Scott or Specialized

theunmarkableb

Hello
I am about to buy a new bike and can’t make up my mind. I have it narrowed down to The Specialized Epic comp, Stump Jumper FSR Comp or the Scott Spark 50 which seems to sit somewhere in between. This will be my first full suspension bike so I’m not entirely sure what to look for. I generally do XC type riding, my favorite terrain is fast technical single track but I also love to blast downhill and would like the bike to be a bit more versatile for that kind of stuff. I guess I’m looking for a good compromise between nimble bike that’s good at climbing, isn’t too heavy but can also handle some more aggressive terrain. I know non of these bikes are going to rock at the DH stuff but I’d like it to not be scared of it.

My concerns are that the Epic has the Brain and I’ve read lots of mixed reviews on whether it actually works or not, The Stump Jumper Comp has no brain so is it going to bob on climbs and while the Spark has the manual lockout thing, it uses a DT Swiss shock which was described on this site as “It’s Achilles heel”.

At the end of the day I’m sure I’ll have fun on any of these bikes, I’d just appreciate your thoughts.



Thanks for your help

SDK2007

Sounds to me like you need the Stumpjumper - The other bikes are pretty much XC race bikes.

mudsucker

I've got a stumpy fsr comp 2008 (very similar to the 2010 spec wise) and i love it! It's light, climbs well decends very well. The stumpy is a bit more of an all rounder, in that it is kinda inbetween a xc bike and a freeride bike (waiting for someone to add a correction!) I can't say i have any problem with pedal bob on mine, the fox tried has propedal and a lockout so they help.

The best thing to do is to ride all 3 and see how you get on with them.

Cheers,

Ben

theunmarkableb

Thanks for the advice guys, I went out and rode them all and ended up with the Epic. The Stump Jumper felt great but as I'm so used to a hard tail I think it would take me a while to get used to having all that suspension, I can see one in my future though it was a great bike. When I tried the other 2 the Epic just felt a little tighter and better than the Scott, the Brain works great for me and it's just a really fun bike to ride, in fact I can’t stop riding it, I was up at 5:30 this morning for a quick pre work blast. It's put all the fun back in to riding for me.

Thanks again for your advice, I'm a noob to this site but it seems like a nice helpful community here, totally different to what I have experienced in the skiing world, I shall certainly be back.