XC Full Suspension - £1500 budget

d11dad

I've been a rider of hardtails for 5-6 years now and fancy changing over to a full sus. My budget is £1500 (ish) and i'm looking at ethier
FELT Virtue 2
Giant Trance X2
Specialised FSR

Any one got any opinions on which is best, all seem to run similar running gear and there are good deals on the Felt at the moment. Any commenst greatly appreciated

d11dad

sorry forgot to mention, most of my riding is XC

Cps

If its mainly XC I would go for the lightest from you list.

Bikerbaboon

get all 3 out on a test ride and see what you like. all are good well known brands all that matters is how they ride for you.

that being said i would go for the fsr

d11dad

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'd love to get these on a back to back test ride but i'm struggling to find a loacl dealer that stocks them all. I have two local bike shops one stocks the FSR and has one himself (so he said I can borrow his perosnal bike - what a nice bloke) but I couldn't test anything else in case they get dmagaed. The other stocks the Giant, but testing was limited to riding around the block - not really much use!

Chaka Ping

My first choice would be the Giant.

icedmind

if its xc then i ll go for anthem which is what i have right now
its lot tougher and climb a lot better than i expect(n have been run it on single track and mini dh for a month now and have no problem wif it)

try stumpy xc pro which is 1299 but i think it ll be on discount right now, the remain 200 quid should b enough to upgrade a better wheelset n shifters(should also come wif 100 quid free kit as i remember)
it come wif reba sl and deore ht2 cranks, so its not a bad choice

trance is not bas as well just if u re riding more xc then shorter travel ll make u go faster

d11dad

Excuse my ignorance but what is the Anthem? One of the guys at work suggested a ORANGE ST4 S 08, reading reviews it comes out pretty good. Any thoughts? BTW thanks for all the feedback, first time i've used this forum and i'm really impressed

Chaka Ping

Anthem is Giant's XC race bike.

3.5inches of rear travel, very fast, but not what I'd recommend as an all-round trail bike (and I own one).

I think you're right to look at stuff like the Trance X and Stumpy. Maybe consider the Trek Fuel EX also?

ride_whenever

commencal meta 4?

d11dad

Seems to be some deals on Kona Dawg - I found a deluxe for £1599, any views on how good it is for XC?

amt27

i got a Stumpy FSR Comp for £1350 10% off RRP from LBS, great bike,
imo Specialized bike tend to hold value, so if you decide to upgrade or don't like it, then shouldn't loose too much,
however the Stumpy comes with a Fox Triad shock which isn't as good as other Fox shocks and its a custom size so not possible to upgrade,

anneenmarg

i posted a similar question. tried the anthem , stumpy(with brain), lapierre zesty & x control. I went for a lapierre zesty 514. and i love it. i also tried their xc bikes (and nearly bought one) the x control 310 is very fast up and down hill. onces you set the sag.which is easy jou just sit on the bike and higher or lower the shock pressure untill it lines up with the arrow on the frame. (same for the zesty)no need to lock the rear sus on a climb either. i would try lapierre beforeyou buy. if i get in to xc racing i will be getting a x control !