buying an all mountain bike

jakc3

Hello!

I would like to ask your advice about buying new bike. I ride my forest hometrails which have lots of roots and smaller drops but i also do some riding in the alps. I think that that 150-160mm of travel would be best for the trails i'm riding and also for my riding style. What i require of my bike: it goes well uphill (efficient pedaling platform with minimal pedal bob), is light as possible, wont crack on some abuse while going downhill, can handle technical terrain that the Alps have to offer. My budget is 4500€
I am choosing from these bikes:

Cube stereo super hpc 160 race or sl
Canyon strive AL 9.0 SL
Canyon nerve al+ 9.0 SL
Yeti SB-66 carbon race kit
lapierre zesty 514
Trek remedy 9 or 9.8
trek slash 8
transition 26 covert 1 or covert carbon 2

Am i missing any good bike on my list? Which bike would you advise me to buy?

BikeSwan

Out of the ones you listed I like the Yeti SB-66 Carbon. But if it was my money, i'd be ordering a Santa Cruz Nomad Carbon. I like the VPP suspension and the Santa Cruz bikes are bombproof. For 4500 euros you could get a nice XT/SLX build with some good wheels and forks.

benpinnick

If it was my money I would be ordering a Santa Cruz Bronson.

sofaboy73

as above with the santa cruz recomendations. I've got the sc nomad carbon and it ticks all the boxes you are asking for

jakc3

I like SC Nomad carbon but the only problem is that it's insanely expensive in Slovenia. 3200€ (4200$) for frame with shock only. The kits are unavailable in Slovenia. Is the aluminium nomad also good (it's 2100€, quite a difference)? Any other bikes worth checking out?

sofaboy73

the nomad carbon isn't much cheaper in the UK!

The aluminium nomad is a great bike. i test rode both the alu and the carbon before deciding to blow the budget and work the credit card to by the carbon frame set.

main difference i noticed was just the sheer stiffness of the frame. it's not like the alu frame is particularly flexy (anything but - sc frames are usually pretty rigid), however the carbon was noticeably stiffer and meant i could hold a line better and faster through corners and rock gardens etc. it's obviouly lighter, but iirc it's only by a pound and you didn't really notice the difference (besides there are cheaper ways to loos a poun off a bike than going carbon). I thing the other key point on the carbon frame over the alu is it's stregnth. check out the belwo video - comforting to know that you're going to have to try real hard to break the bike

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/santa-cruz ... t-lab.html

I wouldn't right it off on cost, as although it would be tight, you could build up the rest of the bike with the 1300 left of your budegt without too much compromise.

I always think buy the best frame you can afford as it's the the most expensive component of your bike and the one your least likely to upgrade. you can always up grade wheel's forks etc over time

jakc3

Thanks for the comparison between the models, truly usefull. Although i think it would be best if i bought a bike with decent parts since i'm not planning on upgrading them unless something breaks. Currently i have a bike with SLX/XT parts and RockShox Lyrik fork and i don't really like these components. On the nomad i probably couldn't afford better components than the ones on my current bike, and the key to buying a new bike is selling the one i currently have, so switching frames isn't really an option. I could be bikeless for this season and save up for nomad with decent components till next year (not having a bike would probably drive me crazy :P ). What would you suggest?

lostboysaint

Transition Covert. In either flavour, alu or carbon.

jakc3

For 4700€ i could build bike like this:

SC nomad alu version with fox float CTD kashima shock
FOX 34 FLOAT CTD ADJUST FIT 26 160 15 Kashima
REAR DER. Shimano M675 SGS (SLX) 10 spd
FRONT DER. Shimano M780 or M781 (XT) 10 spd
SHIFTERS Shimano M660 (SLX) 10 spd
CRANKSET Shimano M552 24/32/42 10 spd
CASSETTE "Shimano HG 81, 11-36 (SLX) 10 spd"
CHAIN Shimano HG 74 10 spd
BRAKES & LEVERS Avid Elixir 5's w/ 180mm front 160mm rear rotors
BARS Raceface RIde low riser 710mm
STEM TruVativ AKA, 60mm, 70mm or 80mm
GRIPS Lizard Skin "494"
HEADSET Cane Creek 10
SEATPOST Raceface Ride 30.9 x 375mm
SADDLE WTB Volt Race
WHEELS Mavic EN 321 rims laced to Shimano M758 front hub and M756 or M678 rear hub w/ DT 14 gauge spokes, brass nipples
TIRES Maxxis High Roller 2.35 wire
TUBES Maxxis .8mm tubes

felix.london

Get rid of the 42t chainring, swap the SGS for a GS and swap the Avids for SLX and you're onto a winner

..oh and get rid of the Shimano hubs and wire bead tyres please. thanks

jakc3

I could also go for ibis mojo HD with SLX or X9 kit. Is it any better than nomad? Price would be the same as the nomad build i posted above.

Grovsie29

Reign?

sofaboy73

you might be able to save yourself a bit of money on the build by having a look at bikediscount.de they're currently doing xt group sets (no brakes) for 390 euros

rockmonkeysc

Grovsie29 wrote:

Reign?

Very good bike. Avoid the Reign X though, very weak suspension linkages where they removed a chunk to fit ISCG tabs.
Have a look at the Intense Tracer as well. Very nice bike.
I would avoid the Fox CTD forks, the Lyrik RC2DH is a far better fork. Or the Marzocchi 66 RC3 ti is even better.

dusk

YT Wicked pro? Pretty good if you want a bike that doesn't need upgrading

jakc3

My friend has reign, tried it but it didn't suit me very well. Currently i'm deciding between mojo HD and SB 66c. Which one would be better and why? I'd buy it with a stock kit, SB66c with Race kit (full XT) for 4500€ or mojo HD with SLX kit for 4800€. Could i build something cheaper/better if i only bought the frame (sb66c 2500€, mojo HD 2800€) and then components separately? Thanks for all the help.

supersonic

jakc3 wrote:

For 4700€ i could build bike like this:

SC nomad alu version with fox float CTD kashima shock
FOX 34 FLOAT CTD ADJUST FIT 26 160 15 Kashima
REAR DER. Shimano M675 SGS (SLX) 10 spd
FRONT DER. Shimano M780 or M781 (XT) 10 spd
SHIFTERS Shimano M660 (SLX) 10 spd
CRANKSET Shimano M552 24/32/42 10 spd
CASSETTE "Shimano HG 81, 11-36 (SLX) 10 spd"
CHAIN Shimano HG 74 10 spd
BRAKES & LEVERS Avid Elixir 5's w/ 180mm front 160mm rear rotors
BARS Raceface RIde low riser 710mm
STEM TruVativ AKA, 60mm, 70mm or 80mm
GRIPS Lizard Skin "494"
HEADSET Cane Creek 10
SEATPOST Raceface Ride 30.9 x 375mm
SADDLE WTB Volt Race
WHEELS Mavic EN 321 rims laced to Shimano M758 front hub and M756 or M678 rear hub w/ DT 14 gauge spokes, brass nipples
TIRES Maxxis High Roller 2.35 wire
TUBES Maxxis .8mm tubes

That's a budget build, I'd rethink that, some low parts.

paulbox

supersonic wrote:

jakc3 wrote:

For 4700€ i could build bike like this:

SC nomad alu version with fox float CTD kashima shock
FOX 34 FLOAT CTD ADJUST FIT 26 160 15 Kashima
REAR DER. Shimano M675 SGS (SLX) 10 spd
FRONT DER. Shimano M780 or M781 (XT) 10 spd
SHIFTERS Shimano M660 (SLX) 10 spd
CRANKSET Shimano M552 24/32/42 10 spd
CASSETTE "Shimano HG 81, 11-36 (SLX) 10 spd"
CHAIN Shimano HG 74 10 spd
BRAKES & LEVERS Avid Elixir 5's w/ 180mm front 160mm rear rotors
BARS Raceface RIde low riser 710mm
STEM TruVativ AKA, 60mm, 70mm or 80mm
GRIPS Lizard Skin "494"
HEADSET Cane Creek 10
SEATPOST Raceface Ride 30.9 x 375mm
SADDLE WTB Volt Race
WHEELS Mavic EN 321 rims laced to Shimano M758 front hub and M756 or M678 rear hub w/ DT 14 gauge spokes, brass nipples
TIRES Maxxis High Roller 2.35 wire
TUBES Maxxis .8mm tubes

That's a budget build, I'd rethink that, some low parts.

Agree, why would you have a higher spec front "der" than rear?

Oh... And an AM bike without a dropper post???