I’m trying to piece together a shortlist of full sus trail/enduro bikes I’d like to demo.

If you demoed a few bikes, what were they, what did you buy and why?

Last time I did this it was in 2012 with cross bikes.

Demoed:
Boardman CX team
Croix de Fer
Specialised Crux
Cannondale CaadX

Bought:
Boardman CX team – I thought the frame was nice and racy (especially compared to the CDF). The Crux and Cannondale were also nice, but weren’t available in disc at the time. Boardman bargain also came up (double discount at halfords making it about £730).

Demo Zesty, Bronson and Solo (5010).

Bronson C

Demo’ed:

Speshi Crave 29er
Cube – hardtail 29er not sure what model was a bit rushed at Cannock.

Brought a Canyon – Grand Canyon 6.9 al – still waiting delivery. Any day now.

well i had a go on the manger’s s works roubaix (with 11 speed dura ace electric shifting) last week (at my fav bike shop).

it was fantastic,the down side have bugger all money to buy my own 🙁

will be upgrading parts on my duster (ending with a soul frame i think 🙂 so it’s not all gloom.

Demo’d:

5
5AM
Alpine
NP Mega

Bought the Mega. 5 was OK, 5AM good down but pants up, Alpine was best of the Oranges. I just liked the Mega a lot more, up and down.

Any reasons Pawsy_Bear?

Demo’d a banshee prime: bought a banshee prime

Demoed a Norange 5 & on the last downhill bit screamed out loud (like Will Smith in Independance Day) ‘I’ve gotta have me one of these!’
Bought a 5.

an orange 5 and a gyro at glentress on Sunday although the gyro was faster i bought the 5, both fantastic bikes

Demo’ed:
Spesh Stumpy EVO Carbon
Orange 5
Cotic Rocket
Banshee Spitfire
Banshee Rune

Bought a Spitfire.

Demoed an orange 5 and a specialized camber…. Bought the camber, felt a lot better suspension wise than the orange.

Demo’d# a Giant Defy Advanced. Bought a Giant Defy Advanced SL
Demo’d a Giant Propel Advanced. Bought a Giant Propel Advanced frame.

Never demo’d my Genesis ioid, but the geometry matched my Kona Unit 29er so I bought it unseen. It was everything I expected it to be.

#Actually I took it crit racing at Hillingdon. A proper demo!

davewalsh – could you compare the Rocket with the Spitfire for me?
Those 2 are high on my list.

I like playful bikes rather than steamrollers – a little worried the Spitfire soaks everything up.

I demo’d (in 2009):

Santa Cruz Blur
Orange Five
Turner 5 Spot
Yeti 575
Trek something or other

Bought the Five. Would have bought the Blur but I was between sizes and the Five was a better fit – I think that list is in order of preference.

Last year I went for shorter travel and now ride an ASR5.

I’ve had loads of frames over the last few years, and not demoed a single one of them. The exception is the one that is arriving today, which I tried at the Bike Show in Birmingham. The demo bikes had seen a lot of abuse and the drivetrain was shot, so I wasn’t all that impressed. I know I will love it though, despite the rubbish demo.

Demoed Sync, bought Sync.

Demo’d- Zesty, Five, Soul, Trance X, Chameleon.
Bought- Soul

Most of my bikes were bought untested though

Demo’d SB66, Bronson, Solo.

Will be getting the Bronson when I can sell my old bike.

SB66 felt very zippy on acceleration (stiff frame) but otherwise no better than the Turner it was goingto replace. Lovely looking bike though, plus herd bad things about the bearing longevity.

Bronson suspension was amazing. A different league, plus the stiffness of the frame just made it go like a scalded cat.

Demo’d a Pivot Mach 6 all weekend in February. Blew my socks off. Ordered and awaiting delivery.

lowey – all aluminium models?

Bronson suspension was amazing. A different league, plus the stiffness of the frame just made it go like a scalded cat.

i found it dull and lifeless…

Alex… no Carbon.

Demoed a Bronson c, tallboy ltc and going to order a nicolai helius tb. Out the santa cruz’s I would have the ltc, I did not get on at all with the bronson in fact I would keep my enduro in front of it.

Demo’d a Orange 5 27.5, 5-29er, Remedy 29.

Bought this:

All depends what you’re after, I was after something that was very quick descending, and not hugely bother about climbs as I’m pretty fit and a strong climber – so unless I was racing it’s not going to make much difference.

Demo’s in 2012

Transition Covert
Transition Bandit

Bought the Covert.

Demoed:

Covert
5
Remedy
Alpine 160
Pivot Mach 5.7

Bought a Saracen Ariel. Thus far, no regrets.

Zesty rear end was too wide I clipped my heals on the frame.

Bronson is faster on my local loop. Zesty 15.1 kph average. Bronson 16.6 kph. Two loops total 20.4 km 430m climb. I’ve ridden the same loop on the Zesty loads of times and speeds Hardly varies. 1.5 kph was significant.

Bronson lower BB and shorter TT makes for fast cornering. Pikes give it point and shoot steering. 1 x 11 more useful gears. 27.5b wheels fast and responsive. Guess the speed increase is the sum of its parts.

I’m keeping my Zesty and it’s been convertedf to 1 x 11.

i found it dull and lifeless…

I guess shock setup must play it’s part.
Last time I demoed fs bikes, I found it really difficult to get each very different shock to behave at it’s best for me. One of them (5th Element) I couldn’t get to suit me at all.

Bronson is faster on my local loop. Zesty 15.1 kph average. Bronson 16.6 kph. Two loops total 20.4 km 430m climb. I’ve ridden the same loop on the Zesty loads of times and speeds Hardly varies. 1.5 kph was significant.

Why does that actually matter? I don’t care about Strava times, if it *feels* faster then for me that’s a lot better than if it’s actually faster, but feels like crap.

I guess shock setup must play it’s part.

And individual perception of what’s fun/lively/rubbish. When I was demo’ing I really wanted to like the 5 Spot as mates that had them raved about them. I wasn’t overly impressed and thought it was pretty dull, however that was because it felt almost too refined for me – I preferred the slightly hooligan feel of the single pivot Five.

Dickon, I don’t subscribe too subjective assessments which clearly fly in the face of science such as ‘it doesn’t pedal up hill like its 35 lbs’ . I didn’t say it felt crap either.

I’m not surprised either that a newer bike with up dated parts is better.

Tested:

Lapierre Spicy
Trek Fuel
Transition Bandit
Mondraker Foxy XR
Cotic Rocket

Trying to buy the Cotic. Loved the Bandit, but wanted a bit more rear travel; loved the Mondraker but wanted easier tight cornering. All three felt great in the air. The Cotic is everything people say about it plus felt great cornering. With the Spicy and Fuel I was probably getting used to full suss, 26″ wheels and hydraulic brakes: all new to me at the time.

Shame about the Rocket delay 🙁
I wonder if there’s still a demo bike available to send to dealers?

Last time I demoed properly was 2008:

Soul
Chameleon
Trek 6500 (I think)

Bought a Cove Stiffee and it was by far and away the best bike I have ever owned.

Bought my Meta 55 without testing and it was awesome, had the right geometry I was after and was poppy and playful.

Now sold both and building up my new Banshee Spitfire without demoing it, geo was exactly what I want so can’t wait to get out on it, plus it helps that Keith the designer is a top guy who answered all my questions about it. Very nearly bought an Evil Uprising instead but the ccdb on the Spitty just pipped it.

Demo’d: Lapierre Spicy, Whyte g150, trek slash 9, orange alpine and a cube fritzz race. Bought none of them (yet), but it would have to be the Orange for me. Not as ruthlessly good a platform perhaps, but equally confident and much more fun.

Demoed (for the first time, never tested before buying before)

5010c
Bronson alu
Spicy team
Saracen ariel 162
Five 650b
Five 29er
Some niner xc race bike, hated it.

Bought a 5010c and a Nomadc 650b (off spec)

ultimateweevil – I’ll be interested in whether you get the tune of the CCDB on the Spitfire to be playful and poppy.

Demo’d a Stumpy FSR in ’06 > bought it
Demo’d an Orange Five in ’07 > bought it
Demo’d an ASR5 in ’12 > bought an ASR5c
Demo’d a Solaris in ’12 > bought it
Demo’d a Stumpy Carbon Evo 29 in Feb > undecided

Never been to a demo day as I prefer to ride potential bikes on familiar routes to compare. Although I’m currently considering getting a 140mm FS 29er and it’s proving difficult to arrange/source demos and compare bikes. Plus it’s expensive. So a demo day might be the best option.

Demo’d:

Banshee Prime
Banshee Rune
Banshee Spitfire
Spec Stumpjumper 29er
Trek Remedy
Santa Cruz Tallboy LT
Santa Cruz Blur LT
Yeti SB66
Yeti SB95
Cotic Rocket
Knolly Endorphin

Bought:
Knolly Endorphin

Stop reading here if you aren’t interested in my views on them all!

AlexSimon here are some notes I wrote down for another forum member last year:
I’m no seasoned bike tester, all of my previous bikes have been bought unridden (currently on a 2005 Orange 5), but my I’ve scrawled down my impressions below. I’m an okay rider, in the faster group going down in my club (though there are no DHers in our club!), mid pack going back up, ride trail centres, peaks, long mynd, swinley etc. I’m 5’11” and rode a large in all the bikes except the Cotic which I rode in L and M.

Banshee Prime
Really liked this bike – rolled well and was chuckable for a 29er – worth a ride if you go 29er Good value too from memory. The lacquered raw finish on the Banshees looked great.

Banshee Rune
Super plush pillow of a bike, probably great if you’re riding big stuff, but way too much for an ‘everthing with an uphill’ bike. I struggled to get it off the ground on my test ride, and found it really draggy on the flat – not for me, so I exclude the SC Nomad as too similar

Banshee Spitfire
This was much more like it, really snappy and fun, I just wanted a shade more capability and the SB66 was more confidence inspiring.

Spec Stumpjumper 29er
Just not for me this one, seemed quick, but not fun

Trek Remedy
Felt too on top of the bike, and thus a bit nervous, quick though.

Santa Cruz Tallboy LT
Didn’t get on with this bike for some reason, it didn’t seem to have very good small bump compliance, but I wonder if that was shock setup – I was going to re ride it with less air, but decided that 29ers weren’t for me after demo’ing a mix.

Santa Cruz Blur LT
I like the suspension feel on this – good small bump compliance, not too much bob uphill, it was just the short TT that put me off, I felt far too cramped

Yeti SB66
This was the first bike I tested, and I immediately gel’ed with it, was the equivalent of a hot hatch – egging you on to go faster, giving you loads of confidence. The faster you went the more you got out of it. It pedalled really well up hill even with the propedal off. I re-rode it at the Leisure lakes demo day as I had some spare time and still got the same feeling coming off the other bikes. The first bike I rode had Devilles fitted and the second had fox 32’s. The BOS were really nice – I’d have them if they weren’t so expensive! The 32’s were fine, but were a little flexy in comparison.

Yeti SB95
Similar to the 66 but not as quick to change direction, it rolled over ruts very well and could be made to go where you wanted, but was happier to just steamroller a line through the trail. Easier going on the flat though. If I were less aggressive down hill it’d be between this and the Prime.

Cotic Rocket
Much like the SB66 this pedalled really well up and felt great down. The Large was spot on for me with a 60mm stem (I was riding Cy’s bike). I’m not convinced the forks were working properly though, they seemed to be locking up on the bushings. Cy had the Vipr shock fitted and I probably used only 75% of the travel with the sag set right, I suspect the compression tune on it suits a more aggressive rider than me (Cy)! The medium I rode was definitely too short for me both in length and height, and made my back hurt in fairly short order. The narrower bars also didn’t suit going down, I felt much less confident. The CTD shock felt better for me though – although I did pinch flat twice within 200m and didn’t think I was riding harder than on the large.

And an email on the Knolly, as I hadn’t ridden it when I wrote the above:
It’s the first bike I’ve ridden that has managed to combine the plushness of an FSR design with a good ‘platform’. When I first got on it I thought it was going to be another pillowy type bike as it smoothed out the trail chatter under the tyres in the same way that the Rune did. I expected that this would make it hard to get off the ground and pop, and would kill pedalling efficiency.

I rode two loops on it, the first was the Cotic demo loop, so I could get a direct comparison. Smooth climbing it’s probably not as efficient as the Cotic, but not a million miles off, and a lot better than many of the bikes I’ve tried. Coming down the rocky chute it was much more capable of dealing with the ‘chunder’, smoothing the worst out so I could concentrate on picking a line rather than correcting. I turned round and rode back up the chute to test technical climbing – really good, better than the rocket, probably because of the reward axle path of the FSResq rear end, it was also fairly easy to lift the front and rear over the edge of steps. Coming down the last descent into Calver it was easy enough to pop off the little lips and bumps, probably not as poppy as the Cotic, but similar the SB66.

The ride on the Beast (Peaks) was interesting – I picked lines that’s I’d never have gone for on my Orange Five (2005, so steep head angle version), it’s a shame I haven’t ridden the Rocket on it too. It had a very reassuring feel to the suspension coming off drops – it felt like it had a lot more travel than the Rocket – even though it’s actually a 140mm bike. I didn’t get close to bottoming it out either, with about ~8mm of shock travel left according to the o-ring.

Anyway long story short, it wasn’t quite as poppy as the Rocket, but it did a better job of merging FSR plushness with single pivot poppyness. Good enough that I now have a dayglo yellow one sat in my house.

Cheers ndg – I think I’d read it before, but bike purchase wasn’t imminent then. Useful, ta!

Any more for any more?