140mm+ Climb & Descend?

qbjd

Hey guys and girls,

Basically I'm stepping away from my Norco A-Line and wanting to get a bike that can take a beating yet can also hack the 30nmile loops including the ability to climb!
I've lugged that 50lb lump around the likes of 'The Beast of Brenin' and other similar trails and I never want to have to do that again!

I have in my head that 140mm is the bare minimum... I've even considered the Scott Genius LT range of bikes with their 185mm travel!

Any suggestions? I've looked at Specialized Stumpys, enduro, Orange 5, pivot mach 5.7, cannondale jekyll, lapierre spicy and zesty, giant trance, trek slash, commencal meta am, a few of the Cube Bikes...

Budget is £2500 max and I don't mind getting last years models with the dicounts available this time of year.


Any thing I've missed?

Any of these bikes need writing off the list due to being bad climbers or not very good descenders?

Thanks in advance everyone!

Jay

rockmonkeysc

Giant Reign X is awesome. Takes a real beating and still climbs well. 170mm of coil sprung goodness.
I like mine so much I have sold my XC & DH bikes and just the Reign X for everything.
http://activesport.co.uk/shop/article_2 ... ml?pse=apq

dusk

I've got a Trek fuel ex8 with 140mm front & 120mm rear travel, don't underestimate how fast you can descend with that much travel! See if you can test some similar bikes out

supersonic

Scott Genius would top my list to test.

mr joey

santacruz heckler??? decends and climbs with ease!!! awsesome bike

qbjd

Thanks for the feedback so far guys. Obviously my style is going to transfer over and I'm going to learn the hard way to 'turn it down a notch' on the downhill bits. Really looking forward to getting an all rounder. I know its one of those annoying genre's for people but I genuinelly do end up doing it all from some light dirt jumping, to cross country to trail centres to DH runs... probably would take it to the alps too...

I'm particularly intrigued by the Scott Genius LT 20 (I can get it for close to my budget)... it's the Long Travel 185mm version but think it drops to 140mm and both the front fork and rear shock can lock out and also have an efficient pedal traction mode.
I can't help but think it sounds too good to be true like there is going to be some major flaw in it?
Anyone own one or know someone who has one?

Cheers!

bluechair84

I think you need to look closer at your list, for instance the Trance and Slash are not in the same catagory. You're comparing a light weight trail bike to a freeride bike. I'm sure there's nearly half a dozen catagories between them (heavy trail, extreme trail, all mountain, some-mountain, freeride-light... I might have made some of those up...). But if you're coming from DH and want a 'DHers trail bike', you'd be best served by the Enduro, Remedy, Spicy bikes. All climb well but not at the expense of descending.
And the Genius could be an amazing trail bike - but it puts lightweight ahead of most-else which will affect the way it descends. It depends what you value most - least effort climbing or most fun descending.

I don't know the above bikes, but I know I don't like superlight trail bikes for the way they descend.

Thewaylander

First peice of common sense is to priotise your riding.

1, Do you want a light bike for riding far but can take a beating if needed
2, do you want a tough bike that can be beaten but can ride far.

See i'm the second so aslong as it pedals ok and isn't a pure ton weight like the sounds of your previous bike I'm happy. but msot people are the first they mostly don't want to leave the ground bar the odd occassion.

First figure what you truly want. then bear this is mind for test riding. this is what led to buying my mondy, fot its type of bike i couldn't find a harder riding beast, it pays some penalty over the lappierre on xc but is more aggressive on the downs for instance.

rockmonkeysc

If you want to really give it a beating on the descents the Reign X will be better than the Genius. You get a coil shock on the Reign X rather than the Scott's rather complicated air shock which will limit your options to change it in the future.
I would say the Reign X feels more like a freeride bike than an all mountain bike, the geometry isn't too far off the old Glory FR but it's only 31lb and it's bombproof yet climbs like an xc bike.

qbjd

@bluechair84...you kind of emphasised my point in that the 'genres' seem very blended! I lifted up the enduro at the weekend to gauge it's weight and was very suprised at how light it was.

I'm about 6'3" 15.5 stone and in my early 20's and having had a downhill bike I don't think weight is the biggest issue more pedalling efficiency! I'd rather lose the 5lbs from my body than spend £500+ extra buying weight saving components for my bike! bike!

@Thewaylander ....So to answer your question it would be the latter. A bike that can take a beating but can go up hill without it feeling like i'm riding a pogostick with two wheels or even worse pushing it up!

I have seen some of the mondraker bikes, they look burly but I keep hearing things about bolts coming lose and generally falling apart! And on that topic reliabilty is also an issue!
The scott Genius with the pull shock seems to be getting a slating with air in the oil chambers or vice versa... Don't want to be sat twiddling my thumbs waiting for warranty jobs!