I have a quandary of three bikes that I’m choosing from, I’ve narrowed it down to;
GT Sensor Carbon Elite
YT Jeffsy
Stanton Sherpa
I have always loved steel hardtails and I love the simplicity of them so tempted by the Sherpa, I’ve had one before and loved it.
I am also tempted to give full suspension a proper go as I haven’t in the past, I love the Jeffsy and I can’t quite put my finger on why but I really like the GT. The comfort of a full suss appeals too.

Riding wise will be predominantly Essex (Danbury and the surrounding area) Thetford and then a few trips to Swinley and then further north to the lakes etc. I’m more XC orientated but happy to ride the rough stuff, I just won’t necessarily go out to look for it.
Any thoughts at all?
Thanks.

I reckon you’ll always feel like you should have got a hardtail if most of your riding is Essex trails.

Sherpa would get my money out of that lot. Sonder Signal Ti is worth a look, too. Maybe the Titus Zestar as well, near identical by the looks of it, especially in Large.

Jeffsy sounds like massive overkill for your riding style and what you enjoy. I would have thought one of the new ‘downcountry’ bikes to quote Mike Levy, would be a better target for full suspension. Devinci Django, Santa Cruz Blur with a 120mm fork etc, Canyon Neuron, Stumpjumper ST etc….

Personally I’d go Jeffsy, but like the others say, that’s probably overkill for what you ride.

You’d probably be better off going for a shorter travel full suss or a comfy hardtail. Stuff like the Sonder mentioned or maybe a steel Cotic or Stanton.

Didn’t you have a Stage 5/6?

Scott Spark 120mm would match that brief 😉

Based on where you’ll ride and your approach to trails etc. then I’d 100% be going for the sherpa.

Didn’t you have a Stage 5/6?

me? Nope, That would be overkill. I did have a Jeffsy, rode it once and sold it – impulse buy after a break up. Loved it – just wasn’t the right time.

I am riding a lot more now so that’s why I thought about the Jeffsy again.

Jeffsy sounds like massive overkill for your riding style and what you enjoy. I would have thought one of the new ‘downcountry’ bikes to quote Mike Levy, would be a better target for full suspension. Devinci Django, Santa Cruz Blur with a 120mm fork etc, Canyon Neuron, Stumpjumper ST etc….

That was my first thought too. I recently bought a Canyon Neuron CF and I reckon that will be great around the likes of Swinley, Thetford etc. I’ve only ridden it around Woburn so far (quite similar to Swinley) and I would say it’s ideal for there as far as full sussers go. Other bikes on my shortlist for that sort of riding were Scott Spark, new Trek Fuel EX, Stumpy ST etc. I’m sure they would all be good too, but the Canyon was easily the best build spec for the money. I was able to go full bling spec on it for just over £4k. Carbon DT Swiss wheels, full factory fox suspension, X01 etc.

Maybe I could add the Bird Aeris 120 to that list – for knocking on £4K you’d get an bling sort of spec, but it’s got less cross country geometry than some of the others – without being crazy slack.

Would the Whyte S120 also be worth a look perhaps?

I live in Kent so probably not quite as flat as Essex, but I’m currently building up a Jeffsy CF Pro Race 29er, it’ll get used locally as well as Wales, lake district, Peak district, Scotland etc etc, even though its both longer travel with 150/150mm it was better everywhere than my old 140/150mm 27.5 trail bike – climbing, flat, and of course pointing down.

In your predicament the correct answer is to have both a hardtail and a FS 😁

This one:

This one:

yes.

EDIT:

My heart really want a Proflex 856 in 29er form.

https://www.moredirt.com/events/demo-days

That GT looks lovely!

https://www.moredirt.com/events/demo-days

Thanks

That GT looks lovely!

It really does doesn’t it.

SaxonRider

Subscriber
That GT looks lovely!

Each to their own…. 😆

Personally?

Sod being over bikes or not, buy what pleases you and makes you want to ride it. What makes you smile.

Sounds like you fell in love with the Jeffsy I’d be inclined to reignite that. I’m biased btw, Jeffsy owner here, so I would say that.😉

But I still say go with what you want to ride and makes you smile.

I think you really need to focus on whether you want an fs or ht as a priority in your choice of options.

That’s a BIG thing to get “wrong” as any bike will be a let down if you make that decision and then regret it….

I have the sensor and can’t fault it. 130mm 29r and just wants to keep going faster. Can’t comment for the others but the GT sensor is great all rounder and most models offer exceptional value with dealer service too. That’s not to be forgotten.

Take away all the logical reasoning behind choosing one. Which one do you lust after – buy that one.
None will be bad to ride so might as well get the one that makes you smile every time you see it.

The gt is one of the hire bikes at whistler! It will deffinetly be able to handle swinley 🙂

I’ve had my hardtail and geometron round swinley and preferred the geometron as it didn’t beat me up so much.

For your riding, the stanton sounds perfect.

You want a Sonder Evol. I noticed a nice Evol frame in classifieds 😉

Having a FS will make your back thank you ….
If you are under about 35 it may not be so much of an issue …

I think you really need to focus on whether you want an fs or ht as a priority in your choice of options.

Yeah, this absolutely ^

Then it boils down to just how big you want to go, both in travel and length, slackness. If as you say you are more XC oriented and riding predominantly Danbury, Thetford, Swinley then I wouldn’t get too carried away unless you just like the look of the bigger trail bikes. If you can demo then all the better.

I’m 42 now so the fs appeals in that sense but saying that a 29er hardtail with 2.4’s doesn’t offer any discomfort.

The Canyon Nueron is a choice I’m now looking at too, I think the reason I’m considering the GT is that it’s Rock Shox at both ends which really appeals, I just prefer RS to Fox but that’s not a totally deciding factor for me as i know the Fox I had on my previous Jeffsy was fine. Hmmmmm, I would say i’m edging towards the FS rather than a hardtail at the moment. Should I consider the Flaremax too?

I’ve had a look in the classifieds but nothing in XL appealing there.

What’s the budget? There’s £750 off the Jeffsy CF Pro at the moment, £2750. Come with RS and Sram Eagle, and comes in XL and XXL.

I still miss my 856.

I’d go 29er hardtail though.

I had a Stanton Sherpa and loved it but I also had an ibis mojo and now I have neither I think it’s the ibis i miss the most.

Get the GT

P.s. I live in Kent so don’t ‘need’ anything more than the hard tail I have.

But it’s not about NEED is it?

I have a Sherpa that I have just stripped the parts from and put them on a Sonder Signal. The Sherpa is a nice bike but not one that I ever loved.
The original options at the top of the thread do seem quite eclectic. If you want an all year, all rounder the Sherpa might be a good choice. The others would allow a greater variety of terrain.

I live in Kent and have an Orange Four. Great bike for the local terrain, and would probably ride well at somewhere like Thetford Forest.