What XC fully is the best all rounder?

groovastic

Hi!

I've allready asked a few similar questions... :oops:

I ride a '08 Stumpy, but it feels very slow on climbs compared to true XC bikes...

Now I'd like to find an XC fully that would be good for recreational races/marathons, but I would not like to lose too much in downhill performances (for my weekend rides in local mountains) compared to my Stumpy.

Can you suggest something for me?

These are XC fullys that crossed my mind:

Cannondale Scalpel
Commencal Super 4
Cube AMS
Giant Anthem
Scott Spark
Spesh Epic
Trek Top Fuel
Simplon Stomp
Rocky Mountain Element
SC Blur XC
Yeti ASR

Which one you'd suggest as best for all round performance?

Cheers!

supersonic

None of them strike me as much use for downhill except if you take it very easy on the mild sections. They are not bikes I would like to be doing drops on.

groovastic

Thanks!

By downhill I did not mean big drops, FR tricks and stuff like that! Just small drops, faster and slower singletrails, steep and technical terrain... stuff I ride on my 120 mm Stumpy FSR with no problems.

Cheers!

supersonic

The Anthem has won quite a few awards, and is more capable than the specs suggest.

The FSR is not a bad bike, have you thought about upgrading it? May be able to get a lighter bike if you put the cash on it.

Splottboy

Proflex 768 or the upper level models.

Frame only weighs 5.5lbs inc rear shock.

Has about 127 rear travel, and you can run 140 forks.

Think they are on offer on the web somewhere.

largephil

I would add Cannondale RZ120 to your list

neninja

I ride an Anthem X and it's great. It rides almost like a hardtail on climbs but with better grip when it gets rough or loose.

It's had no problem so far on typical rocky descents in the Dales/N York Moors and at trail centres.

The frame is very light but it copes with everything at a typical trail centre red or black route. It makes every ride a blast literally.

militiacore

Seems to me too many get caught up in what bike they should be using for what type of riding due to marketing hype. Back in the day we had to make do with HT's and handle big drops and look at trials riders taking huge drops and they're fairly static which is a lot harder on equipment than traveling at speed.

If HT's could take this abuse 15-20 years ago then I'm sure a 100mm XC machine can handle similar now. The planet hasn't suddenly become gnarlier, we've just been duped more with clever marketing.

supersonic

But trials riders had heavily reinforced wheels - often very wide, and are totally useless to ride on a trail lol.

You can of course ride hard on a XC bike, and ride very smoothly, but repeated hard landings do tend to kill off components quicker. Is about finding what is right for you.

cloudynights

neninja wrote:

I ride an Anthem X and it's great. It rides almost like a hardtail on climbs but with better grip when it gets rough or loose.

It's had no problem so far on typical rocky descents in the Dales/N York Moors and at trail centres.

The frame is very light but it copes with everything at a typical trail centre red or black route. It makes every ride a blast literally.

id agree with that i have a anthem x and ride similar places its just a great bike a great all rounder but dont let am boys here that, xc bikes are not worthy of that title in their minds

nickfrog

militiacore wrote:

Seems to me too many get caught up in what bike they should be using for what type of riding due to marketing hype. Back in the day we had to make do with HT's and handle big drops and look at trials riders taking huge drops and they're fairly static which is a lot harder on equipment than traveling at speed.

If HT's could take this abuse 15-20 years ago then I'm sure a 100mm XC machine can handle similar now. The planet hasn't suddenly become gnarlier, we've just been duped more with clever marketing.

Very true but people have less and less skills so need more and more travel to compensate.
Same on the road: the amount of performance cars driven by people who can't even hold the steering wheel properly and rely on electronics is amusing.

njee20

A lot of people are gonna just suggest their own bike, and I'm not gonna be any different! After 3 S-Works Epics, I've got a Top Fuel 9.9 this season, and love it!

Cannon71

Ghost-Ghost-Ghost!! :P

I appreciate that El Guru, Supersonic, is the font of all things MTB, but surely one should be suggesting that people test the bikes rather than relying on marketing & mag reviews, yes?

Militiacore has a point: But the hype, is most cases, is justified (I rate Orange VERY highly, but then I'm an ex-owner) but we're all different - test first, decide afterwards. A Cube AMS may be up to 10% slower than SC Blur XC, or vice versa... it depends on the rider...

On a 3hr session round the North downs, my Ghost would be 5% ahead of my old Orange 5, which in turn would be 10% ahead of my old Commencal Meta 4.

TEST IT FIRST!

groovastic

Thanks guys!

I sure would like to test all these bikes, but there is not such an option..
The thing is that I'm not looking for the best racer amongst these bikes, but I'm looking for the best allrounder amongst races fullies!
I need a bike I'd be comfortable on riding for many hours on weekends in Alps and local and less-local mountains.
And since I'm quite unrelaxed in riding downhill ever since I broke my rib, I'd like a bike that'd be smoothest in descending!

So my question would be Which of these bikes is the smoothest one for descending?

Cheers!