Posted by: Ddean
Its time for me to get a new FS to (potentially) replace my '19 Slayer. I love the Slayer and would probably keep it, but wheel size has be thinking about moving on. I took a chance on going back to 27.5 wheels and I prefer 29r (I have a 29+ hardtail too).
There are three bikes Ive narrowed it down to. I was down to two until a new bike was announced last week.
My Wish List:
- Ive been riding my hardtail so much that I want a bike that inspires more confidence than my prev gen Slayer, or even one that forces me to ride sketchier stuff. The Slayer is an excellent bike, but it feels more like a trail bike to me. I want a rowdy enduro that will drag me into trouble and get me riding things that I have not since I had a DH bike. I want a DH bike that I can pedal up.
- Dont care how playful it is
- Needs to be an ok climber. Its a rare day when I shuttle.
- It needs to be confidence inspiring on steeps but cannot be a steep only, or high speed only, bike. My rides are mixed and can be in slow janky stuff often.
- I may keep the Slayer - it really depends upon how much overlap it has with next bike.
- Travel is not necessarily the big factor here. I will not use the full 170mm as Im not a big hit kind of rider. Im too old for that!
The Three:
- Forbidden Dreadnought. Rad. Plus: I bet this is pretty peddly and geo suggests it will be very confidence inspiring. Cons: Mostly aesthetic. I wish it had a higher suspension spec option, but it is about $1000 cheaper than others to reflect and so thats fine.
- Chilcotin 167. Plus: Definitely will do what I want. Cons: Price for alu is same as carbon with identical spec from other brands. Probably less peddally than the Dreadnought.
- Transition Spire in that purple carbon. Plus: BEAUTIFUL and will definitely do what I want. Cons: Fewer reviews of this bike around given how new it is. Timing of availability. Im not really a "transition kinda guy" - ie, theyve not been a bike company that has appealed to me in the past for whatever reason.
Seems to me that theres no bad choice. Id put an Wreckoning on the list too but Im told that there will be no XT Wreckonings this summer. I want to stick with XT and prefer Fox over RS.
timing on the Dreadnought and Chilcotin are similar and the Spire presents more of a risk I think.
This is me thinking out loud more than anything - feel free to ignore but if you want to talk about these bikes Id love to!
Can't comment on how any of the bikes ride, but if you want a Spire you should call around (North Shore Bike Shop, Kinetik) pretty quick, they are taking pre-orders, supposedly first batch of bikes is coming 3ish months, August-September timeframe, not sure I believe that but we will see, at least it looks like those orders will be filled this riding season. I put down a deposit on a new Patrol yesterday, mullet is really appealing to me (long torso/short legs).
Spire definitely sounds like a big bike, I thought Freehub's review was pretty cool, dude is a ripper as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvpMp2lyFdM - I do wonder how it would feel in slower North Shore jank... I plan on running my Patrol in the "steep"/high setting which is still 63.5 HTA and 340mm BBH. They spec 165mm cranks so hopefully pedal strikes aren't too big a problem.