After a few tumbles this year, some shattered confidence and part of me blaming the bike, I’m – finally – feeling a lot of love for my Bandit. I don’t know whether I thought it was going to be something it’s not, but the truth is it’s exactly what I want for the riding I do (instead of what I’d like to do but can’t). It’s nimble, fast up (and fast enough down), stable and looks the badger’s nadger’s IMHO. It’s a much much better climber than I ever dreamed it would be. Love it 😀

Had an ACE ride this morning in the early sunshine…

Bikes eh. Sometimes they surprise you.

What’s it not? Love mine.

I think I thought it would be a bit more of a thug; a thoughtless point and shoot. It actually rewards being ridden rather than just hanging on. The faster I go the more it shines 🙂

[EDIT] it also took me a while to get used to the geometry. I struggled getting it airborne and I think that was down to more weight on the front than my last couple of bikes. I found it stuck to the ground rather than popped off it. In recent rides I’ve got my head round that now and love the grip and stability that weight distribution offers.

I’d agree its not a thug, there simply isn’t enough travel to point it at stuff and hold on. I wouldn’t go as far as to say its twitchy, but it is very interactive, you need to be on the top of your game to get the most out of it. When it comes together though it’s ace. I haven’t quite managed it yet but I can see how some of the stuff on pro videos is possible, committed into a berm, back end comes around to tighten the line, get hard on the pedals straight away and a crossed up wheelie would ensue whilst disappearing down the trail! 🙂

I love how quick steering and responsive it is when picking my way through technical lines. I’ve surprised myself quite how much I like it in fact 🙂

It reminds me of a sports car; you can cruise around on it comfortably enough – and I’ve done some big days out on it with no complaints – but it also rewards concentration and commitment. I must confess I’ve stacked it more than once when my mind wanders off 😳

Definitely one of those the-faster-you-go-the-more-fun-it-is kind of bikes.

Dave, I noticed from a previous post that you’d fitted the next spacer up in the CTD shock. I’ve been thinking of doing that. Pros? Cons?

I’m a big lad, 16 stone, so even using trail propedal 3 mode I still felt it used a lot of its travel quite often. I didn’t have a problem with bottom out, presumably the boost valve took care of that, but felt the need for a bit more support. The bigger spacer is a step in the right direction, but I may yet require more. Rightly or wrongly Ive got the feeling there isn’t enough compression damping in the shock as standard. Ideally I’d like to run the shock fully open but for it still to be quite taut, or certainly have it so I don’t need to run max propedal.

I find it doesn’t really give me as much support as I’d like if I want to pre-load the shock, but instead blows through the travel. I tend to use it mostly in trail mode but have been experimenting more with descend.

Got one of these myself and I love it, yes it gets a little excited when you try tackle the bigger stuff but it still copes incredibly well. I’ve never had any issue getting it off the ground though, it’s one reason I like it compared to my older bike (np mega) it’s easy to pop up, change lines and ‘play’ your way down the trail, much more fun than just bulldozing through.

Nice to see someone sticking at it! I get a bit tired of people riding a bike for all of 5mins and proclaiming it to be rubbish! (or worse “The next Messiah….)

It took me 6months to like my c456 (riding it, rather than looking at it of course 😉

Nice to see someone sticking at it

Cheers 🙂

I’ve not had this much fun riding a mountain bike for a long time. It was worth the effort. I feel like a kid again, wanting to ride whenever I can. My poor road bike must wonder what she’s done to deserve this abandonment 😆

The fact it looks ace too is the icing on the slowly baked cake.

Looks great, nice colour 🙂 I kinda want to try a Bandit. Want something a bit shorter travel and easier to climb than what I have now, but still able to take a bit of abuse, seems like it’d be ideal.

The fact it looks ace too

Agreed they do look great 🙂

I have a Covert and it certainly has a certain point and shoot feel to it downhill.

tom, I can’t rave highly enough about how nicely it climbs. One of the lads I ride with is a much faster climber on the road bike than me, but often comments how well I climb on the Bandit on the trails (EDIT – quicker than him 😉 .

I absolutely steamed up a climb yesterday that usually sees a dab or two or a loss of traction on my other bike(s).

jambalaya, the Covert is the “point and shoot” to the Bandit’s more XC/trail direction. I thought the Covert would be too much bike for me and I’m not regretting the Bandit.

What I find interesting with these forum discussions is that I don’t actually know many people on here at all. I don’t know whether I’m faster/slower/better/worse a rider than many of you. My “point and shoot” might be another’s airy fairy trail bike 😆

It took me 6months to like my c456 (riding it, rather than looking at it of course

I gave up after 12 months and went back to my Rocky Ridge! No such problems with the Bandit though, loved it from the off.

I fell in love with the Bandit within 5 mins of riding the demo bike. I carried on testing a few other bikes but I knew I’d be coming back to the Bandit.

I was also thinking about the Covert too but the Bandit has the perfect mix of strength, travel and geo for the kind of riding I do right now. Its not a flimsy bike so there is still room for me to push the bike harder and progress my riding if I wish.

Love mine, found it was a bit easy to blow through the early travel though, a trip to J-Tech for the rear shock sorted that and now my only worry is what happens if I break or lose it. It is quite sensitive to rear shock pressure I find though, kinda in a good way though, with a slight tweak in rear pressure it can switch between an cx mile muncher and something more playful.

mrhoppy, what did J-Tech do? Just fit a bigger spacer or change the damper tune?

Both, spacer to reduce the volume and a tweak of the tune. Took a little while to accept that it felt right as it’s still really active and feels like it’s going to blow through the travel like before so I ended up putting a bit too much pressure in but it resists bottoming out pretty well whilst running at relatively low initial pressures. The man works magic.

Is there that much difference between the 140mm Bandit and the 160mm Covert?

They are lovely looking bikes by the way!

Looks just like a Spearfish but 3X more expensive 😉

The 2 do crossover a bit but the Covert felt quite a lot more burly than the Bandit, if I lived somewhere with bigger rocks and stuff Id have a Covert but I’ve taken my Bandit for a weeks alps without any real issues so it will cope.

There a much more difference to the Bandit and Covert than just 20mm of suspension. The geometry of the Covert is a bit slacker and longer, the suspension action is a bit different too deigned to cope with bigger hits slightly better.

The two are not completely different but you can definitely feel the Covert is designed to handle bigger more technical stuff and the Bandit is deigned to be the better all rounder able to get up steep climbs as well as good fun on the downs.

I got the Covert as my “Alps/big” bike (ride hard tail most of the time), it’s definitely a bit more burley but there is across over certainly. I like the Bandit and given the mincing nature of my riding would probably suit my Alps trips too.

OP nice photos and glad your mojo is back. Have you seen the “Champagne of bikes” t-shirts, perhaps you should treat yourself 8)

My Bandit… now has one offset bush in it which has taken a hair off 1/2 degree off the HA and dropped the BB by 4mm…

I went for the medium wich is short but I like that but the suspension units are poor… I have spent alot of time and effort setting it up so that it is balanced and quite ‘poppy’… I find it a great bike to express myself on and just love riding it.

For comparision… my Covert, different suspension systems, leverage ratios and geometry… but both excellent.

Love mine, perfect for the riding I do, can peddle it all day long yet it’s very strong to take some larger hits. Find mine very ‘poppy’, it wants to jump off allsorts, certainly compared with my older bikes.

The rear travel is 130mm though, 30mm difference to the Covert. Run mine with a 150mm fork mind.

funkybaj same here running a 150mm fork, awesome bike both up and down. Definitely a bike to keep for a while. I just need a dropper post and then it will be perfect for me