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tried and tested 27.5 plus trail bike reviews from riders - realistically around £1600
ideally steel - but open to other materials ...
Switchback is my goal - but funds wont allow it ...
Genesis tarn?
Cotic BFE or Soul? Both around £1600ish
I've got the new Bfe and its a great bike, replaced my Mega as my do it all bike and, whilst I'm biased towards hardtails I'm finding it more fun and involving than any bike if had for a while.
For 1600 you could grab a Whyte 130 or 130rs if your lucky .. all rounder
Comrie Croft have a virtually unused Tarn in at £1k at the moment in the lovely yellow and black colour from last year...
you could do that new bird for that sort of money i would expect. also chameleon full build for that. go for ally. any of the supposed benefits of steel will be completely masked by 27.5 plus tyres and you'll save about 2 lbs in frame weight.
Not steel of course, but if you are open to a bit of messing around (buliding), you could do a lot worse than something like the HT+ I built up relatively recently.
Dartmoor Primal plus.
Total value as it is about £2000 for the kit on it, but could do a lot less if you bought wisely.
If looking at a full bike, maybe a Sonder Transmitter
https://www.alpkit.com/sonder/bikes/sonder-transmitter-nx1-Revelation
Cheers
Dartmoor Primal Plus looks tasty
Bfe looks a mad ride also .....
+1 For a Tarn if you can find one on clearance.
also chameleon full build for that.
I liked the look of these until I saw the spec of the 1600 one! If you have 2k+ then maybe.
Orange p7? Imagine the 29” will also take 27.5+ as my Segment does.
I've got a Marin Pine Mountain 2 up for sale on Pinkbike, if you are interested? It's been a pretty great bike, but I unfortunately just don't have the time for it at the moment.
https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2297245/
+1 for Genesis bikes. They are good value and you can get really good deals on last year models. I had about 1500 quid budget and found an out of year Longitude for £660 and spend the rest of the money on bikepacking equipment and flights to Banff, Canada. 8)
I’ll add another recommendation for a genesis tarn, I bought mine as a frame and fork from eBay in February. Drivetrain and brakes came from the spares box (although they’ve both since been upgraded as I’ve changed bits on my FS bike). I bought the forks from eBay in the summer as they were cheap enough just to give hem a try, it’s ridiculous fun with rigid forks though, the suspension just steps this up to ludicrous!
I’ve ridden it in the lakes, around the peak, at trail centres and it’s also fulfilled its primary duty of hauling my daughter around.
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Love my Primal Plus. Get one.
I might be a bit biased because I love genesis bikes - but the Tarn is a great bike - versatile and bomb proof !
Lee
Love my Primal Plus. Get one.
yes the Primal Plus might be a good pick.
Although owned a Primal (not Plus) which I didn't like too much.
fun & playful & modern geo:
Merida Big Trail
http://www.mbr.co.uk/reviews/hardtail/merida-big-trail-review
Merida Big Trail 800 for around £1500 in winter sale right now
bike which I don't know but which looks neat:
Eccentric Djambo
http://www.ns-bikes.com/eccentric-djambo,96,pl.html
PLUS hardtail for around £1200
The Dartmoor Primal Plus frame and the Eccentric Djambo frame will sell for little money. If you have parts and if you like to build your own PLUS bike...
Whyte 905s are a hoot to ride, got one at work
27.5 x 2.6
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Trek Roscoe is a lot of fun!
qr rear and "141" boost rear on the Trek, got one of those too. good value for the 8
seen this on evilbay (not mine by the way)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stanton-Sherpa-27-5/152822940275?hash=item2394f50273:g:k1YAAOSwbF1aLYww
+1 for the [url= https://www.alpkit.com/sonder/bikes/sonder-transmitter-nx1-Revelation ]Sonder TRansmitter [/url] had mine a year now and it's my most ridden MTB
Not steel but Ali...will take 29/27+ 2.8.
The frame allows tyres up to 27.5+ and 2.8'' for comfort and grip.
With 29'' wheels, a maximum tyre width of 60mm, the ETRTO value displayed on the tyre sidewall should not exceed 60-622
META HT AM ESSENTIAL 650B SHINY GUN METAL 2018 €1600
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META HT AM RACE 650B ORANGE 2018 €1999
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Yes - the Meta HT AM is a pretty bike with good geo.
And in winter sale...
Meta HT AM: fast, downhill focused bike
Merida Big Trail 800: playful trail bike/ fun-bike
I liked the look of these until I saw the spec of the 1600 one! If you have 2k+ then maybe.
Know what you mean. The way I see it the only way to buy any SC is not as full official importer build. Shops may do better builds or ideally just but frame and self build. It’s still on my list. I loved my older Cham.
I’m a huge Cotic fan, but if OP is seriously looking at plus bikes, the BFe and Soul are out. Great bikes, but not plus.