[Closed] So what were the ultimate 26ers then?

can we agree

Are you new here?

Agree? This is STW, lest we forget.

Pace RC200
Orange P7
Possibly Orange Five

3 for starters...

Either 2003 enduro sx or the 2013 sworks Carbon enduro

santa cruz heckler
santa cruz superlight
santa cruz bullit

all ground breaking

Intense Tracer/Uzzi
Turner Burner
Turner XCE
Turner RFX

Pace RC 2000

Litespeed Kitsuma

Ahem...

Not the "classic" bikes, but the ultimate evolution of each strand

Evil Uprising is my vote for best / last of the 26" AM bikes...but I still think 26" is coming back.

Transition bandit for me.

Ibis Mojo; a lovely design that is getting on for ten years old, has aged gracefully and still looks great.

On One 456Ti, Lynskey version

Cotic Soul, I bought a frame with the intention of building the last great 26" hardtail. In the end it was built from the parts box as I couldn't find it in me to shell out to put the bike together as I wanted it. Not sure it fits any of the above categories specifically but its worth a mention.

Sanat Cruz Chameleon. Carried on evolving so it remained the most fun frame you could possibly buy

From back in 04 The S-Works Enduro think was voted MBR's best bike of their first 10 years.

The Blut LTc

both bikes I've owned, both bikes that have been significantly better than the others I tried along side them

Cotic Soul IMHO.

I'll upset many Soul owners by suggesting DeKerf Team SL or adding another vote for late Orange P7's for the steel hardtail strand.

Soul here as well

I also have a Turner 5 spot ( DW Link) which I think is well up there.

These are so good, I really can't see any point in changing them, except for the inability to buy 26" Rims and tyres or 1&1/8" steerer forks. 😯

Rocky Mountain Element MSL.

Kona Explosif (1997)

For me, it the cannondale scalpel 2012 has to be in there. Just a fantastic frame.
The Merida 96 was also bloody good.
Hardtail litespeed obed was good

For me the original 1989 Kona Cindercone and also agree with the 04 The S-Works Enduro, loved mine.

Don't agree with the original statement. I've bought 3 26" wheeled bikes in the last 18 months. Far from being anywhere near dead as far as I'm concerned, despite what the bike industry, by and large, is trying to shove down our throats.

My Bandit which I regret selling but can really complain with my new Stanton Sherpa which is ace!

Downhill SC vp10
All mountain 2013 spesh enduro
trail hardtail soul or chameleon
xc full suss treck top fuel

I'll upset many Soul owners by suggesting DeKerf Team SL or adding another vote for late Orange P7's for the steel hardtail strand.

I got one of the very last P7's (2012). I can't see me wanting to move on from it any time soon. I bloody love the thing!

The venerable 456 in its many guises, favourite for me was the Evo model but I gather the Summer Season was legendary too.

26 is still great to ride, been out today setting up the new forks for my Ragley Piglet, they're Rockshox Revs with the 'so Enduro right now' black stanchions....ignore the 'industry' sounding the death knell for 26 inch wheels, if there is a demand for the product and therefore money to be made then someone will continue to sell stuff in 26 inch flavour.

Whyte 19 hardtail ally or steel just very good at several things proper general all round bike.

[i]Kona Explosif (1997)[/i]

A rather ordinary bike. IMO

Chameleon for HT has got to be up there, constantly updated, constantly revised, good for long XC, to jumpy, to DH duties.

ASR5 for ultimate 5" trailmountainenduroxcjustrideyourbloodybike category

Light, slack, long, climbs lovely, hooligan on the way down

I'd say the Ragley Ti, but then I'd just be jumping on the 'my bike is best' bandwagon already overloaded with previous posters. So I'll say the Maverick ML7...

In the same vein as the Bandit & ASR5, I'll vote for the Santa Cruz Blur TRc for a British trail bike.

Oh and a Soul if we're talking hardtail.

Santa cruz heckler has got to be top 10, best all rounder 🙂

On one inbred gets a nod from me too, even just for value.

Cannondale Prophet

DH- V10
Trail ASR5
XC Top fuel/yeti ARC

ML7? Are you mad? Next up someone will suggest a Whyte PRS-T1!

For me, it's something like (XC, FS, DH): Cotic Soul (far, far better than a 456), an Orange 5 and Ironhorse Sunday. All pretty much the epitome of classic design, in their time, and all look quite dated now.

Will be staying with 26" for the foreseeable future, after trying the new kids on the block Im not convinced that threre is anything out there worth the money that can tempt me away from my dustbin bound 2014 S Works Enduro.

Anthem X as the 'go to' Xc full susser for the masses...

[i]ASR5 for ultimate 5" trailmountainenduroxcjustrideyourbloodybike category[/i]

Is my bike, I didn't nominate it. 😀

[Does dance]

Is my bike, I didn't nominate it.

I'm just trying to raise some hype so I can drop in a link to my frame for sale 😈

Found the Cotic Soul a bag of awkward angles (IMO)

The Santa Cruz Chameleon a ****ing bmx for the trails

Marin Mount Vision. The first bouncy bike that worked.

Turner Flux

Rocky Mountain Blizzard

Glad I had them both, great bikes, for their time.

Hours of fun on them.

Nomad Mark 1 - this bike is just awesome
Anthem x - shouldn't have sold

And I'm pretty partial to my old charge duster which is still faster in certain conditions than my fancy scale 29er

I had one of the 04 Enduro's but was too green a rider to properly appreciate it 😳 My Soul is reputedly a classic but TBH my 27.5 Anthem SX that cost a load less is more fun most of the time...?

I always wanted a Rock Lobster

Well bloody cheers for this thread. I'm just presently looking at Chameleon frames, and feel s new/old/best-frame-ever build coming on

I'm too old and creaky for a bloody Chameleon.

Oh well.....

The very underrated Trance X.One great little trail bike

Ti hardtail : litespeed Kitsuma
Long travel f/s : Cotic Rocket
Medium travel f/s: Trek EX9

I am biased though 😆

Your never too old for a Chameleon, its a bit like an axe, every man should have one. Kevin rides ours most days and still gets a thrill from it. Its going to need some money spending on the gears soon. Seen as we won it in 2007 I think its worn well. You could say that they have aged together, cant see it ever been sold and doubt he will break it.

chambord - Member
I always wanted a Rock Lobster

Had one 05 through till 2012, with many updates. Great bike, partially replaced by a Soul

Surly 1x1

P7 just inspired confidence, although I also loved my Marin Muirwood a long long time ago

Evil Sovereign

Page 2 and no mention of a trailstar yet?...

LT hardtail- Ragley Ti. Not perfect but nothing is. Only ht I've ever ridden that could beat my Soul.

Deleted. Oops - wrong thread 🙂

The original enduro SX was an awesome trial bike but I snapped 2. Not a great pedaller either.

Currently riding a 26" wheeled bandit that is one of the most capable all round bikes I've ever had. Can smash it down DH tracks at not far off race pace, do all day XC epics and I'm taking it on a 10day bike packing tour of Iceland next month as well.

Stumpy Evo?
Another ASR-5 vote from me. I did own one so may be biased but had several other 26"ers both before and after. It's still the one.

Hardtail- nothing will ever beat the Evil Sovereign.

XC Race bike- Giant Anthem.

As for trail full suspension only things from the last couple of years would count and I don't really know- I ride a Stumpjumper Evo but it's not the greatest bike in the world. An Evil Uprising would sound ideal but I've not ridden one.

Specialized Pitch. Suddenly we could buy a 6 inch trail bike that would climb well, descend like a dh bike, you could do all day rides on it then take it to the Alps! Everyone raved about them, didn't they sell out and were hard to get hold of at one point and it seems that everyone who had one and sold it regretted selling it in the end, classic do it all bike... and all for £900! (I got mine for £900 😀 )

Best bike I ever owned and pedalled slowly

[url= http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/frames/mountain-bike/product/review-yeti-as-r-carbon-frame-08-28881/ ]Yeti ASR-C [/url]

Ultimate evolution?
I'd prob say something like the SB66c, Mojo HD, Nomadc etc. Carbon bikes strong enough to take a beating.
The 26ers which had loads of travel and still pedaled well. The capability of these bikes enabled enduro and prompted manufacturers to proclaim that they couldn't really find much more improvement (within the 26 wheelsize).

Obvious innit

[img] [/img]

wrecker - Member

The capability of these bikes enabled enduro

Enduro's been around for ages, those bikes are great at it but they didn't enable it.

Nice to see the Bandit 26 getting some love. It's the only bike I've ridden which I preferred to my beloved 06 Marin Rocky Ridge. Just dropped a couple of offset bushes into it for some extra gnar 😆

I'd prob say something like the SB66c,

I was thinking maybe this bike, the Rocket or the Evil for AM riding. Or maybe the Transition Suppressor, which has ace geometry and looks very tasty.

Lot of love for the Yeti ASR5 - only had a quick pedal on one of those but it did feel really special. Owned a late model 26" Trek Fuel EX carbon myself and it was amazingly fast and fun but a bit short. Perhaps I should have got the next size up though.

ML7? Are you mad? Next up someone will suggest a Whyte PRS-T1!

Nah, the Whyte was too ugly to live… bag, rock, pond 😉

Enduro's been around for ages, those bikes are great at it but they didn't enable it.

Well that's settled then.

wrecker - Member

I stand by my point though. If we didn't have bikes like this, capable of climbing and hitting DH runs as they do, enduro would look a lot different (IMHO).

Sure, but "bikes like this" covers most decent long travel full sussers built for the last decade.

I'm probably being a bit arsy here though, on consideration.

Ultimate 26" XC trail-hardtail, has to be: Ibis Tranny

I railed this around Llandegla red/black yesterday evening just before the sun set. It rides like an over grown BMX - perfect for the table tops, drops and burms on the over-grown-BMX-track that is Llandegla.

Nothing can better this.. 😀

[img] [/img]

Nice, but STW appears to have already picked the Soul for that spot.

😉

I waited for 26" bikes to die, then bought the best of the breed at a knocked down price:

[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8730/16258670594_e0561b38e0_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8730/16258670594_e0561b38e0_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Very nice, is that on the Lyn Colwyd loop? I see Tryfan lurking in the background there.

Yep, Lyn Colwyd with Tom on one of the free guiding days 🙂

It makes me happy to see the 06 Rocky Ridge mentioned... ruddy awesome bike. I still have the frame and its getting rebuilt when I move back home again.

Been lucky to have what I thought was the best at the time

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

Sure, but "bikes like this" covers most decent long travel full sussers built for the last decade.

I'd say that in the last 10-odd years improvements in long travel full suspension bikes has been the largest area of improvement (more so than DH or XC bikes).

"Kona Explosif (1997)" nope it was the 89/90 version (all green with orange splater paint) there were/are better bikes but at the time this and the Cinder Cone of the time really changed stuff.

Orange Prestige forerunner of P7

Pace RC200

Cotic Soul (with 27.2 seat tube), possible the most brilliant bike I have owned.

My '98 Kona Hei Hei. I still don't see any point in buying anything more modern for the general riding I do but changing standards are making it ever more difficult to keep 'Trigger's Broom' going.

26 isn't dead, it's just got very fat 😉