[yonton228]

So here is the story. After over a year of saving money, I have finally decided to get a bike. But before I drop the money on a bike I have a couple of questions:

1. I live in Lacey, are there any good places to ride that is "local" to my area? Like from Oly-Tacoma.
2. Hardtail or full suspension?
3. How much bike would be too much bike for the area that I live in/ the state we live in?

For a referance:

- Have been riding bikes since I was a little kid, around the age of 3
- Im about 6'1'' and 240 pounds (Loosing weight slowly)
- Budget is about $2000 +/-
- Im interested in DH/FR and All mountain type riding.

The bikes that I am looking into are:

- Transition Dirt Bag
- Transition Vagrant
- Transition Preston ( see a pattern here?? )
- Giant Reign
- Santa Cruz Bullit
- Yeti ASX
- Yeti 575
- Banshee Morphine
- Maybe sumtin from the Iron Horse 7point series
- Any other ideas??

Thanks for all the input and insight.

-Timmy

 

[Radarr]

Are you looking at new or used bikes?

 

[Borregokid]

I would be looking really hard at the Giant Reign. If I was you that would be my first, second and third choices. A few things the Reign has going for it. For one its made by Giant the largest manufacturer so you will get a lot of bike for the money. Earlier this year it won the Mountain Bike Action shootout for best All-Mountain bike under 2k. The sizing of the bike is probably pretty good for you. You will take a large which should be readily available at the local bike shop. It will be hard for you to demo the other bikes but the Reign should be readily available. Two of the bike manufactures, Yeti and Santa Cruz make high end bikes that are expensive and will be hard to find to pre-ride. You might find with any of the bikes that you made a mistake or your biking style has changed and you want to get rid of it later. The Reign would probably be the easiset to sell except for the Bullit. Last word-dont buy a bike because its a terrific deal make sure the bike fits and you can pedal it. I personally would stay away from anything thats got more than 5 inches of travel and weighs more than 32 pounds.

 

[ummbikes]

So here is the story. After over a year of saving money, I have finally decided to get a bike. But before I drop the money on a bike I have a couple of questions:

1. I live in Lacey, are there any good places to ride that is "local" to my area? Like from Oly-Tacoma.
2. Hardtail or full suspension?
3. How much bike would be too much bike for the area that I live in/ the state we live in?

For a referance:

- Have been riding bikes since I was a little kid, around the age of 3
- Im about 6'1'' and 240 pounds (Loosing weight slowly)
- Budget is about $2000 +/-
- Im interested in DH/FR and All mountain type riding.

The bikes that I am looking into are:

- Transition Dirt Bag
- Transition Vagrant
- Transition Preston ( see a pattern here?? )
- Giant Reign
- Santa Cruz Bullit
- Yeti ASX
- Yeti 575
- Banshee Morphine
- Maybe sumtin from the Iron Horse 7point series
- Any other ideas??

Thanks for all the input and insight.

-Timmy

Capitol Forest, Bike Smith in Tumwater carries Transition.

 

[allsk8sno]

or just call transition... and if your concerned about anything i would just get the transition, travel is your choice on those but test ride every bike you can and find something you like! bikes are always sized differently and what works for some, others hate...

 

[biggins]

the iron horse yakuza series is an awesome bike and iron horse gives lots of bang for the buck as well as being very very easy to contact and prompt with customer service.

when i tried to get in touch with them to get some random unheard of issues resolved on one of my bikes i got an e-mail back complete with some digrams and photos in about 1 hour.

Iron Horse......the kings.


another good choice would be something like a kona coiler or stinky. easily pedalable and realtively inexpensive.

 

[oly]

So here is the story. After over a year of saving money, I have finally decided to get a bike. But before I drop the money on a bike I have a couple of questions:

1. I live in Lacey, are there any good places to ride that is "local" to my area? Like from Oly-Tacoma.
2. Hardtail or full suspension?
3. How much bike would be too much bike for the area that I live in/ the state we live in?

For a referance:

- Have been riding bikes since I was a little kid, around the age of 3
- Im about 6'1'' and 240 pounds (Loosing weight slowly)
- Budget is about $2000 +/-
- Im interested in DH/FR and All mountain type riding.

The bikes that I am looking into are:

- Transition Dirt Bag
- Transition Vagrant
- Transition Preston ( see a pattern here?? )
- Giant Reign
- Santa Cruz Bullit
- Yeti ASX
- Yeti 575
- Banshee Morphine
- Maybe sumtin from the Iron Horse 7point series
- Any other ideas??

Thanks for all the input and insight.

-Timmy

How much traveling are you going to do? Having a big bike in our area means road trip. If you plan to hit whistler more then trail ride in cap, id shoot towards the bigger bikes, but if you might find yourself riding more local (like cap, green mt, ect) then a longer travel trail bike would be a better idea. Its a hard call to make. I wouldnt want a hardtail as my primary bike, but thats becuase ive lived through only having a hardtail....

transition: Good option, and Bike smith sells em...support the locals!.. Ive seen the dirtbag in action and they seem to do good. Same for the preston, built for real agressive riding.. Dont know the other bike... but think its a hardtail??
Giant: No real advice. I'd prefer the 7p
Bullit: Out dated, but proven bike. Lots of em for sale used... no future replacement parts maybe??
for yeti: go ASX. (there actually quite nice, and in my opinion, better choice than bullit for that style of bike. its has the link on the shock).. the 575 is more of a light trail bike.
Banshee: Brutally stiff aluminum hardtail.
Ironhorse 7p line would be good too.

 

[smedford]

transition Gran Mal gets my vote

 

[biggins]

transition dirtbags are awesome bikes. they feel very stable considering they seem to have a shorter cockpit. the yeti as-x is certainly a better choice then the bullit if you are going single pivot and there are a lot of them to be had used right now at good prices. at your height the as-x may be one of the safest bets. they are built big and long. i am 5'10" and my medium seemed huge! they also dont feel as short and stubby as a bullit. by that i mean wheelbase wise. the bullit feels really tall and very short length wise to me.

 

[Borregokid]

Before getting a big bike why not check out a light weight hardtail. They are getting a little harder to find but for just hitting the trails they cant be beat. I am of course thinking from the weight standpoint. A Transition Dirtbag could weight as much as 48 pounds. Are you really going to take that out and pedal it up a 2000 foot mountain? A 25 pound hardtail can ride circles around the big bikes. The Reign kind of fits in between the two. I am sure there are 601 guys going off eight foot jumps but I am not sure if its a good idea. Whatever bike you get make sure you have some decent health insurance. Too many cases around here where guys have $6000 bikes but wont spend $700 a year for 2 million worth of health insurance.

 

[Certified Drunk]

Too many cases around here where guys have $6000 bikes but wont spend $700 a year for 2 million worth of health insurance.

Thats the truth!

 

[biggins]

A 25 pound hardtail can ride circles around the big bikes.

uhhhhhh maybe on climbs but not on any downhills at all.another problem with building mega light hardtails is breakage (breakage wouldnt matter matter on an unlimited budget but it seems like he is on some kind of a budget as most people are)as well as with a mega light hardtail it can be a big setback if one decides to go bigger or step up to freeride style trails or even serious downhills for that matter. However i must say that you are right on point with the health insurance my arm would have costed 26,000.00 out of pocket had i not been paying for my insurance religiously.

 

[Skookum]

Buy 20 Magna Zipper 4009 Series for a hundred bucks a pop. Guaranteed to get 13 and half rides out of em.

 

[yonton228]

Hello, back again. Thanks for all the responses, and here are some answeres to the questions everyone asked. As well as a shortend list of bikes.

Question:
1.

Are you looking at new or used bikes?

2.

How much traveling are you going to do?

Answers:

1. Both new and used. ( My highest price I am willing to pay is around 2500. )

2.Not too much traveling right away. I want to hit up Whistler and other areas at least a few times.

I have narrowed down my choices to the following, and reasons why.

-Transition Dirt Bag: Pedals relatively well. (from what I have read) Awesome company, down to earth owners and awesome warrenty and crash replacement policy. (Adjustable travel ?? )

-Transition Preston: ( See above )

- Giant Reign 2 : Have read nothing but good things about this bike as well. Good parts spec for the money, efficient travel.

- Yeti ASX : Adjustable travel, very versatile, tough bike. Once again read nothing but good things about it.

- "EDIT" Santa Cruz Bullit: Nothing but good things about it. Tough as nails. All around good bike

Once again I appreciate all the help from everyone.

-Timmy

 

[SuperSlow]

look at the banshee scirocco. Light weight, but strong

 

[yonton228]

Added the Bullit back to the list

 

[fattyfat1]

take the giant off your list, it's not even in the same catagory as the bullit or ditbag. its a piece of crap.

 

[Skookum]

i really like my bullit. It saves my ass the rare times i do real downhill stuff, and it's still a great trail bike too. i got a Rock Shock Boxxer Ride on mine and when i go to 5 1/2 inches it handles like a super fat Heckler, then when i do some gnarl i go back up to a hefty 7. Works great for me.

Santa Cruz is really dumb for dumping it IMO, but i'm willing to bet they'll come back out with it in like 5 years.

 

[yonton228]

I can still prolly find some 04's/ 05's Bullits at some LBS. I'm gonna call around tommorow morning and see what I can find.

 

[zmtber]

check out the iron horse seven point nine or the bulit only heard good things about these

 

[carbuncle]

For what you are looking for, I'd bet the Preston will fit the bill handily. Don't get anything with more than 6" of travel, and don't bother with a dual crown fork. If you aren't going huge the rear travel is just a big, bouncy stone around your neck on climbs and and a DC rakes out your wheelbase too much for the really fun XC trails around here, like Tapeworm in Renton or the Black Diamond trails that are tight and twisty. I have a friend who has a well-worn Bullit and loves it. I just bought an Iron Horse Yakuza Kumicho tonight, but that is really a downhill bike and not even freeride. I also recently picked up a Yakuza Waka-Gashira, which is their high-end shore-style hardtail: I highly recommend it as an excellent all-around bike, but you seem to be looking for a dual.