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Good morning all,
Following an enjoyable demo ride at Llandegla, my girlfriend is looking at getting a mountain bike but doesn't want to spend too much. At the same time I want her to have something that she will enjoy riding and not need upgrading/repairing too soon. Her demo was a carbon Santa Cruz Solo so the benchmark is pretty high.
I've been trying to steer her towards a Whyte T130 but she thinks that's too pricey. We looked into a Bossnut but it's a pretty podgy beast for longer days in the hills.
Yesterday we happened to be in an Alpkit store and we had a little pootle in the alley next to the store on a Sonder Evol. I have to say that I was super impressed. It felt very poppy and easy to throw about. £1600 seems to get a nice spec apart from a dropper.
Has anyone much experience of them? Annoyingly she is right between the sizes at 5'6" so any advice on that would be appreciated.
I had quite a few rides on the one that was reviewed for Singletrack as part of the bike test they did a few months back and it's a good bike for the price. The size tested was a large and i'm only 5'7" but it felt fine, they're not a big bike like many others are these days. I'd say she'd be ok on a medium but worth a test if you can get one.
Other options are the Bird Aeris or a Vitus Escarpe, both great bikes and not badly priced for what you get.
I own (and love) an Aeris 145 LT and would be super happy for her to have a 120 but they are unfortunately on the wrong side of 2 grand.
The Vitus looks like a cracker for the money, Wary of buying without a demo first though
It is on my list of a frame to go FS with parts from the Marin... #keepsaving
Sorry to muddy the waters further, but have you considered the Focus Vice? Good spec and low maintenance, being single pivot. Touch cheaper as well at £1400.
Giant Anthem?
A bit nearer to the weight of the 5010 than a T130 or Evol.
The Anthems a lovely bike but worried it wouldn't be as confident on the downs, plus a bit pricier I think?
120mm front vs 130mm? on the 5010 and £1,250
https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s183p7759/GIANT-ANTHEM-3-2017
Whats the size of the seat post thinking of going frame only hopefully swapping stuff over from my Whyte but obviously getting some wheels to fit
boo 31.6 whyte is a 30.9
Just shim the seatpost.
never knew you could shim that small found one cheers! https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/seat-posts/316-use-seat-post-shim-309-mm-id/
ive got the vitus escarpe vrx, and with BC discount came in at £1950, which is amazing for spec you get. Its a great bike.
there are lower spec options such as the one below, which again, with BC discount would be coming in at £1170
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-escarpe-suspension-bike-deore-1x10-2018/rp-prod159741
I demoed the sonder evol before i bought the escarpe - the escarpe is a better bike both spec wise and ride wise.
+1 for the escarpe, just be aware that the 10% BC discount is seemingly no more...
I looked at pretty much every FS bike around £1500 and nothing could beat it for spec.
I got the VR 27.5 version, zero regrets and all I've changed so far has been the rear tyre.
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BC discount isn't 10% anymore - it's £10 off orders over £150, which has really knackered up my future bike choices......