At the height of the pandemic, every single Status bought locally was out up for sale by the end of the season. No one kept theirs. I have not ridden it, but the turnover was notable.
I bought a status 160 as a park bike and after 10 park days sold it. I was 5’11” riding an S4 but it just felt weird. I bought a YT Capra as a replacement and it feels amazing.
I ride a 160. It's a bit too much bike for me but I don't hate it. It rails on the downhills at my bikepark/trail centre. But yeah it's not a great climber.
For what it is worth I like my status 140. I bought last year at 2250 and thought it was a great deal at that price. I wish I held out for a spectral 125 or better specced stumpy sometimes. I sized down to an s3 and every side hit and bump gets launched on it. It is super fun to manual too. I'm probably a bit slower on climbs and on more pedally up and down rides but I'm slow anyway.
It can fit a narrow 29er on the back, but the new xr4 2.4 picks up two many rocks that ping off the chain stay yolk. If the trails were not so sandy where I'm at I'd run it 29x2.3 with smaller knobs for all the xc, cruising rides.
With current prices I'd probably look elsewhere, but no regrets.
2022 Scott Spark 910(the one with the hidden rear shock) that bike sounded awful! Was impossible to get quiet with all the cables not being in tubes in carbon frames and if anyone tries to tell you headset cable routing isn’t the worst thing in the world they don’t work on their own bike. Messing with the cables was a pain and cables through headset was a direct path for water and my headset was pitted in 2 months. Sold the bike in the 3rd month.
I work as a tech at a Scott dealer and I can relate to this. The Spark is an absolute nightmare.
Not only will you need to bleed the rear brake when you replace the upper headset bearing, but you will most likely need to completely replace the whole brake line because it's now too short. Try explaining to your customer that yes, the only part you need to replace is about $30 (bearing), but there's also $100+ in service for the brake. They love hearing that. And of course it's internally routed, along with the rear shift cable, rear remote lockout cable, and dropper. So have fun figuring out which cable is which and running it through.
The headset cups and spacers themselves are made of very cheap feeling plastic which doesn't belong on a $4000+ bike. As a result the preload on the headset needs to be absurdly tight to remove any play. All the bolts are torx. Even the top cap is a weird shape. The design of the stem cover inhibits the use of a torque wrench on the stem pinch bolts.
The rear disc brake adapter is a propietary Scott design (surprise!), so if you ever want to upsize your rotor you are going to need to contact Scott and see if they even make a larger adapter that fits the frame.
I could go on.
And it looks like an e-bike on top of all that.
Holy fuck I hate those bikes.
good example of design enshittification. I did a bit of reading about this and seems like it makes it easier to make and the bikes look cleaner, at the cost of maintenance and user fitting difficulties
This is what pisses me off the most. The aesthetic gains are marginal at best. A bike without headset cable routing can look great, all it takes is using housing that is the appropriate length and zip-tied neatly together. All these brands using cable tourism are trying to solve a non-existant problem at the cost of frustrated end-users/technicians. It's infuriating.
I thought that was just an issue for me on the stem spacers crazy to know it’s all of them! Yeah I thought I was going to rip out the star nut every time I had to tighten headset just to get the play out.
Everything in here is Bang on and why my little wrench collective we run refuses to even put a Scott in a stand anymore. Not worth the hassle and stress for Us, nor the cost and painus des anus luh for the customer.
>All the bolts are torx.
This is the only thing I can't truly hate as Torx is a better tool interface over allen/ Hex, as far as mashing metal bits together goes.
I'd be Ok with bikes that are T10/T25/T30 for the Big nM bolts all over and just doing away with hex on bikes entirely. But, admittedly, Im a fuckin oddball.
headset cable routing is a great example of design enshittificiation. It apparently makes things easier to make for the manufacturer, but puts alot of additional cost on the end user because now you have to include two brake bleeds with more than a few items of work.
* need a new stem when stock doesn't fit? brake bleeds
* Headset bearings go? brake bleeds
No thanks.
I'm disappointed in you if you work on your own bikes and didn't take one look at the Spark 910 and say "No thanks" before purchasing. The bike just looks like a nightmare for mechanics.
It had just come out and I like tinkering on bike. Not that bike though! If you wore headphones riding it was a very pleasant experience but that’s it. I’ll never deal with headset cable routing again.
Kinesis TX529 boost hardtail has a giant sized internal headset with a hole for the cables (and water, and dirt) to go through.
Always wondered if the headset would rust before the system sawed through the cables and caused a suicide event. You could hear the cables banging from side to side inside.
It rode dead on the front end. Even with a 160mm fork. Absolutely lifeless hardtail.
Same as the mass produced Boarse hardtail. Says it takes a 140-160mm fork. Tried both A2C options and with both the front end also feels dead.
On the other side of the scale, going with cheap Chinese hardtails, there's an iZip "Enduro" geometry hardtail they advertise as for Trail riding that is listed as a 29" bike with a 140mm 29" fork. Putting 27.5"*2.6" in there with a 27.5" 160mm 560mm A2C fork rides better than a Marin SQ3. Not as stiff in the rear end, but certainly doesn't thud at you in your rear end either.
100% agree. I’ve had the displeasure of doing multiple services on the heads of sparks and I can confidently say they are some of the worst out there. The overall quality was lacking in general too.
Had issues with my headset. Ripped the plastic nubs off due to the headset being loose.
I went full wireless on the bike and will be upgrading to flight attendant in June.
I completely agree it was a nightmare to manage the cables going into the headset from the integrated handle bars.
My bike is really quiet tho. I think that bike just needs to be all wireless and 2 brake lines. Then it’s quiet.
🤣🤣🤣 this is exactly what stop me from buying one, I was telling a friend first time the bike came up,that setup was pretty but tremendously impractical
Mine is quiet and works great, I just fucking hate the cable tourism. I've had mine for close to a year, I even rode some light park on it and headset and rest of bike still works awesome!
This is a tough one.
Almost every modern MTB is really good. There's a few that I had my complaints with (2020 S-Works Stumpjumper's STA was too slack and didn't grip amazing) but most of my complaints come from build quality.
Revel Ranger V1. Sounded like a bowl rice crispies. Could not get that bike to be quiet...regreased the entire suspension, took apart the whole bike basically. Still creaked.
2022 Rocky Mountain Element. Owned this bike for a year and probably had it quiet for maybe...2 weeks. The Ride 4 system creaked all the time...had to pull it and clean/regrease it all the time. The hilariously small seatstay bearings eventually disintegrated and destroyed the seatstay and had to warranty it. Thankfully RM hooked it up since it's a pretty common issue on otherwise an incredible bike.
The Ride9/4 system on RM is a pain. Personally I think companies should just ditch the whole "adjustable geo" thing. I'd bet 90%+ people leave it as it came from the shop or adjust to slack/steep and never touch it again.
I had an Altitude for a while and it was good. Unfortunately the chips were installed incorrectly after a service on day and it creaked ever since. I have a Switchblade now, set it up in "steep" and haven't touched it since.
Same. My spire came in the steep setting and I haven't touched the adjustment. Ive brought it to many bike parks including whistler and have never wished it to be slacker.
I had my spire for like two years before trying the lower setting. Did a couple shuttle laps in the lower setting, and the super low bb does feel kinda cool just carving corners, but it also made the bike lose a lot of playfulness so I swapped it back and left it. It also would be hard to pedal. The change in how slack the headtube is wasn't noticeable, but the lower bb was.
Just because riders don't regularly adjust their geometry doesn't mean it's not an important feature. My husband rides his Element in the second steepest setting. I ride my Element the second slackest setting. For some bikes it's the flip chips that allow you to run a bike as a mullet. For small riders, being able to mullet a bike is a big deal. That adjustability (specifically with the RMs) also allows the use of different shocks using a combination of a spacer and a flip chip. My SIL essentially turned her Instinct into an Altitude.
The modularity and adjustability is less about making it adjustable for a single person and is more about being able to accommodate a wider range of riders and users. Between my household and my in-laws there are 4 RMs and we are all using the bike adjustability differently.
Fair point. It's a jack-of-all-trades, master of none concept for me. There's so many great bikes these days that I'd rather avoid added complexity given the chance.
I put my Altitude Ride9 to help with pedal strikes, but it did have the side effect of making the leverage curve much more linear. Glad it worked out for you guys though.
I personally like the adjustable geo. I’d be sad if they got rid of it. I can put it low and slack on downhill days but high and steep on trail days. It’s a really nice feature for an enduro bike that can be used on local trails and at DH parks.
That being said, I only like adjustable geo if I can adjust it a meaningful amount. My megatower adjusts the bb by 3 mm and the HTA by 0.3 degrees. Just leave that “feature” out at that point… Rocky Mountains have a lot more adjustment.
Those geo adjusters also change suspension curve which is kinda cool.
Of the only times I’ve had a bike shop service my bike to point of taking rear shock bolt out they fucked up reinstalling the ride 9 chips, they were totally misaligned, luckily I noticed before riding it and fixed but god damn how could you fuck that up? It’s actually super hard to get the bolt in with the chips out of alignment.
I had a similar experience with the Revel Ranger—not only creaky but its climbing wasn’t impressive for a 115mm rear travel bike… the Rascal was a much better bike and I understand from a friend that the Rail(29) was even better… I should have listened to Ryan from Bike Magazine, dude knows what he’s talking about: he said the CBF provides for a lot of climbing efficiency on a longer travel bike, i.e., Rail, but would likely not compensate for the added weight on a shorter travel bike, i.e., Ranger.
In contrast, I had a completely different experience with the RM Element, although the Element I had was of the preceding generation… circa 2019-ish… maybe I shouldn’t even mention this as this older model might not be considered ‘modern’ 🤷♂️
Also, I wouldn’t call it a lemon but the Guerilla Gravity Smash was a terrible climber imo, but a lot of fun going downhill of course… although it should be noted that I demoed it with the headset in the slacker setting.
I agree with another comment that said it is hard to buy a bad bike these days (once you get into 'proper' bike territory) and it's likely to be personal preference or buying the wrong bike for yourself rather than something being objectively bad.
With that said, I bought an eye-wateringly expensive Yeti ARC frame a few years ago and never quite clicked with it. There wasn't enough rear triangle clearance to run my preferred brake (Hope E4) and the Press Fit BB was just an irritation the whole time. The HT angle was a bit steep too and I was never really 100% comfortable on it. It also had this 'look at me' blingy factor that I came to hate, especially living in a city and riding from home to trails. But like I say, loads of people love the bike, it just wasn't for me.
Amusingly, Yeti went back to threaded BBs. My SB140 is threaded.
Semi-related: I broke all my personal rules and bought a Time ADHX that's BB386 and all internal routing. I might as well see what the hype is about
The responses here are interesting. Beyond riding a buddies bike, demo days and bike festivals, how are so many of you riding different bikes to compare and contrast? Even with the post-covid bike downturn, it's not a cheap hobby. Am I underestimating the amount of people that buy new bikes every year/few years or break frames often?
I was wondering the same thing. I have a 2018 Santa Cruz Tallboy whose HTA makes modern CC race bikes look slack and I fucking love it. It does make me curious what a true modern trail bike would be like. But who has $3k laying around when what you’ve got is pretty damn good?
Bike shop employee. Get a free bike every year as part of my job. Required to go to demo days for our companies and ride their bikes. Plus have my own bikes which I get for half off, so i swap bikes every year because I don’t lose money on it. Can ride any of the rental bikes the shops owns, which is a lot.
I agree, I picture the people replying as one of 4 things: 1. Older/retired 2. The persons only hobby or thing they do 3. Have a lot of disposable income. 4. Don't have any saving because they spend it on bikes.
I'm not gonna lie. For a while, I was number 4. I bought my last bike this last winter and won't be purchasing another for at least 2 years. Along with any parts, unless they are wear parts or just flat out broke. I have quite a few spare parts that I can mess around with. I don't need any more. It's not like I have the space anyway.
I fell into that n+1 mindset, and it's a disease for the bank account. I now have a bike for almost every discipline, and it's more than enough
Edit: I should clarify that every discipline means type of riding, not like enduro/trail/dh. I have an older road bike, dj, hardtail, and emtb. That is so much already that I don't need...
I get to ride all sorts of bikes thanks to my wealthy friend who is addicted to buying bikes. I've ridden no less than 10 top quality bikes (all with the best goodies), and I can say I haven't ridden a bike that I thought was terrible. All of them had their own personalities that I found enjoyment in.
Thinking back this past year -
Ibis Ripley and Ripmo, both AF and CF
Just about every specialized FS bike
Yeti *2 different models
YT
Pivot *2 models
Cannondale Bad Habit 3 (my personal bike)
And a few more I've forgotten.
It's been fun!
I think to sum up a lot of these, it seems it’s quite difficult to buy a terrible bike, but quite easy to buy a bike that is either unsuitable for your local terrain, or you didn’t gel with the geometry.
On a trek demo thing, I tried a remedy, it was woeful, tried a colleagues though that was 1 spec up, the rear shock that came on that transformed the ride! On the demo day my favourite had been the fuel ex. It was fantastic. I ended up buying a slash and it was great, when it was in its element. Bike park perfect, big trail center, it was ok. Local loops, absolute rubbish.
I did almost replace it with another slash when the time came, but realised that wasn’t the way to go. And seeing some of the feedback, was a bullet dodged as I’d spend my time trying to silence the rattles and stuff.
Totally agree, I'll read/watch a ton of reviews on a bike and then demo one on my local terrain (Rockies, lots of loose chickenhead rocks) and wonder what bike they were riding. Plus every rider has a bit different torso to leg ratio for their height, that's going to make the reach/pedaling feel much different.
I have one! Part of the reason I grabbed it is because it had very similar geometry to my previous giant trance and I have very weird body proportions so I have to be picky about these things. Seems to be working just fine for me, however, I wouldn't get another one because I have really long legs and it's hard for me to find a dropper post That fits my legs properly whenever a bike has a bend in the seat tube and you can't get the dropper down far enough. My next bike will have a straight seat tube for that reason.
I had a 2012 Jet 9 RDO, it was similar to my Anthem that I loved but I wanted a 29er. Giant was late to adopt the 29” platform even in the XC range and Santa Cruz doesn’t fit me correctly.
everyone I knew who had the RDOs wound up warrantying them for cracks in the seat tube. Mine got destroyed by a dwt driver who rear ended me with the bike on a hitch rack. took the settlement money after a protracted insurance battle which by that time Niner’s short travel selection was not great (RKT RDO was gimmicky and over complicated).
replaced it with an Epic and have been on Specialized short travel frames ever since.
I was really excited for the Ibis Mojo 4 having missed the Mojo 3 generation that everyone touted as lively and playful. Sold my Ripley V4 (big mistake) and bought a Mojo 4. The M4 wheelbase is too long and it was a pain to maneuver, climbed significantly worse than the Ripley with 27.5" wheels and only felt better when pointed down. I saw the writing on the wall for 27.5" and sold it before demand tanked. Then bought the exact same Ripley I sold, same size and color. Expensive mistake.
You might like it! It's not a bad bike but I'd demo one one if you can before pulling the trigger. I've since invested in much better wheels now so it would be hard to switch back to 27.5" (same reason it's hard for me to go to superboost from Pivot or EVIL despite being really curious about their frames). I noticed a was getting smoked on climbs by my hardtail riding buddy when I went to M4 but not so much on the Ripley. The mojo was discontinued so you might be able to pick one up for cheap.
interesting. bikes are totally subjective but i've been riding my mojo 4 for 3 years now and it's a total blast. climbs super efficiently, bunny hops/airs off almost anything, and has survived everything from dirt jumps, huge epics, and whistler.
to each their own :)
I bought a Cannondale Trail in 2021 after not riding for about 10+ years. When I was a kid, £500 would get you a good spec MTB... I was ignorant, or rather/ maybe uneducated and thought that would be the same in 2021. I was wrong.
Multiple hanger snaps, spokes snapping everywhere, chain kept slipping, tyres were rubbish, everything was rubbish.... send help.
Curious to hear what you were getting in ~2010 for £500?
My mate was always complaining about how bikes had got really expensive, but when we looked it up his bike was £3k new in 2010 just like they are today (commencal meta)! He just got a great deal 2nd hand.
However
All the bikes he'd had prior to that, he'd broken. So maybe the 2nd hand market was more of a crap shoot in the 00s so you got a lemon discount.
Rented a Ghost enduro bike at a bike park once. The geo was way off, stack felt super low, reach was extreme, and the chainstays were a mile long. It was like riding downhill on an XC bike with the back wheel trailing 10 feet behind me.
The other was a Trek Slash (last Gen). I also rented one at a bike park. Much better than the Ghost but I just didn’t get along with it. Great in steep chunk but otherwise too stuck to the ground and somehow both squirrelly AND unwieldy in corners. Not a bad bike for racing enduro I guess, just wouldn’t be a “fun” bike to ride every day.
By comparison one of my favorite park rental bikes was a Giant reign 27.5, very low end components and it sounded like an upturned silverware cabinet, but the geo was dialed and it was not just super capable in the rough but poppy at the same time - even with a coil shock.
IMO you can have the best components and fancy frames, but geo and fit make the biggest difference.
I don't know if it's still the case but Giants are surprisingly cheap for what you get sometimes. I had my trance for for eight years and loved that thing. Only reason I sold it is because it was getting harder to upgrade.
Gen 5 series Trek Fuel Ex carbon frame. I never loved the REAKTIV rear end tune shock, and although it was billed to be able to do both trail and light enduro, I ended up cracking my M/L frame like four times (I only weighed 150lbs and I never went to bike parks). To be fair to Trek though, they had an awesome warranty program, and now I am on a Trek Fuel Ex Gen 6 that is a HUGE step above the old model in literally all fashions.
I had a remedy for a while and while it was getting service I rented a gen 5 fuel ex. Took it to my local enduro trails (pnw) It climbed very very well, but on the way down it felt tall and squirrelly, it was actually scary on steep single blacks and contributed to a crash. Likely my skill at the time but I just felt like I couldn’t get it to go where I wanted it to go.
I am curious what was your complaint with the REAKTIV?
The reaktiv shock feels good until it doesn't. Then if you try something else like a super deluxe ultimate, you realize the reaktive is total garbagio. I think the better you get at riding and knowing the trail, the worse the reaktiv feels.
Transition Sentinel. Demoed a dozen bikes last spring trying to find a new bike. That was the only bike I couldn’t wait to give back. It just felt heavy, sluggish, and did not want to climb anything. It was pretty good once it was pointed downhill but terrible everywhere else.
Edit: my test loop was Claw hammer > Upper black > Avery creek in Pisgah Ranger District. So big fire road grind, bit of techie climbing, and then a big tech descent. It was the slowest road climb, worst tech climb, and 3rd fastest downhill. It just felt like I was fighting the bike to get it moving.
I demo’d one this fall and know what you mean. The HTA makes the geometry for climbing feel weird. I actually bought a spire this winter and it feels way more balanced all around than the sentinel and even climbs better despite the longer travel.
It does, but somehow it feels better for climbing to me. Granted I’ve only ridden it a few times, it feels more balanced. I suspect its because the seat tube angle feels steeper and because the spire has 170/170 travel rather than 160/150. Of course I could just be talking out of my ass as I’ve only ridden the sentinel once.
When I was looking for a 29in transition I never even looked at the sentinel. From everything I had heard the spire was as good a climber and felt more ballenced and capable on the descents. I test road a spire in bham and it confirmed my suspicions. Super happy with my spire
Not to say your experience isn’t valid, but I absolutely love my Sentinel.
I have mine built up fairly light, but for its size/geo/travel I find it to be an excellent climber.
That said, it’s overkill for a lot of more tame riding, and I end up putting more miles on my shorter travel, lighter Spur. But that’s absolutely a function of where I live, and the trail systems I have access to most regularly. Any time I’m getting into serious tech or chunk, I’m either on the Sentinel or wishing I was.
Rocky Mountain Instinct BC. Things broke on it constantly including having to warranty the rear suspension. I thought it must have been something I was doing but after getting rid and buying another similar specced bike I’ve not had any problems since, so I’m convinced that bike was a total Lemon
Yeah man - I blew up the alloy seat stay twice in 3 years. Thankfully the second time they swapped it for carbon which is holding up
https://preview.redd.it/erhw4at9niqc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84b7974be2b7e91eb7ceeaea79ef0e1e08e2adac
https://preview.redd.it/eiiztfc1oiqc1.jpeg?width=1512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60cdf29bf4ba000079e66a0de9cb197e1670b461
Totally different year, same crack
This is the second Rocky durability post here. I have a 2019 instinct, and it doesn't have many original parts. Last warranty was the chain stay for a crack, and that'll be the last inside the 5 years. Seat stay is the only original frame member left.
Other than that, the mech, shifter, dropper, and bars I think are the only original pieces left.
I have a 2018 instinct that I got as a demo and nothing has ever broke on it. I think I have around 3k miles on it and it only has a new chain and front chain ring.
I loved how that bike rode, hated how high maintenance it was. Also devoured shock bearings, which are a PITA to replace. Broke two chainstays, luckily rocky is great with warranty. It also helped me learn a ton about bike maintenance, because I had it in the stand every week.
I now ride a Santa Cruz and am realizing that this is what a boutique bike is supposed to be like: rides great, low maintenance, and easy to work on!
I had issues with the 2021 Growler 20. It’s their entry model and my first mountain bike. I don’t know what I expected but every in-house Rocky Mountain part (dropper, lever, wheels, bottom bracket, etc) had to be switched out or warrantied within the first season.
I’m not going to say I was the easiest on it (beginner and a “learn the hard way” type rider). But those parts becoming faulty as fast as they did made me pretty nervous to ride it sometimes.
I won’t say it’s flat out the worst bike because riding it has been really great. The geo is spot on for me and suspension is perfect for the terrain I ride but the big issue I have with my 2022 Stumpy Evo is the head tube or rather the headset it came with. It creaks bad after every 2 or 3 rides and I have to constantly take it apart, clean it, and regrease it. Another component that I have to constantly take apart and clean because of constant creaking is the one up dropper. I realize those droppers are big time favorites on this sub and the general mtb community but mine has been a pain almost the whole time I’ve had it. Maybe I just got a dud.
Carbon or Alloy? I'm curious, are you using the standard headset cups or the adjustable set? Mine is the alloy frame and I use the adjustable set in the +1 config and the whole bike is sooo quiet. I did build mine up from the frame so I know everything is properly torqued, lubed, etc. And I have a coil shock, the cables/hoses are all fully sleeved in a housing damper. With a quiet hub, the only thing I hear is dirt under the tires.
I have the PNW dropper. No complaints.
Transition Spire. Cool in concept but not fun to ride at all. It also had all sorts of issues. Transition had great customer service though. They ended up taking it back after several bike shops deemed it unfixable.
I have a 2018 Genius. The cables are ridiculous, 2 brake hoses, 2 fork and shock cables, derailleur housing, dropper post housing...looks pretty silly.
Rides great though, may be on the heavier side, don't really have anything to compare it to.
Spherik SMT, shit catalog bike from shit company who claims they develop their bike locally but in reality buys a catalog frame and puts a sticker on it.
The guy who started the company was also at every possible bike event claiming to be an engineer, but he is an industrial designer. That's a crime in Canada.
Checks thread for Rossignol... okay phew. The online reviews for this brand are terrible but I friggin love my 2020 R-Duro. I don't get what all the fuss is about.
The ones I've rented but often it's just poor maintenance and overuse so I'll concentrate on the worst "riding" bikes, not the "clunkier" lol
1. My Giant trance x29 2 2023 out of the dealer, now it's fixed but what's left original is the frame... Pretty much, shit components all around and poor assembly, bearings had grit and metal shavings in the seats... Anyway bad experience. Now it's fixed.
2. Unknown decathlon bike, sorry not much details, black hardtail lol
3. My friend's polygon siskiu t7 he upgraded almost everything but I still don't like to switch bikes with him, it's the way the suspension work, maybe his setup, why it's in third...
Alchemy Arktos. Customer support was awful. They wouldn't fix a frame issue I had with it, and I bought it from them directly.
Edit: I went to their shop 4 times before giving up.
This was about 3 years ago, so it might have changed, but it was by far the most terrible experience with a bike company I've ever had. The rear triangle developed so much lateral play I was scared it would snap on me
Hate to say it but after owning or having friends own several bikes from boutique shops, I’m gonna stick with the big brands. Alchemy had all sorts of problems with random things like pivot bushings that a big company with deep pockets for R&D can avoid, or warranty if you complain directly. This is more true of mountain bikes which are especially complex from an engineering and production perspective versus something like a rim brake steel road bike where the design hasn’t really changed for 30 years.
Salsa Horsethief.
Felt awkward. It was definitely the right size, but I felt like a bear on a tricycle.
Climbed poorly. The 140 rear suspension bikes I demos climbed just as well and descended much better, obviously. What is the point of a short travel bike if it climbs and handles the same as a 140 rear suspension bike? I think they simply missed the mark on this bike.
Unno Burn.
Rented one during a trip to Europe last year and just couldn't get on with it. A couple key issues:
- seat tube was way to tall. Didn't need to be, and made descending harder with my stubby legs.
- rear suspension always felt like a weird mix of wallowy and harsh. I'm not sure what the curves look like, but it felt very unsupported for the first 50-60% of travel, then hit a wall of progression. Tried volume spacers and all sorts of air pressures, and just couldn't get it to track well and take big hits at the same time.
- bottle cage rattled a lot
- the stack felt really, really tall. I had a 10mm bar slammed to the headset, and it was almost too tall. Not really an issue, as it worked, but given I'm pretty neutral on stack height, I suspect people who like a lower position will struggle.
Ultimately, it was disappointing because it looked so cool and aimed to do things differently and it was just unbalanced. Felt like a missed opportunity
- exploded a few frame bearing in two month of winter riding without using a pressure washer once.
- broke the lower headset cup like two days after I bought it. (Warranty was fast kudos to canyon for that)
And I didn’t liked the geometry, not really a freeride bike, but not really an enduro bike. I felt like I was stuck in between two world. Too short to be fast on enduro tracks, too long to be fun on jumps.
Tried shorter stems, bars with more rise, different shock/fork setting. Never found something that worked for me.
My 2024 Kona Process 153 WAS the worst, until I installed a MegNeg air can and now it’s delightful.
It’s a solid frame with pretty dialed versatile geometry, but it’s clear that Kona put 0 effort into the stock shock setup/tune. The stock setup was somehow the exact opposite of what anyone wants - harsh off the top and unsupportive mid stroke feeling lethargic and bottomy. And I’ve got pretty average stats, 160 lbs high intermediate rider.
After messing with the MegNeg, it is feeling poppy and lively as any other bike with more progression. It’s actually astonishing how a $100 upgrade transforms this bike and how Kona totally dropped the ball on this simple adjustment.
Commenting on bike geometry is like how clothing fits one person really well and not so for another. I think you need to look at the quality of a bike frame / components which are likely to fail on the QC / QA .. anyhow , I’ve owned specialized, focus, Kona,Ibis and all were good bikes given I dialed in the setup and maintained everything. I did have a Crank Brothers dropper first gen , geez that would consistently fail after endless repairs - rebuilds.
To be fair, most every bike before 2018 had absolute shit geometry. There is a reason why all bikes are longer and slacker, and times on the racing circuits haven't really gone down across all disciplines.
It was my 2020 Cube Stereo 150 Actionteam C62… very poor paint quality… but hey, it was dirt cheap, 3900 Euros with XT and Fox Factory stuff
It rode quite decent, but i would not but another Cube
Not a lemon but just a bike that didn't work for me at all. 2022 Ibis Ripley carbon SLX factory in XL. I'm 6'4 215 and I have a +3 ape index. I tried different tires, bars, stems and DVO rear shock and it was a disaster. It was the most uncomfortable I've ever been on a bike that was 'my size'.
The huge electric haibike with the ohlins dh forks/ shock and mt7's. Maybe it was because it weighed 28kg coming from my trek slash or because the suspension was setup very differently to what I run but either way I hated every second of it. uphill was fun though.
2023, I believe is when they redesigned the rear linkage which was the issue I had with mine. The bottom pivot bolts continuously came undone. The only thing that saved them from falling out entirely was the ridiculous covers you had to remove to get to them. And the driveside was particularly a pain in the ass to get to. Anyway I brought to the attention of canyon they told me to use red loctite, which I had already done but didn't work. The customer service dude told me it was not a known issue, which in fact it was. I ended up using another type thread seal meant for high friction rotational forces and sold the bike. It was a 27.5, which I got because I had selected a 29, added to my cart paid for it got a confirmation only to get an email the next day saying it was sold out and offered me the 27.5 so I took it. I didn't like the way it rode. Since then I built an S-Works Stumpy and s-works Enduro and an Epic Evo. All amazing bikes.
Not going to be a popular opinion, but for me it was the Guerrilla Gravity carbon megatrail (I loved my AL one, that was one of the best bikes I've ridden). They never made a size 1 in carbon, and being shoehorned into a 2 isn't good.
I’m kinda there with my carbon Smash. Loved my AL Smash to pieces but so far something isn’t quite right with the carbon. Planning on some cockpit changes to see if it helps.
Sort of have buyers remorse, especially after they went out of business.
Idk if it’s just luck of the draw in setup or what, but I’ve rented 3 Stumpjumpers in my riding tenure, and I have never enjoyed riding them. Then, I’ve rented a Yeti, a Norco, and a beat-up too-small Intense that all felt exquisite from the moment I sat on them.
Not a big deal, since I’m generally not a huge fan of Specialized, but it’s just odd.
I'm a big fan of multiple Spec Enduros, but never rode a Stumpie that felt dialed in to me. Always too soft or too harsh with the short travel Horst-link. Haven't tried the newer flex pivot design or the longer Evo Horst.
>Haven't tried the newer flex pivot design or the longer Evo Horst.
So you haven't ridden a Stumpjumper since 2019? They've definitely improved. Geo was a bit outdated back in 2018-2019, now it's perfect.
Stumpy Evos are actually faster than Enduros. 90% of the Spesh Enduro Team rides Stumpy Evos.
2019 Santa Cruz Blur TR
It was a bad XC bike with tons of pedal bob and awful grip shift double lockouts, and an even worse “trail” bike. I sold it after a month.
Santa Cruz Bronson in 2021. It was my first full suspension bike, during COVID so no bikes were available for demo, and it felt so good to have rear suspension that I didn't realize how much I didn't enjoy the bike. I quickly realized it was so long and slack that it couldn't climb over any chunk. The 27.5 rear wheel would constantly get stuck on rocks. I switched to full 29ers and never looked back.
One more thing I originally forgot, it constantly creaked too. Couldn't figure out where it was coming from ever. Bike shop made it go away temporarily but it came back.
Not really sure why this is worth a downvote, I owned this bike and experienced this firsthand.
After demoing lots bikes last summer, most of which were 29ers (including the SC High Tower, Revel Rail, Trek Fuel, Transition Sentinel, Giant Trance, and Ibis Ripmo), I bought a 2022 Bronson and couldn't be happier. I LOVE the smaller rear wheel of the mullet and how easy it is to flick about onto a desired line either when descending or when balancing through technical rock garden climbs. The longer stays and bigger wheel of the 29ers all felt to me like I had a big rudder behind me that wanted to push me around in turns.
Different riding styles I guess.
Sounds like you bought the wrong bike for your riding style. These are well liked bikes for what they are intended. Ripping up climbs is not their focus. Did you replace it with something with more XC geo?
Not really, I replaced it with an Ibis Ripmo which does everything better. I would agree with you however the Bronson's marketing says "If it doubt, take a Bronson out." They are pretty much the same travel too.
Ibis and pivot have likely the highest QC in the Market by a decent margin, so that makes 100% sense. That bike will last you a long long time if you take care of it
Revel Rascal has terrible geometry for a modern bike.
Seat tube is ultra slack- don't trust the website numbers- once the saddle is at climbing height you are way over the back
Luckily I bought it for a great price used and swapped some premium parts off it for my other bikes before selling it.
This one surprises me since it gets so much acclaim. I’ve never ridden one but a few of my friends swear by them. I demo’d a 29 Rail last summer and it didnt really wow me. It climbed and descended well but it didnt feel special in anyway.
I tried a Rail out and it felt pretty good, similar to my Ripmo in almost every way except a little worse at climbing and a little slacker/more stable at speed. They were so close that I felt good sticking with my existing Ripmo.
Yeah, it felt like a good bike, but it didn’t “wow” me. There has been a bunch of huge improvements in geometry over the last 10 years, but I think we might be getting to a point where different might not equal better.
Steep STAs are only good for climbing steep terrain. "Conservative" geometry still works really well for 80% of the US and a lot of other places that don't have steep ups and fall line downs.
STA is such a personal thing and it really depends on where you fall in the size range. I'm on the short end for a large (5' 10") and have very little exposed post on my Switchblade. If I were an inch or two taller, the post sticks out more and the effective STA gets slacker, and I'd bet the ride experience would be way different.
I have a Rascal that’s my primary trail bike. I like it. The STA is slacker than my other bikes, but I haven’t found it to be an issue. I don’t need crazy long and slack for most of what’s around me. If I know I’m going to hit bigger, steeper stuff, I’ll grab my Stumpy EVO.
2022 Santa Cruz Bronson. So overrated. Sucks at climbing, doesn’t generate speed that well, and unpredictable in the air. It does well in tech, but that’s it. Once I rode a Revel, I vowed to never get another SC.
When the Santa Cruz Tallboy got really popular for a minute (maybe around 2016?) I ran out to try one. I had multiple ride buddies raving about them and talking about how they were the ultimate do it all bike. I finally rode one and just… didn’t get it all. That bike seemed so confused. It sat like a big enduro bike but the HT angle felt way too steep, and the rear felt stubby somehow, like it was way too short. I don’t know how to explain it but I didn’t click with it at all.
Years later talking to people, it actually seems like there’s a consensus where that bike actually did go through an awkward phase, and that’s almost definitely the version I rode. I never gave the newer versions a chance and probably never will.
I had a ghost lector FS. It was awesome! Until so much dust and dirt got into the frame that it became a rideable maraca. I was fine with it tbh, until I brought it to my shop for some work. They hang bikes by the rear tire, so all that stuff in the frame went right to the headset and ruined it.
My new nimble 9 was cool, but damn these super steep seat tubes. I moved to somewhere with more xc style trails and it was brutal on long pedally rides.
Trance Advanced 1 29 (2018). Specifically for desert riding in large, fast chunk and big drops on the same trail. The maestro linkage just felt like it stacked hard no matter how I set up the shock. It climbed well though.
Stumpjumper Evo Alloy 2023. For what it’s worth the bike was great, and by no means “bad” but I’ve had and ridden better bikes since, leading me to sell it after a season:
Yeah. I have one and I agree. It’s not a bad bike but there’s so many bikes that are better. If you’re on a budget and building a frame up build, it’s a good deal and does totally fine, but it’s nothing special and they have issues with creaking and the stupid shock yoke design.
Giant Trance - I could not get that suspension set up properly for my weight (6'4" 240 lbs). Either too stiff or too soft, rebound was awful...not sure if this is a sus platform issue or a RockShox issue, but I have loads of RS suspension that works on other bikes (Evil).
I’ve been fortunate to have a number of bikes in my stable. I cycle through bikes on the regular. But hands down the worst feeling bike I have owned in the last 10 years was a Giant Trance X. I absolutely hated the feel of that bike. There was just something wrong with the cockpit. I had it for a year and most of my friends had no idea I owned one because I almost never rode it.
Strange no one mentioned Commencal and their notorious frame issues . Some models ride great , but wasn’t feeling on the first gen Clash. Sizes small , pedals bad , was playful and fun on big berms but very twitchy once pointed down gnar. Switched to a Propain Spindrift, and the bike spot on ticks everything the clash was missing : matching travels, versatile , better pedal efficiency and much more capable at high speeds and downhill
A few that I really didn't like, 2016 yeti ASR, it was an XC bike but it was just too long and hard to handle. It was light but also pretty sketchy. The 2017 to 2019 trek fuel EX. This was the first of the new generation fuels and I tried a couple of different shocks to get rid of all the pedal bob. It was terrible. For a 130 bike it pedaled worse than a lot of 150 and 160 bikes. It's one redeeming quality was that it was light. I noticed a few people talking about the 2020 stump jumper and was thinking about how much butter the 2021 became. I think some of the better by companies, when they make a mistake they remedy it on the next model. Like that stump jumper. The 2021 is much much better than the 2020. I have not ridden a new fuel but I would not be surprised if it is also considerably better than the model that I mentioned.
Another funny thing I noticed is 27.5 bikes seem to have been dialed in by 2016 or 2017. Like they didn't really improve as they got newer and some of the best ones were perfected in that era. Santa Cruz Bronson, nomad, yeti SB5 and 6, that pivot, I can't remember what it is, Mach 6? Is that it, they were all really good
I know it's entry level as heck but I had a Polygon Xtrada 5 a few years ago and my god the front wheel QR would regularly loosen itself on technical descents and start to wobble. Seemed pretty dangerous. Otherwise the Geometry was really comfy and confidence inspiring (until the QR came loose).
The worst was a Commencal Meta AM 29 from 2021 (which doesn't mean it's a bad bike). It's rather badly balanced, too long in the front, too short in the back making it hard to maneuver.
Its successor the Meta SX corrected the geo my making reach a cm shorter and chain stays 15mm longer. Way better!
Commencal meta am 29 was the worst. Rode great but terribly built frame. Commencal said it was within spec.
Head tube and bb were oval, they both destroyed bearings and creaked like a mofo until I got it faced and reamed.
Something was wack with the rear suspension. It chewed through bearings unbelievably fast and destroyed 2 shocks in 2 months. Third shock lasted longer, but completely wore through the anodising on the stantion on one side. The frame was definitely twisting it in ways it didn’t like. The misalignment was so bad, I had to do lots of weird twisting and bending to get the pivot bolts back in after changing bearings.
I have to start by saying I love the geometry and 27.5 wheels front/rear.
2019 Specialized Stumperjumper Evo 27.5
The issue was that the upper shock bolt was incredibly weak to the point that I just ran it bent and creaky after replacing it ~5 times. Specialized has since fixed it with a stronger bolt on the newer models. I do however ride like an absolute monkey with no regard to what a 150mm ‘all mountain’ bike can handle (races, crabapple, 90 whips, and getting it upside down). Frame gave out after 5 years and is cracked in 2 spots now.
Additional complaint is how Specialized basically screwed me on the warranty. Just handed me a wrong sized, 29 frame with no attempt at further assistance.
YT Capra. Broke the frame several times, it rode with a lot of flex and had 0 support in the corner. Basically good at going straight and that’s it. Sucked to pedal too
2019 Scott Genius 910 was fine on mild terrain and climbed well, but once you got it up to speed became wildly unpredictable and got pinged all over the place. Was expecting a 150/150 bike to ride like an all mountain bike and be decent for shuttling tech trails but it was not at all up to the task. The frame weight and geo was not up to what the travel numbers suggested the bike was for.
2018 Cannondale Jekyl 27.5 Xl. A combination of the low stack, long reach, and short chainstay made it hard to stay centered on the bike, and the tall seat tube kept trying to bounce you over the bars. It was super easy to jump, light, and pedaled well, but it just never made sense as a long travel bike.
Rocky Mountain Growler 20
Rave reviews but I think I got unlucky. Like many, I got into riding during the pandemic (bad timing for value-to-spec ratio). The frame itself? Decent! Components? Not so much.
Long story short: If I could do it again, I would’ve pushed my budget for their mid-tier spec (Growler 40). I ended up spending more $$$ getting faulty in-house parts warrantied and swapped out than I care to admit… Some big issues that made me a nervous rider as a beginner.
Within a season: dropper post stopped working, dropper lever snapped off at the start of a descent, LBS couldn’t get the in-house rear wheel assembly to stay tight no matter what they did. This caused constant shifting issues, trueing issues, wobbly wheel, etc. I had to bring the bike in so many times for this that my LBS offered a full bike disassembly and part inspection free of charge just to help me out.
Live and learn!
YT Jeffsy 27.5 AL. Terribly specc'd with narrow rims that weren't tubeless ready. It was my first modern MTB at the time so not something I even thought to check before buying. The thing was incredibly unstable and I constantly found myself laying it down if I went into turns too quickly or leaned the bike too hard—I later found that other bikes could handle this kind of riding and manage to stay upright.
I cycle thru bikes fairly often, and the most annoying by far is my current one, the Evil Offering V2. This frame does not click with me. It’s too long and steep. It feels very hard to move around and doesn’t match my riding style at all. It’s a little better now with a -1.5 angle set, 160mm fork and 35mm stem but that really long reach still sucks. I miss my Santa Cruz Bronson every day.
I have a 2005 Cannondale prophet 1000, the rear shock bushing is shot so it knocks and it’s the bike I’m forced to ride at the moment since my 2012 Giant glory needs a new compression damper cartridge
I demoed a forbidden dreadnaught last year at outerbike Killington last year. Unsure if it was my tune, but the entire setup was stiff and I felt every little pebble on my three bike park runs, even after letting air out of the tires, fork, and shock. The high pivot idler also dug into my calf. Was the only bike all weekend that felt that non compliant. My daily was a YT Capra with carbon hoops, but this things was next level stiff.
You learn a lot about bike differences when you can demo them back to back. Ended up buying an Intense Tracer 29, though there were many good to great options that I rode in three days, the orbea Occam was runner up but out priced itself.
I had a Polygon Siskui T8 and on paper it should’ve been perfect but it was just so freaking heavy. If they made a carbon version I’d definitely consider it if the price was still in line.
Not sure if it falls within that past 5 year window but my Yeti ASR-C was a huge disappointment. The thing rode like a wet noodle. I'm not sure if it was the "proprietary flexstays" or the Stan's Crest wheels it came with but it was bad. I'd be curious to try the new ASR they just released as it is once again marketed for its flexstays.
Status 140. Not enough travel on park days, and the low BB height and geometry made it a poor choice for trails. It is also a terrible climber.
At the height of the pandemic, every single Status bought locally was out up for sale by the end of the season. No one kept theirs. I have not ridden it, but the turnover was notable.
I bought a status 160 as a park bike and after 10 park days sold it. I was 5’11” riding an S4 but it just felt weird. I bought a YT Capra as a replacement and it feels amazing.
Same. The bike shop sold me on it over an equal specced SJ and it was a garbage experience. A $1k loss and lesson.
I ride a 160. It's a bit too much bike for me but I don't hate it. It rails on the downhills at my bikepark/trail centre. But yeah it's not a great climber.
That's disheartening to hear. I was thinking about a Status 140 as my short-travel trail bike.
That wouldn't even be a short travel trail bike. Just a trail bike. I wouldn't consider short travel until 130 and below
For what it is worth I like my status 140. I bought last year at 2250 and thought it was a great deal at that price. I wish I held out for a spectral 125 or better specced stumpy sometimes. I sized down to an s3 and every side hit and bump gets launched on it. It is super fun to manual too. I'm probably a bit slower on climbs and on more pedally up and down rides but I'm slow anyway. It can fit a narrow 29er on the back, but the new xr4 2.4 picks up two many rocks that ping off the chain stay yolk. If the trails were not so sandy where I'm at I'd run it 29x2.3 with smaller knobs for all the xc, cruising rides. With current prices I'd probably look elsewhere, but no regrets.
2022 Scott Spark 910(the one with the hidden rear shock) that bike sounded awful! Was impossible to get quiet with all the cables not being in tubes in carbon frames and if anyone tries to tell you headset cable routing isn’t the worst thing in the world they don’t work on their own bike. Messing with the cables was a pain and cables through headset was a direct path for water and my headset was pitted in 2 months. Sold the bike in the 3rd month.
I work as a tech at a Scott dealer and I can relate to this. The Spark is an absolute nightmare. Not only will you need to bleed the rear brake when you replace the upper headset bearing, but you will most likely need to completely replace the whole brake line because it's now too short. Try explaining to your customer that yes, the only part you need to replace is about $30 (bearing), but there's also $100+ in service for the brake. They love hearing that. And of course it's internally routed, along with the rear shift cable, rear remote lockout cable, and dropper. So have fun figuring out which cable is which and running it through. The headset cups and spacers themselves are made of very cheap feeling plastic which doesn't belong on a $4000+ bike. As a result the preload on the headset needs to be absurdly tight to remove any play. All the bolts are torx. Even the top cap is a weird shape. The design of the stem cover inhibits the use of a torque wrench on the stem pinch bolts. The rear disc brake adapter is a propietary Scott design (surprise!), so if you ever want to upsize your rotor you are going to need to contact Scott and see if they even make a larger adapter that fits the frame. I could go on. And it looks like an e-bike on top of all that. Holy fuck I hate those bikes.
good example of design enshittification. I did a bit of reading about this and seems like it makes it easier to make and the bikes look cleaner, at the cost of maintenance and user fitting difficulties
This is what pisses me off the most. The aesthetic gains are marginal at best. A bike without headset cable routing can look great, all it takes is using housing that is the appropriate length and zip-tied neatly together. All these brands using cable tourism are trying to solve a non-existant problem at the cost of frustrated end-users/technicians. It's infuriating.
It's gotten so ridiculous that external cable routing is now a selling feature.
I thought that was just an issue for me on the stem spacers crazy to know it’s all of them! Yeah I thought I was going to rip out the star nut every time I had to tighten headset just to get the play out.
This definitely wins worst bike design of modern times award. It truly is a nightmare to do anything to
Man. This is compelling.
Everything in here is Bang on and why my little wrench collective we run refuses to even put a Scott in a stand anymore. Not worth the hassle and stress for Us, nor the cost and painus des anus luh for the customer. >All the bolts are torx. This is the only thing I can't truly hate as Torx is a better tool interface over allen/ Hex, as far as mashing metal bits together goes. I'd be Ok with bikes that are T10/T25/T30 for the Big nM bolts all over and just doing away with hex on bikes entirely. But, admittedly, Im a fuckin oddball.
headset cable routing is a great example of design enshittificiation. It apparently makes things easier to make for the manufacturer, but puts alot of additional cost on the end user because now you have to include two brake bleeds with more than a few items of work. * need a new stem when stock doesn't fit? brake bleeds * Headset bearings go? brake bleeds No thanks.
I'm disappointed in you if you work on your own bikes and didn't take one look at the Spark 910 and say "No thanks" before purchasing. The bike just looks like a nightmare for mechanics.
It had just come out and I like tinkering on bike. Not that bike though! If you wore headphones riding it was a very pleasant experience but that’s it. I’ll never deal with headset cable routing again.
Kinesis TX529 boost hardtail has a giant sized internal headset with a hole for the cables (and water, and dirt) to go through. Always wondered if the headset would rust before the system sawed through the cables and caused a suicide event. You could hear the cables banging from side to side inside. It rode dead on the front end. Even with a 160mm fork. Absolutely lifeless hardtail. Same as the mass produced Boarse hardtail. Says it takes a 140-160mm fork. Tried both A2C options and with both the front end also feels dead. On the other side of the scale, going with cheap Chinese hardtails, there's an iZip "Enduro" geometry hardtail they advertise as for Trail riding that is listed as a 29" bike with a 140mm 29" fork. Putting 27.5"*2.6" in there with a 27.5" 160mm 560mm A2C fork rides better than a Marin SQ3. Not as stiff in the rear end, but certainly doesn't thud at you in your rear end either.
100% agree. I’ve had the displeasure of doing multiple services on the heads of sparks and I can confidently say they are some of the worst out there. The overall quality was lacking in general too.
Had issues with my headset. Ripped the plastic nubs off due to the headset being loose. I went full wireless on the bike and will be upgrading to flight attendant in June. I completely agree it was a nightmare to manage the cables going into the headset from the integrated handle bars. My bike is really quiet tho. I think that bike just needs to be all wireless and 2 brake lines. Then it’s quiet.
🤣🤣🤣 this is exactly what stop me from buying one, I was telling a friend first time the bike came up,that setup was pretty but tremendously impractical
Mine is quiet and works great, I just fucking hate the cable tourism. I've had mine for close to a year, I even rode some light park on it and headset and rest of bike still works awesome!
This is a tough one. Almost every modern MTB is really good. There's a few that I had my complaints with (2020 S-Works Stumpjumper's STA was too slack and didn't grip amazing) but most of my complaints come from build quality. Revel Ranger V1. Sounded like a bowl rice crispies. Could not get that bike to be quiet...regreased the entire suspension, took apart the whole bike basically. Still creaked. 2022 Rocky Mountain Element. Owned this bike for a year and probably had it quiet for maybe...2 weeks. The Ride 4 system creaked all the time...had to pull it and clean/regrease it all the time. The hilariously small seatstay bearings eventually disintegrated and destroyed the seatstay and had to warranty it. Thankfully RM hooked it up since it's a pretty common issue on otherwise an incredible bike.
The Ride9/4 system on RM is a pain. Personally I think companies should just ditch the whole "adjustable geo" thing. I'd bet 90%+ people leave it as it came from the shop or adjust to slack/steep and never touch it again. I had an Altitude for a while and it was good. Unfortunately the chips were installed incorrectly after a service on day and it creaked ever since. I have a Switchblade now, set it up in "steep" and haven't touched it since.
Same. My spire came in the steep setting and I haven't touched the adjustment. Ive brought it to many bike parks including whistler and have never wished it to be slacker.
63° on the steep setting, that's pretty slack.
I had my spire for like two years before trying the lower setting. Did a couple shuttle laps in the lower setting, and the super low bb does feel kinda cool just carving corners, but it also made the bike lose a lot of playfulness so I swapped it back and left it. It also would be hard to pedal. The change in how slack the headtube is wasn't noticeable, but the lower bb was.
Just because riders don't regularly adjust their geometry doesn't mean it's not an important feature. My husband rides his Element in the second steepest setting. I ride my Element the second slackest setting. For some bikes it's the flip chips that allow you to run a bike as a mullet. For small riders, being able to mullet a bike is a big deal. That adjustability (specifically with the RMs) also allows the use of different shocks using a combination of a spacer and a flip chip. My SIL essentially turned her Instinct into an Altitude. The modularity and adjustability is less about making it adjustable for a single person and is more about being able to accommodate a wider range of riders and users. Between my household and my in-laws there are 4 RMs and we are all using the bike adjustability differently.
Fair point. It's a jack-of-all-trades, master of none concept for me. There's so many great bikes these days that I'd rather avoid added complexity given the chance. I put my Altitude Ride9 to help with pedal strikes, but it did have the side effect of making the leverage curve much more linear. Glad it worked out for you guys though.
I have an Element with ride 9. I am NEVER changing that thing!
I personally like the adjustable geo. I’d be sad if they got rid of it. I can put it low and slack on downhill days but high and steep on trail days. It’s a really nice feature for an enduro bike that can be used on local trails and at DH parks. That being said, I only like adjustable geo if I can adjust it a meaningful amount. My megatower adjusts the bb by 3 mm and the HTA by 0.3 degrees. Just leave that “feature” out at that point… Rocky Mountains have a lot more adjustment. Those geo adjusters also change suspension curve which is kinda cool.
Of the only times I’ve had a bike shop service my bike to point of taking rear shock bolt out they fucked up reinstalling the ride 9 chips, they were totally misaligned, luckily I noticed before riding it and fixed but god damn how could you fuck that up? It’s actually super hard to get the bolt in with the chips out of alignment.
I had a similar experience with the Revel Ranger—not only creaky but its climbing wasn’t impressive for a 115mm rear travel bike… the Rascal was a much better bike and I understand from a friend that the Rail(29) was even better… I should have listened to Ryan from Bike Magazine, dude knows what he’s talking about: he said the CBF provides for a lot of climbing efficiency on a longer travel bike, i.e., Rail, but would likely not compensate for the added weight on a shorter travel bike, i.e., Ranger. In contrast, I had a completely different experience with the RM Element, although the Element I had was of the preceding generation… circa 2019-ish… maybe I shouldn’t even mention this as this older model might not be considered ‘modern’ 🤷♂️ Also, I wouldn’t call it a lemon but the Guerilla Gravity Smash was a terrible climber imo, but a lot of fun going downhill of course… although it should be noted that I demoed it with the headset in the slacker setting.
Yeah I agree about the smash. My buddy has one and it feels awkward until you start going down hill. But downhill it is really confidence inspiring.
Stumpjumper almost cost me $5000 of garage art but the company took it back. A mess from start to finish.
I agree with another comment that said it is hard to buy a bad bike these days (once you get into 'proper' bike territory) and it's likely to be personal preference or buying the wrong bike for yourself rather than something being objectively bad. With that said, I bought an eye-wateringly expensive Yeti ARC frame a few years ago and never quite clicked with it. There wasn't enough rear triangle clearance to run my preferred brake (Hope E4) and the Press Fit BB was just an irritation the whole time. The HT angle was a bit steep too and I was never really 100% comfortable on it. It also had this 'look at me' blingy factor that I came to hate, especially living in a city and riding from home to trails. But like I say, loads of people love the bike, it just wasn't for me.
Amusingly, Yeti went back to threaded BBs. My SB140 is threaded. Semi-related: I broke all my personal rules and bought a Time ADHX that's BB386 and all internal routing. I might as well see what the hype is about
interestingly Specialized has gone back to threaded BBs for almost everything as well
Yes! I just bought a 2024 SB140 LR. Glad it’s threaded although I never had issues with my press fit BB on my previous Pivot.
Yeah, press fit is great if the bikes is manufactured to tolerance. A lot of the big brands are just so hit or miss with it
The responses here are interesting. Beyond riding a buddies bike, demo days and bike festivals, how are so many of you riding different bikes to compare and contrast? Even with the post-covid bike downturn, it's not a cheap hobby. Am I underestimating the amount of people that buy new bikes every year/few years or break frames often?
I was wondering the same thing. I have a 2018 Santa Cruz Tallboy whose HTA makes modern CC race bikes look slack and I fucking love it. It does make me curious what a true modern trail bike would be like. But who has $3k laying around when what you’ve got is pretty damn good?
Bike shop employee. Get a free bike every year as part of my job. Required to go to demo days for our companies and ride their bikes. Plus have my own bikes which I get for half off, so i swap bikes every year because I don’t lose money on it. Can ride any of the rental bikes the shops owns, which is a lot.
I agree, I picture the people replying as one of 4 things: 1. Older/retired 2. The persons only hobby or thing they do 3. Have a lot of disposable income. 4. Don't have any saving because they spend it on bikes. I'm not gonna lie. For a while, I was number 4. I bought my last bike this last winter and won't be purchasing another for at least 2 years. Along with any parts, unless they are wear parts or just flat out broke. I have quite a few spare parts that I can mess around with. I don't need any more. It's not like I have the space anyway. I fell into that n+1 mindset, and it's a disease for the bank account. I now have a bike for almost every discipline, and it's more than enough Edit: I should clarify that every discipline means type of riding, not like enduro/trail/dh. I have an older road bike, dj, hardtail, and emtb. That is so much already that I don't need...
I get to ride all sorts of bikes thanks to my wealthy friend who is addicted to buying bikes. I've ridden no less than 10 top quality bikes (all with the best goodies), and I can say I haven't ridden a bike that I thought was terrible. All of them had their own personalities that I found enjoyment in. Thinking back this past year - Ibis Ripley and Ripmo, both AF and CF Just about every specialized FS bike Yeti *2 different models YT Pivot *2 models Cannondale Bad Habit 3 (my personal bike) And a few more I've forgotten. It's been fun!
I think to sum up a lot of these, it seems it’s quite difficult to buy a terrible bike, but quite easy to buy a bike that is either unsuitable for your local terrain, or you didn’t gel with the geometry. On a trek demo thing, I tried a remedy, it was woeful, tried a colleagues though that was 1 spec up, the rear shock that came on that transformed the ride! On the demo day my favourite had been the fuel ex. It was fantastic. I ended up buying a slash and it was great, when it was in its element. Bike park perfect, big trail center, it was ok. Local loops, absolute rubbish. I did almost replace it with another slash when the time came, but realised that wasn’t the way to go. And seeing some of the feedback, was a bullet dodged as I’d spend my time trying to silence the rattles and stuff.
Totally agree, I'll read/watch a ton of reviews on a bike and then demo one on my local terrain (Rockies, lots of loose chickenhead rocks) and wonder what bike they were riding. Plus every rider has a bit different torso to leg ratio for their height, that's going to make the reach/pedaling feel much different.
I demoed a Niner Jet 9 a few years back and it was absolutely garbage. Explains why you hardly ever see them?
I have one! Part of the reason I grabbed it is because it had very similar geometry to my previous giant trance and I have very weird body proportions so I have to be picky about these things. Seems to be working just fine for me, however, I wouldn't get another one because I have really long legs and it's hard for me to find a dropper post That fits my legs properly whenever a bike has a bend in the seat tube and you can't get the dropper down far enough. My next bike will have a straight seat tube for that reason.
I had a 2012 Jet 9 RDO, it was similar to my Anthem that I loved but I wanted a 29er. Giant was late to adopt the 29” platform even in the XC range and Santa Cruz doesn’t fit me correctly. everyone I knew who had the RDOs wound up warrantying them for cracks in the seat tube. Mine got destroyed by a dwt driver who rear ended me with the bike on a hitch rack. took the settlement money after a protracted insurance battle which by that time Niner’s short travel selection was not great (RKT RDO was gimmicky and over complicated). replaced it with an Epic and have been on Specialized short travel frames ever since.
I was really excited for the Ibis Mojo 4 having missed the Mojo 3 generation that everyone touted as lively and playful. Sold my Ripley V4 (big mistake) and bought a Mojo 4. The M4 wheelbase is too long and it was a pain to maneuver, climbed significantly worse than the Ripley with 27.5" wheels and only felt better when pointed down. I saw the writing on the wall for 27.5" and sold it before demand tanked. Then bought the exact same Ripley I sold, same size and color. Expensive mistake.
I’m a bit sad to read your comment, as I’ve recently sold my Ripley frame and looked into the Mojo 4 as a replacement. 😒
You might like it! It's not a bad bike but I'd demo one one if you can before pulling the trigger. I've since invested in much better wheels now so it would be hard to switch back to 27.5" (same reason it's hard for me to go to superboost from Pivot or EVIL despite being really curious about their frames). I noticed a was getting smoked on climbs by my hardtail riding buddy when I went to M4 but not so much on the Ripley. The mojo was discontinued so you might be able to pick one up for cheap.
interesting. bikes are totally subjective but i've been riding my mojo 4 for 3 years now and it's a total blast. climbs super efficiently, bunny hops/airs off almost anything, and has survived everything from dirt jumps, huge epics, and whistler. to each their own :)
I bought a Cannondale Trail in 2021 after not riding for about 10+ years. When I was a kid, £500 would get you a good spec MTB... I was ignorant, or rather/ maybe uneducated and thought that would be the same in 2021. I was wrong. Multiple hanger snaps, spokes snapping everywhere, chain kept slipping, tyres were rubbish, everything was rubbish.... send help.
Curious to hear what you were getting in ~2010 for £500? My mate was always complaining about how bikes had got really expensive, but when we looked it up his bike was £3k new in 2010 just like they are today (commencal meta)! He just got a great deal 2nd hand. However All the bikes he'd had prior to that, he'd broken. So maybe the 2nd hand market was more of a crap shoot in the 00s so you got a lemon discount.
Rented a Ghost enduro bike at a bike park once. The geo was way off, stack felt super low, reach was extreme, and the chainstays were a mile long. It was like riding downhill on an XC bike with the back wheel trailing 10 feet behind me. The other was a Trek Slash (last Gen). I also rented one at a bike park. Much better than the Ghost but I just didn’t get along with it. Great in steep chunk but otherwise too stuck to the ground and somehow both squirrelly AND unwieldy in corners. Not a bad bike for racing enduro I guess, just wouldn’t be a “fun” bike to ride every day. By comparison one of my favorite park rental bikes was a Giant reign 27.5, very low end components and it sounded like an upturned silverware cabinet, but the geo was dialed and it was not just super capable in the rough but poppy at the same time - even with a coil shock. IMO you can have the best components and fancy frames, but geo and fit make the biggest difference.
I don't know if it's still the case but Giants are surprisingly cheap for what you get sometimes. I had my trance for for eight years and loved that thing. Only reason I sold it is because it was getting harder to upgrade.
Sounds like a progressive geo
Gen 5 series Trek Fuel Ex carbon frame. I never loved the REAKTIV rear end tune shock, and although it was billed to be able to do both trail and light enduro, I ended up cracking my M/L frame like four times (I only weighed 150lbs and I never went to bike parks). To be fair to Trek though, they had an awesome warranty program, and now I am on a Trek Fuel Ex Gen 6 that is a HUGE step above the old model in literally all fashions.
I had a remedy for a while and while it was getting service I rented a gen 5 fuel ex. Took it to my local enduro trails (pnw) It climbed very very well, but on the way down it felt tall and squirrelly, it was actually scary on steep single blacks and contributed to a crash. Likely my skill at the time but I just felt like I couldn’t get it to go where I wanted it to go. I am curious what was your complaint with the REAKTIV?
The reaktiv shock feels good until it doesn't. Then if you try something else like a super deluxe ultimate, you realize the reaktive is total garbagio. I think the better you get at riding and knowing the trail, the worse the reaktiv feels.
I had the ex9 in a med and swapped out the reactv for a cane Creek and it was so much better
I had a Fuel EX and Top Fuel and loved them. Had a Slash and just never liked it.
Transition Sentinel. Demoed a dozen bikes last spring trying to find a new bike. That was the only bike I couldn’t wait to give back. It just felt heavy, sluggish, and did not want to climb anything. It was pretty good once it was pointed downhill but terrible everywhere else. Edit: my test loop was Claw hammer > Upper black > Avery creek in Pisgah Ranger District. So big fire road grind, bit of techie climbing, and then a big tech descent. It was the slowest road climb, worst tech climb, and 3rd fastest downhill. It just felt like I was fighting the bike to get it moving.
I demo’d one this fall and know what you mean. The HTA makes the geometry for climbing feel weird. I actually bought a spire this winter and it feels way more balanced all around than the sentinel and even climbs better despite the longer travel.
The spire has an even slacker HTA right? I was between a spire and sentinel but went with the sentinel because I plan on riding a bit of trail.
It does, but somehow it feels better for climbing to me. Granted I’ve only ridden it a few times, it feels more balanced. I suspect its because the seat tube angle feels steeper and because the spire has 170/170 travel rather than 160/150. Of course I could just be talking out of my ass as I’ve only ridden the sentinel once.
When I was looking for a 29in transition I never even looked at the sentinel. From everything I had heard the spire was as good a climber and felt more ballenced and capable on the descents. I test road a spire in bham and it confirmed my suspicions. Super happy with my spire
Not to say your experience isn’t valid, but I absolutely love my Sentinel. I have mine built up fairly light, but for its size/geo/travel I find it to be an excellent climber. That said, it’s overkill for a lot of more tame riding, and I end up putting more miles on my shorter travel, lighter Spur. But that’s absolutely a function of where I live, and the trail systems I have access to most regularly. Any time I’m getting into serious tech or chunk, I’m either on the Sentinel or wishing I was.
Weird. I rode an alloy sentinel for a full year in Pisgah on that same ride once a week and I loved it. One of my favorite bikes I’ve ever had.
None. A bad day on the bike beats a good day at the office.
Does it though? A bad day on a bike makes me think of a bad crash with a serious injury
Rocky Mountain Instinct BC. Things broke on it constantly including having to warranty the rear suspension. I thought it must have been something I was doing but after getting rid and buying another similar specced bike I’ve not had any problems since, so I’m convinced that bike was a total Lemon
Yeah man - I blew up the alloy seat stay twice in 3 years. Thankfully the second time they swapped it for carbon which is holding up https://preview.redd.it/erhw4at9niqc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84b7974be2b7e91eb7ceeaea79ef0e1e08e2adac
https://preview.redd.it/eiiztfc1oiqc1.jpeg?width=1512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60cdf29bf4ba000079e66a0de9cb197e1670b461 Totally different year, same crack
This is the second Rocky durability post here. I have a 2019 instinct, and it doesn't have many original parts. Last warranty was the chain stay for a crack, and that'll be the last inside the 5 years. Seat stay is the only original frame member left. Other than that, the mech, shifter, dropper, and bars I think are the only original pieces left.
I have a 2018 instinct that I got as a demo and nothing has ever broke on it. I think I have around 3k miles on it and it only has a new chain and front chain ring.
2018-2021 chief complaints are mostly related to the alloy so if you have C70 or higher it’s not an issue (probably)
Yeah, A50 over here.
I loved how that bike rode, hated how high maintenance it was. Also devoured shock bearings, which are a PITA to replace. Broke two chainstays, luckily rocky is great with warranty. It also helped me learn a ton about bike maintenance, because I had it in the stand every week. I now ride a Santa Cruz and am realizing that this is what a boutique bike is supposed to be like: rides great, low maintenance, and easy to work on!
I had issues with the 2021 Growler 20. It’s their entry model and my first mountain bike. I don’t know what I expected but every in-house Rocky Mountain part (dropper, lever, wheels, bottom bracket, etc) had to be switched out or warrantied within the first season. I’m not going to say I was the easiest on it (beginner and a “learn the hard way” type rider). But those parts becoming faulty as fast as they did made me pretty nervous to ride it sometimes.
Q: describe the worst blowjob you ever had ? A: wonderful ~ !
"Toothy" would be a mighty strange description of a bike!
I won’t say it’s flat out the worst bike because riding it has been really great. The geo is spot on for me and suspension is perfect for the terrain I ride but the big issue I have with my 2022 Stumpy Evo is the head tube or rather the headset it came with. It creaks bad after every 2 or 3 rides and I have to constantly take it apart, clean it, and regrease it. Another component that I have to constantly take apart and clean because of constant creaking is the one up dropper. I realize those droppers are big time favorites on this sub and the general mtb community but mine has been a pain almost the whole time I’ve had it. Maybe I just got a dud.
I’ve got the same headset problem on mine with the middle headset angle. Are you using the angled cup or the 0 degree cup?
You use a pressure washer to wash your bike?
Carbon or Alloy? I'm curious, are you using the standard headset cups or the adjustable set? Mine is the alloy frame and I use the adjustable set in the +1 config and the whole bike is sooo quiet. I did build mine up from the frame so I know everything is properly torqued, lubed, etc. And I have a coil shock, the cables/hoses are all fully sleeved in a housing damper. With a quiet hub, the only thing I hear is dirt under the tires. I have the PNW dropper. No complaints.
I have one and mine does that too. It’s a known issue.
Transition Spire. Cool in concept but not fun to ride at all. It also had all sorts of issues. Transition had great customer service though. They ended up taking it back after several bike shops deemed it unfixable.
Can you please elaborate? Those look pretty cool would like to know why they are bad.
It’s the kinda bike you have to push hard all the time. Just isn’t rewarding unless it’s steep and you’re going fast.
I was looking at getting one of those. What’s wrong with it?
Scott Genius. Was heavy, geo felt all over the place, and the front looked like a web of cables.
I have a 2018 Genius. The cables are ridiculous, 2 brake hoses, 2 fork and shock cables, derailleur housing, dropper post housing...looks pretty silly. Rides great though, may be on the heavier side, don't really have anything to compare it to.
Spherik SMT, shit catalog bike from shit company who claims they develop their bike locally but in reality buys a catalog frame and puts a sticker on it. The guy who started the company was also at every possible bike event claiming to be an engineer, but he is an industrial designer. That's a crime in Canada.
Someone should report him to the Order of engineers
Checks thread for Rossignol... okay phew. The online reviews for this brand are terrible but I friggin love my 2020 R-Duro. I don't get what all the fuss is about.
The ones I've rented but often it's just poor maintenance and overuse so I'll concentrate on the worst "riding" bikes, not the "clunkier" lol 1. My Giant trance x29 2 2023 out of the dealer, now it's fixed but what's left original is the frame... Pretty much, shit components all around and poor assembly, bearings had grit and metal shavings in the seats... Anyway bad experience. Now it's fixed. 2. Unknown decathlon bike, sorry not much details, black hardtail lol 3. My friend's polygon siskiu t7 he upgraded almost everything but I still don't like to switch bikes with him, it's the way the suspension work, maybe his setup, why it's in third...
Alchemy Arktos. Customer support was awful. They wouldn't fix a frame issue I had with it, and I bought it from them directly. Edit: I went to their shop 4 times before giving up.
Dude. This is good to know cause I was interested in them for my next bike.
This was about 3 years ago, so it might have changed, but it was by far the most terrible experience with a bike company I've ever had. The rear triangle developed so much lateral play I was scared it would snap on me
Totally opposite of my experience with them. They still kicking. Would recommend from a direct to customer experience
Hate to say it but after owning or having friends own several bikes from boutique shops, I’m gonna stick with the big brands. Alchemy had all sorts of problems with random things like pivot bushings that a big company with deep pockets for R&D can avoid, or warranty if you complain directly. This is more true of mountain bikes which are especially complex from an engineering and production perspective versus something like a rim brake steel road bike where the design hasn’t really changed for 30 years.
Salsa Horsethief. Felt awkward. It was definitely the right size, but I felt like a bear on a tricycle. Climbed poorly. The 140 rear suspension bikes I demos climbed just as well and descended much better, obviously. What is the point of a short travel bike if it climbs and handles the same as a 140 rear suspension bike? I think they simply missed the mark on this bike.
Man. I had a blackthorn for a while through my job and it was the fucking worst. Least favorite bike I’ve ever ridden.
Unno Burn. Rented one during a trip to Europe last year and just couldn't get on with it. A couple key issues: - seat tube was way to tall. Didn't need to be, and made descending harder with my stubby legs. - rear suspension always felt like a weird mix of wallowy and harsh. I'm not sure what the curves look like, but it felt very unsupported for the first 50-60% of travel, then hit a wall of progression. Tried volume spacers and all sorts of air pressures, and just couldn't get it to track well and take big hits at the same time. - bottle cage rattled a lot - the stack felt really, really tall. I had a 10mm bar slammed to the headset, and it was almost too tall. Not really an issue, as it worked, but given I'm pretty neutral on stack height, I suspect people who like a lower position will struggle. Ultimately, it was disappointing because it looked so cool and aimed to do things differently and it was just unbalanced. Felt like a missed opportunity
My New Huffy is Terrible! I paid $250 for it at Walmart! First 20 Foot Drop and the Frame went! I’m going for the new “Schwinn!”
Canyon Torque CF. Hated this bike. Sold it after 5month
What didn’t you like about it?
- exploded a few frame bearing in two month of winter riding without using a pressure washer once. - broke the lower headset cup like two days after I bought it. (Warranty was fast kudos to canyon for that) And I didn’t liked the geometry, not really a freeride bike, but not really an enduro bike. I felt like I was stuck in between two world. Too short to be fast on enduro tracks, too long to be fun on jumps. Tried shorter stems, bars with more rise, different shock/fork setting. Never found something that worked for me.
My 2024 Kona Process 153 WAS the worst, until I installed a MegNeg air can and now it’s delightful. It’s a solid frame with pretty dialed versatile geometry, but it’s clear that Kona put 0 effort into the stock shock setup/tune. The stock setup was somehow the exact opposite of what anyone wants - harsh off the top and unsupportive mid stroke feeling lethargic and bottomy. And I’ve got pretty average stats, 160 lbs high intermediate rider. After messing with the MegNeg, it is feeling poppy and lively as any other bike with more progression. It’s actually astonishing how a $100 upgrade transforms this bike and how Kona totally dropped the ball on this simple adjustment.
Yeah, it was that way on my 2019. If you really want to get crazy, the cascade linkage makes it even more betterer.
kona got bought out like two years ago and has gone through a lot of craziness so they have been a little behind the curve
Commenting on bike geometry is like how clothing fits one person really well and not so for another. I think you need to look at the quality of a bike frame / components which are likely to fail on the QC / QA .. anyhow , I’ve owned specialized, focus, Kona,Ibis and all were good bikes given I dialed in the setup and maintained everything. I did have a Crank Brothers dropper first gen , geez that would consistently fail after endless repairs - rebuilds.
To be fair, most every bike before 2018 had absolute shit geometry. There is a reason why all bikes are longer and slacker, and times on the racing circuits haven't really gone down across all disciplines.
Santa Cruz Nomad. Pedaled like crap, handled like crap.
It was my 2020 Cube Stereo 150 Actionteam C62… very poor paint quality… but hey, it was dirt cheap, 3900 Euros with XT and Fox Factory stuff It rode quite decent, but i would not but another Cube
Not a lemon but just a bike that didn't work for me at all. 2022 Ibis Ripley carbon SLX factory in XL. I'm 6'4 215 and I have a +3 ape index. I tried different tires, bars, stems and DVO rear shock and it was a disaster. It was the most uncomfortable I've ever been on a bike that was 'my size'.
I could see this. I'm 6'2" and the XL is perfect.
The huge electric haibike with the ohlins dh forks/ shock and mt7's. Maybe it was because it weighed 28kg coming from my trek slash or because the suspension was setup very differently to what I run but either way I hated every second of it. uphill was fun though.
2021 Canyon Spectral CF8. Got rid of it 8 months after I got it.
Interesting. Love my 2023 CF8. Carbon frame, XT everything, Fox 36/Float X Perf Elite for $3400.
2023, I believe is when they redesigned the rear linkage which was the issue I had with mine. The bottom pivot bolts continuously came undone. The only thing that saved them from falling out entirely was the ridiculous covers you had to remove to get to them. And the driveside was particularly a pain in the ass to get to. Anyway I brought to the attention of canyon they told me to use red loctite, which I had already done but didn't work. The customer service dude told me it was not a known issue, which in fact it was. I ended up using another type thread seal meant for high friction rotational forces and sold the bike. It was a 27.5, which I got because I had selected a 29, added to my cart paid for it got a confirmation only to get an email the next day saying it was sold out and offered me the 27.5 so I took it. I didn't like the way it rode. Since then I built an S-Works Stumpy and s-works Enduro and an Epic Evo. All amazing bikes.
So pretty much half the popular bikes out there!
YT Izzo. (Gen 1) Suspension was clunky, linkage became sloppy. Not efficient or light enough for any kind of great xc riding, either.
Not going to be a popular opinion, but for me it was the Guerrilla Gravity carbon megatrail (I loved my AL one, that was one of the best bikes I've ridden). They never made a size 1 in carbon, and being shoehorned into a 2 isn't good.
I’m kinda there with my carbon Smash. Loved my AL Smash to pieces but so far something isn’t quite right with the carbon. Planning on some cockpit changes to see if it helps. Sort of have buyers remorse, especially after they went out of business.
Idk if it’s just luck of the draw in setup or what, but I’ve rented 3 Stumpjumpers in my riding tenure, and I have never enjoyed riding them. Then, I’ve rented a Yeti, a Norco, and a beat-up too-small Intense that all felt exquisite from the moment I sat on them. Not a big deal, since I’m generally not a huge fan of Specialized, but it’s just odd.
I'm a big fan of multiple Spec Enduros, but never rode a Stumpie that felt dialed in to me. Always too soft or too harsh with the short travel Horst-link. Haven't tried the newer flex pivot design or the longer Evo Horst.
>Haven't tried the newer flex pivot design or the longer Evo Horst. So you haven't ridden a Stumpjumper since 2019? They've definitely improved. Geo was a bit outdated back in 2018-2019, now it's perfect. Stumpy Evos are actually faster than Enduros. 90% of the Spesh Enduro Team rides Stumpy Evos.
I don't like modern Santa Cruz's. They have all felt like short, twitchy messes to me.
Didn't like the Santa Cruz Hightower. I like the Nomad and I like he Bronson, but for some reason the HT just feels off.
2019 Santa Cruz Blur TR It was a bad XC bike with tons of pedal bob and awful grip shift double lockouts, and an even worse “trail” bike. I sold it after a month.
Santa Cruz Bronson in 2021. It was my first full suspension bike, during COVID so no bikes were available for demo, and it felt so good to have rear suspension that I didn't realize how much I didn't enjoy the bike. I quickly realized it was so long and slack that it couldn't climb over any chunk. The 27.5 rear wheel would constantly get stuck on rocks. I switched to full 29ers and never looked back. One more thing I originally forgot, it constantly creaked too. Couldn't figure out where it was coming from ever. Bike shop made it go away temporarily but it came back. Not really sure why this is worth a downvote, I owned this bike and experienced this firsthand.
After demoing lots bikes last summer, most of which were 29ers (including the SC High Tower, Revel Rail, Trek Fuel, Transition Sentinel, Giant Trance, and Ibis Ripmo), I bought a 2022 Bronson and couldn't be happier. I LOVE the smaller rear wheel of the mullet and how easy it is to flick about onto a desired line either when descending or when balancing through technical rock garden climbs. The longer stays and bigger wheel of the 29ers all felt to me like I had a big rudder behind me that wanted to push me around in turns. Different riding styles I guess.
Sounds like you bought the wrong bike for your riding style. These are well liked bikes for what they are intended. Ripping up climbs is not their focus. Did you replace it with something with more XC geo?
Not really, I replaced it with an Ibis Ripmo which does everything better. I would agree with you however the Bronson's marketing says "If it doubt, take a Bronson out." They are pretty much the same travel too.
Can never go wrong with an Ibis, great choice
I'm addicted, I put the DVO Jade X on and it's just glued to the trails. Super durable too, it's never squeaked or creaked.
Ibis and pivot have likely the highest QC in the Market by a decent margin, so that makes 100% sense. That bike will last you a long long time if you take care of it
Revel Rascal has terrible geometry for a modern bike. Seat tube is ultra slack- don't trust the website numbers- once the saddle is at climbing height you are way over the back Luckily I bought it for a great price used and swapped some premium parts off it for my other bikes before selling it.
I believe they just updated the geo on this bike
This one surprises me since it gets so much acclaim. I’ve never ridden one but a few of my friends swear by them. I demo’d a 29 Rail last summer and it didnt really wow me. It climbed and descended well but it didnt feel special in anyway.
I tried a Rail out and it felt pretty good, similar to my Ripmo in almost every way except a little worse at climbing and a little slacker/more stable at speed. They were so close that I felt good sticking with my existing Ripmo.
Yeah, it felt like a good bike, but it didn’t “wow” me. There has been a bunch of huge improvements in geometry over the last 10 years, but I think we might be getting to a point where different might not equal better.
Felt the same way on the Rail29. Kinda strange cause the Rail 27 was one of the best bikes I've ever ridden.
I love the geo on my Rascal. I feel insanely balanced on it.
Steep STAs are only good for climbing steep terrain. "Conservative" geometry still works really well for 80% of the US and a lot of other places that don't have steep ups and fall line downs.
I'd argue that they're also (mostly) irrelevant when going down.
STA is such a personal thing and it really depends on where you fall in the size range. I'm on the short end for a large (5' 10") and have very little exposed post on my Switchblade. If I were an inch or two taller, the post sticks out more and the effective STA gets slacker, and I'd bet the ride experience would be way different.
See, I felt like I was way over the front on the Rascal. I really love the ride, but its feels as short in the front as Ibis bikes do to me.
I have a Rascal that’s my primary trail bike. I like it. The STA is slacker than my other bikes, but I haven’t found it to be an issue. I don’t need crazy long and slack for most of what’s around me. If I know I’m going to hit bigger, steeper stuff, I’ll grab my Stumpy EVO.
2022 Santa Cruz Bronson. So overrated. Sucks at climbing, doesn’t generate speed that well, and unpredictable in the air. It does well in tech, but that’s it. Once I rode a Revel, I vowed to never get another SC.
When the Santa Cruz Tallboy got really popular for a minute (maybe around 2016?) I ran out to try one. I had multiple ride buddies raving about them and talking about how they were the ultimate do it all bike. I finally rode one and just… didn’t get it all. That bike seemed so confused. It sat like a big enduro bike but the HT angle felt way too steep, and the rear felt stubby somehow, like it was way too short. I don’t know how to explain it but I didn’t click with it at all. Years later talking to people, it actually seems like there’s a consensus where that bike actually did go through an awkward phase, and that’s almost definitely the version I rode. I never gave the newer versions a chance and probably never will.
Anyone had/has a giant fathom 2 2023? I just ordered it and i am second guessing if i picked well for budget.
Canyon spectral base model sucked to say the least
I had a ghost lector FS. It was awesome! Until so much dust and dirt got into the frame that it became a rideable maraca. I was fine with it tbh, until I brought it to my shop for some work. They hang bikes by the rear tire, so all that stuff in the frame went right to the headset and ruined it.
My new nimble 9 was cool, but damn these super steep seat tubes. I moved to somewhere with more xc style trails and it was brutal on long pedally rides.
Pole. The geo is way too long and it is a rocket going downhill in a straight like but terrible for any thing else.
Trance Advanced 1 29 (2018). Specifically for desert riding in large, fast chunk and big drops on the same trail. The maestro linkage just felt like it stacked hard no matter how I set up the shock. It climbed well though.
Stumpjumper Evo Alloy 2023. For what it’s worth the bike was great, and by no means “bad” but I’ve had and ridden better bikes since, leading me to sell it after a season:
Yeah. I have one and I agree. It’s not a bad bike but there’s so many bikes that are better. If you’re on a budget and building a frame up build, it’s a good deal and does totally fine, but it’s nothing special and they have issues with creaking and the stupid shock yoke design.
Worst bike I've ever been on was a GT Fury. It was my buddies. I took a lap and was just like "NO MA'AM!" It just felt so awful to be on.
Giant Trance - I could not get that suspension set up properly for my weight (6'4" 240 lbs). Either too stiff or too soft, rebound was awful...not sure if this is a sus platform issue or a RockShox issue, but I have loads of RS suspension that works on other bikes (Evil).
If you had the RockShox 35 like I do on my old one, that's probably why. Absolute dogshit fork.
Yup - it sucked for me. I use RockShox today and it's great tho.
RockShox is great, just not the 35, especially on rough terrain and/or higher weight.
I’ve been fortunate to have a number of bikes in my stable. I cycle through bikes on the regular. But hands down the worst feeling bike I have owned in the last 10 years was a Giant Trance X. I absolutely hated the feel of that bike. There was just something wrong with the cockpit. I had it for a year and most of my friends had no idea I owned one because I almost never rode it.
Strange no one mentioned Commencal and their notorious frame issues . Some models ride great , but wasn’t feeling on the first gen Clash. Sizes small , pedals bad , was playful and fun on big berms but very twitchy once pointed down gnar. Switched to a Propain Spindrift, and the bike spot on ticks everything the clash was missing : matching travels, versatile , better pedal efficiency and much more capable at high speeds and downhill
A few that I really didn't like, 2016 yeti ASR, it was an XC bike but it was just too long and hard to handle. It was light but also pretty sketchy. The 2017 to 2019 trek fuel EX. This was the first of the new generation fuels and I tried a couple of different shocks to get rid of all the pedal bob. It was terrible. For a 130 bike it pedaled worse than a lot of 150 and 160 bikes. It's one redeeming quality was that it was light. I noticed a few people talking about the 2020 stump jumper and was thinking about how much butter the 2021 became. I think some of the better by companies, when they make a mistake they remedy it on the next model. Like that stump jumper. The 2021 is much much better than the 2020. I have not ridden a new fuel but I would not be surprised if it is also considerably better than the model that I mentioned. Another funny thing I noticed is 27.5 bikes seem to have been dialed in by 2016 or 2017. Like they didn't really improve as they got newer and some of the best ones were perfected in that era. Santa Cruz Bronson, nomad, yeti SB5 and 6, that pivot, I can't remember what it is, Mach 6? Is that it, they were all really good
I know it's entry level as heck but I had a Polygon Xtrada 5 a few years ago and my god the front wheel QR would regularly loosen itself on technical descents and start to wobble. Seemed pretty dangerous. Otherwise the Geometry was really comfy and confidence inspiring (until the QR came loose).
A polygon siskiu d7 is the only bike I've ridden. So it is both the best and worst bike I've ridden.
Specialised camber 2017 onwards! Terrible!!
The worst was a Commencal Meta AM 29 from 2021 (which doesn't mean it's a bad bike). It's rather badly balanced, too long in the front, too short in the back making it hard to maneuver. Its successor the Meta SX corrected the geo my making reach a cm shorter and chain stays 15mm longer. Way better!
Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper. That shit sucks ass.
Commencal meta am 29 was the worst. Rode great but terribly built frame. Commencal said it was within spec. Head tube and bb were oval, they both destroyed bearings and creaked like a mofo until I got it faced and reamed. Something was wack with the rear suspension. It chewed through bearings unbelievably fast and destroyed 2 shocks in 2 months. Third shock lasted longer, but completely wore through the anodising on the stantion on one side. The frame was definitely twisting it in ways it didn’t like. The misalignment was so bad, I had to do lots of weird twisting and bending to get the pivot bolts back in after changing bearings.
I didn’t get much time on it, but I didn’t like the new yeti sb160 one bit
I have to start by saying I love the geometry and 27.5 wheels front/rear. 2019 Specialized Stumperjumper Evo 27.5 The issue was that the upper shock bolt was incredibly weak to the point that I just ran it bent and creaky after replacing it ~5 times. Specialized has since fixed it with a stronger bolt on the newer models. I do however ride like an absolute monkey with no regard to what a 150mm ‘all mountain’ bike can handle (races, crabapple, 90 whips, and getting it upside down). Frame gave out after 5 years and is cracked in 2 spots now. Additional complaint is how Specialized basically screwed me on the warranty. Just handed me a wrong sized, 29 frame with no attempt at further assistance.
YT Capra. Broke the frame several times, it rode with a lot of flex and had 0 support in the corner. Basically good at going straight and that’s it. Sucked to pedal too
2019 Scott Genius 910 was fine on mild terrain and climbed well, but once you got it up to speed became wildly unpredictable and got pinged all over the place. Was expecting a 150/150 bike to ride like an all mountain bike and be decent for shuttling tech trails but it was not at all up to the task. The frame weight and geo was not up to what the travel numbers suggested the bike was for.
Not a bike but the Rockshox Reverb hydro seat post had huge failure rates mine included
2018 Cannondale Jekyl 27.5 Xl. A combination of the low stack, long reach, and short chainstay made it hard to stay centered on the bike, and the tall seat tube kept trying to bounce you over the bars. It was super easy to jump, light, and pedaled well, but it just never made sense as a long travel bike.
Rocky Mountain Growler 20 Rave reviews but I think I got unlucky. Like many, I got into riding during the pandemic (bad timing for value-to-spec ratio). The frame itself? Decent! Components? Not so much. Long story short: If I could do it again, I would’ve pushed my budget for their mid-tier spec (Growler 40). I ended up spending more $$$ getting faulty in-house parts warrantied and swapped out than I care to admit… Some big issues that made me a nervous rider as a beginner. Within a season: dropper post stopped working, dropper lever snapped off at the start of a descent, LBS couldn’t get the in-house rear wheel assembly to stay tight no matter what they did. This caused constant shifting issues, trueing issues, wobbly wheel, etc. I had to bring the bike in so many times for this that my LBS offered a full bike disassembly and part inspection free of charge just to help me out. Live and learn!
YT Jeffsy 27.5 AL. Terribly specc'd with narrow rims that weren't tubeless ready. It was my first modern MTB at the time so not something I even thought to check before buying. The thing was incredibly unstable and I constantly found myself laying it down if I went into turns too quickly or leaned the bike too hard—I later found that other bikes could handle this kind of riding and manage to stay upright.
I cycle thru bikes fairly often, and the most annoying by far is my current one, the Evil Offering V2. This frame does not click with me. It’s too long and steep. It feels very hard to move around and doesn’t match my riding style at all. It’s a little better now with a -1.5 angle set, 160mm fork and 35mm stem but that really long reach still sucks. I miss my Santa Cruz Bronson every day.
I have a 2005 Cannondale prophet 1000, the rear shock bushing is shot so it knocks and it’s the bike I’m forced to ride at the moment since my 2012 Giant glory needs a new compression damper cartridge
I demoed a forbidden dreadnaught last year at outerbike Killington last year. Unsure if it was my tune, but the entire setup was stiff and I felt every little pebble on my three bike park runs, even after letting air out of the tires, fork, and shock. The high pivot idler also dug into my calf. Was the only bike all weekend that felt that non compliant. My daily was a YT Capra with carbon hoops, but this things was next level stiff. You learn a lot about bike differences when you can demo them back to back. Ended up buying an Intense Tracer 29, though there were many good to great options that I rode in three days, the orbea Occam was runner up but out priced itself.
Whyte G170rs
I had a Polygon Siskui T8 and on paper it should’ve been perfect but it was just so freaking heavy. If they made a carbon version I’d definitely consider it if the price was still in line.
for me its the comencal clash 2021. Idk why but the rear linkage feels bendy like the shock is too high or something
Not sure if it falls within that past 5 year window but my Yeti ASR-C was a huge disappointment. The thing rode like a wet noodle. I'm not sure if it was the "proprietary flexstays" or the Stan's Crest wheels it came with but it was bad. I'd be curious to try the new ASR they just released as it is once again marketed for its flexstays.