa but can tackle the rough stuff, so damn well.

Kestrel 500EMS
So fast and so easy to ride mile after mile after mile.
looks strange too which is cool.

Haro DB44 ltd edition race BMX
just mental fun and great value for money

Santa Cruz Chameleon. So much fun from the first ride. Just felt right.

Nicolai …. i really wanted one …. so i bought one 😆

Evil Sovereign

My mate’s Heckler is something else too.

My current inbred and i loved the reign zero -going both up and down

I’ve got to say my Pitch is wonderful. The first time I pointed it downhill, all hell broke loose. I was riding lines I’d never considered before. And the price was the icing on the cake.

Another SC Chameleon here. Absolutely knew it was “right” the first time I rode it.

3x

the fisher hookooekoo that i bought in 90’ish after my tushingham b52 was nicked. after the flexy tush the fisher was a revelation.

the only bike i’ve ever demoed, a marin full suss (east peak i think) in 1999 because i’d never ridden any suss, let alone full, nor discs, and was curious. was not fussed whilst climbing up onto the moors, but the fist time i pointed it down hill – wow! ended up getting a mount vision a month later.

my intense 5.5, everything i ever read about this bike is true, and more.

instant love – that is a challenge because i usually need to fiddle with bikes to get them as i want them. so it will have to be something i have built myself.

Cove Stiffee – just wonderful especially with 140mm Pikes. – now sold.

Turner 5 Spot – really good at most stuff and ultra reliable.

SC Superlight – it just works really, ideal for my current riding and i can’t stop taking it out riding.

I also really liked my early 90’s Kona Explosif and Orange Pretige. All the others I have not been sorry to get rid of.

my sanchez was amazing, I only rode it for 2 weeks before i sold it to pay for my nicolai, which again i instantly loved. I also fell in love with my friends chameleon, whereas my other bikes, like my handjob and stiffee and Gspot I had to learn to love. All are great bikes, but the first three stood out.

This

That’s why I’m grinning like a loon.

Loved the 2004 Gemini 2000, made me into a riding GOD…
I’m lucky the enduro’s work really well for me. I’ve had a few bikes and the first ride feeling definately works on a certain test track that has everything for me, incluing drop offs of 3′ and a lot of twisty singletrack/ off camber roots. I have learnt that if I dont ‘feel’ it first or second time then the bike wont work. There’s too many bikes out there, but at the moment an S-works enduro SL is a keeper it makes me a lot faster. As fast as my 06 S-works enduro with the weight of an 04 S-works enduro.

My C16R was great.

But my 5 Spot just fitted me like a glove. Felt perfect from the 1st moment I threw my leg over it.

A Kona Hei Hei. Loved it from the first pedal stroke. It got stolen a couple of years later and even though the insurance paid for an exact replica, somehow it just wasn’t the same

Agree about Turners fitting like gloves!

I think that my large 5 spot was the fist bike that really fitted me properly.

Had always tried to squeeze into 18″ bikes as 20″ ones just looked to fugly!

Upgraded to a 2008 RFX for the Alps but will get a Horst 5 spot and Pikes to swop the kit over to in July.

Rented a Norco Fuse in 2004. Instantly fell in love with the ride, just felt ‘right’. Mind it is the ugliest bike you will ever lay eyes on.

Alpinestars Al Mega DX 1990 ish with elevated chainstays…still reckon it climbed better than anything else on really steep stuff.

Fuquay built to my spec, 1991 with Columbus max tubing…Graftons, Nukeproof, Ringle, 231 ceramics, Syncros, blinged up! still love it, basically it was a Serrota T max copy due its 3rd respray soon…sadly spends most of its life towing a tagalong but still gets the odd summer singletrack blast

Demoed a Yeti 575 at Landegla last week….tempting

My Pitch Pro.

I had been riding a halfords special. A GT Aggressor which was slightly too big for me.

To then blast around in all its full-suss specialized glory was like going from a mini to a ferrari.

And im still loving it.

My Inbred 853…bought for the wife but kept for myself after the first test ride 😳

(She didn’t mind as she preferred my old Klein Attitude)

only found one last year… the kona five – 0 from 2008 is the perfect bike for me.

Oh how did I forget my Ritchey p22…fantastic but a bit noodly!

I test rode Cy’s personal 953 Cotic Soul a while ago on a big all-dayer in the Peak District. Was ever so kind of him to lend it to me especially as it was a one-off from Reynolds to show what they could do with 953. It felt incredible, really firm tracking from the Magura forks but with the back end just springing and bouncing along, begging to be jumped off stuff. SO nice to ride, really light and flickable but with a sure footed style (if that makes any sense). I still really want one but they’re not being made. 🙁

Ironically I test rode a Cotic Hemlock out in the Pyrenees and hated it… Then realised that due to a slight “logistical error” I’d got a M instead of a L and suddenly it all made sense.

Cotic Soul – the large feels like it was made for me.

I feel very ‘at home’ on my pompino too but I do ride it almost every day.

My Heckler felt right but it was too much bike for my (lack of) skillz.

My ’06 Enduro which I’m handing over to it’s new owner tomorrow. Just hope the S-Works Enduro SL I’m building is as good.

Shonky 2nd hand marin B17 frame from about 2004/5 built up with comedy freeride kit on it. So far it’s seen off a Mt Vision, a Dialled PA (richc’s now I believe?), a Norco 6 and an my old orange singlespeed. All bases covered, I reckon.

With the current set up it’s been compared to riding a cow, admittedly…

demo9

orange five demo bike was so so so good I bought one!!

My 5 Spot 8)

Orange 224 & 5 – oddly my Patriots never felt that great.

Marin Quake 7.2

Rocky Mountain thin air