[Closed] Trail hardtail £1200-ish

You missed marin sanquentin.have a look at bird bikes too.they do a ht .mail order and highly regarded on here.think it was that a sonder is great value and a good bike on another thread.have a search.

Any particular reason you are discounting everything 29er?

They are completely different machines to what they were 10 years ago and no longer the preserve of the XC whippets. If anything, they are now probably the dominant wheel size across all market segments..

If you are starting from a blank sheet I wouldn't dismiss them out of hand (unless you are at the shorter end of things <5'5"ish).

Don't discount plus bikes we put 2.3 tyres on our Sonder Transmitter looks and rides great.

Any particular reason you are discounting everything 29er?

They are completely different machines to what they were 10 years ago and no longer the preserve of the XC whippets. If anything, they are now probably the dominant wheel size across all market segments..

If you are starting from a blank sheet I wouldn’t dismiss them out of hand (unless you are at the shorter end of things <5’5″ish).

+1

The last 10 years have gone something like this:

"29ers are slow handling barges that just roll over stuff" - says everyone who's not ridden one (or tired one with horrible frame geometry).

650b compromise arrives. Everything get's long and slack for "stability". Light bulb moment for the slow of thinking that they've just spent 5 years trying to do what they criticized 29ers for.

"Mullet bikes are better" - every manufacturer who's not yet invested in the tooling for a 29er swingarm in 2019.

"29ers are Gay" - Pinkbike comments forum 2010-forever because it's populated by 9 year olds.

"29ers are faster against the clock but feel slower" - the marketing departments of every bike brand with a race team on 29ers but still selling a range of 650b bikes.

You missed marin sanquentin.have a look at bird bikes too.they do a ht .mail order and highly regarded on here.think it was that a sonder is great value and a good bike on another thread.have a search.

Ah, forgot to mention the San Quentin. Did look at it but only comes with 1x11 gears. Yep I found Bird via threads on this site and the Zero AM made the list. Seen the Sonders too, I'll reply to a further-on post about those.

Don’t discount plus bikes

I'd ruled out plus tyres due to some amount of tarmac on the rides I do, and the rolling resistance for that. One of my most frequented forests has a tarmac road for most of the climb back to the top, and many of my countryside rides have road sections joining up the off-road bits. Plus bikes have wider rims (e.g. 35mm, or 38mm on the Sonder) which aren't optimal for fitting narrower tyres, although now I see some people have found models that work. And it probably affects the geometry such as BB height.

Any particular reason you are discounting everything 29er?

29ers I'm more open to and I should probably try one (in the right size, if at all possible) before deciding. I've read/watched some comparisons and heard all the arguments, not convinced so far. I'm 5'8" and light build so should be ok, might feel a big jump from my 26er though. I want a bike to enjoy, throw about a little, do some fun stuff manuals/wheelies etc.

“29ers are slow handling barges that just roll over stuff” – says everyone who’s not ridden one (or tired one with horrible frame geometry).

Interesting point, when I looked at them briefly I did notice some big differences in geometry, head angles in particular. Many at 65-66deg, but Boardman/Canyon/Giant/Merida are up at 68-69deg. Also read 29ers don't need to be as slack, but those particular examples are out.

Interesting point, when I looked at them briefly I did notice some big differences in geometry, head angles in particular. Many at 65-66deg, but Boardman/Canyon/Giant/Merida are up at 68-69deg. Also read 29ers don’t need to be as slack, but those particular examples are out.

It's not so much the head angle as the trail figure that matters. If you keep the same fork and wheel and adjust the head angle the tail changes which is what makes the steering feel more or less stable (you also change the wheelbase which affects stability too).

As 29ers are inherently longer and more stable there's a school of thought among designers that they don't need to be quite so slack, and to an extent they're right so where they have otherwise identical bikes the 29ers are often a degree steeper.

But now you can also get forks with different offsets which muddies the waters somewhat, you could build a long wheelbased bike with relatively quick steering if you wanted, just look at the Stooge Mk4, a rigid 29er with a 66deg head angle and 80mm offset forks!

Basically if a 29er handles badly, then really it's the designers fault, not the wheels.

Uhh, secondhand?

Your call, but you could have xtr and pikes or factory 34's instead of bargain basement SX that falls apart every time you change under load.

And you wouldn't be responsible for the ecological impact of making a new bike.

E.g.

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2771614/

I wouldn't do anything until you've had a shot on a 27.5 and a shot on a 29er. The 27.5 will feel like a 26 inch. You will get on the 29er and think 'Jesus this is quick'.

29ers can be easily chucked around as long as they are not too long a wheelbase.

29ers - I'm convinced. Will try one and a 27.5 out when that becomes possible, fortunately I'm not in a hurry. Quite a few more of them that suit (on paper) than 27.5s too:

• Bird Zero 29 (very slack)
• GT Zaskar LT (NX Eagle drivetrain)
• Nukeproof Scout 290 (35mm rims though)
• On-One Scandal (GX Eagle drivetrain, 4-piston brakes)
• Orbea Laufey H10 (Bomber Z2 fork, SLX drivetrain)
• Pinnacle Ramin X (Revelation fork, NX Eagle, 4-piston brakes, probably too much of an unknown (by Evans))
• Specialized Fuse 29 (fork is only a Recon RL though)
• Vitus Sentier 29 VR (Bomber Z2 fork, also I was wrong about the VR ones having 4-piston brakes)
• Whyte 629 v2 (fork is only a 120mm Recon RL though, 4-piston brakes)

27.5s shortened shortlist:

• Bird Zero AM (bit more bike than the others, but I can try one out for a day locally)
• Nukeproof Scout 275 Comp
• Ragley Marley 1.0
• Vitus Sentier VR

To be honest, I think you're massively overthinking things for someone who is just getting back into MTB.

I wouldn't discount things with wide rims just because there's a bit of tarmac. They might not be road bike quick, but what's the rush?

Everything on a MTB is a compromise in one way or another (I should know after the amount of bikes I've been through!).

Try to find reviews on how suitable the geometry will be for most of your riding and don't get too hung up on components as they'll be a massive upgrade compared to what you've already got regardless.

Don't fall into the trap of buying the best specced bike and finding out the frame doesn't suit you. In my experience longer travel doesn't always equal "better" on a hardtail too.

If you're not in a rush, how would you feel about building up your own? Start with your frame of choice and keep an eye out for decent new and used component bargains?

And the 11 vs 12 speed thing. I'd rather have SLX/XT 11 speed than SX/NX 12 speed (and you can still get wide range 11 speed cassettes).

Agree, bit of time on my hands with the current situation 😉

Totally will go for the bike that feels right, after the initial narrowing-down on paper which eliminated bikes with XC geometry, weird quirks, or 1x10 drivetrain. All those remaining are plenty good enough spec and around the right price, so those are smaller factors now. Also gone a little cold on Vitus and On-One for not being able to even sit on one. Been looking at reviews and measurements and located the local shops so pretty much ran out of things to do for now.

Not keen on building my own; although I could do it, I don't fancy all the research/searching/fiddling. Might not be a lot cheaper unless getting lucky with bargains or getting used parts, also there's the cost of tools.

I'll take another look at the ones with 35mm rims, and the spacing for 1x11 (gaps on 1x10 just looked too big).

I think you're gonna be limited by what's not sold out at that kind of price anyway.

I would be at the moment, but I'd much rather wait than be limited.

You might find with most bikes it's going to be the 2021 models you're looking at if you're waiting for 2020 models to come back into stock.

I think LBS for back up and service and fork and geometry are more important than 12 speed gears I have Sram GX 12 speed on my full sus and Shimano SLX 11 speed and I am favouring the SLX especially the fact that its my winter bike and over a year later its still going strong just a chain required. Both bikes are 29ers and I think this especially suits a hardtail unless you were riding very gnarly and tight trails most of the time in which case I would go for a 27.5

So its been six months and I’m interested to know what direction you have gone?

Things have escalated somewhat, well hugely really. I'm set on a full suspension 29er trail bike.

To repeat the quote I made from another thread in the opening post:

let me commend you on how quickly the budget has risen, the only way to do buy a new bike is to set a strict budget, forget it quickly, then buy something you like for far more than you though reasonable at the start of the process.

Due to not being able to travel and stay away as usual for other outdoor sports this year, I did a lot of riding. Realisations from that, plenty of time to look at fancy things while everything was out of stock, trying a few bikes, and a small knee injury scare (not bike related), convinced me an expensive-ish hardtail wasn't going to be the right bike.

So how much is your budget now?