Which bike?? Budget £2500 - £3000

megcalow

Hey

I'm looking to get a new bike in the summer. I've got a budget of £2500 to £3000 and ride a mix of downhill (think Aston Hill) technical/cross county (think Surrey Hills) and trail parks (think Bike Park Wales, Swinley, Cannock Chase). I think the closest thing to my style is enduro - I want a bike that can take a battering every so often, but won't be overkill on flowy single tracks.

The bike must ideally have:

150-160mm Rockshox Pike (not fox 32/34) 27.5" wheels Mostly Shimano SLX/XT mix or SRAM XX/X0/X9 level components Geometry must be slack, but not too slack that it makes going uphill a chore, nippy short chain stay, etc Single chainring (i.e. Sram x1 set up) Available in size for 5.6" female

I've narrowed my choices down to 3 bikes.

Cube Stereo 160 HPA SL (27.5")
Pros = Cheapest, best spec, comes with Rockshox Reverb Stealth, good solid geometry (66.5 HT, 74.5 ST angle), single chainring
Cons = Wheelbase is 115cm - too long? Not sure about weird looking rear suspension...
Trek Slash 7 (27.5")
Pros = most reputable (EVO link), good frame, adjustable geometry (Mino link), cheapest (£2500),
Cons = Most slack bike, worst colour way (shiny space age navy!), not single chainring
Whyte G-150 S (27.5")
Pros = best spec, comes with Rockshox Reverb Stealth, good solid geometry, single chainring.
Cons = Wheelbase is 115cm - too long? Standover height a massive 80cm! Frame built for single chainring only - not futureproof.

So basically I need your help deciding. Which of those do you think is the best bike. Have you any experience riding those specific models?

I'd like to try and ride before I buy, but there are limited demo days around this summer. Anyone got any suggestions there too?

Thanks

Megs

BloggingFit

Out of the three listed it would be the Slash as I would say it is the most capable. I also don't know of many owners who have had anything negative to say about it.

As an alternative the Bird Aeris is worth a hard look. I've recently sold on my Remedy Carbon and this is to be it's replacement.

rockmonkeysc

Have you considered something with a little less suspension but long and slack geometry? I do similar riding to you and find shorter travel bikes loads more fun. The Base model Transition Scout would be an absolute blast at Aston Hil, mine has been off all the big stuff there with no problems Surface to Air is easier to go big on the Scout than any other bike I have ridden.
It might have a couple Deore components but they work very well.

NikB

I bought a Cube Stereo Super HPC TM 27.5. Tried a bunch of bikes and decided on that in the end. I was very keen to try a Transition Scout but couldn't find one so went Cube and so far very happy.

megcalow

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Have you considered something with a little less suspension but long and slack geometry? I do similar riding to you and find shorter travel bikes loads more fun. The Base model Transition Scout would be an absolute blast at Aston Hil, mine has been off all the big stuff there with no problems Surface to Air is easier to go big on the Scout than any other bike I have ridden.
It might have a couple Deore components but they work very well.

I'm coming from a 120mm bike, so was thinking 140mm wouldn't be enough. I've ridden a couple shorter travel bikes, but the just don't feel as solid to me. I did look at the Patrol, but it's spec wasn't as 'up there' as the likes of Slash or Stereo. When you get a Transition, are you just paying extra for the name, or do you get like, a really good quality frame or something? I don't see what the fuss is bout is all... Geometry looks pretty standard too (nice short chainstay though)

megcalow

NikB wrote:

I bought a Cube Stereo Super HPC TM 27.5. Tried a bunch of bikes and decided on that in the end. I was very keen to try a Transition Scout but couldn't find one so went Cube and so far very happy.

What's the rear suspension like? I've heard it gets a lot of peddle bob... That true? What were the other bikes you compared against?

mikeyj28

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Have you considered something with a little less suspension but long and slack geometry? I do similar riding to you and find shorter travel bikes loads more fun. The Base model Transition Scout would be an absolute blast at Aston Hil, mine has been off all the big stuff there with no problems Surface to Air is easier to go big on the Scout than any other bike I have ridden.
It might have a couple Deore components but they work very well.

I agree with Rockmonkey here. The transition scout is worth a look!

megcalow

BloggingFit wrote:

Out of the three listed it would be the Slash as I would say it is the most capable. I also don't know of many owners who have had anything negative to say about it.

As an alternative the Bird Aeris is worth a hard look. I've recently sold on my Remedy Carbon and this is to be it's replacement.

I've not heard of Bird. Just read a few reviews and it's coming up pretty popular. Apparently you can rent one for free outside of Swinley. I think that's this Sunday sorted (if they have one).

Only problem is a couple of reviews mentioned 'quite a lot of flex across the rear end'... What do they mean by this do you reckon? It all looks pretty good apart from that. Plus, the lime green is gorgeous!

megcalow

mikeyj28 wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Have you considered something with a little less suspension but long and slack geometry? I do similar riding to you and find shorter travel bikes loads more fun. The Base model Transition Scout would be an absolute blast at Aston Hil, mine has been off all the big stuff there with no problems Surface to Air is easier to go big on the Scout than any other bike I have ridden.
It might have a couple Deore components but they work very well.

I agree with Rockmonkey here. The transition scout is worth a look!

Spec looks shoddy though compared to some other bikes... How come? Paying for brand?

Ferrals

Partially, but also paying for quality and r&d too. Components break, frames (hopefully) last years.

rockmonkeysc

Smaller brands like Transition can't compete with the German brands or big brands on spec because they don't have the buying power but the components on the Scout have been well thought out and are still very good. Deore is all good, solid kit and there's nothing wrong with the Pike RC, 90% of riders wouldn't really benefit from the RCT3 over the RC anyway.

lawman

Sounds like a Mondraker Foxy would suit your needs down to the ground. As others have said a full 160mm travel is overkill for most of what you will be doing, but the Foxy XR gets a 160mm Rockshox Pike fork and 140mm out back so you get efficient pedalling and lively, responsive rear suspension with a nice burly fork up front to help you if things start to head south. The alloy XR is slightly over your budget at £3200 but shop around and I'm sure you'll get one for around £3k. I've got the carbon version and it's an absolute riot of a bike, plenty of standover even on the smaller sizes, nice long wheelbase and slack headangle and it climbs better than pretty much any other trail bike I've ever ridden. It came 1st and 3rd in What Mountain Bikes Trail bike of the year in 2014 and 2015 respectively, so it seems to be pretty universally liked!

Thewaylander

Indeed, I would have a go at the scout and the Foxy.

But we all know I'm mondraker biased. takes a bit to get used to the Fwd geo but one you do it just makes sense in so many ways,

megcalow

What about a Giant Reign 2 27.5" http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bik ... ifications

I can't remember why I ruled it out... it might have been the mostly Deore components, but you're getting Pike and a good brand here for £2199...

JaseHawk

I'm in a very similar position to you, but would ask if you've considered the following:

Trek Remedy (why straight to the slash?)
YT Capra
Commencal Meta AM V4

If not, why not? Those are the three highest on my list of possibles at the moment.

NikB

megcalow wrote:

What's the rear suspension like? I've heard it gets a lot of peddle bob... That true? What were the other bikes you compared against?

I haven't found that to be honest though I've not done much riding as yet. I'm coming from an Orange 5 Pro which definitely has pedal bob. I've run a comparison on Strava and it's been faster by some margin on downhills compared to every bike I've tested on the same run.
Other bikes I tested were - Whyte T130, Specialized Stumpy FSR Evo, Giant Trance. I didn't get on with the Giant but did like the others. I was also going to look at the Transition Scout, Nukeproof Mega and Commencal Meta. Discounted the Mondraker Foxy as I didn't think it would suit me. I couldn't get test rides of the other bikes so went for the Cube and so far so good.

rockmonkeysc

JaseHawk wrote:

I'm in a very similar position to you, but would ask if you've considered the following:

Trek Remedy (why straight to the slash?)
YT Capra
Commencal Meta AM V4

If not, why not? Those are the three highest on my list of possibles at the moment.

Trek has odd rear suspension which a lot of people (including me) dislike.
YT Capra is a right tank and has far too much rear suspension for all but DH tracks. There have also been quite a few frame failures and problems getting them sorted quickly.
The Commencal is pretty good. Nice ride.

Oldfield

Did you try the Aeris, what did you think?