I’m sorely tempted to buy my first complete bike in several years, I’m just getting a bit fed up of my home built jobs, they’re always a bit compromised in some way and in need of some fettling. There seems to be a lot of choice about, but I’m struggling to find something that really grabs me.

Criteria:

Full sus
Aluminium
Sub 30lb
130mm (ish) fork
Not 1x specific
£1500 – £2000

I don’t want an XC race machine, nor an enduro bike, just a ‘mountain bike’. Something light enough to pedal all day that can climb, can go downhill without leaving me a nervous wreck, and is just at home riding general XC/’trail’.

Any thoughts?

http://www.bird.bike/aeris-120/

Ridiculously impressed with mine

(it is 1x specific but don’t let that put you off)

https://www.ukbikesdepot.com/m15b0s901p18834/Mountain_Bikes/27_5_inch_Full_Suspension/ORBEA_Occam_AM_M30_2016

2016 ORBEA Occam AM M30. Full carbon. £1800 with a bit left over for a dropper post.

Under the recommend what you have, a Specialized Camber 29.

Does everything, from XC thru to running down DH trails at night.

Ah, I should have said above – 650b

Not against 29ers, I’ve got one, but would rather smaller wheels for what I want.

The Aeris 120 I’m intrigued by but by the time I spec. it to what I want I’m in to over £2k, and I really would like the option of a front mech if possible.

Camber? Not the most exciting choice but they always have a decent weights and solid own brand bits.

Edit: Sorry, I wrote that before seeing the reply above. Camber 650b? 😉

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/309821/products/2016-specialized-stumpjumper-fsr-elite-650b-mountain-bike—green-grey.aspx

clearly it’s a 2015/16 Whyte T130-SX 🙂

<£1500 in Winstanleys.

Trek Fuel?

The one I demoed was a few years ago but I really liked how balanced it was ie going up and down a hill. I almost went for it but it really would have been my only bike and I was a bit worried how it would cope with DH tracks so instead went for a slightly burlier Transition Bandit.

If I had the option of two bikes; a longer travel bike more focused at the gnarly stuff and a shorter travel one. I think I would have gone for the Trek Fuel instead.

Newer reviews seem to suggest the overall character of the Fuel hasn’t been messed around too much so I would say its still a contender?

Couple of mates have and rave about the Whyte T130’s. That’s what I’d go for.

Orange four or segment

I’ve got the segment.

Full sus Yes
Aluminium Yes
Sub 30lb probably as long as it’s not an xl.
130mm (ish) fork, 120 on segment, 140 on four
Not 1x specific, they are but you can always fit a bigger expander cog
£1500 – £2000. Shop about, there will be some

I love my segment, I don’t race, just ride about with mates.

Peaks epics- lovely up and down
Bike park Wales – significantly better on the red and blue trails than my 170mm reign. The blacks have gap jumps which are not for me on any bike
Enduro race – it could have gone much faster than me.
Runs the flattish trails near me- fine and well behaved

Easy to get demos of and see what you think,.

The folk at the factory have been super straight forward to deal with( mine was an ex demo)

I’d be on a large, four would be perfect, but £1600 frame only…

Transition scout? No idea how much they are but i’d love one.

A mate has a Whyte T130 and loves it but says the frame is on the heavy side. Regularly uses for the off piste stuff round FOD and nearby areas and says apart from the crazy steep stuff he prefers the T130 to the longer travel Orbea he has.

What’s your current 29 OP, to know what you want different out of a new 650b?

Jeffsy 27 Al2?
https://www.yt-industries.com/uk/detail/index/sArticle/1364/sCategory/509

Cannondale Habit?
https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b65s183p6523/CANNONDALE-HABIT-4-2016

Trance?
https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b4s183p6920/GIANT-TRANCE-27-5-2-2016

Currently have a 26″ Zesty with 140mm forks and a Mk2 Solaris with 100mm.

Zesty is a large, but feels short and a bit perched upon at 6ft, Solaris a large too, even with 70mm stem doesn’t feel big but steering does feel a bit ponderous and slow to react, if I was going to xc race it I’d want a layback post and possibly an even longer stem, as it is I end up pushing my arse back off the seat. An XL would just be a gate.

I like the feeling of speed and stability on the 29″ wheels, but not the cornering in the more tight and twisty local type trails.

I had a demo on a stumpjumper fsr 650 last year, it was excellent, didn’t hugely excite me, but it did everything excellently and was reasonably light to boot. I just felt 150mm travel was a bit much probably.

The camber looks good, reviews seem to suggest it lacks a bit of ‘zing’ and is a bit heavy though? Iv think something of that ilk or the t130 is what I’m after, I want something lively and fast feeling. Ideally that’d be a cotic flare, loved the one I had a go on last year, it just wanted to pop off everything, but they’re very spendy too.

I looked long and hard at the T130 and Flare, eventually bought the new Anthem. Loving it so far..

Yeah, I like niche bikes and boutique/premium brands, uk stuff particularly, but the big names do just seem to make bikes that work and get you the most bang for your buck, even if the components aren’t all XT. I kind of figure to replace wheels at some point on most full bikes.

^^^ Anthem comes with full XT and carbon wheels…..