Got £2k burning a hole in the pocket…what bike to get?

i wish it was my £2k but its my nephew’s…but i’m going to help him spend it!!
i managed to flog his YT Tues DH bike a couple of weeks ago as it was the wrong bike for him but now we need to get him another bike.
He’s got his heart set on a YT Capra AL1…which i agree with
but other than looking at a few second hand bikes is there anything else we should consider from a new point of view that does a similar job as the capra price and spec wise?

Giant Reign, Bird Aeris?

Canyon Strive? I’d have one of those ahead of a Capra

Can he push the budget a couple of hundred quid? If so, the Radon Slide Carbon 8.0 is a good spec for the price, and carbon framed. If not there’s the Slide HD 9.0 in alu on budget, which beats the 2×10 Capra on spec in a few places (X0 mechs and cranks, guide RS instead of R, lighter cassette etc).

Is he racing enduro or focusing more on the DH side still? Or just riding in the hills?

Canyon Strive? I’d have one of those ahead of a Capra

the frame alone costs £2k!! he needs the rest of the bike too!!

Giant Reign, Bird Aeris?

the bird Aeris looks to be just out of his budget but the Reign might be worth looking at. FWIW he borrowed my bike at the weekend and really liked the way it rode (09 Reign X2) so we’ll see about that

Can he push the budget a couple of hundred quid?

not really…we sold the YT Tues for 1700 and he’s pushing it to get hold of the extra needed to finance a Capra AL1 so £2k is the absolute limit.

Is he racing enduro or focusing more on the DH side still? Or just riding in the hills?

not racing but more for DH type ridung…but still relatively ridable uphill
in all honesty he’s got the legs to climb (he;s called the Hulk for a reason :D)
he bought the dh bike on the sly for BPW and realised that it wouldnt be much use for anything else…having said that the git still managed to keep up with everyone on the climbs when he rode it elsewhere!!

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/rose-uncle-jimbo-2-275-2015/aid:738641

uk demo available too, if its good enough for Katy Curd…

(edit – alright not those wheels but worth a look) I’d look at the radon too, certainly for the money compared to say a new orange starting at 2.8k now

Capra looks like a good choice to me then.

Some of the other options seem a bit less beefy – so maybe better for racing – but it sounds like he’ll want something pretty solid.

Lets hope the Capra is solid anyway. It does look it.

he’s coming to mine this evening to drop off my bike and to have a sit down and look at his options…something tells me money will be spent and an order will be placed tonight… 😀

Bird Aeris starts at £1500 ish

Stick on some decent wheels and he’s laughing for now

Bird Aeris starts at £1500 ish

Stick on some decent wheels and he’s laughing for now

£1595 for the Aeris 3 although the spec is not as great as the Capra. the Aeris AMX has a better spec at £2050
the lifetime frame warranty makes it worth looking at though
the only thing going against it is the reduced travel compared to the Capra

I hit buy on a Capra over the weekend – bear in mind there aren’t any until the end of september though.
Be careful as they are in germany so will charge you a “payment surcharge” for any way other than bank transfer.
With a few spares and two sets of pads £2100 delivered to my door.

I hit buy on a Capra over the weekend

so he turned up last night and we went over all the options and he was seriously considering the Giant Reign…but eventually we went for the Capra AL1. 😀

hit payment by paypal and nearly got stung by the 100 Euro fees!!
gone for the bank transfer option with some raceface pedals and a spare mech hanger all for £2050. now we have to wait until early October for delivery!!
in the meantime he’s got an Ellsworth Moment frame that needs building up.

Have you already done the bank transfer?
If not use transfer wise, you’ll get a better rate than your bank. I recently ordered an al1 as well, cost me £1936 inc. a spare mech hanger. Also if you use the link below, you don’t pay the fee.

https://transferwise.com/u/6bf09

Have you already done the bank transfer?
If not use transfer wise, you’ll get a better rate than your bank. I recently ordered an al1 as well, cost me £1936 inc. a spare mech hanger. Also if you use the link below, you don’t pay the fee.

not done the transfer yet…still waiting for further instructions from YT. but thanks for the tip on using transferwise

Have you already done the bank transfer?

we’re still waiting to make the transfer. not heard anything form YT since placing the order. they sent the order confirmation to us the same night with an order number but nothing since. my nephew logged onto his account on their website last night and it said no order has been placed…

gavjackson1984 – is this normal? or has something gone wrong? how did it work for you?

2k for a new bike? Canyon.

we’re still waiting to make the transfer. not heard anything form YT since placing the order. they sent the order confirmation to us the same night with an order number but nothing since. my nephew logged onto his account on their website last night and it said no order has been placed…

gavjackson1984 – is this normal? or has something gone wrong? how did it work for you?

Id give them a call, I had the same with an alternative german Co and at their end they hadnt received the order. Its worth a call at least to confirm the ETA
(edit) The missed order also meant i missed out on ^that blue and got silver/raw instead 🙁

Id give them a call, I had the same with an alternative german Co and at their end they hadnt received the order. Its worth a call at least to confirm the ETA

was thinking of getting in touch with them to find out what was going on with the order, but wanted to check first to see if anyone on STW had any previous experience with YT

I reckon he should get the Capra, it’s what he wants, is well reviewed and amazingly specced. And they just look awesome.

This is where the direct sales companies come into their own and why i’m such a fan.

Young lad has 2k to spend on a bike, wants a decent long travel trail bike that can turn its hand to racing and handle some DH runs….sounds like the moon on a stick, in the past he’d have very few options and they’d all be pretty expensive!

Buy a new decent frame only from the likes of Yeti, Banshee etc and then beg, steal and borrow for the rest of the parts ending up with a machine that is a bit of a Frankenbike for several months/years until he can buy decent wheels, drivetrain etc seperately along the way.

Buy a complete but secondhand bike by one of the main manufacturers like Giant, Spesh, Trek et al….not bad but throwing 2k at something already owned is disappointing in my opinion…that is a lot of money (if you dont think it is then have a word with yourself), its especially extravagant when talking about a bicycle!….for that money most people would prefer new….buying secondhand you also risk being a step behind with changing standards and having an already obsolete 2k bike sat in your shed.

Buy new and complete from one of the main brands but it’ll be adorned with the worst of the OEM market components so that Spesh, Gaint, Trek etc could bring it to market for less than 2k….the worst part about owing a Trek a few years ago was all the in-house Bontrager crap it came adorned with….ended up spending loads to get nice bars, stem, seatpost, wheels etc….false economy for enthusiasts, fine for the casual user.

Now with the likes of YT, Radon, Commencal, Rose, Canyon etc you can be the first owner,
enjoy a good OEM spec to rival what you may have chosen if you building from frame only, warranty etc….i think they’re bloody brilliant and my next bike will almost certainly be from one of the firms above.

we’re still waiting to make the transfer. not heard anything form YT since placing the order. they sent the order confirmation to us the same night with an order number but nothing since. my nephew logged onto his account on their website last night and it said no order has been placed…

gavjackson1984 – is this normal? or has something gone wrong? how did it work for you?

I placed the order on the website and got an email pretty much straight away from them confirming this. Few days later they send another email with confirmation and a PO attached. In this email, it has all YT’s bank details. Check your spam filter as mine was in there.

There plenty of credit cards out there that offer %fees on euro transactions now and u get all the added cover that a cc gives.
Exchange rate is set by mastercard and is same or better than transferwise.
I’ve just ordered a canyon and got £0.705 to the euro, no fees.

I placed the order on the website and got an email pretty much straight away from them confirming this. Few days later they send another email with confirmation and a PO attached. In this email, it has all YT’s bank details. Check your spam filter as mine was in there.

just sent him a message telling him to check…thanks

There plenty of credit cards out there that offer %fees on euro transactions now and u get all the added cover that a cc gives.
Exchange rate is set by mastercard and is same or better than transferwise.
I’ve just ordered a canyon and got £0.705 to the euro, no fees.

i did mention this at the time but he gave me a funny look…which to me means that he’s either got himself into trouble with one, doesnt have one or is already maxed out on them.