[Closed] Best bang-for-the-buck climbing mountain bike?

Any light carbon HT? Every brand does one, prices/weight come into play after that. 105 is a road level, you probably want xt and up or X01 in the SRAM flavour. But really the one that fits best is a good start.

For climbing, why are you dismissing full sus when they can climb better than a hardtail ?

I would be looking at something like an Anthem X

I'm not familiar with the hardtail market - can you get a carbon bike for £1200?

Canyon would get you there but running gear would be the compromise.

Trek also. The Superfly 9.7 is on offer at £1400. But you will get more bang for your £ if you get the same bike with AL frame at a pretty small weight gain

not really into going downhill! that is the whole point of going up. Are you sure you're in the right hobby?

If you are climbing off road then full suspension can be great

Partly depends on whether you want to stand or sit and spin. Sit and spin works well on a FS

Carbon and light and top level groupset for 1200 quid. I see a flaw....

[url= http://www.on-one.co.uk/c/q/bikes/mountain-bikes/maccatuskil ]http://www.on-one.co.uk/c/q/bikes/mountain-bikes/maccatuskil[/url]

Whatever you get, make sure you can fit big tyres, i.e. a 29er frame that can also take 650B+ wheels/tyres, the extra grip makes climbing much easier. For the same effort I'm about 5% faster on climbs using the B+ tyres than regular 29ers even though the bike is 1.5Kg heaver. Downsides? The tyres provide undamped suspension which can be, erm, interesting.

What do you mean you're not into downhill? What happens when you get to the top of the hill/mountain? You're going to walk down it?

top level groupset

And a half way decent rigid xc frame in aluminum will only be giving away half a kilo over cf. Probably not even that.

You should be able to get a good aluminium ht with slx for around your 1200 mark.
Paul's cycles? They might have something. Scott Scale?
Cannondale?
Whyte?
Giant are bound to have something.
Won't be light weight though. Your price target pretty much puts paid to that. Not without compromises to performance and lots of shopping round.

I think he means that doing DH style trails isn't the be all and end all of mountain biking. (Well that's how I read it) Basically he's looking at a bike that isn't aimed at blasting down trail centre tracks.

What sort of climbing are you thinking?

If it's fireroad type climbing then you could probably get away with a rigid bike

If it's rooty or rocky technical climbing a full suspension might be easier

I agree 105 = SLX, XT is Ultegra and XTR is Dura Ace.

Ghostly speaks sense, a well specced alloy frame will do well.

It depends a bit on what you mean by "best climbing". Is it the bike that would be fastest up a long (but not particularly technical) drag or the one that can get you up the super steep and technical bits? For example, I can climb up stuff on my 34lb fatbike that I can't get up on any "normal" mountain bike. Similarly, I can get up lumpy bits on a full-suss bike that I can't manage on a hardtail. But a light, stiff hardtail would be faster than either on a fireroad drag.

Big rubber - I love to see the look on people's face when I pass them riding my 'heavy and slow' fatbike or 29+ - when it's loose or slippy, more grip means you can put down more power. With skinnier tyres, I often have to back-off to maintain grip / stop wheelspin. You can absolutely ride like a hooligan on the way back down too - just simply let go and hang-on!

Im with @jekkyl. Get a road bike and go up hill on the road. light, fast, stiff and really crap at going downhill off road

Big rubber - I love to see the look on people's face when I pass them riding my 'heavy and slow' fatbike or 29+ - when it's loose or slippy, more grip means you can put down more power.

Just suggest some bikes! Stop telling people what they should want.

Charge cooker midi 1
On one Hart ails all good

Grand Canyon AL SLX 7.9.
Not carbon, but lighter than most manufacturers entry level carbon bikes, and built up with quality kit.

Google Pauls cycles and look for cannondale f29. Not carbon, but from what you've said I think you'll like.

As a fellow uphill enthusiast, I need to mention a very important point that everyone seems to have missed:

Bottom bracket height.

Loads of bikes these days have stupidly low BBs, which makes gnadgery technical uphill shite. You'll get pedal strikes all over the place.

So make damn sure you get one with a reasonably high BB.

My new ragley piglet climbs well but saying that it depends on how fit you are

For £1200 I would look for a 29er aluminium HT and a rigid carbon fork, SLX brakes, XT drivetrain. Reckon that's doable, nowt too fancy keep it simple to keep it cost effective and relatively light...

Giant XTC Advanced 29er.
Think they do a Rockshox/Deore build for 1300?
Thanks,
Max