Sentinel is A LOT of bike for an all-rounder, but from what I’ve heard it is super capable and lighter on it’s tyres that you’d think looking at it on paper. To be fair for the riding you describe, I’d be looking more along the lines of a new Following or Spur with up to date geometry than either the Offering and Sentinel though. Would definitely consider sticking with short travel bikes, unless you absolutely want a bike that will suck up mistakes. For most folks, a 120/130mm bike is what suits best, but the longer travel bikes seem to have a lure for some because they just do the work for them.

Jammy! Been waiting on mine since before launch and now been told I won’t get it til September at the earliest as it still hasn’t left Transition yet :( Enjoy it, from what I’ve read its an absolute riot!

One word. Demand. Supply is short, demand is high, so prices go up. Forget bargains at the minute, in most cases retailers can’t get the stock, let alone discount it.

Have the same colour on my Soul and it look’s pretty tatty quite quickly. It doesn’t seem to chip, just seems to scuff up super easily with cables/shorts as Chakaping says above. It still looks great from a distance, but up close it does look a little tired after 20 months of ownership. I love it though, best hardtail I’ve ever ridden.

Chromag Ranger, not light, but gorgeous and mega, mega strong. Get matching bars too!

Yeah shorter travel bike for sure, why limit to 27.5 wheels too? 29ers are great these days! Something like a Whyte S120 would be a good bet if you’re keen on value, a bit weighty but solid, my T130 has been a dream over the last 4 years. I do have a Spur (one of the bikes mentioned above) on order though and while I’ve yet to ride one, it is way, way lighter than the Whyte on paper and the geo is very similar. Stock on them is crazy at the minute, for a newly released bike there are very few around, I’ve had my pre-order in since before the official launch and even that is now not due to September/October last I heard… S120 would be a solid bet all the same, it’s a real cracker. I would have likely gone for one, but I was just too wooed by the Spur to say no!

Only the Ultimate and Select are available aftermarket, had a quick bounce on a set of Select+ SIDs on the new Spur in my LBS and they felt like a Pike but lighter. The difference in weight between the Ultimate and Select/Select+ is quite a lot though, the Select+ is getting on for 150g heavier, so basically if you’re buying for super super lightness, you’ll need the Ultimate. Select/Select+ is still a good 200g or so lighter than a Pike mind, so a good saving all the same.

A bit weighty and while perfectly quick on the engagement front, they’ve lagged behind Industry Nine/Hunt/others in the quick engagement stakes. I don’t see a new hub being any lighter, it’s just not the Hope way, but it will likely have quicker engagement, maybe a Pro 4 Evo similar to the old Pro 2 Evo 40T?

The new Transition is the hot ticket right now, get mine soon-ish but you may struggle to find an XL this side of November. It’s crazy light for what it is, it’s basically what Scott should do with the Spark but never will, well not this decade at least!

They’ve redone sections of the old black, B-Line has been completely redone almost and Dave the Fox has been redone in parts as well. The last descent to the centre (Julia’s Trail) has had some work done as well but he’s not ridden yet. Will not get chance to get up til next Wednesday but will try and report back

Not been myself yet but a work colleague went on Monday evening. They’re big. Like BIG. He’s predicting a lot of incidents with riders going in over their heads. Good fun if you’ve got balls, but others might find them a bit beyond their skill set.

The Sentinel is meant to be a brilliant all rounder for such a big bike, but it is a BIG bike. If I split my time between proper bike parks like BPW, Stiniog, FoD and hit bigger terrain etc and regular centres and natural rides fairly equally, it would be a sound choice. If you do the tougher stuff maybe 2-3 times a year at most, Spur will likely be better.

Frames are not due for a fair while at my LBS, plus the Sid fork is out of stock until September/October so a build would take longer and cost more in the long run. Brake swap is easy as what I take off will go on my hardtail for now or I’ll have a moment of stupidity and sell them and buy some new Hope’s anyway!

I did similar with my T130, rode it stock bar contact points for a few months and then gradually swapped things out, wheels were the first to go as they were weighty AF.

Ordered!  Hopefully due sometime in August, went head over moment of insanity and gone for the full GX build, will be swapping out the wheels soonish if not straight away and transferring a few odds and sods (Hope brakes and grips/saddle) from current bike, can’t wait!

Weighing up whether to be sensible or go balls to the wall and just get a frame and build up how I want. The GX build is in the LBS and it looks the nuts and is more than enough for me and change bits over time like I did the Whyte… Who knows I change my mind on an hourly basis at the minute!

Saw one in the LBS today, was all set on a Ripley V4 but after being completely blanked by Ibis UK over a demo I’ve lost faith in them, not even bothered answering my email. Don’t mind not being able to try one out, but answering an email with a quick response is not hard…

The Spur looks amazing the flesh, the Deep Sea Green is stunning and it’s so damn light, the GX build in medium was bang on the claimed weight, so fully believe higher builds will be as light as they say. T130 is 4 years old in August so due something new, just whether to go frame and build or go for a stock build…

Love my Chromag Cutlass bars, have 2 sets, an older 20mm rise set which are veeeery bendy and a newer 25mm rise which are less so but still super comfy.

Given the tyre choice, Forekasters front and rear and a small shock, my guess is a new 100-120mm trail/downcountry bike. Looks good to me!

I’ll take an Ibis Ripley in black/large and a new Hyundai i30N please. I may get one, the other is definite no!

Good first impressions Alex! What size did you go for and how tall are you? I’m just over 6ft and contemplating getting a demo on one but right on the cusp between L and XL

Bringing this back up in case took the plunge?

Giro Montaro is great with my Exposure Joystick, use the included GoPro mount that just needs the Exposure adaptor, Doesn’t move around too much and is easy to mount the light

They’ll be heavy! I had a set of Raceface ARC30 on the same hubs on my T130C RS and they were 2.1kg and the ST i29 rims are a fair chunk heavier so they’ll be circa 2.3kg at least I would have thought. Swapped to a set of Pro4’s on Arch MK3s at around 1.7kg and it transformed the bike. Try the Crossmaxs and then perhaps look to swap for something lighter

Errrrr, they never left?

Why would you do that? You’re basically paying the same money to add weight to your bike and have less of a gear range? And adding additional faff into the equation… seems very odd thinking! Just get GX and ride!

Won’t work as frame is boost, and those cranks are most definitely not. New cranks I’m afraid!

Prices have skyrocketed in the last 10 years. Bought my Mojo HD in 2011 and it was £2k, latest equivalent HD5 is £3K, so 50% more. I was looking at Commencal Meta’s around 2008/2009 and for well under £2k you got a cracking spec and you got it from a shop, nowadays a shop bought bike with components worth keeping is easily £3k… Working in the trade has it’s benefits, but the price of things is still ludicrous.

Will echo the above, unless you are hitting big stuff hard, I’d look at the Soul. Had a 26″ BFe for 2 and a half years and liked it, but while it was comfortable it has nothing on the MK5 Soul I have now. Geometry between the two is similar but I would say the Soul is a smoother ride. I have mine set up with a 120mm Revelation and its extremely capable for centres and general larking around.

Exposure all day long, Maxx-D and a Joystick is my preferred set up for power/burntime

Feel like I can spin a gear harder with an oval ring when climbing and it seems to help with traction too. Don’t notice much difference elsewhere but definitely seems to be benefit climbing

Love my Chromag Ranger stems and Cutlass bars have them on both bikes and they look awesome and the bars have a lovely damped feel. Stem is gorgeous, bit heavy but it is solid, proper bolts and the finish is first rate.

S120. The trance is decent but the Whyte is a better ride. Better descender and while a bit heavier, a better climber too. The Trance tends to wallow a bit more and the geometry is pretty conservative. Whyte will also be much easier to live with, lifetime warranty on the bearings, properly thought out frame and no stupid press fit bb

7Mesh MK3’s are without doubt the most comfortable I’ve ever worn by a country mile. Make my old FS260 Pro’s from Endura feel cheap and poor in comparison. Insanely comfortable, super durable and while they’re not cheap, they’re not mega high-end Assos money either!

Shame as it had been around for a long time, but makes sense if the Escapade does so well and there is fair bit of crossover between them, with the compact geometry I guess you can size up an Escapade and run flat bars if you wanted.

@cy, I see some colour/size combos of the Escapade have dropped off the site, does this mean new colours are in the pipeline?

Mine would be a Ripley too, the colour scheme of the raw colour like Alex has just purchased is identical to my old Mojo HD so would feel like a proper throwback to start of this decade. I loved that bike!

I would love a Mercury Escapade, just need to pull my finger out and get my Genesis Datum sold…

Yep, my old Foxy Carbon. Had one on demo for a month and liked it so I bought one a few months later. I upgraded a lot on it, and it wasn’t cheap to start with either! What the demo bike hadn’t taught me was how shoddily they were put together. The thing literally shook itself apart almost every ride, the BB creaked like hell and and it just felt and sounded like a bag of nails. It didn’t even get ridden that often, so it wasn’t like it was knackered because it was out 3/4 times a week. Reckon I had 20/30 rides on it max. When it was working, it was without doubt one of the fastest bikes I’ve ever ridden, by a good distance too, and it looked amazing, but the reliability of the thing was abysmal. I sold it after 18 months (and due to the low mileage, cosmetically it was mint) and lost the best part of £2k on it, and I bought it at better than regular trade price… yep, that hurt, a lot!

Wolff wouldn’t go to Ferrari, the more likely scenario is he goes to a role working for F1 itself, maybe to replace Sean Bratches. I can’t see him going to Ferrari, I think everyone has seen what a tainted chalice that job is!

If the above pans out, I can see a bigger chance of Lewis heading to Ferrari, if Toto stays at Mercedes, Lewis will stay too.

The only potential bombshell is whether Mercedes decide it’s done enough as a works team and instead pulls out the works team and partners back up with Mclaren. Too much long term success could do more harm than good, so maybe they’ll think it would be better to keep Brixworth running the engine side but with Mclaren as works partner. They’ll have to cut the staff for 2021 anyway so could just run it down further and dissolve the team (with most personal heading to Mclaren and other teams) or sell up the chassis side of the team.

I swear by my 7Mesh Softshells, got a Strategy and Recon in their sale a few years back and they have been ace. Recon is great with a thinner baselayer for mild spring/autumn rides but also good for cold-ish winter rides and thicker base. The Strategy is fleece lined and only really comes out on much colder rides. with a thick base layer it’s comfortable well below freezing. Both use different grades of Gore Windstopper so a great in light showers too, anything heavier and they get overwhelmed eventually. I just stick mine in the wash with the rest of my riding kit on a low temperature and hang dry as per their recommendations, though I have stuck them in the drier a couple of times just to re-proof them.

Soul or Pace as others have said. Had my MK5 Soul for just over a year and it’s been my most ridden bike this year, so much fun and easy to work on too which is a bonus. Looks the dogs as well!