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At last I made the plunge, it came down to financials in the end, obviously it had to be a pretty decent bike as well. I could not get my first choice of the Norco Sight 2, looked closely at the Zesty 314 but for value for money I went for the Camber Expert, I got a very good deal on the 2012 model. It's not as exotic as the Zesty but it 's supposed to be a great bike and I am now off to give it a blast.
Thanks to everyone for all their advice.
Enjoy it mate; looking at the reviews, I don't think you could go wrong with that one. 🙂
Enjoy the new ride! Before I tried the Camber I had imagined that it was merely a poor man's stumpy. In fact, I think it is a better ride than the stumpy and fits a part of the market that lots of people ride in. As I said, it was the one bike in a big range that got the thumbs up from everyone who rode it.
The same bike flew past me last night!! One review summed it up nicely:
This type of bike is exactly what a HUUUUGE section of the 29?er riding, pie chart statistic is made for….ride it with your buddies during the week (the ones with the 5-6” travel 26?ers) and then do an Epic trail ride on Sat to get ready for the team 12 hour race next weekend.
Not sure how to PM "clatter" but might be interested in the camber for sale if you can post.
Hi,
For me i would always buy second hand as when i bought new i was always concerened about damaging the bike 🙁 so i sold the yeti 575 (looked nice) and bought a cannondale prophet with lefty in mint condition for £375 🙂 wow i love this bike! It still looks great rides awesome and only weighs in at 28.5lbs. I had a garage with 4 bikes in xc, freeride etc, now i only have one.
If i had to pick a new one from your list it would be the camber.
Cheers and goodluck with your choice.
Ah, good choice! I just got a Camber Pro, and it's definately better than all those bikes I've never ridden 😉
Just got back from riding the Camber and what can I say...
It maybe down to new bike enthusiasm but I was only supposed to be going for a gentle ride as just over 4 weeks ago I put my shoulder out hitting a tree. That didn't happen, I whipped up the first piece of heavily rooted single track climb, the traction was immense.
As for the equally heavily rooted descents, I think I may now have to get my eyes lasered so that I can see further ahead. The bike flew and gave me the confidence to relax and keep off the brakes. Box ticked ?
Through the single track sections it was very agile and allowed me to whip through the tight turns. Another box ticked ?
Don't get me wrong, it's not a HT and the bike does feel more sluggish than my HT (marginally) but that was expected and I will easily be able to make that up in the descents and technical climbs. For me it definitely was the right choice to get 120mm travel, I think 140mm may have felt like too much of a drag.
I would recommend this bike, one pleased punter 🙂
Really interesting comments / feedback. Toying with the idea of a fs for the first time to save my beaten up back.
I have a steel Kona Blink ht at the moment which rides well enough but is a tad weighty. I am tempted with a camber comp, anyone got one?
I am a bit of a Spesh fan from my road biking plus there are some decent deals on the 2012 models but thought I would see if I could get some owner feedback first.