New bike suggestion

veagnox

Hi guys. I want you to help me to choose my next bike. I want bike for general trail riding, but want something durable so I need more than 130mm travel. My budget is something like 2500-2700$. Currently Canyon Spectral AL 7.0 EX catching my attention so badly coz of 150/140 travel, GX groupset and so good price for all of these. But, maybe you guys know some bike models which I didn't notice. So please suggest bikes with:
1) Minimum of 140mm front and rear travel,
2) Durable frame for basic enduro/all mountain riding,
3) Maximum price of 2700$ (2500$ if possible, please)

Thanks for your attention, waiting for your reply

rockmonkeysc

More suspension doesn't necessarily mean more durable or more suited to hard riding.
The Canyon Spectral is a good example. The Shapeshifter system is extremely unreliable and when it fails, you need a new frame. Canyon are also getting a bad reputation for service.
One of the best bikes I've ridden for what you want is the Transition Scout. Bombproof frame. Super solid geometry, excellent suspension, jumps like a slopestyle bike. I did everything from alpine holidays to downhill races and xc epics on mine. It's 120mm rear and 140mm front but it's a harder riding bike than some enduro bikes.
I've recently changed to the Transition Patrol which has 155mm rear, 160mm front and it's slightly better down hill but a lot worse up hill. I bought it because there's a freeride park opening a few miles away and I've lost interest in xc so I don't care about its lack of xc ability.

veagnox

RockmonkeySC wrote:

More suspension doesn't necessarily mean more durable or more suited to hard riding.
The Canyon Spectral is a good example. The Shapeshifter system is extremely unreliable and when it fails, you need a new frame. Canyon are also getting a bad reputation for service.
One of the best bikes I've ridden for what you want is the Transition Scout. Bombproof frame. Super solid geometry, excellent suspension, jumps like a slopestyle bike. I did everything from alpine holidays to downhill races and xc epics on mine. It's 120mm rear and 140mm front but it's a harder riding bike than some enduro bikes.
I've recently changed to the Transition Patrol which has 155mm rear, 160mm front and it's slightly better down hill but a lot worse up hill. I bought it because there's a freeride park opening a few miles away and I've lost interest in xc so I don't care about its lack of xc ability.

Hi and thanks for reply. Thanks for suggestion. I forgot to mention that I live in Azerbaijan, where only Cube and Trek bikes have local bike store. I mean in any case I can't even get Transition to the service, so it's same as Canyon to me. So because of that I want the brand which makes good frames and uses better components rather than giving good service. But your suggestion is also good, thanks for that

rockmonkeysc

The Canyon Spectral frame isn't particularly good.
Of what you can get, the only bike I'd consider is the Trek Remedy.
See whether you can get Rose Bikes. They're direct sales, Mail order so you should be able to. The Rose Granite Chief is excellent.

paulneenan76

Nothing wrong with the Spectral, tis a fine bike, though I would favour the Rose Granite Chief over one. The Shapshifter is on the Strive and is replaceable - though it seems you will be replacing it.

The Whyte T-130 and the Giant Trance are worth a look if available to you OP

rockmonkeysc

My mistake, I was confusing the Strive and Spectral. It's still not an amazing frame though.

mtb_monkey2

Have you looked at the YT Capra, Mail order too like Canyon and a very capable machine.

veagnox

RockmonkeySC wrote:

The Canyon Spectral frame isn't particularly good.
Of what you can get, the only bike I'd consider is the Trek Remedy.
See whether you can get Rose Bikes. They're direct sales, Mail order so you should be able to. The Rose Granite Chief is excellent.

RockmonkeySC wrote:

My mistake, I was confusing the Strive and Spectral. It's still not an amazing frame though.

Yea I also don't like the Shapeshifter tech on Strive but I wanted to know if Spectral is strong enough. And as I see you say it's not. Thanks for advice, I will look on Rose bikes also

veagnox

paulneenan76 wrote:

Nothing wrong with the Spectral, tis a fine bike, though I would favour the Rose Granite Chief over one. The Shapshifter is on the Strive and is replaceable - though it seems you will be replacing it.

The Whyte T-130 and the Giant Trance are worth a look if available to you OP

Hi and thanks for reply. In Whyte T-130 range, only T-130 SX suits my budget and it has SR Suntour Aion fork, which I'm not really fan of. But as I said I will look at Rose bikes soon, thanks for advice

veagnox

mtb_monkey2 wrote:

Have you looked at the YT Capra, Mail order too like Canyon and a very capable machine.

Hi and thanks for reply. Believe or not, I'm huge fan of YT bikes and especially Capra model. But unfortunately I can only afford basic model of the Capra AL and I can't find good review about it. Everyone makes review of AL Comp 1 or AL Comp 2 but they are out of my budget. If I could get review of basic model, wanna check it out. I edited post to ask one more question. Where can I find shipping prices of YT aside USA? I can pick bike from near Europe countries like Germany, Turkey or Russia, but in their website I couldn't find price info about it (could find only USA price)

rockmonkeysc

The basic YT Capra is very heavy. Not far off a downhill bike.

veagnox

RockmonkeySC wrote:

The basic YT Capra is very heavy. Not far off a downhill bike.

14.0kg is heavy for enduro, or their website fakes the weight info? My hardtail is also 13.95kg

rockmonkeysc

That must be for an extra small! My mates large Capra 1 is heavier than my large Transition Patrol which is 32lb.
Claimed weights vary a lot and are rarely accurate. Some are based on theoretical weight from CAD models, some exclude things like suspension oil and inner tubes. Some are extra small frames, some are large.
Giant don't publish weights for their bikes for this reason. As long as there is no standard, the claimed weights are meaningless.

veagnox

RockmonkeySC wrote:

That must be for an extra small! My mates large Capra 1 is heavier than my large Transition Patrol which is 32lb.
Claimed weights vary a lot and are rarely accurate. Some are based on theoretical weight from CAD models, some exclude things like suspension oil and inner tubes. Some are extra small frames, some are large.
Giant don't publish weights for their bikes for this reason. As long as there is no standard, the claimed weights are meaningless.

Wow, thanks, good to know that

veagnox

Guys what are you thinking about the brand "Commencal"? I made a little research and as I see "META AM V4 ORIGIN ROCKSHOX YELLOW 2016" and "META AM V4 RIDE 650B ORANGE 2016" suits my budget, and also has so good specs for price. Did anyone test one of those bikes?

supersonic

Capras are also very short for a given size - shorter than their figures seemed to suggest, with the medium I tried I was hitting my knees on the bars in sharp slow speed turns (am nearly 6ft with 34-35" inside leg, but comparably shorter arms and torso. Still felt really small).

veagnox

supersonic wrote:

Capras are also very short for a given size - shorter than their figures seemed to suggest, with the medium I tried I was hitting my knees on the bars in sharp slow speed turns (am nearly 6ft with 34-35" inside leg, but comparably shorter arms and torso. Still felt really small).

Hi and thanks for reply. Good info. What you think about Commencal brand? I want to get AM V4 Ride Orange model

rockmonkeysc

The Commencal is a good bike. Nice ride

veagnox

RockmonkeySC wrote:

The Commencal is a good bike. Nice ride

Thanks, I think I will go with Commencal Metam AM V4