Whyte T130 S v Norco Fluid 7.1 v Mondraker Vantage R

[SteCenturion]

First & foremost, apologies for my being a right Royal PITA.

I previously posted the Norco Charger & Fluid/Boardman Team Pro thread & have since discounted the Charger & the Boardman.

O.k here goes.

Both the Whyte & Norco are FS.
The *2015* Norco has good quality Fox forks & shock with 120 travel front & rear & an XT/SLX Shimano mix group.

The *2016* Whyte has arguably a better frame with 130mm travel F/R, RockShocks forks & rear shock & a 1x11 Sram group.

The Norco is/will be a completely different beast. Hard tail with a 140mm fork & budget groupset.

With the Norco I could go for this budget spec & upgrade in a couple of years time or get the RR frame & spec it up myself, although I would need a shop to build it.

Does anyone own any of these bikes or just have advice in general ?

I have been out of the Mtb game for nearly 20 years now & it will supplement my main road bike focus & give me a bit of 'something else'.

*budget dictates that 0 % finance is used or a slow self build from a frame*

Cheers.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I'd have the whyte..11 speed sram is superb and rock shox fork will be a better user freindly fork.
fox are a pain with constant service requirement.

whyte is a uk bike too so quick to fix if it goes snap..which it wont..but Norco is Canada..and they have a socialist govt now lol

mondraker? Can you ride one..or any of these bikes?? It will make the decision easier

 

[SteCenturion]

I can definitely go take a look at the Whyte, either at Leisure Lakes in Bury or Edinburgh Cycle Co-Operative in Manchester.

The Norco I could ride at Evans Trafford Centre branch but I suspect in all cases it will just be a car park test that won't tell me much other than it fits.

Not sure where I could look at a Mondraker @meta lon so I might have to take a leap of faith.

My gut instinct & roving eye say the Whyte is for me currently, however it is a lot of money, but then again should last me 10 years.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Even a car park test will tell you if its good or not @SteCenturion
when i gotcthe cube stereo from rutland cycles i tried several bikes that i thought looked cool ,but the were not for me after a quick ride.
the cube was a Iwant this now bike and its proving to be a very good choice.

so much better if you can have a go on a bike.

 

[Motozulu]

Haven't got the Whyte but a couple of riding buddies have - it's a great, do everything bike. No brainer - get it!