[Closed] Specialized Enduro Elite Carbon 29er vs Orange Five or wrong choice?

29er enduro quite a big bike, maybe look at new stumpjumper or even epic evo or new Trek top fuel. I think maybe a 130mm 29er would be perfect but lots of companies xc bikes getting a bit more trail capable these days.

Enduro is a whole level up from a Five in terms of downhill ability. If you want something less DH oriented than a Five, the Camber is probably where you want to be if choosing from Specialized's range.

Trek Fuel Ex, Orange Segmebt,are the kind of bike you might want, 120/130mm 29ers. The outgoing Orbea Occam 29 maybe.

Don't do it.
Or if you do, then buy my Spec'duro elite carbon so I can get a Stumpie or something else far better suited to the type of riding we both prefer.

I bought the Specduro after a trip to the Alps. It's a brilliant bike at what it does but it's pretty heavy. I stopped using my Ibis after buying the enduro as it was so obviously a shit bike. But the spec'duro is pretty heavy so I bought another bike for lightweight duties.... Giant Anthem 29er advanced. It too is amazing at what it does, but that something isnt my main sort of riding.

Every weekend I have to make the call whether to take the lovely plush Enduro and get knackered or take the Anthem only enjoy the easy bits.

I do so much wish I had just bought one midrange bike that would have been excellent for xc and proper mountains.

Having said which, the Spec was the dog's nadgers in Finale.... just hard work if you have no uplift.

Stumpy all the way.

Or my Enduro😁

Buy a specialised stumpjumper, best of both worlds. My friend with an enduro is always at the back on climbs or long rides. The enduro is a lovely bike, but its just too much bike. Do the sensible thing. Have you thought of an orange stage 4?

@damascus - I have, but there seems to be quality issues with cracked dropouts on the 4, so that's put me off to be honest.....

Stumpjumper sounds like a good shout.....

Might even go back to a hardtail yet....I'll be having a proper look over the next few days....

The Specialized Stumpjumper Expert 29er is about £2.5k (50%ish) off at Specialized Concept Store. Or I bought the 2018 Enduro with 40% off at Evans a couple of months ago.
I went from a Stumpy Evo to the Enduro (650b) and I really don't find it a lot heavier on the climbs.

As an Enduro 29er owner myself, you are not going to enjoy your XC on an Enduro very much. For a six-inch bike they climb tolerably and descend very well, but the Enduro is most at home when you're hanging off the back of it and chucking it around. The front end is very tall, which can be disconcerting and the BB is relatively high (at least on 2012-2016 bikes). You can fix the latter on large/x-large sizes by swapping the shock yoke with the 650B Enduro, but it also pitches the seat angle back which does climbing no favours. If you're descending then an Enduro is an absolute hoot, but other times it's an encumbrance and it does not carry it's momentum terribly well when cruising along.

Like others in this thread, I have a regular mid travel bike for XC duties - I am very fond of my 2015 Norco Sight, a well sorted and thoroughly excellent all rounder, probably in a similar class to your Orange Five. If the thought of Evans doesn't appeal (and I don't blame you), then you could try something like a Stumpjumper 29er (I have a 2014 29er, beautifully balanced and a lovely bike to ride), or something Canyon/YT. There's plenty of choice in the mid-travel market so get out there and test ride until you find something you like.

If your bike's too much for the trails you ride then why don't you seek out more trails that make it come alive, rather than looking for a different bike?

JP

I think it entirely depends on your terrain, and what you want the bike for. The Enduro isn't a bad bike for climbing on, I've found. (it's comfy, has pretty good traction and doesn't have geometry that hinders climbing) But like others have said, it's not exactly svelte, it's not a XC race bike, but climbing isn't as bad as you'd think, certainly no worse than your current 5 I'd have thought.  I think a 29er Enduro will be quicker on your local descents than the 5, but that may not be what you're looking for anyway, as as well as being faster, it'll be more "monster truck-ish" if you know what I mean?

I think where the Enduro will be better is big days out sort of riding, it's happy in the Lakes, North Wales, Scotland, you'd even be fine on most DH tracks, so if you've one space in the garage for a  mountain bike and you need it to be as versatile as it can be, then the Enduro I'd say, is a marginally better bet than your current bike.

Buy the Enduro if you have loads of fast steep techy trails, and like big days out, If that's not you, then the Enduro will still be a nice bike to own, but you'll probably wonder why you didn't just buy the Stumpjumper.

I have a new Stumpy 29er and a slightly older Orange 4. The stumpy is a really big bike. Not ideally a XC / tight single track bike unlike the Orange4.

most of my riding is XC and hills with a bit of singletrack thrown in

Tbh I'd be looking at swapping for a fun hardtail if that's mostly what you do.

@thegeneralist

What size is your Enduro Carbon? Year etc:

Drake's cycles have a factory segment at 2600.

I'm using mine for twentyfour12 this year.

Just checked, 2500 - which is about 50% off.

What size is your Enduro Carbon? Year etc:

I think 2017. It's the greenish one.large.

In terms of climbing, I need to add that the spec'duro climbs short section better that any other bike I have owned. Outstanding.
The problem Is that it is heavy and exhausting after a few hohenmeters.

I think where the Enduro will be better is big days out sort of riding,

Got to admit I really don't get this. I would have said this is precisely the sort of thing it is NOT good at, precisely due to the weight issue.
It's fine on standard peak loops or Staveley 3 passes or Hekvelyn but I really don't see how you could enjoy it for longer days out. I guess you must just be loads fitter than me..

The Specialized Stumpjumper Expert 29er is about £2.5k (50%ish) off at Specialized Concept Store.

What really? Crumbs
Do you have a link?

Sorry... I've only just seen this and I'm useless at putting up links. If you haven't already, just Google Specialized Concept Store and go to bike sale.
It's £2750 down from £5k.
It's the 2018 Stumpjumper Expert 29/6 fattie which just means you can swap out the 29 inch wheels for 6/fattie ones if you should so desire.

For the type of riding you're talking about, a 120/120 or 100/100 full sus would be nice.

Something like a Scott Spark, Orbea Oiz, Santa Cruz Tallboy or Blur, Whyte S120 (cheers mboy!), Giant Anthem - all would be ideal.

I think you've got the message that a big Enduro bike isn't gonna make your riding more fun. But a short travel full sus would for sure 🙂

As a lot have said really the Enduro is a step up from the Five so I think you’re going the wrong way mate!

Camber, seems a good shout or something like a Transition Smuggler?

just so you know im absolutely loving my 2019 stumpy (when it works) so much fun. not outright fast though.

What's wrong with the Stumpy andybrad?

at the moment nothing. But it has spent a fair bit of time in the shop, everything from cracked frame to dropper post and derailleurs

Thankfully they have been extremely good.

Is it the carbon version, some chap I follow on youtube broke one as well at the bottom of the downtube.

Enduro is not an xc bike. Its built for steep, rough tracks. Its great for winch and plummet riding, so stuff like the peaks great and fireroad up/trail down stuff.
Its one of the best peddalers in its class, but a shorter travel bike will be better. Lighter wheelset, lighter build kit (but not by much). 5000ft of climbing is no problem for it, just it wont be hussled up the climbs like and xc whippet would

Stumpjumper would tick those boxes, more so an overforked ST one, Giant Trance 29, Trek Fuel (new one out this summer), Trek Top Fuel (maybe a bit too xc, maybe not).

I have a smuggler and for the smoother/tighter/less steep stuff, i'll take it over the enduro, as its faster and has the feeling of being more on the edge.

All great advice - thanks everyone - I'm looking at a Four at the moment or may go shorter travel than that - but whatever i do, I won't be buying that Enduro!

Always found that with Oranges, bigger is better- the big honkin 29ers best of all. And the smaller the worse. Haven't ridden the very latest Four but I've ridden all their previous attempts to make a short travel bike and they've all ridden like a gimped Five.

Stumpys are awesome, Specialized have never quite made the Enduro as good as it should be but they're bloody good at that "one step smaller" bracket. Trek Fuel is very nice as well. Both have proper big job capability that'll match your Five, but also work better on smaller stuff.

These days, there doesn't have to be much downside to going into the 140-150mm bracket, reason being you end up using half the same parts as you would on a shorter travel trailbike anyway. Pikes or 34s, something like Minions, a dropper post, and a lightish wideish wheelset. Gone are the days when a 150mm travel bike had to be much beefier than a 120mm.

Someone above recommended a giant anthem. I would strongly advise against as your only bike.... Well at least not the 29er. Its way too far in the other direction from the Enduro!

I've got both, and as above generally want something in the middle.

650 Anthem is a completely different beast though. Great mid style bike.

Got to admit I really don’t get this. I would have said this is precisely the sort of thing it is NOT good at, precisely due to the weight issue.

OK, mine is the all carbon pro version, but it's still 14kgs +. But I'll happily ride, carry, push it all day over Welsh/Lakes terrain, and I'm far from the fittest rider ever.  I think the point I was trying to make was that, if it's a choice between a 5 and a the Enduro, then the Enduro is a bit more versatile in terms of what it's capable of. It might well be a bit more sluggish up the hills than a 5 (although I'd doubt there'd be much in it TBH) but that's be more than repaid on the downs, and as Northwind says, the difference between those mid range travel bikes and bigger bikes these days are nominal, so you may as well go large.

For the type of riding the OP suggests , I still think the Stumpjumper would be a better bet though.

I've a 2015 Enduro.  It's a great bike, as people have said, for winch and plummet.  I personally like the higher BB as on natural rocky stuff you've more clearance.  It climbs OK, copes with single track well and then it loves rocky descending.  It does eat pivot bearings, I mainly use it for the 6-8 drier months and its a full bearing replacement annually.

My HT is faster on local South Downs stuff.

I wouldn't spend a penny on an Enduro before trying out a Stumpjumper Evo, IMHO

just going to reiterate that i love my stumpy

Years ago, I once bought a gt sanction. Fantastic looking bike. Carried it up snowdon, it rode to half way and then pushed the rest, no faster or slower than other bikes. Coming down it was the best ride ive ever had. Amazing bike. It excelled in this area.

I tried using it for local rides as it looked so good but I got dropped on all the climbs, I tried to make it lighter but that didn't improve the climbing but made going down hill worse. It had 2 step lyrics which made a big difference.

In the end it got left in the garage and I took other bikes out. I then sold it a mate who thought he would ride it all the time but he found the same as me. We then both bought salsa horsethief bikes and couldn't believe how easy it was to ride up and down, it was like cheating.

All my other friends rode 26 inch orange fives at the time, they were the best of both worlds.

Buy the enduro If you have a few bikes and you will use it for the right days out. If just one bike, keep the five or buy a stumpjumper.