Hi - I have been a subscriber for a couple of years, but this is my inaugural post. I ride a 7 year old carbon GT Zaskar to keep my aging carcass vaguely fit for motorcycle road racing. I'm near the fens so ride around reservoirs, Thetford trail and the like. I usually ride for between 30 and 90 minutes as fast as I can and call it done (no long days out!). However my daughter has move to Sheffield and I've just discovered Grenoside Woods and Lady Canning's MTB trails and it's great (going fast, fast cornering, jumps, decent risk of injury - what's not to love). The issue is I feel I'm really beating up the bike, especially the jumps, and would benefit from not having a hard tail. The Zaskar was a revelation when I got it to replace a Rockhopper, it is light and pedals so efficiently and turns nicely/quickly (27.5" version). Can I get a FS bike that keeps this feeling? I looked at FS GTs and they weight a ton, which I don't fancy as my legs look like they come from an overweight sparrow and I only weight 60kg. Can you recommend a bike? With a motorsport addiction to feed the budget isn't huge but I can use the "cycle to work" scheme so I'd be looking at circa £1500 for second hand machine or £2200 new through the CTW scheme.
Thanks
Specialized Chisel fits the bill.
Yeah, the better Chisel sounds like the one.
If you increase the budget I'd highly recommend a Transition Spur but even the sale bikes will be more than that. The Orange Stage Evo is worth a look as there are some 50% off deals about.
Sonder Cortex might be worth a look - this is at your £2200 budget and looks a good combo of suspension spec + gearing:
https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-cortex-29-mountain-bike-sram-eagle-90
Thete are cheaper models but I wouldn’t look at the sram sx geared one as that groupset is junk.
Agreed, Sram SX is terrible, avoid it.
Chisel looks nice, but... 14.5 kg. That's going to feel a *long* way away from a 27.5 carbon Zaskar, which I guess would be about... 11kg?
I suspect you'll struggle with your wants at that budget for a new bike through c2w. 29ers are just heavier anyway, and at that kinda money probably quite significantly heavier.
Current trend of slack head angles means you might find steering to be a bit slower than you'd like, too.
I'd probably look at some kind of second hand carbon XC race thing.
Yeah, agree, a proper xc carbon full suss second hand is probably the best bet.
Have a look for one of those Lapierre's that Pauls were selling cheap a year ago?
Are you looking to keep the Zaskar?
If so, then just buy whatever FS bike you want, within budget, and accept that it's designed for really quite different riding. Greno/Wharncliffe is very different to Fenland bridleways and Thetford!
If you're looking to swap out the Zaskar, then you'll likely need to spend quite a lot of money to get something that is capable at Greno/Wharncliffe AND feels as light and lively as your Zaskar. I'd look for something like a Transition Spur second hand, or something XC/trail from eg Scott ...
The other thing to think about is tyres. A light XC FS bike will still feel a bit nervy/skittish on low profile, fast rolling XC tyres on more challenging and techy terrain. The converse is also true; if your Zaskar has clearance for chunkier / wider / stickier (especially on the front) tyres, you could probably ride it at Greno/Wharny without feeling quite so beat-up (and then swap tyres back when you return to the Fens)
Chisel looks nice, but... 14.5 kg. That's going to feel a *long* way away from a 27.5 carbon Zaskar, which I guess would be about... 11kg?
So the problem you have here (speaking as someone who's been MTBing for 35yrs and worked in the cycle trade for more than half of that time) is that fortunately/unfortunately (depending on which side of the coin you fall) that bicycle and component designers' priorities have moved away from headline weight figures towards more measurable performance benefits against the clock... As a result, bikes are heavier, components are heavier, but everything tends to be both more durable and faster as a result...
20yrs ago, a World Cup level XC Race bike would probably weigh less than 9kg... These days they're often over 11kg (even with £10k+ price tags!), but with geometry that would embarrass an "Enduro" Bike from 10yrs ago and tyre widths to match too... XC race tyres used to weigh circa 500g but would puncture if you rode them off a kerb, where modern XC race tyres are regularly up around 800g and allow the riders to push the bike a lot harder than they might have been able to only a few years ago...
But also, everything has got more expensive too (hardly surprising considering the value of the £ has almost halved in that 20yr period)... £2200 really doesn't get you very much brand new any more sadly. Others in this post have already highlighted definite contenders at this price point (Spesh Chisel, Sonder Cortex etc.), but to get anywhere near a fighting weight of 11kg, you'd have to throw much larger sums of money at the bike to get anywhere near these days...
So my advice to you... Change your expectations! You'll find even the most aggressive of XC bikes these days to be far more capable on the descents and over the jumps than your Zaskar Hardtail, even if they're not as noticeably responsive to pedal input nor will they feel as fast... The clock doesn't lie though, either up or down...
Wow, I'm glad I asked, there are so many models and versions that without masses of research how does an enthusiastic amateur have a clue what they are buying? I think I got real lucky with the Zaskar as I didn't really know what I had bought other than a famous name I've ended up here because based on weight alone I started looking at older Scott Sparks, but couldn't work out if that was really the right thing (maybe it is) and would a 8 year old Spark be about knackered anyway as I'm assuming nobody buys that sort of bike to tootle to the paper shop.
Following from the original suggestion of a Chisel I've found a lightly used 2022 Epic Evo that looks a bit closer to a Zaskar but with a rear shock and is in my budget. Only 110mm of travel both ends but more than I have now at the back!
Paul's cycles have Ghost Lectors, which look to have a great spec but no weight info, at massive discounts but I don't know if that is too much of a race bike - advice would be welcome
I'll keep the Zaskar as its lovely and my wife likes it. It's already got a 2.4 on the front and that's the widest that will squeeze in. I'll need a new bike to earn its keep and can't really justify that level of outlay on a one that I only really ride when I visit my daughter 🤣
As a result, bikes are heavier, components are heavier, but everything tends to be both more durable and faster as a result...
I think they can be faster on purpose built trails, but I'm not really finding them to be overall faster for natural trail riding. A bit faster downhills, but more than offset by the additional weight you have to pedal up the hill. I've got loads of strava history, and after loads of weight-weenie-ing, I'm only just about getting overall 29er times down to 26er times. Still can't touch some of my 26er segment times.
Don't get me wrong, I like the 29er, but I don't really think newer bikes are actually faster.
Following from the original suggestion of a Chisel I've found a lightly used 2022 Epic Evo that looks a bit closer to a Zaskar but with a rear shock and is in my budget. Only 110mm of travel both ends but more than I have now at the back!
There's circa 500g between the Epic Evo frame, and the Chisel FS frame - so that's a better place to start.
Got my Chisel down to 12.7kg with pedals... so you could easily get an EE down to 12.2 kg if you want to (if it's not there already).👌
If you can stretch the budget a bit Balfe's have MY24 Scott Spark RCs on sale (£2450) https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/bikes/mountain-bikes/scott-spark-rc-comp-carbon-full-suspension-mountain-bike-2024-in-blue__43763
(they also have the Spark 960 within budget but that's a couple of kg heavier and a bit more trail spec build)
That looks like it will fit the bill, go tubeless and add the carbon bars in my garage and I'd probably be sub 13kg including pedals and a dropper (so 1-1.5kg above the Zaskar). The price would squeeze just the right side of divorce proceedings! Also Scotts have the nice bar mounted suspension lock lever. I'll give Balfes a call.If you can stretch the budget a bit Balfe's have MY24 Scott Spark RCs on sale (£2450) https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/bikes/mountain-bikes/scott-spark-rc-comp-carbon-full-suspension-mountain-bike-2024-in-blue__43763
(they also have the Spark 960 within budget but that's a couple of kg heavier and a bit more trail spec build)
Forgot to mention them, Balfe's have some cracking Scott deals atm and would be my choice.
I'm collecting a Spark ST 910 from them on Thursday 🙂 (I'd have normally shied away from a bike with a non-standard shock and the twinloc seems a bit marmite but the price is too good).
You've obviously got there now, but mine would've been another vote for whatever there's a good deal on right now.
That Scott also has weight that could be saved on wheels and drive train components - down the road as stuff wears out, you could easily drop its weight further with a few sensible upgrades there.
By all accounts the Epic Evo is an excellent bike. A lightly used second hand one would be my choice. I think that there are slight durability issues with the Spark.
There are plenty of deals on gen3? top fuels also... Not the lightest bikes BUT more than competent across a whole range of riding. Mines a 9.7 with wheel,crank and fork upgrade, loaded with pedals, tubeless tools, co2 and multitool it is on 13KG, fastest bike ive owned, and suitable for hitting the local enduro trails when it suits
I hope they aren't too bad as I pulled the trigger on one after lunch!By all accounts the Epic Evo is an excellent bike. A lightly used second hand one would be my choice. I think that there are slight durability issues with the Spark.
I saw it had a less than super desirable press-fit BB but my Zaskar has that limitation too and I've only had to replace it twice in 7 or 8 years, so hopefully not too much of a drawback.
Thanks to all for your inputs, it cut seemingly hundreds of possible bikes down to a sensible few and with the C2W scheme the discounted Scott was a bit too good a price to pass up (even with the awful looking whitewall tyres 🤣).
Depending what height you are you might get a 27.5 wheel size.
I recently bought my first FS bike and despite it being heavier I am faster on it than my HT. The rear lock out on suspension really have got very good.
I went for a second hand bike at £1200 from a bike touring company.
If you can stomach buying second hand it opens a lot of doors.
I agree with your comment about so many variables making it hard for amateurs to find the right bike.
As a result, bikes are heavier, components are heavier, but everything tends to be both more durable and faster as a result...I think they can be faster on purpose built trails, but I'm not really finding them to be overall faster for natural trail riding. A bit faster downhills, but more than offset by the additional weight you have to pedal up the hill. I've got loads of strava history, and after loads of weight-weenie-ing, I'm only just about getting overall 29er times down to 26er times. Still can't touch some of my 26er segment times.
Don't get me wrong, I like the 29er, but I don't really think newer bikes are actually faster.
How old are you now? Fitness compared to those older times...?
Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt what you're saying is true for you... But you are very much an outlier here...
