Birthday / Christmas buy - final three - help needed!

larkim

15 year old son has acquired enough cash (but no more!) to fund his bike upgrade. Having trawled around all local bike shops and larger retailers today, the top three in the equation are:-

Trek Fuel Ex 6 - £1,150 from Evans - http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tre ... e-ec042087
Canyon Nerve AL 6.0 £1,199 direct - https://www.canyon.com/en/mountainbikes ... tml?b=3573
Boardman Team FS 650b - from Halfords, £900 taking British Cycling discount into account - http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/m ... -2014#tab2

Current thinking:-
Trek - 26 inch? Will spares be available? Could it take a 650b modification?
Trek - £1650 list price, is this a good bargain?
Trek & Canyon - similar groupset
Canyon - never sat on it (!)
Canyon - online risk?
Boardman - cheaper!!
Boardman - cheaper components in drive train
Boardman - room for upgrades though
Trek - Reba fork? Is this a CC fork rather than a more trail fork? Would this be an issue?

Any help gratefully received!

(Rejected the Giant Stance based on drive train components, Anthem is too CC apparently, Trance out of price range)

rockmonkeysc

Don't do 650b mods to 26" bikes. They are designed to work best with 26" wheels so they might not have the clearance and the changes to geometry are all bad ones.
I wouldn't reject a bike based on it's transmission components, they really don't make a huge difference and they are consumables anyway. Some of the cheaper components last longer than high end ones anyway (chain rings are a good example).
I guess you mean the Anthem is too XC? It's more of a trail bike. I have owned an Anthem and a Trance and there's not a lot in it between them. I competed in a couple gravity enduro races on my Anthem with better than average results.

Antm81

Last years trance? might be the "4" model in your budget but pretty certain that means it had a normal tapered steerer (overdrive) and not overdrive 2.

http://activesport.co.uk/shop/article_4 ... ml?pse=coa

larkim

OK, thanks for the help on the bikes we've rejected! What about deciding between the three I've mentioned? LOL!

Antm81

no need for the attitude when people try to help, yes you rejected the trance as it was too expensive, butyou can get it for less than 2 you shortlisted.

larkim

Sorry, that was entirely in jest, no attitude at all! But he who is spending the money (my son) has rejected the Anthem and the Trance, and that is just a fact. What he is after is something of an objective rationale for deciding between the three listed - they are the only ones on the table for discussion!

Heart says Canyon (to me), but I've got no further than that in the mire of indecision!

The Rookie

Rockrider 9.2 at Decathlon is worth considering, Sektor forks and a good rear suspension.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-92 ... 08373.html

I have ridden an EX and found it very 'mushy', I wouldn't have the Canyon as Fox forks have lost their mojo somewhat although the Float is much better than the evolution variety.

larkim

(for rationale on the Trance - the Trance 4 appears to have a lower spec in terms of fork and rear shock compared to the Trek and the Canyon. So whilst it is in the price bracket, esp for last year's model, its been rejected as a combo of Rockshox and / or Fox are part of his spec. Suntour Epicon and Giant own brand rear shock are automatically rejected)

larkim

The Rookie wrote:

Rockrider 9.2 at Decathlon is worth considering, Sektor forks and a good rear suspension.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-92 ... 08373.html

I have ridden an EX and found it very 'mushy', I wouldn't have the Canyon as Fox forks have lost their mojo somewhat although the Float is much better than the evolution variety.

Cheers - he rode a RR 9.2 today, didn't really gel with it as much as the others. The Canyon has Reba up front, only Fox at the rear (CTD Float Evolution - does that make it a "Float" or "evolution" in your terms?), does that change your opinion Rookie?

And can you describe "mushy"?!

rockmonkeysc

Suntour Epicon is a very good fork and there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Giant (X Fusion) shock.
I would take the Epicon over a Rockshox Recon or a Fox Float CTD Evo and the Giant shock is at least as good as a Monarch R or basic Fox Float CTD shock.
The Trance frame is noticably better than the Canyon, especially for lateral flex and rear suspension dynamics.

larkim

Epicon over or equal to Sektor? Ditto Reba?

Anyone any thoughts about the Trek other than Rookie's "mushy" observation?

rockmonkeysc

Equal to the Sektor and Reba RL.

larkim

Overcame the indecision in the end and plumped for the canyon on the basis of good old magazine reviews. Could be wrong, could be right, tune to get out and have fun and stop procrastinating!

rockmonkeysc

Good components but flexy frame.

larkim

No perfect answers at the price range. In the end, swayed by the MBR 10/10 score (in which the Trance 4 only scored 7), 27.5 wheels vs 26 on the Trek and going for "something different". Are you suggesting left/right flex in the frame? Will be interesting to see if he notices!

rockmonkeysc

Yep, push it hard through corners and there's plenty of lateral flex.

larkim

Just following up on this, whilst we wait for the bike. I'm sure your opinions are sound Rockmonkey, but I've not found any online reviews or other comments about the flexy frame in relation to the Nerve. What's the source of your opinion about the 27.5 Nerve's frame?

Especially given that the frame on the 6.0 is the same as on the 9.0 which retails at £3,099 (with the exception of the through-axel at the rear), I'm making perhaps a naive assumption that if the frame is good enough for a £3k bike, it's more than adequate for a £1200 bike!

If there is good info about this flex, this would be a good place to share it as I came across nothing else which mentioned it, including the 10/10 rating by MBR (http://www.mbr.co.uk/reviews/full-suspe ... qus_thread) and the bikeradar-linked 4.5/5 review in "What MTB"(http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... -14-48723/)

For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not questioning your opinion, btw - just trying to be helpful to other buyers out there if there is useful info and experience which contradicts those two reviews!