specialized or trek

[gbspark]

hey guys,
just need some expert opinions, i 'm in the market for a new bike swapping from a ht to fs, have seen the brand new specialized stumpy elite, white for
£1650. . or have an offer on eb for 2005 model of trek xp9, not sure of price yet,
being 6ft and 17 and a half stone what would you guys say the best bike is,
your comments are greatly appreciated,
cheers
graham

 

[roadjunkie]

I ride a HT and recently tried my mates specialized FS. Not sure on the model, all I know it is cost him £2800 and it was amazing. Probably lighter than my FS, great for hopping logs and overall just a joy to ride. I wouldn't have any hesitation purchasing a specialized, in fact if I had £1650 to spend I would join you!

 

[jay]

Personally mate I'd avoid the Trek for a start (unless it's stupidly cheap!). The pre 08/09 Treks were well known for being ridiculously flexy - Plus it's a fairly old design by todays standard so things like bob, braking jack etc are all more noticeable than on current designs...

The Spesh is likely to be ok, I'm personally not a big fan having had an 07 model for 2 months before selling it on after being massively underwhelmed.

However given your size I'd be tempted to look at something a bit more robust, ie a "trail bike" rather than an "XC" bike (excuse the mtb media buzzwords, I'm sure you know what I'm getting at!) - I ride a Lapierre Zesty 714 which is an awesome bike and gets rave reviews, the Orange 5 fares equally as well and has its fair share of (usually extremely vocal!) fans. Both of these can be picked up for roughly £1700 if you shop around (Zesty 314 not 714).

Either way I'd suggest trying a few different makes and models to see what suits you most though.

Hope this helps!