I usually ride a hardtail but I’ve been thinking about going down the full suspension route.

I’ve only got £1300 so was looking at a Giant Trance 4 or the specialized Camber.

I ride everything from Wharncliffe woods to the peaks and maybe the odd trip to Dalby etc.

Anything else in my price brand I should be looking at?

Canyon yawwwn!
£1350 with VIP

Ah thought the Nerve was more expensive than that.

I’ll take a peek

The Trance and the Canyon came out well in mbr recently. think the Trance won it just.

The trance is a fantastic bike. You will not regret it if you purchased it.

love my trance.
it floats over rough stuff, and climbs brilliantly.
the maestro link is everything it claims to be 🙂

on the flip side, when you come to change the bearings, there are 10 of the buggers, which isn’t cheap.

it does only have one shock bush, (though that does wear quicker than it would on a single pivot for instance, as it rotates a long way with each bump. they should have put a bearing in the upper link and direct bolted it onto the shock without a bush instead IMO, but that would come with a weight and cost penalty

I have a 2008 Trance X0 and it climbs brilliantly and descends with confidence.

Shorten the stock stem though, and pointing downhill gets better.

Also, the current X4 has the same frame as the X1, so, when the time comes, you only need to upgrade the components (if you feel it needs it).

I really like the Trance the only thing I’d want to do is change the Tora’s. I’ve had them before and didn’t get on and the Camber comes with Recons.

Think I’m leaning towards the trance with a view to upgrading later and keeping the frame.

Crikey – you riding a bike these days??? 😉

I had a broken leg remember! But now the doc has signed me off so I’m back now

woop woop – you could come and play on some stuff like this…

[video]http://www.vimeo.com/24648738[/video]

Just been in a similar prediciment. I went for a 2010 trance x2 from pauls. The camber looks sweet and the camyon well i am not convinced on longevity. Get a trance.

Trances are great with the following caveats:
1. Bugger to clean – lots of little nooks and crannys that were obviously never designed for this side of the Atlantic.
2. Horrendous number of pivots when the bearings need replacing.
3. There’s a couple of the top pivot bearings that seem to have a habit of not lasting all that long.

I don’t mind cleaning.

Points 2 and 3 worry me though.

Damn decisions.

Not sure I’d let it put you off, they’re excellent frames. Just worth being aware that the bearings do need attention, and that there’s a fair few of them. The same may well be true of lots of other more complex suspension designs anyway, the trance is the only one I’ve owned.

They’ll all have a similar number of bearings to replace so my money would go on the Canyon that comes with much better forks and groupset.

The mrs uncle has had a trance (not an x) for about 5 years and hes used and abused it (hes a big fella) and its still going strong.
So my theory is being a hell of a lot lighter (70kg) mine shouldnt take as much of a pounding and hopefully give me a trouble free life lol.

There aren’t too many Camber owners yet for a clear opinion on them, about a third of our group have Trances. One of the other guys has just ordered a Nerve so we will see! White Trance looks fantastic but I like the Camber too (Pitch owner so I am biased!)

I’ve got a Camber so possibly a little biased, I’ve had it for a about 2months & it’s great – like riding an enthusiastic Labrador…

To be honest out of the bikes mentioned all are excellent & you should probably just pick the one you like the colour of best…

I’m sure Chris / pook will confirm that I never clean my trance and also ride peaks / Wharncliffe and only after a year have I started to get a bit of play in the bearings.

Jusat paid £160 to get all my bearings replaced on my Trance X1. This was after 3 years of hard abuse. Its like having a new bike again

The Trance is good and a safe bet.

Camber is also good but some of the spec choices aren’t great – Tektro brakes

Canyon is more of an unknown in the UK but you can’t argue with the price. See how far up the Giant and Spesh range you have to go to match a Canyon Nerve XC 5 or 6? Cutting out the importer and shops margin makes them hard to beat on spec.

For my peace of mind I’d want to spend some time on the Canyon just to see how it rides, but the direct sales route makes this a bit tricky.

I used to own an FSR XC which the camber has evolved into and it was an excellent buy, it had 12 months of being ridden 4-5 times a week. I started off at 21st and was 18st when it was nicked. Great VFM and the Camber’s are a beautiful loooking bike too. I’ve never been took with the ‘only a mother could love’ look of Giants

My housemate just bought a Spesh Camber. I’ve not really given it a test off road but from what I can see it seems pretty good value and perfectly capable.