Which full susser circa £1k?

dirkpitt74

Guys,
Thinking ahead over the next 6 months I'd like to start saving for a full susser.
Ideally looking below £1k, but could possibly creep up a couple of £100.
Riding consists of Trail Centres, Fire Roads and a fair bit of Off-Piste stuff.

Have narrowed my current choice to 3 bikes:
Boardman Team FS 650B (£999.99 - but potentially £800'ish with discounts)
Giant Stance 650B (£999.99)
Canyon Nerve 6.0 AL 650B (£1199.99)

I really like the look of the Canyon but can't help but think the Boardman is better VFM.

Not sure about the Giant as it's relatively new and reviews are a bit sparse, and those that are available aren't too sure about the rear suspension set up and seems to have the lowest spec of the 3.

I have no preference over Shimano or SRAM - current Carrera Fury is all SRAM kit (bar the Suntour Forks...)
Another plus for me (I think) is that the rear shock on the Boardman is up out of the way.

Weight wise the Canyon is the lightest (sub 13kg - just!) with both the Boardmand and Giant tipping 14kg.
I'm sure that with a couple of carefull upgrades the Boardman could be brought down in weight.

So what do you guys think?
Are there any others that I should consider?

larkim

Having just gone through exactly that dilemma with my son who had saved up for his first FS bike, we went for the Canyon. Yet to arrive (due this week hopefully), and while we flipped and flopped, in the end the Canyon was within budget, had got rave reviews and was (more or less) immediately available. The component spec could only really be matched by a sale price Trek Fuel EX 6 at Evans, but in the end we couldn't find a review which helped convince us that the Trek was a better buy than the Canyon.

If we were more technically minded, perhaps we'd have got the Boardman as you say for around £800-ish, and used the extra to make significant improvements - dropper post, perhaps better wheels, tyres, etc etc.

Others we looked at - Giant Trance (2014 model) and Giant Anthem (2014 model) at good discounts currently. Rockrider 9.2 at Decathlon. Plenty of good deals on 29ers at that sort of price range, but we didn't look in any detail (so they could be crap!) as he didn't want a 29er.

The basic answer you'll get from many on this forum (and some LBS shop staff too) is that £1000 is too cheap to be looking at FS - if you've got that money, buy a really excellent HT instead. I disagree that that is a 100% reliable rule (if you're buying yourself a treat, there are plenty of irrational reasons why what you want is what you want - and buying what you don't want will not satisfy that urge!), but if it was my money (rather than my son's) I might have at least taken a good look in that direction.

rockmonkeysc

A grand is just enough to get a reasonable full sus bike. Personally I would go for either the Giant Stance or a discounted Giant Anthem. Both are excellent bikes with very good frames. The components may not be quite as good as you get on a Canyon but the frames are excellent and they ride very nicely.
The impression I got from trying a couple Canyons was top spec components bolted to a rather uninspiring frame.

larkim

Bear in mind the Stance doesn't have the Maestro suspension rear end, so in frame terms it is a step behind the Anthem (or Trance for that matter).

The Rookie

You can arrange a decent loan and ride from a Giant dealer as well, so can try them out on your local rides before you buy (even if you then buy from Paul's!), or wait until the Cannock Demo day on the 21/22 March!

dirkpitt74

Will check out the test rides from the Giant Dealers (not sure where my local one is though!).
Will also see if anyone in the local cycle groups has a Boardman or Canyon I can checkout.
Cannock Demo Day sounds good too!