What 2 bikes would you choose?

FingersKFF

Hi guys

I'm after some opinions and advice with regards to what style of bike you would have given the choice of any but being limited to just two.

The wife has set a two-bike limit and since my current two are both getting a bit long in the tooth I've been thinking about what to do when the time comes to replace them.

Currently I have a 100mm XC hardtail (26") and a 150mm full-sus (26"). I ride a mix of local cross-country, trail centres and peak-district with the odd road ride for training. Not really into downhill but do the occasional run.

Initially I wondered about having a road bike instead of the hardtail which would be great for days when I just fancy an easy ride, but if my MTB breaks my only choice is to ride road, whereas if I have two MTB's and one breaks I can still ride road or trail.

So if you could go out and pick two new bikes to cover all of your riding bases what sort of bikes would you choose? Hardtail or full-sus? Alloy or carbon? 26" 27.5" or 29"?

Cheers

Chunkers1980

Don't choose, have many

FingersKFF

I would if I could, two seems like a good number though and it keeps the wife happy. Ish.

Nancy Luger

Sorry to go off topic but i am genuinely puzzled, I truly don't understand the 'keeps the wife happy' thing, and I see this a lot on forums, blokes having to limit what they buy, get gear delivered to work and then sneak it in the house etc. Unless there's a finance issue of course. My wife actually encourages me get what i want, and to buy the best I can afford - last bike i bought I looked at bikes between 500 quid and a grand. Not that she has any interest in bikes but she said 'Spend the grand, it's obviously going to be a better bike.' If I wanted 6 bikes she'd be happy for me to have them.

jeannot18

Nancy Luger wrote:

Sorry to go off topic but i am genuinely puzzled, I truly don't understand the 'keeps the wife happy' thing, and I see this a lot on forums, blokes having to limit what they buy, get gear delivered to work and then sneak it in the house etc. Unless there's a finance issue of course. My wife actually encourages me get what i want, and to buy the best I can afford - last bike i bought I looked at bikes between 500 quid and a grand. Not that she has any interest in bikes but she said 'Spend the grand, it's obviously going to be a better bike.' If I wanted 6 bikes she'd be happy for me to have them.

Your wife need to speak to our wifes

JC

WindyG

I think 3 bikes is better one hardtail, one full sus and one road bike and just tell the wife she'll be happier as you will be happier that's how it is in my house, thankfully though the wife has got into MTB more as wants a better bike now herself.

The Rookie

As Cyd says, get a fast light HT and have some road tyres to swap on for road work, you can also run an inverted stem for road use.

For the FS modern 140mm (ish) travel machine are more capable as allrounders than older ones and I think you'll find it a much more do anything bike than your current one.

lawman

I've pretty much got the 2 types of bike I'd have, a 140/150mm FS for doing everything and a long travel hardtail for when it's really shitty out or I fancy a change. The Mojo is a smidge too small for me though as I've grown a tad since I bought it, so that maybe be traded in the next year or so. As good as the 456 is, and it's a very nice bike to ride, I'd really like to try an aggressive long travel 29er HT, something like a kona Honzo or Santa Cruz highball. Ideally I'd have a Bronson with a spare set of DH wheels and tyres for the occasional uplift and a highball to keep it consistent. Tbh though I'd be quite happy with just the Bronson, the lifetime warranty on the bearings would save me a fortune on bearings compared to the HD which goes through them every year!

The Rookie

Punt for the 29er, On-One Lurcher....

Torres

cyd190468 wrote:

keep the full susser and replace the HT with a 29er HT. On the road they're as good as a flat bar roadie if you choose the right tyres, and surprisingly capable in the bush even with fast tyres on.

Very much this. If I was limited to two I'd convert my 29er back to rigid and buy a spare set of 32-35mm road tyres to complement a 140mm full suss.

Fortunately Mrs Torres likes her bikes too; and if anything she needs reigning in more than me!

EH_Rob

Similar situation to Lawman - my Nomad costs me a bloody fortune in bearings, so I'm just building up a Ragley Blue Pig - 140mm steel hardtail which will now do most trail/xc duties, with the Nomad being saved mostly for DH and rougher trail riding.

lostboysaint

I have an Inbred 29 for XC/mileage duties and a 130mm travel Transition Bandit (26") as my "fun" bike and it's a great combination.

lawman

EH_Rob wrote:

Similar situation to Lawman - my Nomad costs me a bloody fortune in bearings, so I'm just building up a Ragley Blue Pig - 140mm steel hardtail which will now do most trail/xc duties, with the Nomad being saved mostly for DH and rougher trail riding.

Aye it is a pain!! Worse for me as its easier to buy new linkages with the bearings pressed in, as recommended by Ibis... You can do it yourself, but it's a royal pain in the arris and you may end up bending one of the linkages, not that I'd know from personal experience of course... :oops: so instead of £40 on some bearings it's more like £120-140 a year!!! :shock: Free bearings with a Bronson sounds like a chuffing good deal, never mind whether it rides better!!

larkim

Nancy Luger wrote:

Sorry to go off topic but i am genuinely puzzled, I truly don't understand the 'keeps the wife happy' thing, and I see this a lot on forums, blokes having to limit what they buy, get gear delivered to work and then sneak it in the house etc. Unless there's a finance issue of course. My wife actually encourages me get what i want, and to buy the best I can afford - last bike i bought I looked at bikes between 500 quid and a grand. Not that she has any interest in bikes but she said 'Spend the grand, it's obviously going to be a better bike.' If I wanted 6 bikes she'd be happy for me to have them.

I think often SWMBO is a convenient forum short-hand for "my conscience knows that I shouldn't spend this much money on something, given all of the other things I have committed to in my life, including my wife, my kids, my family, my holidays, my income".

I'm pleased for you that your wife has that sort of attitude, but I see that your spending is couched in terms of "the best I can afford". Certainly in my house, there is no "mine" and "hers" in terms of money - everything is pooled, so every time either one of us spends money it is from our joint funds. So if I spend £500 of that on something just for me, that is £500 less that our family has to spend on ourselves jointly!

Matt

EH_Rob

lawman wrote:

EH_Rob wrote:

Similar situation to Lawman - my Nomad costs me a bloody fortune in bearings, so I'm just building up a Ragley Blue Pig - 140mm steel hardtail which will now do most trail/xc duties, with the Nomad being saved mostly for DH and rougher trail riding.

Aye it is a pain!! Worse for me as its easier to buy new linkages with the bearings pressed in, as recommended by Ibis... You can do it yourself, but it's a royal pain in the arris and you may end up bending one of the linkages, not that I'd know from personal experience of course... :oops: so instead of £40 on some bearings it's more like £120-140 a year!!! :shock: Free bearings with a Bronson sounds like a chuffing good deal, never mind whether it rides better!!

I wish mine lasted a year, although newer VPP models are supposed to wear much better than the VPP1 frames and are better protected against water ingress etc. Free bearings does sound lovely, I wonder if they'll be selling an extortiantely expensive press tool for installation and removal?

bluechair84

I do what Lawman wants to do... I think... I have a 150mm trail bike and a 200mm DH bike. By swapping between three sets of forks, two wheels and half a dozen tyres, I can have a build to suit pretty much anything. I can have a 28lb trail bike (Moment + Revs and Crests), a 32lb Enduro bike (Moment + Lyriks adjusted to 150mm and Flows), a 34lb freeride bike (Socom + Lyriks adjusted to 170mm and Flows) or a 35lb DH bike (Socom + Boxxers and Flows).The Socom isn't ideal for the Lyriks so I'd like to get a more freeride orientated 180mm bike, like a Cube Hanzz or an NS Soda. And I'd like the Moment to be a bit more modern, something like a Commy Meta, as I don't think it can stand up to the abuse - I'm worried I'll break it. But I don't really need to change either frame as they're pretty awesome. Pictures of all builds can be found in my sig.

Nancy Luger

larkim wrote:

Nancy Luger wrote:

Sorry to go off topic but i am genuinely puzzled, I truly don't understand the 'keeps the wife happy' thing, and I see this a lot on forums, blokes having to limit what they buy, get gear delivered to work and then sneak it in the house etc. Unless there's a finance issue of course. My wife actually encourages me get what i want, and to buy the best I can afford - last bike i bought I looked at bikes between 500 quid and a grand. Not that she has any interest in bikes but she said 'Spend the grand, it's obviously going to be a better bike.' If I wanted 6 bikes she'd be happy for me to have them.

I think often SWMBO is a convenient forum short-hand for "my conscience knows that I shouldn't spend this much money on something, given all of the other things I have committed to in my life, including my wife, my kids, my family, my holidays, my income".

I'm pleased for you that your wife has that sort of attitude, but I see that your spending is couched in terms of "the best I can afford". Certainly in my house, there is no "mine" and "hers" in terms of money - everything is pooled, so every time either one of us spends money it is from our joint funds. So if I spend £500 of that on something just for me, that is £500 less that our family has to spend on ourselves jointly!

Matt

cool story bro.

DCR00

I would go for what I have now, a mid-travel trail bike and a FR/DH rig

If we are talking three bikes, then I would add a dirt jump bike to that list

If we are talking 4 bikes, then I would have a 29er HT for mooching about on

If we are talking 5 bikes, then I have been entertaining the idea of a BMX of late

Mccraque

I've got a 140mm trail bike and a 100mm Carbon Race 29er.

I'm keeping my old 26" HT as a commuter hack now. I'm too terrified to leave the others in town!

dhooper7

WindyG wrote:

the wife has got into MTB more as wants a better bike now herself

my wife has a better bike than me now!

glad she got into riding though, easy life!

sofaboy73

EH_Rob wrote:

Similar situation to Lawman - my Nomad costs me a bloody fortune in bearings, so I'm just building up a Ragley Blue Pig - 140mm steel hardtail which will now do most trail/xc duties, with the Nomad being saved mostly for DH and rougher trail riding.

really? mine seem to be wearing fine (however only a year in), infact i've always found SC bearings some of the lowest maintenance around.

you do know heres a life time warranty on them right??

http://www.santacruzbikes.co.uk/warranty

EH_Rob

this is a mk1 nomad, fairly old (07?), VPP1 so no grease ports. is yours a mk2? I hear the wear is much improved on them. i may try and pick one up at some stage.

to be fair I did just ride it through a Scottish winter 2 or 3 times a week, so it isn't surprising that this set only lasted 6 months. the most annoying thing is that the upper and lower linkages have different wear rates, so the bloody thing is in the stand a lot.

they only give you free bearings if you're the original owner, which i am not.

Cheesemanpaul

Iv always a HT but my second bike changes on a regular, just fir a change lol. I have had FS, single speed, street bikes (I'm 42 for gods sake). I have settled for a cyclo x at the minute for a 2nd bike, capable off road still but fast on road for commuting

YeehaaMcgee

FingersKFF wrote:

I ride a mix of local cross-country, trail centres and peak-district with the odd road ride for training.

Simple, one all mountain bike (the hint is in the "all" part of the name), and one road bike.