I’m looking to get my first full sus bike. Main usage will be long days out on Dales bridleways and some trail centres like Dalby,C oed-y-Brenin.
I’ve been looking at 2010 models of Giant Trance X4/3, Giant Anthem X4 and Cannondale RZ one20 as can be had for less than £1200 (Size Large).
Any thoughts on these?
Any suggestions of other bikes in that price range?

I know £1200 isn’t much budget but at least there is some peace of mind with a new bike. If I was buying 2nd hand I wouldn’t spend as much cos its bit more risk.
cheers

http://www.leisurewheels.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b3s1p8539
This would get my money although a bit more robust than your choices.
The Trances are nice though.

Cannondale would get my vote.

anthem for me, every time… although i own a trance x :/

The RZ 120 for sure.

backhander – I’d looked at that. It’s a thing of beauty in that brown colour!
My mate reckons its a bit too much bike for what I need and that the extra weight would be a bugger on climbs but much more fun on the descents.
Having said that i’m 14.5st so a more robust bike might be helpful.

Can’t find any reviews of the lower spec RZ One20…..

There is a review of the rz120 2 in singletrack issue 59 i think.

If you can get over the Halfords stigma there’s some discount on 2010 Boardmans at the moment. Excellent spec for the price.

I bought a Zesty in the sales for that sort of money. Well pleased with it too

i have a 10 anthem x2.great bike. :Dshould have added that the x4 will ride just as well (cannot think of a better cross country type full sus for the money)

Evans are advertising the 2010 x control for 1100 i think. Sounds perfect for what you describe.

I’d go for the RZ120 3. £1225 in your size here…

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b65s1p3423&tbv=CANNONDALE_RZ_ONE_TWENTY_3_Mountain_Bikes_Full_Suspension

wors – I haven’t got issue 59, what was the conclusion?

Lapierre X-Control is a good bet for what you want there is a good deal here.

http://www.addiktioncycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b56s1p4221

It was benji that reviewed it. He said if he could on have one bike, that would be it.

ElShalimo – Member

I’m looking to get my first full sus bike. Main usage will be long days out on Dales bridleways and some trail centres like Dalby,C oed-y-Brenin.

are you sure you want ‘full-sus’?…

you can get some lovely hardtails for your budget (genesis altitude).

if it’s got to be bouncy at both ends, you could do worse than a specialized camber…

As a slight leftfield option Halfords are knocking out their GT Idrive 6 Elite for £999 just now.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_512539_langId_-1_categoryId_165499

The head angle’s inexplicably steep, it’s a bit of an odd bike really as GTs often are but it’s a good frame covered in quality parts, not a sniff of halfords own brand about it. You can do pretty much anything on one of these though, I think they don’t cope too well with more extreme steep stuff. It’s more like the hardest hitting XC bike in the world, which is a good and bad thing.

Get the Giant Anthem, one sexy beast and here the link of it below:

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s1p2852

Giant Trance:

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s1p2833

Both 2010 models, under £1200 in large sizes

That GT looks a very good deal.

I have a Spesh Pitch Pro which i’m happy with, overbiked locally i suppose but will be nice at the Trail centres, sturdy and built for the job. (i’m 14.5 to 15 stone).

Like the look of the Giant Trance X’s though , seem to fit right in the middle ground.

Anthems are nice racey bikes but a bit steep for my liking (love the look of them though).
This has to be worth a look;
http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=2083
also available in black. Revs, XT/SLX, elixirs, easton kit. Under 30lbs too.
£1265.

My mate’s just bought a trance x3 and that felt awesome. Good spec for the money and very worth of upgrades over time. Anthems are also great to ride but I reckon you’d be better served by the trance.

Love the pitch pro in brown

Shop around and get a pitch pro, i use mine for everything they are super fun, i ride Dalby Whinlatter Dalbeattie and the pitch eats them and makes me look good. leisurewheels dont have any brown ones at that price and havent for ages..

Thanks
Pitch Pro looks great but seems its nearly 2kg more than the anthem.
I’ve looked around locally (Leeds) and the RZ one20 is not that easy to see in the flesh. Ideally I’d want a test bike to play on before buying

Ive got a specialized pitch as my first full sus and it’s excellent but if i havent bought it a week earlier i would have gone for this

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/lapierre/zesty-214-2010-mountain-bike-ec020990?query=lapierre

They get fantastic reviews and look the bee’s oh and my 2008 pitch looks great too.

+1 for Zesty if there are any 2010 left. They were going for 1,300 (paid 1,400 for mine) and a fantastic bike at that price. Tried an Anthem but found it a bit dull in comparison, but just my opinion – you may prefer it and no doubt cross country it’d be quicker…

+1 for the zesty.
Good spec, highly upgradable. Still a few mediums around.

If i didn’t hammer bikes so much something like a RZ120 would be very appealing to me.

That GT almost looks like an awesome donor bike, the fork & brakes are worth around £580 even with the deals on t’interweb

In issues 62, pick of the year style thingy, Benjy says “best all round mountain bike every made, i still stand by this statement” then finishes with “you really don’t need anything else for 99% of the time”.

Personally I also think the x-control hits the right kind of spot.

Amazing what you can get for the money!

Some of the other bikes look to have too much suspension for long days out on the bridleways, such as the GT. Look around the forums for the number of people who are reverting to HTs as their FS bikes don’t give enough fun.

I would go for the Anthem, it has a good level of kit on for the money (Fox F100 forks) and the maestro system works well so you shouldn’t need the propedal setting on the more expensive rp23.

TurnerGuy – Member

“Some of the other bikes look to have too much suspension for long days out on the bridleways, such as the GT.”

Nah, it won’t work out like that… It’s heavy, but Idrives pedal really well and the Revelation’s a good controlled fork. An Anthem’ll be better for a long ride though…

Until recently I owned an Anthem X and loved it – light, fast, capable but would actually recommend a 120mm travel bike like the Trance.

The Anthem X was a flying machine – it simply blasted up climbs and was amazingly fast on fire roads and tarmac. It was also capable at trail centres.

However I then bought a Helius CC and the Anthem sat in the garage as the Helius always got picked. I soon realised that the extra travel made it more fun at trail centres and rough XC – yes it was slower on the climbs and fire roads but as soon it the going got tough it was in a different league. The same would be true of the Trance – it would simply be more fun at trail centres but would be perfectly good on bridleways – you might be a tiny bit slower but would have more fun.