[Closed] New Bike Advice - HT - Full Sus

I have spoken with a dealer who advised I should be looking at a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR

Specialized Dealer per chance?

Decent enough bike for most UK trails. Geometry is a wee bit conservative compared to some other brands.

To be honest I'm not sure service costs of a full sus is something I'd let put me off going for one over a hardtail. You should get a few years out of a set of frame bearings and most people go far longer.

Thanks Richmtb - Yes Spesh Dealer as well as other bikes and thanks for info about bearings I must say I new to all that but am aware they are not cheap.

I know it's hard at the moment, but try and have a demo on a few bikes, you might be surprised by the results!

I think decide your budget and go from there. If it’s £2k or more then I’d go full suss personally. Just choose what you actually want the bike for - general trail then avoid the big enduro style bikes as you’ll have more fun more of the time on something a little less long and slack. If you’re going to be racing enduro or doing loss of uplift days / steep technical stuff then an enduro bike would be great.

If it’s below £2k there are some fs bikes but most are out of stock - e.g Calibre Bossnut / Vitus Mythique etc. Most tend to be middle of the road trail bikes at that budget. Budget enduro bikes are mainly the Calibre Sentry and Vitus Sommet.

Specialized are a decent brand but just be aware for the money you’ll get a lower spec than most other brands (other than boutique stuff like Yeti / Santa Cruz who are similarly priced or even more expensive).

Andeh I really struggling with Test Rides spoke with 3 dealers and none playing ball at the moment but will keep trying but would prefer to buy who I try with. Thanks totally agree

Joe - I have a budget of 2-5k not sure what I need to spend but will not be more than 5k and I expect if spending the higher amount would be for something heavily (if there is such a thing) discounted.

I have know knowledge of the Yeti or Santa Cruz Brands other than they make some great looking machines also expensive and clearly good bikes based on comments from users. !Racing in my dreams! No just pleasure and felt it was time for a bike more suitable to most things.

IME Yeti ain't cheap for bearings, that may have improved, but my SB66 was a bearing eater. Can't speak highly enough of my Bronson, SC do free bearings, so maintenance costs are basically fork and shock servicing, which every brand will have too.

I don't think there's many bad bikes around now tbh, best of luck.

Specialized do make nice bikes but their spec sheet often looks poor value compared to many smaller, European brands. Not sure if it is the exchange rate or simply brand pricing. It depends if you want a bike to just ride or a frame to use as a basis for upgrading as you decide what you want and how you will use it.
Your budget will give you loads of options. You say you will have one bike but what will you be using it for - big mountains or all day rides on tamer terrain? Where will you be using it?

Nobeerin I was not aware of that with Santa Cruz free bearings anything that reduces service costs for someone like myself who is just not great at anything mechanical is a bonus.

Stigheed Big mountains would be 1% of my use although I would not shy away from them If I had a full suss. I would say most use would be trails and parks.

A shock service and bearing swaps are the additional costs. Each could easliy be over £100. But in that time you will have of course spent money on other things like tyres, chains and brake pads etc.

In my admittedly fairly limited experience, it might add 5-10% to the cost of each ride but its not like a huge change from running a hardtail. I suspect that the extra retail cost of the buying the bike os more of a factor

I suspect that you would need to be on your bike quite a lot for santa cruz to pay you back in bearings

Ampthill SC not in my view yet but will certainly listen to recommendations.

I'd be looking at something like Cotic FlareMax / Bird AM9.

In true STW style I’ll recommend what I ride....look at Whyte bikes, Designed for UK conditions and free frame bearings for life.

Thanks James & Stuf

Whyte bikes are good. Not the lightest, but they ride well and they really are designed for UK conditions.

With that budget you can get almost anything other than the really top end crazy spec / exotic bikes.

Try Bird bikes for a demo and see what they can do - I think on the fb page they suggested they were going to start them imminently.

Their range has 27.5 and 29” wheel bikes in both hardtail and fs. They have trail orientated bikes and enduro ones - and you can pick and chose the spec to your budget. £5k is extreme - I’d say from £2.5k-£3k you’d get a great bike.

I’ve had one full bike from them - and then a new frame as I decided to move from en enduro style bike to more trail / all round.

The Aether 7 they do is a great allrounder. It’ll climb pretty well, it’s fun on easy trails but it also does steep tech stuff ok from what I’ve found so far and it’s still modern enough to pound through rock gardens. They’re also bringing out a 29er version of it soon from the teasers they’ve put online.

^^^^^
Just wrote what I was going to! You won't go wrong speaking to Bird.

Specialized do make nice bikes but their spec sheet often looks poor value compared to many smaller, European brands. Not sure if it is the exchange rate or simply brand pricing.

If you compare the price of their accessories to other similar brands they look very reasonable. Their hybrids and kids bikes are priced at a similar level to the competition as well. And then they price their mid-high end MTBs at a Santa Cruz price..

Thanks all loads to look at love the video with the Coctic Flaremax.

Wow what has happened to the price of bikes - Currently still looking but liking the stumpjumper at the moment the reviews and youtube vids seem to show everything I am looking for. I am not sure what model yet but trying to get similar groupset to what i currently have which makes any of the bikes above really expensive.

Also spoke with a few dealers regarding test rides seems to be a nightmare at the moment and will most probably involve some travel so I may go online route and collect at store if offered.

If anyone knows of any deals please let me know?