Help with move back to MTB – what “type” of bike?

Morning,

I’ve recently been getting out on my MTB a bit more, now it’s a 2009 Giant Anthem x3, I “upgraded” the drive train to x1 over the winter, but I had a go on a mates 29er the other day and blimey it did roll so much better!

From googling seems to be lots of articles saying “modern” geometry is leaps ahead of 2009 and the tech/larger wheels would make a big difference. I’m doing nothing “radical”, doing 1-3 hours on local single track around North Leeds, small drops and very occasional trips to Dalby Forest.

So assuming the answer is yes, in 2009 I decided to go for an XC bike and I think that served me well, looking around there seems to be loads more types of bikes now, is XC still the one to aim for?

I ride road as well, so my thinking last time was I ain’t ever going to be doing “big” downhill or Alpine holidays (I’m 57 and don’t bounce as well as I used to) so I wanted something light, relatively fast but still able to tackle the Dalby Red.

Sticking with the Anthem the 29er still seems to get good reviews, and the Spec Epic and Epic Evo look interesting as I have a Spec road bike. One of my local shops does have a Giant Trance Advanced Pro 29 2 2022 with some decent discount which they have said would be a good fit for me but from what I can see that is a trail bike vs an XC bike??

Lastly I don’t see many sales at the moment, have I missed end of season sales or are they likely to happen still?

You won’t find many on here who will recommend a Giant. Warranty is pretty much worthless.

I can’t offer any current advice on bikes though – my only bike is an early 2000’s Ti Inbred! 🙂

You won’t find many on here who will recommend a Giant. Warranty is pretty much worthless.

That was one high profile case of idiocy on Giant’s part wasn’t it? Or was there a deeper problem?

Friends with Giants seem to like them. Don’t think any have broken them.

Think XC is the way to go for your use case. Will be a massive improvement over a 2009 bike.

Some brands have their XC bikes in two versions, a “race” and a “trail” version. If they do I would recommend the trail option – its still not a “trail bike” but but will probably get you 20mm more suspension, tyres more suited to recreational riding rather than race day speed; all on the same frame.

Have a friend who rates his Orbea, to throw another lower cost brand into the mix.

Lastly I don’t see many sales at the moment, have I missed end of season sales or are they likely to happen still?

Widen your search… And I can’t stress this enough… Now is the winter of our discount tents (well MTB’s) to paraphrase…

I think you’re looking at the right kind of bikes for what you describe, a modern XC bike will be way more capable technically than anything from 15yrs ago anyway, so no point looking at bigger travel bikes if you’re not doing the riding to warrant it… And these XC bikes, precisely because that kind of riding has fallen out of favour, have had the biggest discounts overall…

Spesh were doing 50% off their last years Epic’s and Epic Evo’s!!!

Rocky Mountain Elements are or were more than half off @ Paul’s Cycles!

Trek Top Fuels up to 50% off for some models too…

And a whole lot more deals wise. Any of the bikes I mention above would be excellent for what you describe, there are of course many other alternatives.

I have seen these prices in some physical stores as well as online…

Thanks @mboy, seems Spesh are back to full price, looking back on my emails they did do Black Fri deals so perhaps patience is needed!

Certain still have a couple of the discounted Epics knocking around.

https://www.certini.co.uk/bikes/mountain-bikes/2022-specialized-epic-comp-full-suspension-mountain-bike–satin-carbon__82455

This looks a good offer;

Cycle Revolution have a 2022 Specialized Stumpjumper Expert for £3,600

I bought one earlier this year after a ST recommendation

Thanks @mboy, seems Spesh are back to full price, looking back on my emails they did do Black Fri deals so perhaps patience is needed!

More likely they’ve sold through the old stock they needed to.

As Mboy suggests, look at other suitable short travel 29ers and grab something else for 50% off while brands are still overstocked.

There are loads of decent options these days.

thanks for all the replies, so if I was being very picky, what XC bikes are out there with wireless shifting and integrated storage that are likely on sale? If I can get a short list of models I can spend the weekend googling 🙂

Check out PedalOn, they seem to have some deals on at the mo.

Not many with those specific requirements unfortunately. I’d say from the three (storage/sale/wireless) you probably need to pick two.

I’m looking at similar bikes and have considered Specialized Epic Evo/8, Transition Spur, Santa Cruz Blur, Orange Stage Evo, etc. Plenty of choice and ‘some’ great discounts so if I were you I’d set a budget then have a look what’s available. Think Canyon had a sale on too?

Have you thought about a hardtail?

thanks for all the replies, so if I was being very picky, what XC bikes are out there with wireless shifting and integrated storage that are likely on sale?

Being that picky is less likely to result in a bargain…

I’d ignore wireless shifting for now myself… Certainly it’s much less likely to get you a bargain bike, and you can always upgrade in the future should you want to anyway…

Do you have a budget per se?

I would expect xc and internal storage to be mutually exclusive. A proper xc bike doesn’t need internal storage. That would be a trail bike.

If they have your size, I’d just get one of these TopFuels

Stick some leccy gears on it later if you really want

You’ll limit yourself with saying internal storage – I’d drop that requirement.

Wireless shifting is alright but I don’t think it’s a game changer unless you have a front mech (which decent mtbs don’t have anymore). Both sram eagle and Shimano 12 speed mechanical are decent.

Some bikes to look at:

Epic Evo

Transition Spur

Trek Top Fuel

Santa Cruz Blur

NS Bikes Synonym (was also the Vitus Rapide fs and several other bikes)

Sonder Cortex (possibly)

YT Izzo (borderline trail but sometimes cheap and then uncaged one is fast)

Hate the term but I’d recommend a ‘Downcountry’ type bike. Essentially a lightweight xc bike but with more relaxed geometry and longer suspension travel.

Those Top Fuels for £1999 that @chakaping are worth a look. Decent spec for the money with a full carbon frame – Trek frames are normally more expensive that that on their own.

You could always pickup Sram AXS or Transmission (assuming the frame is UDH) at a later date of it really bothers you.

cheers all, that Top Fuel looks good thx, and has the internal storage as does the Spesh Epic range…wireless shifting, yeah, that was a nice to have but not an essential.

Massive thanks for all the help on here.

Order placed, all boxes ticked, wireless and storage and a decent discount + cyclescheme was an almost no brainer!

TREK 2023 Top Fuel 9.8 GX AXS Gen 3 ML MATTE RAW CARBON from here, apparently Trek have 14 left in my size TREK 2023 Top Fuel 9.8 GX AXS Gen 3 – The Bicycle Chain

There have been a few similar ish threads on here recently.

At some point in the next year (ordered in May) I will be getting an Orbea Rise to replace a 2012 Anthem X. I always thought the Anthem X rear suspension was completely sorted and could handle way more than it should, and I still think that. However the front end is old school chuck you over the bars geometry.

More modern hardtails are more capable overall than an older Anthem X.

Personally Ive gone down the ebike root as I am not as fit as I was, dont have the time to get as fit as I was, and boy they are fun !

Massive thanks for all the help on here.

Order placed, all boxes ticked, wireless and storage and a decent discount + cyclescheme was an almost no brainer!

Cracking price if you’ve got it on Cyclescheme as well.

Trek carbon frames are really good IME, I loved my old 26in Fuel EX when it had this amount of travel.

Looks a great deal on that Trek Fuel. I also like how you can adjust the rear suspension geometry from high to low. The high numbers look similar to my 2018 Scalpel SE, which is great for long days in the hills but if I was buying again, I’d go for a bike with a lower bottom bracket (like the newer Scalpel SE does) as I prefer the feeling in sweeping corners of a lower bottom bracket. I think your new Trek comes in the low setting as standard, but is something to be aware about if you want to tweak how it rides.

That half green, half purple paint job is incredible!

https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bikes/mountain-bikes/trail-mountain-bikes/top-fuel/top-fuel-9-8-gx-axs-t-type-gen-3/p/41646/

But grey or black will age better.