ideas for a lighter weight trail bike

sofaboy73

my dads after a second bike and scouting round for some ideas. his normal ride is a remedy in a fairly burly build (160 lyrics, 2.4 tyres etc), so he's after something lighter, easier to climb and more nimble for more xc / smoother trail rides.

criteria as follows:
frame only or full bike
budget c £3K for project
130 / 140mm travel, full suss
67 / 68 degree head angle (nothing too twitchy - he's 64)
Alu or carbon (although carbon is a strectch on budget)
builds up to / comes in at c 27/28 lb with XT level kit
no 29'ers

i'm well out of touch with whats about so any ideas appreaciated

benpinnick

3k would get you a 150/160mm pike equipped full on bike for your target weight, so probably worth either going bigger on travel etc. or dialling down the weight expectations and aiming lighter.

sofaboy73

benpinnick wrote:

3k would get you a 150/160mm pike equipped full on bike for your target weight, so probably worth either going bigger on travel etc. or dialling down the weight expectations and aiming lighter.

with out wishing to sound sceptical, i'd be impressed if you found a 160 bike at that price coming in at 27lb . my carbon nomad with float 160's and XT build comes in at c 29/30lb. however i am pretty out of touch as i say.

he's got a 160 rig, so it would be a case of either aiming lighter, going carbon or dropping budget

lawman

Canyon spectral? The 2015 models have longer top tubes and you'll get the top of the range alloy bike well within budget, comes with a CCDB Inline and pikes.

supersonic

Was going to say the same myself, the Spectral looks good.

Chunkers1980

He says no 29'ers

lawman

Chunkers1980 wrote:

He says no 29'ers

Seeing as the spectral is available in 650b form as well as a 29" version I think it's fine on that point The spectral does look like a great package, now they've addressed the shortness of the cockpit it should be even better than last years version. The new Spectral CF is being shown at Eurobike, no complete specs have been shown yet but it looks ace. Another bike to consider is the new Cube Stereo 140, also in both alloy and carbon. It's new for 2015 and looks spot on on paper, similar sort of thing to the Spectral, possibly a little more expensive though.

paul.skibum

Whyte 130 Works?

SC 5OLO?

Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt BC Edition?

sofaboy73

supersonic wrote:

Was going to say the same myself, the Spectral looks good.

have canyon got a uk showroom or some such? i know my dad would want to see one in the flesh before considering.

baz4388

if he can stretch the budget another £400 he could get a norco sight carbon. they are very good.

Ferrals

Does it have to be full suss? If he wants it for xc/ trail he could buy or build a lovely hardtail for that.

benpinnick

sofaboy73 wrote:

benpinnick wrote:

3k would get you a 150/160mm pike equipped full on bike for your target weight, so probably worth either going bigger on travel etc. or dialling down the weight expectations and aiming lighter.

with out wishing to sound sceptical, i'd be impressed if you found a 160 bike at that price coming in at 27lb . my carbon nomad with float 160's and XT build comes in at c 29/30lb. however i am pretty out of touch as i say.

he's got a 160 rig, so it would be a case of either aiming lighter, going carbon or dropping budget

Fair enough, but it's easily doable. Even with a relatively heavy frame.

The Rookie

He could get a really nice 120/130mm hardtail for that money and easily under that weight, I do realise that one persons trail bike is not another persons however, and at that age he may be looking to protect his knees a bit more.

sofaboy73

The Rookie wrote:

He could get a really nice 120/130mm hardtail for that money and easily under that weight, I do realise that one persons trail bike is not another persons however, and at that age he may be looking to protect his knees a bit more.

Ferrals wrote:

Does it have to be full suss? If he wants it for xc/ trail he could buy or build a lovely hardtail for that.

yep, would need to be full suss, at 64 i'm fairl sure he would shatter if he went back to a hard tail. I know my knee's would explode!

paul.skibum wrote:

SC 5OLO?

SC 5OLO looks good as well, although would have to be alu at SC prices, £2.8K for carbon frame is some what challenging! as a matter of interest whats the difference between the carbon and carbonC

The Northern Monkey

Unless youre spening big, carbon full builds are rarely worth the money.

I'd rather and alu frame with top notch components than a carbon frame with average components.

In the real world, the difference between a carbon and alu frame is bugger all.