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New bike??
Alright. Its that time when im considering getting a new bike but far out im so confused. Don't get me wrong i love my trance... a lot but i just think its wrong for the type of riding i want to do.
Now what im thinking of is a longer travel trail bike / light all mountain so i can start riding stuff that is a bit bigger i.e. oxford falls, some red hill but still be able to ride cascades with out having too much trouble getting back up those hills.
And now what about a 29er :S is it worth looking at a 29er for this sorta riding?
So i've already looked at a few yeti 575's but i think there a bit dear for my price range (as much as i want one and i no would be perfect). What else could i look for along those lines 26 and 29, enduro, reign, stumpy 26/29...
Thanks everyone for the help.
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Jonathan,
Complex, vexing question requires a simple answer. Accept the fact that one bike is not enough. Start building a quiver.
My plan in no general order
Short Travel XC rocket 26er, prob carbon Anthem or Felt
Single Speed, probably 29er Niner or something like that
Road bike, prob Scott or something similar.
In ur situ, the Trance should be ok for most of Red Hill, I'd be going a short travel rocket.
personally i ride a stumpjumper FSR 29er 2011 model (130mm in front) and it easily cruises over the rough stuff.
but honestly it is each to there own
they'da had long travel stuff around while I was still young and foolish enough to use it fully, and had the legs to ride back up as well. But they didn't even have suspension back in the day....
Go big and enjoy it while you can... I'd say 26" for that sort of riding, but NFI about what sort of bike to go for - Giant always seem to be well spec'ed. Reign??
Go 2nd hand - some good bikes in the classifieds on this site from what I can see.
575 is exactly suited for type of riding you are wanting to do - and can still be spec'd light enough for enduro's. Mine is around the 12 kg mark.
Definitely N+1. You need a few bikes depending and what you are riding. I've got a 26" 140mm travel bike for fun, 29er HT for racing and fun, a road bike for when its too wet.
I can hardly afford one bike too buy and maintain let alone buy and own 3!
Doesnt mean u gotta get them all at once. When you get that high paying job, then u can do that. Alternatively plan carefully and think hard about wot sort of riding u want to do. I think the Trance being 5 inches with 120/140 is plenty for Red Hill unless u want to fly down hill.
I only had the budget for one bike does it all, upgraded from my Giant Reign 06 & now I have the 08 Yeti 575. I'm no racer boy, just a social rider and I'm more than happy with it. Can't beat the current Giant line for value though!!!!
second hand 150mm travel would be a great idea if your funds are limited. I ride a Marin attack trail 150mm dually, it's fire trucking awesome. Brand new its similarly priced to the Yeti. Having completed a shite load of research before my purchase, here are my findings in brief;
Scott Genius - good spec, tricky suspension is very clever, it was too much for me to get my head around...good reviews, limited a bit DH
Trek Remedy - awesome bike, good spec, would prefer the scratch although came in after my purchase. Great reviews
Spesh Enduro - not much going wrong here, top class bike, ride with a mate who has one and he loves it
Santa Cruz Nomad - can spec to whatever you want, great name, rare, quality build, good head angle.
major things to consider in my opinion are shifting (heavier bike, needs to shift quick), head angle (cornering confidence), dropper post (haven't got one yet, its on my santa list. Great addition when riding all mountain terrain. I stop alot to adjust the post height).
If you can find any of the above plus the Yeti (top shelf) second hand you will be a happy chappy I reckon. Might be worth having the bike inspected by your LBS before purchasing. If the vendor will accept that ?? If you you don't aske, you don't get...
Hope that helps
Giant and Reign. I just got one after 7 years with a Giant VT. The Reign is magic on climbs, super fast on flat firetrail and pure fun machine on the descents and drops.
The reign is very tempting especially for value!! Always been considering it. But how does the yeti compare to the reign?
Thought I saw a 575 advertised on here the last few days, the guy selling because of injury. That would be one sweet bike.
Two awesome bikes, the Yeti is more expensive but does that mean it is better? Although see the review in AMB of the latest 575 a few months back.
I went through this exact process 2 years ago. I tried them both although only around a car park so not much use. I remember the 575 had a longer wheel base or top tube or whatever and a medium was too big for me. I bought a medium Reign in the end. Truly awesome bike as I'm sure 575 riders will say about theirs.
I was told in general terms the 575 would climb better but the Reign would descend better and I know what I'd rather do
I'd suggest you start trying them at the LBS before your urge gets out of hand and you end up buying without comparing
Hi
150mm fork 130 mm rear suspension, Canadain so is designed for riding you do. Climbs like a goat, point it down hill, rails like nothing else. Slacker head angle than most trail bikes,adjustable geometry. I ride all over Cascades, Appin, Meani etc, raced it at dirt works. Ribbed rear triangle, so doesn't flex like a 575 in the rear.
If you want to have a ride let me know. Currently away in france, back in two weeks.
Do you want to race XC/Marathons? Do you prefere to do Downhill and want to get in to freeride.
It really depends what you want to do tbh. If you want to concentrate on racing XC etc, then 29er hardtail is the way to go, if more freeride look at the Reign or similar.
The 575 is a top bike which will you can pedal uphill and will easily chew up the hills, however it is no downhill bike by any stretch.
The only way you will know is by riding some of them, so I would recommend you do that.
I've been looking at bikes in this sort of category as well, and the one that's caught my eye is the Stumpjumper Evo - basically a slightly pumped up, long travel Stumpjumper with a slacker steering head angle.
Haven't had the chance to try one out yet, but once the trails dry out I'm going to see if I can get hold of a demo one for a day.
To be quite honest you'll go through a few bikes working out what suits best and eventually ending up with a few. I went from a Giant NRS to a Norco Six 3 which was great but just way too heavy so a few months later went to a Trance X0 which was way better for my style of riding.
I'm with Lezo.
Go with a Marin Attack trail. Get a top shelf frame with an ass end that will not let go, feels like it's got a lot more travel than it does. Climbing on these things is a breeze! The rear end follows every bump and contour, yet little to no bob. If you can stretch it, get an RP23 shock into it and it'll be perfect.
http://northernbeachescycles.com.au/shop/product...
If you want less travel, the Marin Mount Vision range is equally as good at what it does. Handles drops, rails corners and attacks rocky down hill sections like it were a 6" bike.
Really underated bikes.
Also check out Santa Cruz Blur LT. or a Butcher. It's Santa Cruz... What more needs to be said.
Wheres the best place to demo bikes? Looking at paper is all well and good but paper does not do anything justice. If i go to an lbs would they let me test a bike out on the trails?
Bike Addiction use to hire out and if you bought one they would deduct it from the price.
I'm pretty sure they had some specialized demo bikes last time I was in.
It becomes a case of you can't afford not to have two bikes, the way I look at it if you have a good bike and a training bike that share common bits, then you can get max use out of bits by recycling old bits from your good bike, that have some life in them but you'd not start an enduro event with them, on your old bike that you can do a lap or two of the dam and not worry too much if they get to 100% of their useful life while on a short ride near home... Oh and learning to service your own bike can save you a bunch as well.
Everyone needs a fun longer travel bike as well as an XC race machine.. Really they do!
E mail a few distributors (not too hard to find on google) and ask when / where their next demo day will be in the Sydney area. Specialised were up at Ourimbah last time I was there and Giant just had a demo day at Stromlo. I arranged a demo Pivot through Jet Black and St Ives cycles a year or so ago, so there are a few options if you are really keen to try out a few models.
Or just go on more Nobmob rides and ask if you can have a go on someone else's bike....
Up until a couple of years ago I rode a Mongoose Teocali (close to 6" trail bike).
I realised that if I continued to ride it like I was, I was going to kill it so I looked for a bigger bike and ended up with a Giant Faith (8" FR / DH bike). The Faith (ridden at OF in particular) dramatically improved my trail riding. Charging big stuff on a big travel bike increased my confidence and ultimately skill which I then (to an extent) applied to riding on my Mongoose.
I recently got my hands on the 2011 Trek Remedy (6" travel) but added a 160mm fork. With the experience of riding the Faith and Teocali, it is sensational. It rides trail better than the Mongoose but handles a great deal of what I might normally do on the Faith and therefore is picking up my trail riding to another level. I'm thinking about giving it a run at OF this weekend. Thats not bad for a 6" bike with a 110kg rider!
To be honest you may not feel a huge difference between the 575, Reign or a Remedy however the capabilities of today's 6" bikes is very good and you should find that which ever you go for, you could see a substantial improvement in your riding.
Mind you, you may need to ride with people who push your envelope!
Most don't unfortunately, unless you are a known customer with a good relationship with them. Too many riders have abused the process in the past, it seems, "test riding" a nice bike when they had no intent to buy and returning a dirty bike for the shop to spend labour on cleaning and servicing.
Group rides can often be a good opportunity to try out something different. After the last one I did up at Awaba (thanks again to troubledutchy for the lift
), we all had a play on each others' bikes in the skills area after the ride, which was a very interesting exercise. You're test-riding other guys' setup as much as the bike, which I find quite useful for comparing to my own.
Does anyone trade in bikes?
Again this whole debate/discussion is really about what sort of riding you want to do.
If you want to charge down hill, full faced helmet, body armour etc then 6 inch plus Reign, Butcher etc is the call
If you want to cruise around, roll down rocks etc the Trance does that nicely, or the 575 fits in nicely there too, and there are some nice 575 up for sale on the Classifieds
If you want to XC race then I recon you want a short travel rocket, hard tail (29er) or 4 to 5 inch's max. Anthem, Canondale, Spech, Yeti, Felt etc. Mind you the 575 and the Trance will both do that well.
I ride a 5 inch Yeti , I use it racing (all be it not that fast), Dirt Works, Awaba, Ourimbah, Coondoo, Cap Punishment, just to give you an idea of the terrain and it cracks along eats up the down hills (point and shoot), quick on the flat, not so quick up hill, but that's the engine not the bike.
It suits me well on training rides through Cascades, Mona Vale, Terry Hills, Manly Dam, Red Hill you name it but not the Down Hill chutes, that again is more to do with fear of getting smashed up.
I guess If you only have cash for 1 bike and you want an all purpose, maybe a 29er. Mind you Ive not seen any 29er's at a Down Hill race.
One more point to confuse you even more, I have seen really good riders ride 4 inch 26ers down 6 foot plus rock roll offs and chutes that I walk, its a confidence thing.
And finally like I said in the outset, N+1 brother..........N+1!!
It does not simply come down to travel. The Reign and Yeti 575 may sounds similar, but they are not. The Reign is a much rougher kind of bike and will take more punishment than the 575 for heavy riding. Both bikes will be more than acceptable for rough riding and riding around at social speed, but the Yeti will climb faster and pedal more easily over racing conditions. That said, unless you are racing XC with it, my recommendation would be the Reign. It is a more 'do all' bike, is easier to source parts for, and is cheaper. How can you go wrong?
Im not planning on racing any time soon, maybe marathons in the future but they wont be competitive. If the reign descends really well and irons out small and big bumps alike it would probably be a winner assuming that its not too bad at climbing. I no the yeti is an awesome climber but how does it descend compared to the reign i.e. iron out bumps, smoothness, confidence...
Thanks everyone,
Jono.
Jono. You can spend a lifetime on those questions and never truly get an answer. Truth be told there is no perfect bike. Just a bunch of different bikes with different ride characteristics n some will tick more of the boxes but truthfully if you focus to much on trying to find the perfect bike you may find that you will always be looking. Imop a good way forward is to head over to bikeexchange.com punch in you price range and see what's out there. Go for the bike with the best quality frame wheels and suspension and then go ride the thing. I've spent many 10s of thousands on different bikes that were the perfect bike for the job. They were all great and yes. I enjoyed riding some more than others. However truth be told my favorite all time bike is my 29er single speed. Why??? Because i am no linger caught up in all the hype about the perfect bike. If a ride sucks it's has more to do with the rider than the bike. Don't get me wrong im not suggesting you go sser. I'm just saying that you are probably better of looking at your question in terms of what is in you price range
Jonathan I purchased the reign last year and was amazed. I had a stumpjumper prior to this ( and still do) also an enduro, which is great but once I got on the reign I felt like I could take on anything. 6 " front and back with adjustable 4" 5 " and 6" on the fork. I love it and have even done 2 x 100kers this year on it. Yeh the climbs are not as good and is often best to drop it down to 4" on the front for the long steeeeeep climbs ( you can do this and keep riding) but it is a Killer on those wicked fast obsticle filled runs. It climbs obsticles really well to. I will climb obsticles better on this than my other bikes. I got the Reign 0 and is sweet.
Now I need a nice light Carbon, with 4" on the forks for those 100kers and 24hrs. Go the quiver. Why buy only one bike
good luck
Me and Rob were at Campbelltown one day doing some technical riding, and saw what looked to be a 16 year old kid doing 10-15 ft gap jumps on a downhill trail on a stock Reign. I am pretty sure you don't see dudes pulling those moves off sitting on a 575 (Did somebody say "snapped rear triangle!?"). We were pretty amazed by that, and it has always left the impression on me that a Reign is usually not being limited in performance by the equipment - rather the rider is the limiting factor! There is a reason why the Reign is such a popular all-mountain bike.
exactly. got more to do with the rider than the bike
I just rode the reign 1 and trance x2 back to back. Although it was on the street what i could notice the slack head angle, short stem, and extra weight straight away (between the 2011 trance and reign theres 700g difference).
I climbed a few hills and i could defiantly notice the extra weight and riding position making it a bit harder to climb but obviously its very hard to judge on the road. Im sure the slack head angle and short stem would defiantly make its self better known on a rocky, loose decent. The bikes i rode wore both demo bikes so they were run in properly and to be honest, the suspension was just as plush as mine (and i set up everything the same as mine). So i don't know?? maybe im better off keeping the trance i've got now and changing the wheelset and spec'ing it up a bit. But from riding on the road i cant say i was that blown away. Especially with the drivetrain ill be going from xt shifters, de-railers to a complete slx groupset.
Thanks,
Jono
Now go ride an Anthem, compare that to the Trance and the Reign, that then will definately seal it for you.
Just to add even more confusion ive been offered another bike. A merida trans-mission 1000d. Can any one vouch for these. Going to take it for a ride around the block soon but from sitting on it, it felt really nice much more of an xc bike. Also had some really nice kit like fox 140mm rlc fit talas front and an rp23 shock slx/xt drivetrain...
Thanks,
Jono.
I think you're getting totally confused. You've been talking about getting more travel to ride bigger stuff and now more XC is getting you excited. See this is why you need more than one bike
I think im probably going to keep my bike, its just too confusing choosing a new bike especially when im not 100% sure what i want to do with it. Maybe do a wheel upgrade. Hope pro 2's on ztr flows NICE!
Get some money together and go N + 1....eventually
Have you seen the mavic crossmax for sale in the classifieds, they are wicked. I'm tempted mysef although my wife keeps at me not to buy anything before my birthday in July. Doh...
I bought a Trance X2 a few years back and after a while started becoming what I thought was a better rider and was definitely more and more confident and so started bashing it about to the point where I thought that I needed more travel so I was eying off a Reign or a Remedy. I stuck with the Trance, changed a few bits here and there and at the same time actually became a much more skillful rider (it's all relative 'cause I still have looong way to go!) and now I realise that the Trance is capable of a lot more than I currently am as long as I learn how to ride it properly.
Both the Reign and the Remedy are awesome bikes and I am sure that if I had one I would be stoked with it. As it is I really don't need any extra travel, the weight associated with it, etc., etc. and as long as I work on a few things my current bike is capable of anything I throw at it.
Now an XC weapon, that's a different story........
http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/showthread.php?2...
Theres a 2011 Remedy going cheap!