What Do It All Bike?

paul.skibum

Current bike fleet - 2001 Santa Cruz Heckler, 2009 Specialized Big Hit 2, 2004 Cove Handjob. Looking to condense and reduce the stock.

The Big Hit is my "bike park" ride and to be honest the bike park is not that bigger deal to me - I am currently living in Whistler and will obviously have "the bike park" on my doorstep but I dont see myself on the big bike required runs that much and if I did I would be looking to upgrade from the Big Hit in any case.

The Heckler is a little too small for me, has been a reliable friend but is currently built with out dated, ageing components and I am thinking I will look to move her on to a new rider looking for something for light xc duties.

The Handjob is my favourite and best, most faithful friend - recently repowder coated she is going to stay and be my xc ride staple.

So basically I want to replace the Heckler and the Big Hit with a good pedal-able all mountain machine that could stand Top of the World, a few AM style bike park laps, Whistler Valley trails (think red and black Wales) and all manner of other good stuff.

Budget is going to be dependent but think £2k to £4k with the ideal toward the lower end!

I have in my head the Mega TR/AM at the lower end (possibly with two wheel sets), Bronson or Nomad at the higher end - what others should I be thinking of? Go.

The Rookie

A few less common thoughts...
Knolly Endorphin or Warden, a riding buddy has the Endorphin and loves it, uses for anything from uplifts at Antur to a days natural trail riding in the peaks, light enough for the latter and 'big' enough for the former.
Pivot Mach5 or 6, I was really really impressed by their 4 which I tried so I'd suggest you give them a go at the travel and wheel size you think suites.

DCR00

I'm biased, but Intense Tracer

I wanted something in-between my Spesh (140mm) and my Stinly (180mm) and the Tracer is perfect in that respect

I keep thinking about getting another DH bike, but i cant justify it when the Tracer is so capable

My build came in at around £1,500, but that was with a 2nd hand frame and forks

PerformingMonkey

I bought my 2013 Stumpy for this very reason and it has delivered. It's handled uplift days at the Forest of Dean and downhill at Rogate. It has also proved more than capable with it CTD shock and fork for XC and I manage to climb just as well as my mate on his carbon Epic. I plan to take it to the Alps in 2014.

The only thing that I ever change is I add a few PSI more than the auto sag suggests for bigger downhill runs. I may even consider the Float X as an treat/upgrade but I don't really need it (don't tell the wife)...

The mega AM was to my reserve choice when researching the Stumpy.

97th choice

A mate has a trek slash as his "do it all" machine. Cracking bike although I found it a bit heavier than I expected.

TrzecieKolo

You can also look at:
Banshee Rune v2
Commencal Meta (AM or SX)
Knolly Chilcotin
maybe Santa Cruz Blur

I was riding for short time the last 1, uphill on it is like on hardtail. But downhill wasn't so fun, head angle should be lower, and bb height was to high. The other ones got my friends, they are pretty fun in both sides up- and downhill.

Cqc

Yt industries wicked pro won a recent mbr test...

paul.skibum

97th choice wrote:

A mate has a trek slash as his "do it all" machine. Cracking bike although I found it a bit heavier than I expected.

Had a pedal on one it was too heavy for what I wanted - didn't like the feel and dont particularly like the badge

Stumpy was another possibility - 26er - have seen a couple of light used ones on PB that might suit to save a few pennies.

My heart says I should go for the Bronson (my heart also says Carbon) but fiscally speaking I lean toward a Mega AM/TR - if I went TR I would drop the Sram shifter and mech off and get XT but other than that it would be perfect for my needs I think.

Pivot was on my list as were Transition for a while but I have drifted off them for some reason, Devinci Dixon butt hey are expensive for what they are, Reign was a thought too had a pedal and did like it but the Bronson keeps coming back into my thoughts!

lawman

What about a new heckler? You seem to like the one you have so why not just get the updated version? Geometry is identical to the Bronson and would leave change for a very nice build and you know exactly what you're dealing with.

cavegiant

My do it all bike is a Niner WFO.
It has the travel for DH, but pedals well enough to race XC.

Mon-fri I fit a set of road wheels at use it as a commuter.

The CVA is the best pedalling suspension system I have tried. The rate gets a bit regressive late in to travel which makes a shock choice important, but it's a great all rounder to me.

rockmonkeysc

Giant Trance SX or Nukeproof Mega AM/TR.
Canada and USA get much better build options on the Trance than we get here.

passout

Well I prefer hardtails so I'm going to stick my neck out and say a Whyte 901. Currently ride & love a 905 (very confidence inspiring) but I think the 901 is a bit more 'hardcore'. Check out the recent 5 star review on Bike Radar.

The Northern Monkey

Can't believe no-one has mentioned the Orange 5! If you read the reviews from their owners, they're the best AM/Trail bikes..... in the world [/clarkson]

Seriously though.
Meta AM/SX are nice, but i've read that it rides quite soft so can be a bit bouncy when sat and pedalling.
Mega's get great reviews, but if it was my money I couldn't bring myself to buy one.

How about a Foes Shaver? Adjustable between 130-150mm travel by the looks, would be nice with a revelation or new pike.

rockmonkeysc

Meta's are ok but with Commencal's five minute warranty I certainly wouldn't buy one.

supersonic

Depends how much you want to drop, but for less than £1500 I'd be looking at this:

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBTIELGX5/t ... ntain_bike

I'd probably take the X5 kit off eventually, but this is a steal.

paul.skibum

Commie Meta -very effing expensive out here - an AM 3 with Fox CTD stuff and SRAM x5/7 mix is more than a Alloy Bronson with better kit. No thanks.

Hardtail offering - nope - I have the Cove for hardtail action and it will be riding the valley trails probably as much as any AM suspension bike I chose - dont want to go for an aggro hardtail to go with my lighter duty hardtail and leave myself with no bounce!

New Heckler......hmmm, I do like the single pivot but had promised myself I would step up to a more complex system and having tried a very basic car park ride on the bronson I did like the VPP - my house mate tried a full carbon one recently and said it lent itself to manualing lunacy and hucking steps in a balanced manner Not to say the Heckler with the same geo wouldnt - might toy around with price of a build.

No one like the Nomad? It's true 26er is dead!

Foes - no idea about. But its pricey! $400 more for the frame alone than a Bronson

Intense - it doesnt show rrp's on their website, the website is utter g4sh and I would have to go into f**king america to buy one - Next!

Orange 5 - If I want single pivot I would buy the Heckler thanks. But I do believe that the 5 is the best bike in the world. Honest.

As for this:

cavegiant wrote:

My do it all bike is a Niner WFO.

It is a 29er right? So....No. I fall off quite enough without wobbling around on a clown bike.

The Rookie

The Rookie wrote:

A few less common thoughts...
Knolly Endorphin or Warden, a riding buddy has the Endorphin and loves it, uses for anything from uplifts at Antur to a days natural trail riding in the peaks, light enough for the latter and 'big' enough for the former.
Pivot Mach5 or 6, I was really really impressed by their 4 which I tried so I'd suggest you give them a go at the travel and wheel size you think suites.

Have a look at these then! Oh and the mate with Endorphin use to have a five......no contest!

paul.skibum

The Rookie wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

A few less common thoughts...
Knolly Endorphin or Warden, a riding buddy has the Endorphin and loves it, uses for anything from uplifts at Antur to a days natural trail riding in the peaks, light enough for the latter and 'big' enough for the former.
Pivot Mach5 or 6, I was really really impressed by their 4 which I tried so I'd suggest you give them a go at the travel and wheel size you think suites.

Have a look at these then! Oh and the mate with Endorphin use to have a five......no contest!

I know this is not important....sort of.....but Knolly bikes are hideous to look at (look: http://knollybikes.com/bikes/endorphin) and its impossible to find any prices for any of their bikes in Canada (where they come from) - nothing on their website, nothing on any of their dealer pages (albeit that the Canadians have a half arsed idea of how to do internet shopping and websites all bike shops here say on their web pages - this is where we are, why not stop by for a chat).

Pivot Mach 5.7 looks good, probably has more travel than I need but at the base level comes in at nearly $4k plus taxes and is pretty basic considering for a grand less I can find a Stumpy Evo with better spec and a dropper. Or say a Mega AM Pro with Cane Creek DB shock.

The Rookie

Fair play, I like the look of the knolly's myself, haven't looked at prices over there but my mates bike complete (very good spec on everything) cost him £4K.

The Pivot's aren't cheap, in fact I reckon you can undercut their prices with a frame only deal and speccing it the same as their bikes, but I was blown away by the mach4 I tried, it felt as light and responsive as my HT but with the ability to soak up the bumps at the rear, pedaling it you couldn't tell it was a double bumper at all.

Thewaylander

Think Mondraker

welshkev

supersonic wrote:

Depends how much you want to drop, but for less than £1500 I'd be looking at this:

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBTIELGX5/t ... ntain_bike

I'd probably take the X5 kit off eventually, but this is a steal.

yeah I've been looking at buying that and swapping some parts to my nomad and then selling it again!

my recommendation is a santa cruz nomad. since I've had mine I haven't ridden the big hit once.

paul.skibum

Thewaylander wrote:

Think Mondraker

No canadian dealers.

So shortlist is:

SC Heckler/Nomad/Bronson (depending on budget)
Spec Stumpy
Trance SX
Pivot 5.7
Transition Covert
Rocky Mtn Altitude (no one suggested that one but it was lurking in my mind!)

SC or Transition or Pivot I would custom build I think, with the bigger brands a mid range build would probably just about pip any options I could go for but might be compromised.

Maro

I love the look of the new Ghost Riot AMR

chrisrobs

Bronson looks boss, I would go for any alloy version over carbon. They look and amazing and the reviews are great.

paul.skibum

chrisrobs wrote:

Bronson looks boss, I would go for any alloy version over carbon. They look and amazing and the reviews are great.

Why Alloy over Carbon? Pricewise I am favouring metal but why otherwise?

chrisrobs

Because when you chip or scratch carbon it makes you want to cry

lawman

chrisrobs wrote:

Because when you chip or scratch carbon it makes you want to cry

No different to alloy frame. I dropped my Mojo HD on a wall recently and it barely scuffed. I'm pretty sure there would have been at least a small dent in an alu frame. Carbon frames can be so good these days there really is little to worry about.

tobamory

Bronson Alloy or Carbon

Just check out the forums as I keep reading De-Butting happening on the Carbon stuff, make your own judgement, I think one guys had 3 frames so far.

Hence why when I bought mine I got a Solo Alloy.