£5K to spend, what would you buy?

neilupnorth

Not a hypothetical question this one, I can't belive it but, I'm looking to spend up to 5k on a new machine, a do it all (well nearly) that can take me all over the UK, currently do a lot in Scotland and the Lakes, I like some big meaty decents thrown in and therefore expect some big ups as well, on and off piste (trail centres sometimes) full days rides are common. I'm thinking around the 140-160mm travel area, so I can also do the occasional trip to the big mountains across the channel.
The list so far stands at:
Whyte 146 works
Spicy 916
Zesty 914
Ibis mojo custom build
Turner 5 spot custom build
Trek 9.8 Remedy

Any thoughts

Cheers

benpinnick

Id add the santa cruz blur ltc/nomad, both in carbon, to your list.

njee20

Probably a Mojo for my money, not that I've ridden one, but it's the most appealing bike in that category!

Edit: and to that end I'd test loads and buy the one I liked most!

individual6891

Santa Cruz Nomad - 160mm - £4500-6000, alu - carbon
Ibis Mojo HD - 140 to 160mm - £4500-6000, carbon
Santa Cruz Blur LT - 140mm - £4K, £5K for carbon
Whyte 146 - 140mm - £4k

Prices are only approximates from general casual browsing. 140mm will let you tear up anything the UK offers, 160mm and you can take your bike to Switzerland and do an odd spot of DH.

The world is literally your oyster and I'm extremely jealous!

lawman

id say either a mojo/ mojoHD140 or a whyte 146, the HD is a super versatile bike, can built with either 140 or 160mm and imo is one of the best looking bikes currently on sale, and is definitely worth the outlay. the 146 is great, but availability is a big problem as i found out :roll:

Dick Scruttock

Mojo or LTc IMHO.

njee20

Prices are only approximates from general casual browsing. 140mm will let you tear up anything the UK offers, 160mm and you can take your bike to Switzerland and do an odd spot of DH

.

As they're mostly custom builds they'll be as cheap/expensive as you want them to be, within reason! What happens if you take a bike with less than 160mm travel to Switzerland? Does it not work? Same with DH?

It's a bit of a sad statement that even with a budget like that you're some way short of top of the range Trek/Spesh/Scott etc!

weescott

Another option would be the Intense Tracer 2 due out February.

individual6891

njee20 wrote:

Prices are only approximates from general casual browsing. 140mm will let you tear up anything the UK offers, 160mm and you can take your bike to Switzerland and do an odd spot of DH

.

As they're mostly custom builds they'll be as cheap/expensive as you want them to be, within reason! What happens if you take a bike with less than 160mm travel to Switzerland? Does it not work? Same with DH?

Considering a frame cost £2K-2.5K depending on what he chooses, you're hardly going to slap on some Deore/X5 and Tora's on it! I'd say a minimum sensible spend would be £4k with those bikes and add £500 for carbon.

Not saying 140mm can't go Alpine, but its a much more versatile throw-it-down-a-hill-bike running 160mm obviously, due to common sense (i.e. a combination of momentum and gravity!). And there's a reason why pure-bred DH forks are 200mm...fast and fun! Obviously depends on the trail (<<most people will skip out this crucial bit of added information when they flame this) but ermm mountains abroad are steeper and higher than UK's typical trail centres. That's what he's requiring:

neilupnorth wrote:

so I can also do the occasional trip to the big mountains across the channel.

Just get the Mojo HD, it does everything. And can run 140mm (changing rear shock) and upto 180mm front. Not bad for a <30lb bike.

omegas

neilupnorth wrote:

The list so far stands at:
Whyte 146 works

Whats wrong with the one you already have?

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/forums/vie ... highlight=

Eyon

my vote goes to the ibis mojo. not because i have ridden one, or could ever dream to ride something of this price but it gets my vote purely cos it looks HOT, its proper bike porn!

Chivalry

i had 5k ,,,, so i bought this!"!!

Mark_K

Chivalry wrote:

i had 5k ,,,, so i bought this!"!!

Thats a good buy for 5k i'm looking for one myself atm

SDK2007

I would buy a Carbon Nomad

nicklouse

something that fitted and felt right.

coxy17

commencal meta 6 carbon then pimp it with money left then spend the rest on a trips to ride it

badly_dubbed

if i had 5k right now id be packing my ass off to australia and no come back!

ali$tair

Dont know your location (i guessed somewhere up north when you said scotland and lakes), but if you go down the Trek route you can get 20% off at the Bike Factory in Chester. I was in there 2 days ago and they were still doing 20% of all Trek full suss's.

Obviously you cant have a Trek delivered, but £1k saving on a £5k bike is worth the trip!!

richg1979

carbon nomad or mojo hd.

all the people blabbing on about 140mm is all you need. well you have obviously never ridden a good 160mm bike, it will do everything a 140mm will but feel more stable and controlled and a lot stiffer with a bigger fork on the steep rougher stuff.

a carbon nomad/hd is a better all round trail/am bike than most if not all 140mm frames, even when it comes to climbing too.

cavegiant

If I had £5k I would go and demo each individual bike to make sure that fit and comfort are spot on.

If would be an awful shame if the most technically advanced bike in the list didn't fit me.

If I did that I would end up with a Niner WFO with Dorado.
An undeniably brilliant bike, but what makes it so good is it fits me perfectly.

If I had £6k I would throw edge carbon rims on it too =-)

lawman

richg1979 wrote:

carbon nomad or mojo hd.

all the people blabbing on about 140mm is all you need. well you have obviously never ridden a good 160mm bike, it will do everything a 140mm will but feel more stable and controlled and a lot stiffer with a bigger fork on the steep rougher stuff.

a carbon nomad/hd is a better all round trail/am bike than most if not all 140mm frames, even when it comes to climbing too.

all depends on the rider,for a big guy a 160mm fork and the added stiffness would be necessary, but if youre light, like myself, you can get away with a 140mm fork. id say the op would be best off with a 140mm bike, and if he wants a bit more agression put a 36 on it, the beauty of the mojo HD is you can switch the shock mounts and shock and have both

SteveCHT

Yeti 575 carbon?? AMAZING bikes. I rode one about a year ago in the US, really really REALLY nice bike!

neilupnorth

cheers for the thoughts all

I did think of adding the carbon nomad to the list but thought it might be just too much of a bike for mainly UK based stuff. I think I'll demo the whyte, nomad and mojo. Not sure anyone will have a whyte 146 to demo though, let me know if anyone has a clue where I might be able to get a demo on the 146 in the North of England or Scotland, the nomad and mojo shouldn't be a problem.

Cheers again

IanTrcp

I've got a Remedy 9.8 with some upgrades and find that it has a huge range of talents. I read a description in a mag somewhere that likened the Remedy to a "Fuel EX on steroids" and thought that pretty accurate. For a bike you can genuinely ride both uphill (mine is a little less than 25lbs) and downhill, I think it's hard to beat. I do all sorts of riding and have never felt over- or under-biked with it.

Just my two-pence-worth....

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... highlight=

Tom Barton

nicklouse wrote:

something that fitted and felt right.

Definately the best thing to do. This is bike equivelant ferreri/aston martin money after all!! Definately get a test drive. All the aforementioned bikes are great, but the way 140mm bikes like the blur and trek ex is quite different to nomads, spicys and mojo HDs. And each individual one will feel different. Go and book test rides - any saleman who knows your serious will bend over backwards to try and sell it to you anyway..

thel33ter

I'd get one of these, then spend a bit on some fancy kit, then save the rest.

Bluestoesonnose

Can't believe you wouldn't custom build something rather than just going off the peg. Doesn't have to be this years frame so you could get a bargan on one in last years colours and then search the interweb for other cut price parts. At least you wont see yourself at the trail centre.

Saw to chaps trying to work out who's Specilized was who's this year in wales after they parked next to each other with the same bike.

Why pay this money for something off the peg?

tlw1

Bluestoesonnose wrote:

Can't believe you wouldn't custom build something rather than just going off the peg. Doesn't have to be this years frame so you could get a bargan on one in last years colours and then search the interweb for other cut price parts. At least you wont see yourself at the trail centre.

Saw to chaps trying to work out who's Specilized was who's this year in wales after they parked next to each other with the same bike.

Why pay this money for something off the peg?

+ 1

A custom build will look good for longer as unlikely to be last years colour quickly

mattv

If you custom build, then you can choose the parts you prefer from each bike you test. The Enduro Evo pictured above is even bigger, a 170mm fork. More than would be needed for almost anything in the UK, and you suffer with such slack angles on the headtube with low-speed manouvreability. However, another bike that would be worth considering is the Stumpjumper Evo, although they are only £3k so would be plenty of upgrade money. 150mm fork, 145mm rear travel. More stable than the Stumpy FSR, more manouvreable than the Enduro.

thel33ter

I would be tempted by a custom build, but as northwind said, it's about the frame fitting, and it fits me perfectly.

If I was to do a build, it would be the 160mm travel titus something or other

weeksy59

Husqvarna TE250, VW Touran and a Carrera