Alternatives to a Boardman FS Pro....

[MichaelM]

I'm not trying to convince anyone to justify my own purchase, and if it's not the right bike for you, it's not the right bike.

Ha!

I don't actually have one! In fact, I don't have an mtb at the min - going in for surgery tomorrow and see how things pan out after that.

 

[MichaelM]

A couple of years back I was looking around for a F.S. frame.

I liked the idea of an Orange 5. I so wanted to like it, but actually hated it when I took one out for a test ride - it just sucked up all my speeed, momentum and energy.

The one I really wanted was a Titus Motolite, though at £1500 for the frame, it was stretching my budget.

Friend's wife was selling off her old Giant Trance so I tried that - maybe not as inspiring as the Motolite, but I paid £180 for it - absolute bargain.

The Orange had more Travel than the Trance -more isn't always especially if it's not needed (Cubist put it much better).

 

[VamP]

Which model are you trying to point me at with that link? It seems to take me to a generic portal page.

Aha! It was a Canyon Nerve XC in the sales, and they must have sold it

This is this year's model, still a total bargain.

Based on your OP I would have thought the Nerve XC would be the sweet spot, but if you're willing to trade some climbing ability and smooth top speed for downhill muscle then I guess the AM will be good too.

That Titus FTM looks nice

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Not going Giant btw. They make very nice bikes (and one seriously lovely road bike caught my eye) but seem to sell them from awful shops. I don't think I fit their target demographic or at least what their staff in Shoreham imagine is their target demographic. Such a joy being patronised by someone half your age. Hmmppffff!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Yep, and to continue the discussion.... less is more in terms of speed. Shorter travel, generally, with aggressive geometry means a tauter ride. It all depends on what you intend to ride it over. If you are on local trails and bridleways you're not going to be doing huge tabletops and chutes, and in reality not so much of the rocky stuff. A taut XC bike like the Titus X or the 100mm travel Spesh we linked to above, will be fast, and possibly furious. I ride my XC hardtail over some local trails back to back with the 140 bike. There's no doubt at all which is better for climbing, and the hardtail is every bit as efficient if not more so on smooth pedally stuff. Hit technical descents, or really rocky stuff though and I can just plug my way through them on the longer travel. Hit a rocky descent on the HT and it all gets lairy and nervous . A 120 mm bike may well fit the compromise gap between the two, but it won't give you the bottomless travel of a 150 or even 160. 100mm FS XC bikes tend to benefit from improved grip at the back wheel, but not the sort of squish a 15 stoner needs to go down a set of rock steps day in day out! Lighter wheel and tyre options will mean more pinchflats and rim damage so

I'd be tempted to say get a 120 rather than a 140 if only because the 140 can feel a bit wallowy on smooth stuff (although setting rear preload/sag and using propedal more selectively will mean you can tune to what you ride) You mention your weight, which, like me, means more travel will be better for comfort, but the compromise is more to lug on those day long epics. For that reason we can avoid the playbikes like IBIS and Yeti etc. Your riding simply doesn't need all that travel.

That said, the Canyon 150 bikes are light, so your epic long rides are back on the table. You can tune preload and travel to suit the terrain you ride on, and if necessary tighten it all up. I know some riders with RP2 XV shocks that never turn propedal off.... simply because it's more efficient on everything they ride, but then they never expect to hit big drops or jumps.


I've managed to argue myself round in a circle, and am edging towards the Canyon AM once again. Well tuned and in more or less standard trim it'll winch a big guy round pretty much everything, you won't necessarily be overbiked, but if you do decide to edge towards trail monkeyhood, you won't ever be underbiked either!

That's a really useful contribution Cubist.

 

[Cubist]

Just to confirm, I rode the Canyon build round the Marin Trail yesterday at Betws Y Coed. That trail is brutal for climbing, and I spent a lot of time in the granny ring (I run mine 2x10, 38/26 over 11-36) and set up with a wee bit less sag than recommended at the rear I found it climbed well enough. It doesn't go uphill like my Cube XC bike though!! The Marin Trail is also absolutely brutal with some very rocky descents, where the bike behaved impeccably, and despite what some reviewers regard as steep geometry 68.5 head angle ( the Cube is something like 71!) it felt absolutely planted on some really hairy descents.

If you don't want to do that sort of stuff, then Vamp may well be right, the XC version will be awesome.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The Canyon XC's get good reviews in the comics but there is more than one tale of woe out there about lousy after sales support and component failures especially on 8's and below. Can't find any reviews on the AM's. Buying sight unseen does bother me a bit (though I've done it before on sub £1000 bikes) and not having anyone to deal with face-to-face in the event of problems leaves me a little underwhelmed.

Trouble is I could write exactly the same simply swapping Boardman for Canyon. Singletrack review of the Boardman Team goes so far as to question if the Pro is worth the extra money given how good the Team is. And the Team is in C2W territory!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Am following up on a recent, local, secondhand, 'only ridden twice' immaculate condition Nerve XC 7.0

Watch this space.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Thanks one and all for your advice and contributions to this.

Secondhand, 'as new' December 2011 spec Nerve XC in anodised black being bought for £900. Deposit paid, collect early next week.

 

[Cubist]