Yet another...which 29er thread

Hitby

Hi guys,
Well, I've recently lost quite a bit of weight. As a treat I'm saying if I can lose another stone I'll treat myself to a shiny new 29er. I'll be buying through the cycle scheme so I can't shop at Halfords which rules out the Voodoo which looked well specced for the money. So, I've narrowed it down to the following bikes but I've been away from the game for a while so not sure how these compare. I'd appreciate any advice, which one would you go for?

Whyte 629 29er
http://www.bikescene.co.uk/Whyte-629-5620-103-0.html


Orange Clockwork 29er
http://www.bikescene.co.uk/Orange-Clock ... 103-0.html

Specialized Rockhopper Pro 29er
http://www.bikescene.co.uk/Specialized- ... 103-0.html

Cube LTD Pro 29er
http://www.skinnergate.co.uk/p/ltd-pro-29-2013.html

For what it's worth my riding takes in a little bit of singletrack but mostly fire roads/moors trails (Guisborough).

Thanks in advance!
Dan

Tom Barton

The cube has the standout kit on it. Arguably the best specced. The whyte has a nice mix of kit for the price and the frame looks particularly nice.

I'd personally chop the other two from my list on spec terms alone.

You could consider this:

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3006
Or if the budget can stretch another 100 quid:
http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3013

Massive jump in spec - which in turn means a lighter bike that will perform better in a number of ways. Downsides are they are direct buy so you cant test ride it and if you do have a problem its more fuss than taking it to your LBS. If you can get a test ride on the whyte or cube - it might swing your decision, but I personally find the canyons difficult to ignore with all the drool worthy kit and they get plenty good reviews in the mags too.

slindborg

Food for thought (could be rubbish though) but one lbs told me that once their stock of cubes were gone that they would never ever stock them again as they really do make use of the warranty

cooldad

I know quite a few people who have Cubes, and they certainly don't seem to have any more or less problems than anything else.
Components are common to most bikes and frames don't seem particularly flimsy. If anything the few I've tried have been pretty sturdy. A bit too sturdy for my liking.

chez_m356

Tom Barton wrote:

The cube has the standout kit on it. Arguably the best specced. The whyte has a nice mix of kit for the price and the frame looks particularly nice.

I'd personally chop the other two from my list on spec terms alone.

You could consider this:

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3006
Or if the budget can stretch another 100 quid:
http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3013

unlikely to get the above on a cycle scheme purchase, personally i'd have a good look at this

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec044228

Hitby

Thanks for the replies. Yep, the canyon is unavailable unfortunately which is a shame. How does the Pinnacle stack up spec wise to the Whyte/Cube?

I'll go and take a look at the Whyte at the weekend and try to get over to the Cube dealer as well. I think at the moment it's narrowed to these two (thanks Tom!) - I'm not sure how I'll pick between them though. Is the Cube hugely better specced? I have to admit I'm leaning towards the Whyte at the moment, just because it's home grown and presumably, designed primarily for UK trails

geomickb

Looked at the Radon bikes?

Hitby

I haven't. Are they available on the cycle scheme?

chez_m356

Hitby wrote:

I haven't. Are they available on the cycle scheme?

no, its another direct sale german bike

chez_m356

Hitby wrote:

How does the Pinnacle stack up spec wise to the Whyte/Cube?
I have to admit I'm leaning towards the Whyte at the moment, just because it's home grown and presumably, designed primarily for UK trails

i would say the pinnacle has a better spec than the whyte, especially fork and brake wise, also, i maybe mistaken, but i believe they are designed by the same guy who did the Genesis bikes, so very UK orientated

Hitby

Thanks, there's an Evans up in Gateshead so I'll try and get there after work one day and check that one out too.

So, Pinnacle, Whyte and Cube seem to be the best bang for the buck

cooldad

Blimey mate how slow are you.
Didn't you know that the UK is the only place people actually ride MTB.
Euro types mince around in lycra and ride on poncy roads.
Americans are too fat to ride.
And your lot are drunk all the time.
I am not surprised really probably due to the rubbish education system and terrible teachers in oz, being permanently drunk. Poor kids don't stand a chance.

Hitby

cyd190468 wrote:

What is UK orientated? How does the terrain in the UK differ from that of other countries that requires different design? Or are we talking fashion?

I believe that they're set up with extra mud clearance and tweaked geometry etc. There's not a lot of call for that in California

chez_m356

cyd190468 wrote:

How about Canada and northern Europe? I assume there's mud there.

thats called snow

The Rookie

Many European bikes are set up differently to UK specific bikes, suspension wise (especially full sussers) as well as for mud clearance (ours is more clingy so binds up), frequently noted in tests by most the bike mags, all can't be wrong!

concorde

A 26er!

Hitby

Thanks guys, I went for the Whyte in the end. It just felt nicer