I’m a bit of a carthorse and I wouldn’t describe my riding style as ‘technically accomplished’ – I can land jumps, but Im generally not on my bike for long afterwards.

My current MTB is a (slightly battered) singular swift (XL) which leads to more mashed plums than I’m happy with on rough terrain. I run it rigid or hardtail with Jones or flat bars. I quite fancy a FS 29er from a comfort / reduced fatigue / n+1 perspective.

I’ve got (i.e. can probably get away with spending) up to about 2k, and the offerings from Canyon and Sonder have caught my eye so far. I’m not a trail centre sort of guy, unless it’s the swoopy flowy sort of stuff, I’m in NE Scotland and the Cairngorms is where it’ll spend most of its time.

If anyone’s got an alternative or any particular reason why I ought to give either of these a wide berth, let me know.

Thanks

It’s easy to get a ride on a Sonder if you get to the shops. Your nearest is the lakes. I’ve ridden a cortex but it just made confused me being use to an older bike

I’d thought that too. There’s no real way to get onto a Canyon until you’ve handed over the readies, as far as I can tell.

Sonder

Canyon did do early year demos. I see Canyon a maybe not possible after the end of October though

Radon Skeen Trail ? It’s Shimano rather than SRAM but very similar to the Neuron AL.

https://www.radon-bikes.de/mountainbike/fullsuspension/skeen-trail/skeen-trail-80-2019/

Keep an eye out on bike-discount, our Radon was a weekend sale with £600 off.

The Radon looks a good package, but the geometry looks much less fun! Steeper head angle, shorter reach, taller seat tube, shorter wheelbase.

Canyon sent a mailer about them being at the UCI Worlds In Harrogate this year – probably have to call them to see if the MTB fleet is on show too.

They also do a roadshow travelling the UK doing demo days, but there’s nothing on their events page now.

Or, you can rent one on your holidays,

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/explore/partners.html

Both look like solid choices to me. Have you considered the Giant Trance 29er 2? Looks like it would suit your style of riding and it’s on offer at the moment at £2000 and has good reviews.

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-Trance-2-29er-Mountain-Bike-2019-Trail-Full-Suspension-MTB_200508.htm

I quite fancy a FS 29er from a comfort / reduced fatigue / n+1 perspective.

I just went through the same process. I’d been riding a Canyon Grand Canyon for the last 4 years and with Jones bars for the last year due to an old wrist injury playing up. I’d been on the lookout for a short travel full suss for a bit more comfort, but too many options many of which weren’t available to try meant that when the Alpkit 15% off sale came around I just went for the Cortex. I went for the GX Eagle Pike build and I’ve had it a couple of weeks. So far it’s exactly what I was hoping for. A kg or so heavier in weight than my old bike, but way more comfortable to ride, soaks up all the bumps and the single chain ring and gearing suits me. Not sure that the brakes have fully bedded in, but that’s the only thing I need to look at. I think my Jones bars can stay on my old bike, as so far I’ve had no wrist niggles on the Cortex.
I would say that Canyon do a better job of direct shipping, I have the shock pump from my Canyon – lucky as the Cortex arrived without much air in either. The Sonder check list and assembly instructions didn’t actually mention the suspension at all.

I’ve got a Cortex and it’s bloody brilliant. So far I’ve ridden the usual QECP offpiste a few times, rode Snowdon on Monday and then went out with the family today and it’s been great for all of it. Mine’s an XL with a 200mm dropper and it climbs well and descends fantastically. I took the plunge having not ridden it but it attacks up really well on the trail. I’m bought the Rockshox shocked frameset and built it up. I’ll do a proper build thread on it at some point but the whole build was around £1500.

Test rode the Cortex around the Lakes for 4 days and it was a very capable bike  and felt very comfortable on it on the nadggery stuff it had the Cane Creek set up and it works really well. I own a Evol with Cane Creek but I have plus tyres on it and lots of wide rubber wins it for me!

Rich

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2gGMZCY]67164522_10157612892126474_3685179422840717312_n[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr