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Looking to spend around £3k on a full suspension 29er and currently down to the following:
- Santa Cruz hightower D - Bit concerned about the RockShox 35 gold RL, comparables seem to have revelation or Fox equivs
- Transition sentinel alloy - Better forks than Santa cruz?
- YT Jeffsy Comp 29 - Will save a bit here too, but might be a bit of a wait..
They all seem fairly similar in terms of groupset/brakes with mostly SRAM, so I seem to be down to just forks and wonder if it's realistically there is much between Rockshox gold vs yari, vs the Fox 36 Floats on the YT.
Rockshox 35, on a £3000 bike.
Hell no. No. Just... no.
You might want to wait for the Bird Aether 9c to be announced.
I will recommend the Jeffsy, because I have one and they're great.
Also, Nukeproof reactor - https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-reactor-290-expert-alloy-bike-nx-eagle-2020/rp-prod182131
Radon Slide Trail - https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/radon-slide-trail-9.0-987895
Ripmo AF?
agreed on the shocks, I shouldn't be keeping the Santa Cruz and putting aesthetics over compromising on forks.
Love the Jeffsy but it's sold out in Dune Grey and only black remaining, which does look very stealth but prefer the lighter one.
Occam m30?
SC prices are beyond funny.
I was in a similar boat. Wanted a new Sentinel alloy but that's not a thing yet.
Other options were Bird AM9, Jeffsy, Propain Tyee (but that's a bit more hardcore) and a few others I forget.
Long story short I put a deposit down for a Ripmo AF today. And I'm very excited. It's going to be a loooooong wait.
Vitus do some good value 29er trail bikes, which seem well reviewed.
Marin might be worth a look too?
There should be more compelling choices at £3k though, really.
Just finished this debate with myself and it was down to the Ripmo AF and Bird AM9 in the end. I just ordered my AM9 frame at lunch time. You’ll get a hell of a AM9 for £3k
Looked at the sentinel but it’s heavy and doesn’t climb well.
Whyte S150 S or RS for under/over budget goodness.
Whyte S120/S150?
Ripmo AF is a bit good.
Got a Vitus Escarpe VR - was about 1800 last year. Not quite in the league of some of those but goes up and down very well, despite being slightly on heavy side. Can't go wrong for the money!
commencal meta tr?
What is it for, where will you be riding it and why has no one mentioned geometry 🙂
Dismissed the Whyte / Commencal/ripmo as not keen on the looks
Live semi rural near Forest so mostly that, with intention to do more heavier trail stuff on this vs current hardtail
Ibis Ripmo AF looks like the best way to spend £3k but good luck finding one. Vitus escarpe VRX is awesome for the money but they seem to sell out very fast too. The sentinel is awesome but the lower end one is HEAVY and the spec isn’t a touch on the vitus or the ibis. Search for the MBR trail bilke of the year 2020 video on YouTube. They seem to really rate the Nukeproof reactor
Just went through the same process.
Rode the S150 last year and really liked it but was a bit muted, love the HighTower, but just too much money. Not keen on the Ibis.
Test rode an Aether 7 and AM9 this week at Bird. AM9 rode great and now have one on order. Was considering waiting for the Aether 9 but the AM9 just ticked all the boxes. £3k will get you a decent build.
cheers for the replies @all
@datsunman yeah similar, the S150 gets great reviews and a friend recommended also but not keen on the look. Def a premium on the hightower D vs alternatives, I see the new 5010 is out so maybe the hightower would get an upgrade soon also.
Looks like the sentinel alloy has been dropped too, can't see the carbon replacement prices yet.
I currently have an Occam H20 with upgraded suspension sitting in my basket for a bawhair over £3k. Waiting for my Remedy to sell before hitting the big red button
Question to the OP - what do you want your FS 29er to do? (apart from have big wheels and bounce at both ends).
Is it your only bike or a big bike for big days?
For me (with a capable HT and planning to ride up hills but enjoying riding down hills) I settled on 140mm both ends and the Orbea Occam. I'm buying mine on the B2W scheme and limited to £2000 so have gone for the base (H30) model but I'll change the wheels, cassette, crankset and brakes so I'll end up spending close to £3000 but costing me approx £2000. If I didn't have the B2W scheme I'd judt look at a £3000 Occam.
I got an occam m30 for £2650 só def phone to ask the best price.
Bird AM9 for sure.
Would still recommend/buy one if they costed a lot more, at the price they go for it's a no contest
although i own a Hightower 2 i did it the expensive way and built up a frame. Brilliant bike but it would be let down totally by cheap/crap components. I think you'd regret the hightower
I would be so tempted by Bird or YT if you can wait. My mate also got a NS Snabb - it is awesome, more suited to bike parks but totally bombproof and good value
Intense Primer Expert is on offer at the moment for under £3000.
Hightower 2 is a really good bike - I'm well happy with mine. However the lower end builds are dreadful, and very expensive.
So I bought an alloy frame and built one up, this cost me about the same as that off the peg carbon one. And yes, the frame is alloy, but I've got GX over SX, Hope Brakes, Mavic wheels, carbon bars, Fox dropper and a Fox 36 elite fork.
The alloy frame only option is actually on the money, if not cheaper, than many other options, Bird, Orange, Transition, etc.
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