[Closed] Been living under a rock for 4 years, bike advice pls 🙂

The standard answer will be Orange 5.

Bikes have got better all round, you may find what used to be thought of as a cross country bike now being capable of doing pretty much everything. (within reason)

My XC bike is a Scott and it will keep me happy at normal riding and Welsh trail centres.
My Enduro bike is a YT (bit like the Intense / Bronson you mention) and that is overkill for normal riding, good for trail centres, but perfect for Bike Park Wales.

They overlap a bit. So if you want one bike only get one that suits most of your riding.

Where will you do most of your riding ?

[i]Last MTB was 26, with 9 x 3 lol.[/I]

My current MTB is 26, with 9 x 3. LOL.

Hi thanks for the replies, i was laughed at when i mention i wanted 3 x 9.
Old school i was told 🙂

looking at cannock chase, coed-y-brenan , betys-coed etc.
Local is cannock chase, so nothing to serious.

didn't want a specialized etc,

Cheers
Mark

HMM YT frame looks nice. !

I just swapped from a 2009/10 26", 3x9 Orange 5 to a 'modern' 27.5", 1x10, Orange 4 a few weeks ago.

I honestly haven't been able to say I can tell any difference from the wheel size, but the total lack of any stem to speak of and a huuuge handlebar certainly changes the handling characteristics! The steering is much lighter and faster than my old bike, really forcing me to push my weight into the corners. I'm liking it!

I thought the 1x10 might be a problem for me as I'm quite a biffa, but I got it fitted with a Hope T-Rex, 40t ring on the cassette, which although looking decidedly odd, seems to me to be the equivalent of my much needed and abused, granny and bailout gear for climbing Dumyat, my local haunt. I'm also quite liking the simplicity of the 1x10 setup with the Hope chain retention thingy.

Haven't a clue about suspension setup, just pumped them up to the recommended 30% sag setting and left it, as you don't get supplied with manuals anymore, so I've no idea what the knobs and twiddly bits do!

All in though, I'm really pleased with the bike as it feels a bit faster rolling and more funner than my 'old school' Five. Definitely a bit more confidence inspiring than my older bike as even in my rather fragile, slowly recovering from injury state, the bike convinced me to whoop into a drop off that I've always baulked at on my older bikes. My only slight disappointment is in not being able to tell the difference between 26" and the new 27.5" wheels, but that's well buried under the sheer pleasure of finally swapping my 'Battleship Grey' Orange 5 for an 'Atomic Orange' Orange 4. It's just so....orangey! 🙂

Go for it, buy a new bike. They're more shiny than old ones, make you go faster and I'm quite certain that it'll make you more attractive. Or in my case ...even more attractive. 🙂

[i]Thread Killer[/i]

Transition Scout

[i]Thread Killer[/i]

I have a YT Capra with 1x11. It's great in my opinion but depends ont he riding you do. I'm happy to pedal up at non-race pace in order for more fun on the downs.

In the grand tradition of recommending what you ride (although it does fit the brief)...

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Bird Aeris and Airdrop Edit must be worth a look, they both do a frame only option.

http://shop.birdmtb.com/aeris.html

http://www.airdropbikes.com/collections/airdrop-edit

Thanks for all the replies, alot of choice, like the YT, not sure if that comes in 27.5 dont fancy a 29er

the bird looks good,

transistion looks good not heard of them , i presume these all get good reviews. !!

Cheer
Mark

Giant Trance / Bird Aeris

Shhhhhh.... It's not called "All mountain" anymore...! It's called "Enduro" now...! Shhhh...!

(Preferably suffixed with "-rig" - as in Enduro-[i]rig[/i])

You'll get laughed at if you start using that sort of fuddy-duddy "all mountain" terminology now.. 😯

(eight 26er xc-trail bikes here, all 3x9, the extra gears and child's wheels don't seem to be holding me up much)

Have a look at latest Cotics - Flame and Rocket (I have a BFe, great bikes, great customer service)

I have a Transition and like that very much (older Covert with 26 wheels and 2x9 as it has a bash guard instead of large chainring - 'cause I'm rad)
My LBS does Intense and they are well liked
Nukeproof

There is tons of choice .... too much almost