£2.5k new bike advice please

Really struggling to find a replacement for my orange five, I ride the quantocks, cwm carn, afan and like to take in smaller jumps or a bit of the downhill course during the ride and weigh 90kg at 6ft tall.
"Narrowed" it down to a t129, g150, foxy r, or process 134 or even consider 111, yeah the budget is blurry!
I like the speed of a 29er but I am fit enough to ride a bigger bike with more playful 650b wheels uphill if it will give me greater choice of what trails to ride.
Would rather go RS than fox.
Would I break a t129 or regret not getting a 29 er, is the g150 too much bike for where I ride......advice needed,
Cheers
Spl
"Narrowed" it down to a t129, g150, foxy r, or process 134 or even consider 111, yeah the budget is blurry!
I like the speed of a 29er but I am fit enough to ride a bigger bike with more playful 650b wheels uphill if it will give me greater choice of what trails to ride.
Would rather go RS than fox.
Would I break a t129 or regret not getting a 29 er, is the g150 too much bike for where I ride......advice needed,
Cheers
Spl
0
Posts
I would go for the Process.
Road - Wilier Izoard Centaur/Cube Agree C62 Disc
Allround - Cotic Solaris
http://www.pivotcycles.co.uk/bikes/mach57c.html
The Pivot rear suspension is really well controlled, on the Mach4 I rode really did feel just like a hardtail to ride but with the rear gliding over anything smaller than about 2" as if it simply wasn't even there.
Just seen the foxy and have concerns over the uk weather destroying the rear shock bushes/bearings due to it's exposed location and lack of internal routing for seat post looks untidy!
Edging towards process 134 as it's RS suspension and being 27.5 gives me flexibility to ride everything to some degree.
I have ridden the SJ evo 29er which felt like a bit of a monster truck, would consider the 27.5 anyone thoughts over the kona?
My choice would be the Transition Bandit.. or even Covert if you wanted something a bit bigger.. both 26 or 27.5 or 29
27.5 is just the latest marketing hype and no better or worse than 26"
I have booked a demo on an SJ29er to ride my local cwm carn trails to get my head around 29ers and rule them in or out. (i know not all 29ers are the same but it will hopefully give me an idea)
I was hoping to make a decision in time to capitalise on the trade-in deal at Evans which ends Mon 2nd but have decided that i am going to take my time and demo as i am looking for at this bike lasting 5-10yrs, there always seems to be someone offering a deal anyway.
Please post any more ideas/opinions.....
http://www.yt-industries.com/shop/en/Bi ... -CF-Comp-2
MTB Scotland youtube channel
But you'll be 57 by the time it arrives.
Kona Process 134 viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=12994607
probably before the cotic rocket though
MTB Scotland youtube channel
(and it has a 1 degree slacker head-angle which will turn you into an enduro jedi)
Uncle Jimbo is a big bike, unless your doing a lot of downhill I would go with the Granite Chief.
I followed a lad on an uncle jimbo over a 30+ foot road gap today and through some big rock gardens. Very capable bike.
I think i will stay clear of German internet bikes cant be done with the hassle if problems occur also Rose makes some ugly bikes.
G150 is a good shout especially as it has a pike and a reverb, i think if i decide against 29ers it will be that or a process.
Have seen a covert 3 2013 29er at a good price which would be ripe for upgrading although it does seem to me that bikes fall in two camps. Either short top tubes and moderately short stems which makes the size large like a medium such as the YT, Codeine, Spectral or the complete opposite with kona and mondraker going longer TT's with short stems.
Being 6ft i think the latter will suit as my old orange five was a 20" with a 60mm stem.
this is ugly
but this is not
MTB Scotland youtube channel
I like the look of the wyhte, how much is it?
Never really impressed me on the test ride over the FTD, but the firm ride probably translates to coping better on serious stuff.
So it's more about how efficient the Kona is with it's travel
Nice to hear from someone who has ridden both!
This week I demo'd a process 134 dl and a stumpy evo carbon 29er at cwmcarn both times riding the twrch trail including the freeride section and the first half of the downhill course ending at the underpass and then returning to complete the twrch trail.
I would have preferred to ride the sj comp as that's the one I would buy but spec only have the carbon as a demo.
Both are very good bikes obviously and have ridden the kona first I had as good as bought it, ok going up was a bit workman like although better then my previous bike a 26" orange five but coming down it was great.
Really confidence inspiring especially over the jumps and very playful all the way down, so a good compromise.
Today I took out the sj expecting not to like the huge wheels but as I cranked up the hill I soon forgot the wheel size and was enjoying the ride. Despite telling myself to sit and grind to the top the ease at which the bike carried speed encouraged me to keep upping the tempo.
So at the top I thought the downhill would be the compromise so I entered the free ride section and really noticed the extra traction on the berms and jumped it surprisingly well for my limited ability so much so that I ran it twice to make sure it wasn't a fluke.
Carrying on down the bike flew sticking firmly to the trail and at the downhill course while obviously not at downhiller speed I enjoyed the decent, looking back the kona was better here and with practice would widen the gap on the sj.
So as my rides are 50/50 up and down I have been converted to the idea of 29er, the guys at my lbs told me this a month ago!
However will the sj comp be a let down and massive difference having ridden the carbon which I can't afford and would the kona 111 be a better bet than the sj comp?
Buying a bike is not easy.