HELP! Specialised camber or stump jumper and why?

bonss

Likes Bikes
Last weekend i had a couple of bikes stolen so my insurance is buying me new bikes.
My problem is i have been to quite a few bike shops and i feel like the people at the shops are either telling me what they think i want to hear or are trying to sell me what they have on the floor.
So I'm hoping to get some honest opinions from people who know!

Bikes i have had are
2012 Giant trance x3 roughly 2k
Lapierre Xflow 412. roughly 4.5k

I think over all the trance was a better ride for me, but i loved climbing on the flow!

I will just be doing general trail riding, nothing too full on downhill.
I do a lot of uphill riding on the road and my preference is up over down, and yes i understand i have to go down too.

which leads me to my other question....
My last bike was 26"
So 27.5 or 29 and why?
 

swaz

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Last weekend i had a couple of bikes stolen so my insurance is buying me new bikes.
My problem is i have been to quite a few bike shops and i feel like the people at the shops are either telling me what they think i want to hear or are trying to sell me what they have on the floor.
So I'm hoping to get some honest opinions from people who know!

Bikes i have had are
2012 Giant trance x3 roughly 2k
Lapierre Xflow 412. roughly 4.5k

I think over all the trance was a better ride for me, but i loved climbing on the flow!

I will just be doing general trail riding, nothing too full on downhill.
I do a lot of uphill riding on the road and my preference is up over down, and yes i understand i have to go down too.

which leads me to my other question....
My last bike was 26"
So 27.5 or 29 and why?
Giant Trance again?
 

bonss

Likes Bikes
Thanks for your reply.
From what I was told the other day by a giant dealer is that the progression on the trance means its more suited to downhill and more technical type of riding, not fast and uphill type of riding that i enjoy, if that makes sense.
Trance was my first thought.
 

The Reverend

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Sorry to hear about the theft, but it's good you're insured and they're paying up.
That's a difficult set of questions to answer from here and ultimately you're the one who needs to answer them, and live with the outcome.

Are you after one bike to cover dual duty?
Fit and Geometry trump wheel size in my experience.
Get the bikebsuited to the majority of riding you do / location and to either make your deficiencies less pronounced, or build your strengths.

There are so many great bikes from each manufacturer you shouldn't struggle to get a good experience.
Without telling you how to suck eggs, my only advice is:
1 demo before you buy,
2 don't get swayed by brand / spec / frame material,
3 more travel isn't always better,
4 warranty length and conditions count,
5 don't rush it...buy in haste and repent at leisure.
6 look on forums like MTBR which has loads of info from owners on the real ownership experience, rather than a site / mag review.

Good luck, and post up what you get!
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
I'm totally biased but there's a Turner Flux in the for sale section. That would be a killer all round trail bike with a bias towards xc and climbing. It's old school 26 but to be honest that means you can run lighter carbon rims and the tyres will weigh less too.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Firstly, try and test ride as many bikes as you can, I would have made it clear to the LBS that I am going to buy bikes but I want to test ride them first and not be forced to buy the first bike I come across.

If you plan on progressing will skills like jumping you'll want to get a bike around the 140mm travel if not the XC style bike will be more than enough for you. You can still jump with XC bikes but they're less forgiving when you make a mistake. With my experience with Specialized they are more than happy to give you a test bike normally and have some of the best test ride days with most the available models that I've ever seen.

It's best to buy the bike that fits the type of riding that you plan on doing the majority of the time rather listen to what other people want. Most of the upper end bikes are pretty good these days, you really can't go wrong.
 

slimjim1

Fat boomers cloggin' ma leaderboard
I will just be doing general trail riding, nothing too full on downhill.
I do a lot of uphill riding on the road and my preference is up over down, and yes i understand i have to go down too.
which leads me to my other question....
My last bike was 26"
So 27.5 or 29 and why?
I've spent a significant amount of time on both the camber and stumpy.
I would test ride as many bikes as you can not just those two.
BUT if those are the only two options...

Personal opinion is in the current model the 29er is the better bike for both the stumpy and especially the camber (I owned one of the older stumpy 29 and it was good but I wasn't the biggest fan of the longish stays on it). Not that the current 650 is bad, it's just that spesh have done a great job in minimising/eliminating the disadvantages of the big wheels and, especially on the camber, the big wheels do help make the bike more capable than the travel figure suggests. Also depends a bit on your height as well I guess.

Camber v stumpy: Both use the same front triangle. The camber has a shorter fork and it's definitely a sharper bike to steer, which I liked when climbing and on twisty singletrack. It's a very nimble bike. The suspension on the camber definitely pedals with more efficiency in the fully open setting as you'd expect (in general, still not at DW levels but quite good for FSR), the difference is more than I was expecting so if you want something that climbs well its definitely the camber. The stumpy has a low BB and the camber sits even lower so youll need to watch for pedal strikes. The SWAT system on the carbon models is awesome once you have lived with it for a bit.

Both are quite poor value when you compare the spec to a Giant. The lower end ones come with Revelations (??) which is a bit of a bummer. Also both would appear to be due for an update in the next year or two (no boost on the camber yet, both are probably due for longer/slacker treatment, threaded BBs etc) so try and drive a bargain if that's the way your going ;)
 
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bonss

Likes Bikes
Thanks guys, and esp slim jim.
It's scary going to the 29er but it does seem that its a majority preference around from what I've heard the past week (either that or it's what the bike shops want to get rid of???)., i guess the progression from when they first come out has made big improvements, as I'd only ever really heard bad things about them, esp tight turns/switchbacks, if you have any other feedback or HATE 29er that would be useful info too.

Height wise i'm 5'5 but i always measure a medium due to long torso.

Unfortunately with the insurance i don't think i can bargain.
both bikes I'm looking at are in the 3,500 price range (if that helps) since i was comfortable on the trance I thought i'd just go smack in the middle price wise and get a pay out on the remaining and other bike since I had already purchased a new roadie :D
 

swaz

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Thanks for your reply.
From what I was told the other day by a giant dealer is that the progression on the trance means its more suited to downhill and more technical type of riding, not fast and uphill type of riding that i enjoy, if that makes sense.
Trance was my first thought.
That Giant dealer doesn't know what they're talking about and has obviously never ridden one. I have the Trance Advanced 1 and it is awesome uphill and of course bombs downhill.
 

Logic

Likes Dirt
Thanks for your reply.
From what I was told the other day by a giant dealer is that the progression on the trance means its more suited to downhill and more technical type of riding, not fast and uphill type of riding that i enjoy, if that makes sense.
Trance was my first thought.
might be worth checking out the anthem SX, seems like it could be perfect for you if you think the trance could be a little too much for you. :)
 

The Duckmeister

Has a juicy midrange
Anthem 27.5. Very similar to the older Trances, especially the longer-forked SX version, if you can still find a '17 model anywhere; it's fallen out of the '18 lineup locally.

Bit of a stretch to say the modern Trance is a downhill bike. Yes it has more travel and is slacker than the old models, but it is still very much designed to go up hills efficiently as well.
 
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Ultra Lord

Hurts. Requires Money. And is nerdy.
2nd/3rded new trance/anthem. New anthems 130 front i believe now for 2018? Pretty awesome trail bike, not as xc focused as previous incarnations. And the red one looks mint.

The trances are also very good, a friend has the $3500 model and I've been very impressed with it. There a bloody good bike.

Test ride both and see what suits you better?
 

The Duckmeister

Has a juicy midrange
Just double-checked the Giant specs, and that would explain the deletion of the SX, as it had 130, where the "standard" Anthem last year had 120. So the '18 Anthem is essentially the SX without the suffix.
 
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Flow-Rider

Burner
I have two mates with 2016 trance 2's, another with a 2017 trance 2 and the three of them definitely struggle a bit more with climbing than their previous XC style bikes. I told the 2 with the 2016 models to buy them as they were a runout model at the time with a dropper post at just over 2k each. They aren't the strongest climbers but I keep on reminding them to switch the shocks to the harder mode on the longer climbs and they're quite a low bb and longish bike. Over all for an off the shelf bike with warranty, I think that they're a pretty good all rounder.
 

bonss

Likes Bikes
The insurance guy who's arranging the replacement first sent me the link to the giant anthem advanced 1 as its spec and set up is most like the last bike I had, but it's so damn ugly and tbh I don't think I need to spend that much on a bike that I don't use that much these days.
Although that might be because I never really felt that confident on the lapierre compared to the giant.

I'm sooooo confused
 
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