[Closed] Going to the dark dark side, 29" full susser options

Try a yeti SB 95. Best bike I've ever tried. Guys at mountain bike Bitz should be able to give you a build for £3000
Great bike that makes up for lack of skill 😉

Mate has just bought a 5 29er from Sunset MTB

Black and gold edition, brand new full bike for just over £2.5k. It was listed at 2.8 but he haggled

That's for a brand new full bike with 140mm travel cos he wants a big bike. Other options are available depending on what you wanna ride.

theupsetter

Try a yeti SB 95. Best bike I've ever tried.

Cheers. A guy I know moved from a Dexter to a Yeti ASR. Will have to track him down to see if he's looked at 29ers.

That SB95 doesn't look to have any bottle mounts?

Niner RIP 9?

[img] [/img]

At first glance I thought that was a Pyga which is what I was going to recommend - their Oneten 29er would be perfect I'd say.

The sb95 has one bottle mount under the down tube. But that's the only thing that let's down a great bike.

Salsa Spearfish - all I can say is that I was enthusiastic but ended up with a hard tail instead.

Five29 is too much bike for where you ride.

Salsa Spearfish is very suitable.

Ive got both, for big bridleways the Spearfish wiuld be awesome. The 2014 anodised orange one looks beautiful.

Rickon - I would agree

I also don't know if it has a bottle cage holder

On-One Codeine - with a pair of pikes.....job done. Will do everything you need it to do and more. Either buy a complete bike or build up from a frame only.

Has to be 1x11 or 1x10 but that would be fine for what you need.

If I had the cash thats what I would be buying.....but the other half has capped my N+1 to N, but I dont blame her....for once.

OP, if you do decide on an Ellsworth phone freeborn and discuss their stock.
I was about to press the button on an evolve 3 weeks ago and thought I'd phone them just to check colours, details etc...turns out Ellsworth are hideous in terms of sending stock to the UK and very hit and miss in terms of logistics and freeborn couldn't guarantee a frame size/colour choice arriving any time this year!
Freeborn are a great company to deal with from previous exp. Ellsworth apparently need to sort out their supply chain/MP&L...give them a call if you haven't already 😉

Cube Stereo 29er...Ive got the 140mm but they also do a 120mm if 140 is too much for you, the one with Pikes and Carbon mainframe is on budget for you as well.

Mike, some of these suggestions are way too burly for what I know of your riding - the RIP9, SB95, 5-29 and Codeine are fully paid up members of the enduro gnarpoon club! Even the Kona Process 111 and Banshee Phantom (~110mm at the back) are probably overkill in terms of slackness and strength - but if you're ok with the angles and it not being a featherweight I guarantee the Phantom is a great pedaller - my Spitfire (27.5 longer travel equivalent) shames my hardtail. Unfortunately I have very little idea about the XC 29ers FS bikes that are likely to suit you...

You won't want to hear it, but wait until Freeborn have the atlas back in. I bought one in March and it's the most capable XC/trail bike I've ever ridden. It looks and feels bombproof, it's light, climbs well, descends faultlessly... For the majority of UK riding it is outstanding. Otherwise- might be out of budget, but a Pivot Mach 429? Or a Santa Cruz Tallboy?

I came very close to a Cube Stereo earlier this year, the value of the full carbon ones was ridiculous. Was only put off my the drop-in headsets preventing angleset fitting but that's a bit specialist...

Turner Czar - although you might have to stretch your budget slightly over £3K for frame, wheels & fork.
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/finally-got-the-plastic-turner-built-up

RockShox SID RCT3 from merlin at about £470.
Wheels - Hope ProII/ZTR Crest around £275-£300

Cheers for the replies guys

Alex (CGG)is probably right 8) about the (over)spec of some of the suggestions as I'm definitely more XC than enduro.

fenred and johnny.

I popped into Freeborn last Sat, which is where the Ellsworth came up. - Those they had on the shop floor but Joe didn't think they'd see any more Atlas carbons this year.

Some of the Ellsworth customer service comments I've seen also give me pause.

What about the likes of the Cube AMS and Scott Sparks?

[edit]
@ dickie

hmmmm 😀

Hows about the Whyte M-109 then? Tried one and it's a serious speed fiend, it sounds perfect for your more XC tendency's.

Thanks z1ppy. There's a Whyte dealer fairly close by so I'll go and have a scoot

santa cruz superlight29er are nice, 100mm travel. not carbon though

Just to resurrect this thread, I'm demoing a Whyte M109S for the next few days.

Thoughts so far?

The 70mm stem is [i]far[/i] too short for 10 mile road TTing 😀 🙄
The bigger wheels seem harder work up hill but roll very nicely on the flats and downs 8).
Don't know if it's the fitted Ikon tyres or the bigger wheels but I've felt the wheels wash a little bit on some descents.
Seemed to flick through the (climbing) gears more compared to my 26er

Finally, it's got a cool colour scheme (tart)

Be really interested to hear your views at the end of your M-109S demo, I'm currently resisting the temptation to buy the C as a stage-race / endurance type bike.

Stumpy FSR 29er seems very popular with all who have ridden one, absolutely loving mine. Fastest trail bike I've had by a mile. Got the frame for £650ish, a set of 130mm Maxle Revs for about £300 from CRC, very cheap build.

[url= http://www.bikescene.co.uk/FullSuspensionFrames-18.html ]http://www.bikescene.co.uk/FullSuspensionFrames-18.html[/url]

Probably not many sizes left now though.

Hanky

Be really interested to hear your views at the end of your M-109S demo, I'm currently resisting the temptation to buy the C as a stage-race / endurance type bike.

I immediately started with looking at the plastic version but have absolutely no justification for stumping up that sort of money! 🙂

The S feels heavy to me and I'd want to shed some weight. I'm currently riding a 40/28 chainset on my 26" FS and would probably look at 38/26 for a 29er.

Hope to have a longish commute home tonight and a good spin tomorrow (if it doesn't persist down). Will update this thread after then.

If you come more from a road riding slant and ride mostly "motorway" trails then weight will probably be a priority for you.
I'd suggest a Giant Anthem and spend the other £1k on a nice bike trip away, or possibly on some lighter upgrades for it depending on your weight and ride preferences.

And no I don't have one but have heard plenty of good things about how capable they are.

Spesh epic? Or canyons 29r looks good.

Update after 70ish miles of riding.

So as I said on Friday the short cockpit is rubbish for road TTing but I managed to get 50+ miles of off road in, including one of my regular commutes, a decent prat about some local trails and a run around a bit of the South Downs.

This stock M109S came in at 29lbs / 13.2KG, which is 3lbs heavier than my Devinci. The Maxxis Ikons were a little bit too slick for some of the conditions and I'd want some rubber with a bit more bite.

Oh and 730mm bars are waay to big for me!

It felt like more work on the ups and I did make use of the whole triple chainset. I reckon I could get away with a 38/26 ish double combo.

Bike definitely flattened out all little roots and ruts and a run down a short flight of wooden stairs was noticeably smoother.

Would I buy one? I definitely don't NEED another bike but N+1 and all that!