I’m looking for an Enduro/Mini DH bike at around the £1000 mark so will have to go second hand. It’ll be used for freeride, DH, Gravity Enduro racing, Mini DH racing and going to the Alps next summer. I was just wondering what sort of things I should be looking out for. I’m thinking anything from 150-170mm of travel and some slack angles. So far I’ve been looking at Giant Reign Xs and that’s about it. I must be missing absolutely loads.

Can you just spit some names out for me to look for, please.

Cheers
Pete

are you after frame or complete bike?

Oh, sorry neglected to mention that. I’ll be looking at complete bikes.

can’t really see you finding one bike to excell at “freeride, DH, Gravity Enduro racing, Mini DH racing” but maybe you will. depends on your size/build and how you ride to some extent.

specialized def do bikes that excell in each of those categrories.

SX Trail, Commencal Supreme/Furious, Orange Patriot should all be within your budget.

I wasn’t thinking that one bike would be best suited to all but more like an enduro bike that I would do everything on.

I’ve discovered the Specialized Enduro, that looks like the sort of thing I’m after. So what else is there similair to the Spesh Enduro or Giant Reign X?

This one – Scott Voltage

Great frame, plenty of upgradeability as you need to

Cant get the image to load 😐

Maybe one of these http://www.flickr.com/photos/allmountainventure/5827677569/in/photostream but it might not be as DH as you require. Highly versatile bike tho.

The Voltage, Coiler, SX Trial etc look a bit too heavy to pedal and use for the Gravity Enduros. I should of just said an enduro bike tbh 🙄

That coiler is only 32lbs, you could build one under 30lbs. 😀

Patriot as above or a Five AM with 160 mm coil fork and shock

Wolf Ridge, Pitch, Enduro…

Lapierre Spicy? Perhaps Zesty, but Spicy’s seem cheaper 2nd hand for some reason though.

Giant Reign X, Specialized Enduro, Specialized Pitch, Lapierre Spicy, Marin Wolf Ridge seem to be standing out. Cheers

you might need to up your budget by another 500

Upping the budget is not possible

I’ve just bought a Spesh SX Trail and whilst I love it and it fits the miniDH bill perfectly (which is what I use it for), I would say that if you are intending to pedal a fair bit you are probably better off with the Enduro.

Having said that, it does actually pedal pretty well. The main limiting factor is the weight and building it up light would really be doing the bike a disservice, whereas the Enduro is called the Enduro for a reason.

Maybe a Specialized Pitch with a Lyrik or 36?

You could get a complete bike and the bigger fork separately.

A pitch this doing this purpose for myself very well.

Could try and find a Voodoo Zobop for £1,000?…..they are only £1,500 new so shouldnt be too difficult….you wont find a better specced bike for the money….its got 150mm travel at both ends and has a robust build with quality components, it should be able to turn its hand to most things you’re into….only drawback is it might not be slack enough for you, i read an interview with Joe Murray (the designer) who said the head angle was 68 degrees….i reckon thats fine but i know others would disagree!

hmmm… 68 degrees isn’t really slack enough. I was thinking at least 67 degrees.

maybe a santa cruz VP free?

I love my Reign X. The angles are perfect and it climbs better than any coil sprung 7″travel bike has a right to. Better than my old meta 5 actually. It’s an absolute freight train on the way down but what I really like is that it doesnt need a massive steep hill to get up to speed. Any slight gradient and it’s off. Jumps great and very flickable, an allround awesome bike!
Although for a grand you’d be looking at one of the old style frames but they use the same maestro system so probably good too.

As chakaping says a pitch with a 160mm fork would also be a good (cheaper) option. A mate has one with domains and it’s awesome, really fun bike

Dont forget you can now get angle-set headsets to slacken the angles even further on whatever you settle on.

Mondraker Dune also worth a look at if I find one at the right price?

Absolutely, I’m really looking forward to doing a couple of the gravity enduros on mine next year. I think it will be much quicker than the Foxy I used for one last year.

It builds up at 30lb with a Reverb and mostly SLX transmission and the 66 degree head angle and low BB make it feel almost like a DH bike when descending.

They haven’t really caught on still, so you might pick up a s/h base-spec one for £1k I suppose.

2008 Patriot + maxle back end + 36 Vans + 1×9 gearing.

I personally would stay clear of Pitch’s – they are no way suited for DH riding… simply not strong enough…

transition dirtbag/ preston frames go for good prices, you could easily get a build under a grand on one of those. indestructable too.

xiphon- interesting comment on the strength of pitch’s. what is this actually based on?

I and several others who have pitch’s ride proper DH and freeride on ours. The level of riding certainly ain’t mincing either.

deanfbm – bought one new in march 2008. Changed the Pikes spring to ‘hard’, then changed the forks for some 36s (from 140 up to 150mm travel, slacken the HA a bit)

Went through 2 chain stays, 1 seat stay and 1 front end within 12 months.

Sold the frame as soon as the warranty one came through the post.

Now I ride very similar trails (and just as hard…) on a Patriot ’00 frame… not one problem with it 🙂 I still use the cranks, bars, front wheel and mech/shifters from the Pitch now.

It was just an XC frame with 150mm of travel, despite being labelled as a strong AM bike. It tried to be the next SX trail, albeit with slightly less travel, but it didn’t quite work IMHO.

I don’t exactly…er… mince along either.

Xiphon – that’s nuts. There is a lot of glowing reviews out there of the strength of pitch’s, both from many internet sources and people i know.

This is literally the first i’ve heard negative feedback on the strength of them.

Are you a nutter who does their fair share of riding outside their control or are you not the smallest of people?

I don’t really know why i’m asking, just interested i guess.

I think a Reign x would be just the job. I do all of what you mention on my standard Reign and to be honest, its great. If I were being picky I may like to slacken the headangle a little but not sure I can with a 1 1/8th.

Still, don’t really need to. The bike excels at all I throw at it. Different wheels, tyres and a coil shock for DH is all I change.

transition dirtbag/ preston frames go for good prices, you could easily get a build under a grand on one of those. indestructable too

I wouldn’t get a preston. I cracked 3 of them, 2 of them with under 20 hours of riding out of the box. all sorted under warranty, but I got rid after that

I also wouldn’t do DH on anything that was built up under 30lbs

deanfbm

What do you mean riding outside my control? 😕 Do I keep crashing?

I’m about 14st with all riding gear/clothing on. (I’ll have to test the riding gear + no clothing option, ha!)

Not really sure how to describe the terrain/difficulty without sounding arrogant??

EDIT: I could smoothly clear the Chicksands 4X triple on the Pitch, so that should give you some idea of confidence/skill level… although unfortunately bailed one time, and smashed myself up pretty bad!

Here’s a pic of someone else doing it… gives you an idea..
http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/3456856/

Devinci Ollie – http://www.freeborn.co.uk/devinci-2010-ollie-1 I have one and they are reasonably good at riding back up the hills.

I ride a Marin Wolf Ridge, which at 140mm suspension does not fall into your criteria, but as an AM bike I find it brilliant, it more than does me DH – I ride the FOD, Aston Hill and other places on it, mates who ride major DH bikes have been pretty impressed with it. I run coil Pikes rather than the OE air, but have lightened it with a custom spec (bought the frame, then built it up) – weighs in at 32lbs.

The OH rides a Santa Cruz VP free, his is setup for DH running Boxxers, but it could quite easily be a AM/Freeride bike with single crowns. Nice and strong with 150mm rear too, but with the Boxxers it’s over 40lbs.

Would recommend either!

I have an ’07 SX trail frame for sale (I had to change from a medium to a large) I’m running mine with 55’s it would be a great enduro bike if I didn’t have the DH drivetrain and tyres fitted…

Lapierre Spicy, Mondraker Dune are coming to the front as bikes that will ride well from the box. The Enduro looks good but apparently the wheels are a bit flexy to get the most from it.

I mostly do similar riding to you, DH/freemince with a bit of XC and plans for a bit of gravity enduro. I’ve owned an sx trail with totems which was too much bike really, after that a pitch with coil shocks which I really liked, felt like a lighter more nimble sx. Lots of bikes will do what you are after, but get two sets of wheels. A nice strong set with DH tyres and some nice light all mountain wheels and you are good to go.

I have an ’10 Enduro which has amazed me at how good it is at climbing and descending. Cornering is where it really delivers, low bb and stiff frame mean it just sticks to a line like no other bike Ive ridden. Wheels were junk though and I had to change the stem and bars as they too were silly flexy for such a capable frame.

New ones come with roval wheels, not sure they are really up to how hard you can ride an Enduro.