Looking to get another bike over the next few weeks, and after a demo day looks like a 29er is the way forward (no wheel debates please!!) but which one, to be honest im after my cake and eat it, but a decent spec and a great value buy so far ive narrowed it down to 3 but only one is true value but not many reviews around.

Grand Canyon – the budget one, but fairly easy to upgrade over time, plus ive had good dealings with canyon in the past.

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3206

Specialized Carve Comp – the one ive demoed and loved it, great bike to ride, tbh i wouldn’t need to upgrade anything on this. Just the price its nearly double the cost of the canyon.

http://www.specialized.com/gb/gb/bikes/mountain/crave/crave-comp-29

Boardman Pro 29er – the one in the middle, great looking bike, cheaper than the speshi, only snag halfords eh!

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_992040_langId_-1_categoryId_165499

Any others im missing out? this bike would ultimatley be my winter bike, but canals and cannock during the summer.

Pinnacle Ramin.

Trek Superfly. A 29er that doesn’t feel like a 29er but still has all the benefits that bigger wheels bring

Voodoo Bizango…. It is from halfords but Joe Murray is a genius!

Last years Expert for a little more for your money?

Carve Expert

ps. I’m biased because I’ve got one and I love it!

Cotic Solaris. Not seen a bad word said against them.

Would love a Cotic, but can’t justify that sort of price, and its not cheap anymore to build your own bike. Ideally hoping to keep costs to £1k at the most, i know the speshi above is higher but can potentially get that discounted.

On-one inbred?

On One inbred 29er

Either buy the frame at £149 and build yourself from the classifieds (which means more for your money and it’s fun to build your own bike) or a complete bike from On one at £899.

EDIT .. doh beaten to it. er.. +1 for the inbred.

I’m riding a rigid Charge Cooker 29er & find it a blast & I’m no pro rider. Ride as many as you can & see what you like best.

I’m also looking at this sort of price range. I’ve had a Charge Cooker before and loved it and considering going back.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/charge/cooker-3-29er-2014-mountain-bike-ec053629

You can also get about £40 back through Topcashback, bringing it back towards the £1k mark or Pipedream Cycles have a Skookum for £1200 which is not bad for an 853 frame, X-Fusion forks and nice finishing kit. It comes with X5 but that can be changed over time.

http://www.pipedreamcycles.com/product/skookum-x5-reynolds-853-29er/

BTW, @ LMT, don’t you have a Camber?

I’ve also got the Expert in 26er flavour. I’ve been able to enjoy that much more since getting the 29er too.

The HT does all the xc stuff now (my boring bike as my daughter named it!) which has given me licence to up the ‘trail’ content of the Camber – whatever that means 😉 – read short stem, wider bars, more sag, etc.

For my riding, it is the right combo.

LMT you don’t seem to be considering steel 29ers – if you want comfort and strength rather than uphill sprinting ability then why not?

another +1 for the inbred 🙂

Cotic Solaris (sell a kidney)

Check out a cheaper Whyte. Rode the C29, best bike evva (for me), a cheaper heavier version would still make a mighty fine ‘second’

Trek X-Cal 9 or Superfly 5, depending on which side of the £1000 you want to go. Both of these are worth upgrading as bit wear out, rather than something like the On-one.

In strict accordance to STW tradition I will recommend my own bike…

Karate Monkey. It’s super!

Second the Whyte.

Have a word with Scienceofficer from these parts, he’s looking to sell his large Solaris

How about the CF Canyon? They look great value.

Yep I have a 26er camber expert, I’m after a 29er hardtail for chucking on the train after work quick blast somewhere, keep the camber for proper days out, I did have an orange p7 for a few years but after something a little lighter.

Needs to be a small frame as a shorty!

Cotic Solaris. Just do it. Seriously good trail bike.

Another one for the Trek 29ers. Geo works really well. Most others I looked at had quite steep head angles.

I also looked at the Ragley Big Wig. Chain Reaction had frames for £260 recently. Steel, but quite light.

Secondhand trek stache?

Titus Ti Fireline and a pair of Rebas.

Then mount it above the fireplace for 6 month while you save up for the rest of the bits.

Edit – Cube LTD Pro 29 is bang on budget.

On One are coming out with a new alu 29er soon as well.

I might hang on to see that if I was in yr position.

I just bought a Trek Superfly 6. Choice was based largely on the geometry as I am also a shorty, but the Pinnacle Ramin at £1000 looks good value and is nice in the flesh. The Treks seem like a fair spec for the money.

LMT – Member
Yep I have a 26er camber expert, I’m after a 29er hardtail for chucking on the train after work quick blast somewhere, keep the camber for proper days out, I did have an orange p7 for a few years but after something a little lighter.

I know that feeling. When I first got the Camber I had a steel Kona Blink but got fed up with a ht SO much heavier than the fs.

I sold the Kona to a friend that had been asking for me to part with it for ages.

But I found the Camber wanted to do more than the general xc duties, so the Carve joined it. The 29er even has some bar ends on it.

Have you done much to the Camber?

All the best with whatever you end up with.

Small frame you say? Billys.co.uk have a Salsa El Mariachi 3 for £750 in Small only. I have a couple of El Mariachis (one geared, one SS) and think they’re great bikes.

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/61696/Saracen_Kili_Expert_29er_2013_Bike_RN861415

I bought one of these a couple of months ago. Really happy with it. Very nicely put together. Good level of kit. Everyone that tried it is amazed how quick it feels. Oh and a bit of a bargain at 600 notes.

i’m back again with my Cooker reccomendation, Evans have your size left, if it was an XL i’d snap this up

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/charge/cooker-hi-2013-mountain-bike-ec042786

Kili looks good. They have a posher one for 800 too.

I’ve ridden lots of 29er hardtails (waits for comments….)

The Voodoo Bizango is at least as good as anything else I have ridden as a general trail bike. I’d be be inclined to buy one and ride until parts need upgrading. It may not be bling, but you won’t be disappointed.

Normal Man – Member

LMT – Member
Yep I have a 26er camber expert, I’m after a 29er hardtail for chucking on the train after work quick blast somewhere, keep the camber for proper days out, I did have an orange p7 for a few years but after something a little lighter.

I know that feeling. When I first got the Camber I had a steel Kona Blink but got fed up with a ht SO much heavier than the fs.

I sold the Kona to a friend that had been asking for me to part with it for ages.

But I found the Camber wanted to do more than the general xc duties, so the Carve joined it. The 29er even has some bar ends on it.

Have you done much to the Camber?

All the best with whatever you end up with.

Only thing i changed on the Camber was the brakes, now run SLX which are great stoppers, the gearing is perfect for me.

A secondhand trek would be perfect, but not many around at the moment.

Try a Giant XTC 29er.
Think they only do carbon now but maybe find a second hand alloy one on EBay?
I bought an alloy frame which retailed at 399 a year or so back.
Been excellent.
Used as a summer race bike and with the addition of rigid forks a great winter bike.
Got the weight anywhere from 19 to 21.5 lbs!
Lighter than a few carbon hardtails!
Thanx,
Max.

Double post!

Not a single suggestion for the Kinesis FF29 yet?

Crikey!

Universally loved by the Cycling Press, an absolute hoot to ride. Bargain too if you buy the fully built bike at £1499 with the excellent X-Fusion Slide forks etc… Just building my GF one up right now.

Almost as nice as my Sync Ti… Almost… 😉

After some debating, and the fact none of my lbs local to me, including some well known chains had none of the above in stock let alone a small framed 29er, I went with my head and ordered a Grand Canyon 29er. Worse case I can transplant all the parts to a different frame in the future, 4 week waiting time but I have faith in canyon!!

I went for the higher end one in the end, thinking would only change the brakes at some point.

Well the bike arrived, had a quick blast and its loads of fun to ride its a great bike!