It’s been 15 years since I bought my last bike, but it’s really showing its age and I’d benefit from something a tad bigger.

I was thinking something along the lines of a Cotic BFe or Ragley MmBopp, but now I’m swithering towards full suspension. Its mainly local trails I’m riding, nothing too challenging but I would like a few trips to some of the 7staines stuff if we ever get let out the house again.

All the new sizes baffle me a bit (boost and all that) but I don’t think I want a 29er.

Cotic had some ex demo full sus bikes on their site. Grab a bargain, flaremax would be good.

Or the flare, I test rode one and it felt just like sitting on my Soul but with a bit more squidge at the back – for a 1 bike to do it all, a flare would be hard to beat.

Sounds like some kind of short / mid travel fs would be a good compromise but you can’t beat test riding to see if you actually like fs. Clearly not possible at the moment though – so if you have cash burning a hole in your pocket you’re buying ‘blind’.

This is fine if you known what sort of geometry you’re after and have some idea on rear suspension characteristics you’re after.

If you’re coming from a hardtail and enjoy it being lively then going to full suss you probably would like something more ’poppy’ than plush.

but I don’t think I want a 29er.

You may not want one, but you probably need a short-travel 29er.

😉

Or the flare, I test rode one and it felt just like sitting on my Soul but with a bit more squidge at the back – for a 1 bike to do it all, a flare would be hard to beat

The Flare would be the bike I’d have recently gone for if I had to have a Cotic. But you’re effectively paying a premium for a steel frame over say aluminium. I’m not convinced of the benefits of steel unless it’s a hardtail so no way I was paying that extra cost.

but I don’t think I want a 29er.

You may not want one, but you probably need a short-travel 29er.

I’ve no doubt 29ers can be quicker based on a few rides I’ve had. But for me they’re less fun than 650b. Only ridden a couple of 29ers though so far.

If you dont need full sus,worth remembering that a steel hardtail has no shock, bearings and bushings to service. Worth weighing up the service costs etc.

Just on the above I don’t find my fs costs me that much extra in servicing. Bearings aren’t that expensive and if you do them yourself it’s minimal costs.

A shock aircan service is pretty easy and a service kit is cheap. Just a full shock service that’s a bit more involved.

With most fs bikes it’s not essential you do this that frequently anyway unless you do loads of miles on it.

Edit – to add I have both a hardtail and a 4 bar full suspension bike. I don’t really consider the fs to be materially different in terms of cost to maintain.

I use the ht for flowy but relatively smooth terrain and also for some steep tech stuff. The fs for everything else – you get hammered on the ht in anything rocky and fast and big drops etc.

Although I’ve recently swapped from an enduro bike (170f/160r travel) to a 130mm trail fs and so I suspect the ht will see less use as the trail bike is more of an allrounder and won’t feel so sluggish on easier trails.

Agree with above in terms of maintenance, some bikes are a bit needier than others mind….

Go FS, I’ll never go back to HT again.

Am struggling to decide betwixt the Cotic Flare and new Bird Aether 7. The Cotic costs more (frame only) but the Aether looks awesome and narrowly missed out on the MBUK trail bike of the year. I managed to test the Flare which was great (poor general fitness ended the session early) but don’t live anywhere near the Bird demo sites so wouldn’t be able to test even if we weren’t stuck indoors. Maybe when the government starts sending us free money it will sway me one way or the other!

Orange 4? Some great deals about atm.

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