OK, so I know we’ll have the “You can ride it on a Rigid” but that’s YOU… that’s not most people. 🙂

I’ve got a Spearfish and a Charge Cooker currently as my 2 bikes, with the weather and trails being so wet I’ve hardly used the Spearfish for a while, along with a day (or more to follow) at BPW I’m thinking of chopping in the Spearfish and moving to a Giant Reign/Glory or Specialized Pitch.

currently watching/discussing a few on ebay.

For example this Pitch, which he’ll flog for £550.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191774175220?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

And this Glory
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121834807245?_trksid=p2060353.m2763.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Which he’s refused me at £700 on.

I’m a generic trail/XC/day to day rider with average skills, I can get round the Reds at BPW and scare myself on the blacks… I can play at Afan/Degla/Whereever and not be out of my depth.

I did have a Commencal Meta AM29, which thinking back I arguably shouldn’t have sold when I changed to the Spearfish, but it was also arguably overkill for most of my riding…

I can’t really justify 3 bikes on my own as I’ve got the wifes bike and the Isla as well in there along with several motorbikes…

But do I keep the Fish and use at BPW… (or even hire a bike there) or do I take a leap to a larger travel bike that I may use on too few occasions …. decisions decisions.

The glory is a DH bike, it will be a long day on anything other than downhill

Pitch and a Glory are very different beasts. I used to ride my Pitch all the time at trail centres and while it’s overkill for lots of stuff it’s also great fun. Rode/pushed it up mountains in the Lakes/Scotland as well though and it’s on descents like those where all that suspension comes into it’s own, IMO. Lake District was my regular stomping ground whereas it’s pretty flat where you live innit?

Would be fun at BPW too but it’s not great for jumps, IMO. My new Capra feels much nicer to jump. Not that I’m very good at jumping on either!

Get some new 160mm Pikes or Lyriks on there – old Pikes are nowhere near as good (and heavier).

Of the two, the Pich will be fine for nearly everything. You’ll get down full on DH stuff on it, but the Glory would be more at home there.
I’d get the Pitch if the choice had to be between those two. More fun more of the time.

BPW isn’t steep enough for a dh bike imho. Too pedally with the odd exception in certain sections.
I think it’s a good place for 6 inch bikes that can take advantage of all the tracks.

Yep. BPW is best on a trail bike. If those, the Pitch would be better at BPW.

If not ‘that’ then what else in a <£800 bracket should I be browsing on Ebay ? I’m quite pleased with the apparent liking of the pitch… Blokey is potentially happy at a decent price and will drop it off on his way past at the weekend if I go down that route.

Although I’d likely have to sell my Spearfish if I buy that.

(veiled advert) I do have the Spearfish up in the for sale section as a potential swap (/veiled advert)

Agreed, Pitch is where its at. 150-160mm travel probably optimum.
I have ridden BPW on a hardtail and a Trance (100mm) and I felt like a little more travel would have been nicerer for the blacks.
Blues and reds were fine on either though.

I have a pitch, it’s a great bike but doesn’t have a tapered headtube so your choice of forks will be limited if you want to change them. Well, if you want to buy new ones.

Whilst I am 99% sure i’ll survive if I take the spearfish, I don’t think it will handle the rocky bits of the reds quite as nicely, added to the fact it’s obviously a more XC based geometry than the Pitch/whatever means it’s likely to be a little less ‘fun’ and more a challenge.

I don’t mind the odd challenge of course.. but hanging on and praying isn’t top of my list 🙂

The Trek Slash 7 for example is only £60 for the day at BPW, which would cut down on wear and tear on my own bike, also meaning I’d keep the Spearfish… I guess unless I start hitting BPW every few weeks it still makes sense at that money.

Pitch every time. Or a Giant Reign-X, the original X’s are often <£500 on ebay with Fox 36’s etc and are even better than the Pitch downhill (but weigh about 34lb). There’s also the cannondale prophet which will take 160mm forks which with the low/slack setting won’t be far off modern enduro bikes.

TBH:
1) Even the cheapest pitch was brilliant, and if all it’s got to do is be beaten up at BPW then cheap is all that’s needed. Spend any upgrade money on tyres and forks/shocks.
2) Your spearfish is a little overpriced at £1k, there’s a new one on stock clearance on ebay at the moment for £1100.

Get the Pitch,

This was my old one.

Agreed @ a grand it would be but that was 7 months back. I’d take £850. Plus the Fish on ebay is a small which is probably the reason it’s not sold.

Obviously things like the C’Dales on Pauls cycles etc are skewing the used market now because why would you pay a grand for a Spearfish when you can get a new Trigger for £1099….

I’ve looked at the Reigns previously and of course recently, but none I’m liking on ebay/PB etc at the moment.

Pitch, great bike I rode mine in the Alps, Fortwilliam and normal home trails.

nwmlarge – Member

Get the Pitch,

This was my old one.

This was my old one too! but then I sold it on and regretted it ever since!

Have you looked at Pinkbike?

I saw a 2013 Reign X for £850 (reasonable offers considered).
And a 2012 reign for £800.

Edit -sorry it seems you have looked already! I missed that one sentence!!

Pitch is a great budget bike, had a Pro in fetching ‘anodised turd brown’ a few years ago.

Great frame but if you’re planning to use it to it’s potential you’ll be wanting to upgrade the forks, wheels and brakes pretty soon.

I have a pitch, it’s a great bike but doesn’t have a tapered headtube so your choice of forks will be limited if you want to change them. Well, if you want to buy new ones.

Worth reiterating. The straight headtube really does limit you in terms of upgrade potential which is a shame as the Pitch is a fantastic, bombproof frame.

Be a man and go for the Glory…… Ok maybe not, I’d go for the Pitch, great bikes which many say were ahead of their time.

keep the Fish and use at BPW… (or even hire a bike there)

How many times will you be at BPW?
How good is your Spearfish for everything else?

euans2 – Member

Be a man and go for the Glory…… Ok maybe not,

TBH I’d rather walk the trails than ride most of BPW on the DH bike again!

In the STW tradition of recommending what you’ve got: Pitch.

Mine’s a 2011 Pro, running a Command Post, 1×10, SLX brakes and RC2DH Lyriks at 170mm – it’s perfect for BPW, Peaks, Wales, etc, but I also use it for flattish XC rides round Surrey/Hants in summer as it just makes everything fun.

A word of warning though on the sizing – they come up big so sit on one if you can. I’m 6′ on a Medium (geo here: http://specialized.com/gb/gb/bikes/archive/2011/pitch/pitchpro#geometry) and whilst it feels a little short on 50k+ rides, for anything less, and when stood up, it’s great.

I see you’re only in Berks so let me know if you want to try it for size.

Have a look on PinkBike, there’s several decent ones. 2011 models came with bolt-on clips on the TT for dropper post cables.

Apologies guys, finished work early and have been out on the Spearfish. Good little ride and quite interesting. It really does fit me beautifully I have to admit. Spot on….

The truth of the matter is I guess, i’ll likely do BPW 2-3 times this year… possibly closer to 2 than 3 in reality. BPW is the most technical ride i’ll get to, Degla, Swinley and Afan are far more likely locations, with local XC being the bread and butter (but of course I could use the Charge Cooker for that).

It all makes me think that I’m better off just using the Spearfish this time at BPW and then next time if feeling a bit less rusty, grab a hire bike.. the Fish is better than me without doubt.

Slight hijack, but why did Spesh stop doing the Pitch? Did they simply underprice it? It got fab reviews, was an absolute bargain and I was certainly impressed when I rode one…at least on the downhill bits anyway 🙂

Back to the OP, I think you’ve now answered yourself. Save your money and rent a bike.

stilltortoise – Member

Slight hijack, but why did Spesh stop doing the Pitch?

i reckon…

i reckon they realised it was such a bargain, it made the rest of their stuff look overpriced.

Slight hijack, but why did Spesh stop doing the Pitch? Did they simply underprice it? It got fab reviews, was an absolute bargain and I was certainly impressed when I rode one…at least on the downhill bits anyway

They just made the lowest spec enduro a bit lower spec. Probably still more profitable to sell the more expensive frame at a lower margin than do smaller runs of two different frames. Same as the camber disappeared around the same time and a cheaper stumpjumper came out (then the name was reinvented as a bike between the stumpjumper and enduro).

Pitch frame was fantastic, but the spec was a big letdown in almost every area. The forks damping was out of it’s depth on rocky trails, the finishing kit was heavy and flexy, the wheels ate bearings and freehubs, even a 9s drivechain when even deore was going 10s.

Yeah as ahwiles said it turned out to be to good. Such a capable bike for cheap money. One of the early slack bikes that we’ve all got now. They dropped it and gave the stump jumper the same geometry and called it the evo and charged you more!

Mines still going after 6 years of solid abuse! Granted the frame is the only original part of the full bike as the spec was a bit poor to start with.

Except that when the pitch was new, it shared the geometry of the outgoing enduro-sl, so the geometry was already 3 years or so old, and wasn’t that different to the enduro that preceeded that (the one with the pierced seatube so the geometry certainly goes back to about 2006.

Before the pitch the cheapest enduro had manitou nixon forks, whilst the pitch was in production i think they all had 36’s.

Nowadays the basic stumpjumper is £2200, only about 10% more than the £1700 pitch after inflation and has rct3 damper in the forks, dropper post, etc.

would the pitch be any lighter than a 2008 SX trail? and is it as slack?

I thought the basic Pitch was around £1100 when it was launched???

The Pitch didn’t sell at all in its first year. So much so they didn’t make any changes for the next model year – they had so many left over. For some reason in its second year it became a huge hit and everyone wanted one. It was already a year out of date in spec though, hence parts were a bit shit.

Then they dropped it. I would presume it was because there’s quite a lead time on producing bikes. First year it didn’t sell, so they dropped it, then it was too late by the time they realised they had a good seller on their hands.

TINAS talking 10 speed Deore makes me think they did a later batch though, I’d be thinking 2009/10 ish, when everything was still very 9 speed.

They were £1200 and £1500 for the Comp and the Pro IIRC, which were blue/red and brown/green, then they dropped £100 off each the following year. Digging deep in my LBS memory there though!

Turns out I know less than I thought about the pitch. Forgot about its enduro bloodline.

anyway doesn’t matter was and still is a good bike.

The original SX Trail would probably of been heavier as it was more of a free ride bike I think. Had one of them as well. I credit it for finally teaching me how to rail corners properly! Was a beast but not an all day pedal bike. Used mine as a mini dh bike really. I suppose a blend of the pitch and SX are now enduro bikes of today. Light enough to pedal up but with the geometry and travel to have fun in the way down.

Basic Pitch was £1000, pro was £1400 when they first launched I think.

I’ve a Pitch and it’s bloody marvelous, you’d be missing out if you can get one cheaply.

giantalkali – Member
I’ve a Pitch and it’s bloody marvelous, you’d be missing out if you can get one cheaply.

POSTED 15 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Only if I didn’t already have a great bike I’d have to dump to get it.

I’ve told the fella in not buying it, so what seems to be a very good priced Pitch is up for grabs
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191774175220?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The original SX Trail would probably of been heavier as it was more of a free ride bike I think. Had one of them as well. I credit it for finally teaching me how to rail corners properly! Was a beast but not an all day pedal bike. Used mine as a mini dh bike really. I suppose a blend of the pitch and SX are now enduro bikes of today. Light enough to pedal up but with the geometry and travel to have fun in the way down.

I had an 05 SX Trail. I bloody loved that bike and managed to lug it about as an all day / trail bike….it was put on a diet from its original build though! I’d have another in a heart beat!

Stick with what you have; far better than either of those two bikes you linked to.

Perhaps get some fat rubber for it for BPW.

Maybe slacken it out a bit aswell if you can?

davidtaylforth – Member

Stick with what you have; far better than either of those two bikes you linked to.

Perhaps get some fat rubber for it for BPW.

Maybe slacken it out a bit aswell if you can?

I was actually considering doing something slightly radical and buying these.

https://www.merlincycles.com/rockshox-reba-rl-solo-air-29-maxlelite-15-fork-73018.html

They’re 15mm front instead of the 9mmQR I have fitted and obviously new forks. Mine are also REBA forks but I’d guess 2011 or so roughly and in need of a service ideally. The only downside is that I considered this previously and Salsa do not recommend/support 120mm forks on the frame… but that frame I had was new and in warranty… This is a used frame and out of warranty.

I’ve fitted some 2.3 rubber and a 180 rear for BPW now, so it’s in a more ‘trail’ mode anyway. But I am still very tempted to risk the 120’s.

120’s would be fine, although could you no get a slack headset thingy or some offset bushings? Would save having to buy new forks…