[drastic.]

yes, i know wrong forum. rather get opinions from the same people i get my own personal questions answered from.

need RM's help on suggestions for an AM rig for my pops..

for the last 15yrs or so, my dad and myself have been doing motocross and mountain biking.

my pops is more strictly into the xc riding...currently rides a 4" giant nrs carbon that rides more like a hardtail it's so stiff, than a full suspension bike... 19lb, so yes, he's a weight weenie.

he's getting older...has had acl, wrist, and heel reconstructive surgeries, and it's finally catching up to him, so he's looking for something with a little more travel/plushness.

honestly, i don't know much about xc/am rigs, and aside from reading MBAction, idk if he knows either aside from what that magazine feeds him.


important notes:
-wants it in the 26-28lb range. itll be on 2.1 single-ply tubeless tires, and probably carbon bars/seatpost and all that lightweight jazz.
-geo can be conservative, as itll be more directed towards climbing, than descending.
-5-6.6" range.
-lock out necessary. preferably air suspension F/R only.
-$3k up to 6k range. if it's something he really wants, he'll go up more if needed. i know its a huge range, but lets start low and go high. i'm sure there are great bikes out there on the lower end of that price scale.
-carbon frames ok.

I do know, he's interested in the pivot firebird, and in general interested in the DW-link, so maybe any recommendations geared towards that. i have no clue which AM rigs are out there that utilize DW, so help me out on that.

what say you, guys? what you guys recommend? thanks for any suggestions in advanced..

 

[HAB]

The Ibis Mojo (not the HD) sounds perfect. It's light, it pedals well, the geo is fairly XC oriented, and it's DW link.

 

[William42]

yah, that or the trek remedy. sounds like a pretty good candidate for the remedy, since its custom tuned to be a long travel xc bike (strong pedaler, super plush feeling, not so great for the aggressive rider when you point it down hill)

Luckily, he's square in the middle of the major market for trail/am bikes. he is what most companies are aiming towards

 

[armada]

giant-s? dw-ish link cheaper then most alternatives and so on...

 

[Da Peach]

Devinci Dixon

http://www.devinci.com/bikes/scategory_31

Is nice.

 

[herbman]

Gt carbon force.

 

[kickstand]

yah, that or the trek remedy. sounds like a pretty good candidate for the remedy, since its custom tuned to be a long travel xc bike (strong pedaler, super plush feeling, not so great for the aggressive rider when you point it down hill)

Luckily, he's square in the middle of the major market for trail/am bikes. he is what most companies are aiming towards

I haven't ridden a trek remedy, but I ride a fuel with 120/130 mm of travel and can say that I love the bike, if the area I lived in warranted a few extra mm of travel on my XC/AM bike I would strongly consider a remedy.

I'm also a fan of the intense tracer, a friend has one and it's a real nice ride.

I don't know anything about dw links and suspension design, just that those two bikes I mentioned in a long travel xc bike are a lot of fun to ride.

 

[slyfink]

Spec Stumpjumper. I'm sure he could even get carbon in his price range. There's also the new A.R.T Norcos...

 

[berkshire_rider]

need RM's help on suggestions for an AM rig for my pops..

what say you, guys? what you guys recommend? thanks for any suggestions in advanced..

Giant Trance.

 

[weedkilla]

Go for less rather than more travel - someone, somewhere has decided that 5" travel bikes are xc bikes that are a bit more forgiving and 6" bikes are dh bikes that can be climbed. There are some exceptions, but a good 5" travel bike is what an xc rider who wants more comfort generally wants.
The Giant Trance, Trek Fuel are great choices from the big boys.

 

[hotrodmarlin]

Banshee Spitfire

 

[stoney]

You have a massive list to choose from:

Yeti ASR5 (Al or C)
Intense Tracer2
Turner 5-Spot
Giant Trance
Cannondale Jekyl
Specialized Stumpjumper FSR
Trek Fuel EX
Ibis Mojo
Santa Cruz Blur TR

Criteria:

-wants it in the 26-28lb range. itll be on 2.1 single-ply tubeless tires, and probably carbon bars/seatpost and all that lightweight jazz.

Any of the above bikes come fully built or can easily be built up at that range

-geo can be conservative, as itll be more directed towards climbing, than descending.

Again, any of the above fit that mark

-5-6.6" range.

I feel I'm being repetitive here.

-lock out necessary. preferably air suspension F/R only.

This is where you/he have fallen into a misnomer about full suspension bikes. With the exception of hardcore XC race bikes on fire roads, live suspension while climbing allows the real wheel to move over terrain keeping traction. This added traction allows you to actually climb better with less wasted energy. The current crop of efficient pedaling frames with bob minimizing shocks has effectively negated the need for lockout. If anything, lockout is a mental crutch that actually causes more problems than it prevents.

-$3k up to 6k range. if it's something he really wants, he'll go up more if needed. i know its a huge range, but lets start low and go high. i'm sure there are great bikes out there on the lower end of that price scale.

Any of the above bikes can be had well within this range. Anything above the $6k range is just a pissing contest to show how much you can spend. If you do it right, you can get out spending around $4500 for a top tier bike.

-carbon frames ok.

Most of the above bikes are carbon or can be had in carbon.

What you really need to do is get your Dad out to a couple of shops to ride bikes. You spend the time researching what shops in your area carry which bikes and plan a Saturday to go shopping with him. Spend the time to research which bikes fall into your price range, where they are on the scale (3k-4k, 4k-5k, 5k-6k), where the shops are located, etc.

This is the type of research I put in when I was researching bikes for my Dad.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsgfMaKAPzPIdDU1a3kwWjljX2plTW9FdHN4TGdpOFE&hl=en_US

He was really appreciative of both the amount of time/effort I put into it, and getting him a good basis to compare the price/package of the bikes he was looking at. I was researching an XC bike for him so what I have is not applicable, but this gives you a good idea of where to start.

 

[Pslide]

Nobody's recommending a 29er?

Smooths out the rough, good for the aging body. And you can still thrash them with proper parts on them. Tracer 29. Sub 28 lbs might be a stretch though.

EDIT: Only recommend 29 for taller folks. If he's a short guy, stick with 26.

 

[stoney]

Forgot 29'ers. Just go through the company websites for all of the above listed bikes and just add them to the list. He'll figure out really quick whether he does or doesn't like them.

 

[Sandwich]

Tracer29, custom build a Titus Rockstar29, a Trek Fuel Ex at 4.7" or a Remedy @ 6". Giant trance or Reign.

As an older dude, I'd stick with a lighter/trail oriented bike. Too many companies are striving to make XC bikes with DH geometry and calling them AM...your pops will not likely be happy on them as they'll climb like dogs and are unlikely to come in at a respectable weight.

 

[drastic.]

damn, lots of good suggestions, and a larger variety of suggestions than i thought. thought there was going to be a general consensus on a few bikes...guess it'll be harder than i thought to narrow down.. lol

LBS that i know of carry giant, trek, spec, scott, and marin..
giant's out the question. we've had 5 giants within the last several years, and our neighbor has a giant trance...all great bikes..but he he's ready to try something new.
speccy is out too. he's not much of a fan of spec (didnt bother asking why, as i cant change his opinion).

quick google search just now shows that we have a IBIS, Pivot, and Devinci dealers within 20-30min from us, so over the next few wks we're going to go check out the Mojo, Firebird/Mach, and Dixon respectively.
Also will be checking out Trek's remedy (150mm), for the first round of checking out bikes.

We've got an Intense dealer about an hr away, if those bikes dont tickle his fancy, maybe he'll go take a look at their tracer..

29er is probably out of the question.. he's 5'9, and a longer upper body than legs.

appreciate the suggestions thus far, as does my pops!

 

[IH8Rice]

Pivot 5.7 Carbon?

i made a spreadsheet too when i was picking my bikes

 

[drastic.]

You have a massive list to choose from:

Yeti ASR5 (Al or C)
Intense Tracer2
Turner 5-Spot
Giant Trance
Cannondale Jekyl
Specialized Stumpjumper FSR
Trek Fuel EX
Ibis Mojo
Santa Cruz Blur TR

Criteria:



Any of the above bikes come fully built or can easily be built up at that range



Again, any of the above fit that mark



I feel I'm being repetitive here.



This is where you/he have fallen into a misnomer about full suspension bikes. With the exception of hardcore XC race bikes on fire roads, live suspension while climbing allows the real wheel to move over terrain keeping traction. This added traction allows you to actually climb better with less wasted energy. The current crop of efficient pedaling frames with bob minimizing shocks has effectively negated the need for lockout. If anything, lockout is a mental crutch that actually causes more problems than it prevents.



Any of the above bikes can be had well within this range. Anything above the $6k range is just a pissing contest to show how much you can spend. If you do it right, you can get out spending around $4500 for a top tier bike.


Most of the above bikes are carbon or can be had in carbon.

What you really need to do is get your Dad out to a couple of shops to ride bikes. You spend the time researching what shops in your area carry which bikes and plan a Saturday to go shopping with him. Spend the time to research which bikes fall into your price range, where they are on the scale (3k-4k, 4k-5k, 5k-6k), where the shops are located, etc.

This is the type of research I put in when I was researching bikes for my Dad.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsgfMaKAPzPIdDU1a3kwWjljX2plTW9FdHN4TGdpOFE&hl=en_US

He was really appreciative of both the amount of time/effort I put into it, and getting him a good basis to compare the price/package of the bikes he was looking at. I was researching an XC bike for him so what I have is not applicable, but this gives you a good idea of where to start.

informative and well written post. thanks. especially the excell spreadsheet. that's a good idea. i guess i need to just go through the top 5-7 bikes, pick out the closest build kits w/in eachother and see the pricing differences..thatd be a good start.

 

[stoney]

I would be serious at looking more towards the uphill focused trail bikes. If he wants a lockout, he will probably be unhappy with a deep travel am bike.

 

[kickstand]

I agree with the comments about the lockout while climbing.

I find that while climbing I like to lockout my front fork (fox 32 or something on a trek fuel ex8) and leave the rear open, seems to be the best combo for any sort of time I would want to minimize bob as I like to get out of the saddle and really push/pull on the bars during a hard climb.