Which is highest recommended...

sk8her23

Hi,

I'm about to get back into mountain biking, but since I haven't been in the scene for almost 15 years (Scary! :shock: ) I would appreciate some help here. My absolute limit price wise is £1600. Here are the candidates so far:

Cube AMS 29 (2012)
Cannondale RZ One twenty 3 (2011)
Specialized Pitch Pro (2011)
Specialized Camber Comp (2012)
Giant Trance X3 (2011)
Trek Fuel EX6 (2012)
Lapierre X-Control 310 (2012)
Marin East Peak 5.5 (2012)

I'll be using the bike on a daily basis to commute, as well as the weekend for some single track fun. Basically, I guess I'm looking for a good all-rounder.

PS: My first time posting here as I have just joined, so please go easy on me.

supersonic

Can you test any?

lostboysaint

How downhill is your "singletrack fun" going to be? If the answer is "not very" and it's basically an XC bike that you're looking for then I'd bin all of those and go for a high spec hardtail with a spare pair of wheels to commute on.

Or a Genesis Core 50 (or similar) and a commuter bike.

sk8her23

Supersonic: Probably not, which I know isn't a good thing. I've been reading forums non-stop since Monday to get an over-all view on each bike. I'll have to choose blindly as I'm ordering from the other side of country. Going to try and make it to any bike shop that stocks any to test. Time is scarce though due to work.

Lostboysaint: Thanks for advice. I used to do comps back in South Africa (been in UK 1 year now), so I will definitely be heading in that direction again once fit. I'll do love downhill and technical track allot so full suspension will be a must for me. This will also be my first FS. My last (VERY old) bike was a Gary Fisher Rangitoto. As mentioned, I haven't been on a bike in about 15 years... give or take a year. I'm planning on getting a set of semi's (do they still call them that?) for day-to-day commuting anyway.

Thanks for the early response guys!

supersonic

I think we need to get that list down! But we still need to know howtrechnical that DH is ie how big jumps and drops etc.

sk8her23

Agreed Supersonic, so!

I honestly won't be doing any insanely high jumps, more like your downhill jumps. Really more for fun. If I were to guess, looking at 4ft perhaps? Though knowing myself I may get carried away and want bigger, better, more...since this is my first FS bike.

From all the reviews I've read, I'm leaning towards Giant...possibly Trek. Haven't started comparing components on each though.

supersonic

Only the Pitch there is designed to handle that.

Pudseyp

Are you the kinda guy that adds on a couple of inches to his appenage ? four foot drops ??
that is freeride or proper downhill drops that you will not see on any singletrack trails in the UK !!
If your four foot is actually two feet then any 120mm/130mm travel bike will do..

sk8her23

My apologies Pudseyp... clearly over estimated on my part! Back when I used to cycle, admittedly, we didn't measure the height of our jumps/drops.

So let's go with 2ft then... Any of the above mentioned bikes stand out?

Thanks in advance.

Pudseyp

I would try and demo, if not at least sit on them to get a feel as to comfort....though if you a medium I would have this
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _Bike_2010

I have had a few Marin's inc mount visions, and they are amazing trail bikes that can handle anything, plus a lifetime frame and bearing warranty is included.