2021 - Full Suspension Bike Thread

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.

I've had about a month on the chilcotin 167 built up with RS and a CC coil and am happy to answer any questions you have about it.

I came from the Gen2 Kona process 153 29, and found that the chili was a lot of bike to move around compared to what I was used to, but the more I get used to it the more I like it. I kept it in the steep setting and its handling the slow tight trails totally fine (think pipeline and ladies). But it absolutely comes alive riding steeper gnarlier trails like on cypress and off the beaten path. Pedalling is fine one it, you wont be racing up hill, but its comfortable to spin up anything. Surprisingly, the chili with a coil feels pretty similar weight to my buddies carbon sight which is built up pretty burly.

Some of the review mention that its kind of a demanding bike to ride and I've found that to be true, I found I can get kind of lazy and sloppy on other bikes without issue, but the chili really wants to ridden aggressively.

All in all I'm really happy with it, I think its a bit more than what I would consider for a one bike quiver, but all I want to do with it is go fast and smash so its working pretty great for me.

Ddean - Are you planning on going complete or frame only?

Either way I recommend a G1 frame.

The Spire or the Dreadnought offer better size-specific details. In classic fashion the Knolly has a very short head tube, same ESTA (based on a very slack ASTA) and same length short chainstays across the size range. The Knolly is a great pick IF you're right in the middle of their intended rider size chart.

Posted by: DanLees1978

Someone is Pinkbike famous...

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/video-11-bike-checks-from-whistler-bike-park-opening-day-2021.html

Haha!

I'm happy they edited down the full conversation. I was a full on bike nerd dork!

Tom's enthusiasm had me excitedly running my mouth about everything G1!

Thanks for those replies

That is consistent with what I’ve heard about the Chilcotin - it pedals well enough and really likes to get pushed.

I think that it will be similarish with the Spire - yeah that Freehub review is good and tells me what I need.

I’m intrigued by the Dreadnought. I think that leverage curves suggest that it’ll be the best pedaler of the three and the BetaMTB suggests that it does interesting things descending. I feel that it’s probably behaves like a slacker Druid but would like to hear from someone who rides it, and where they do.

Thanks again all - probably can’t go wrong with either of the three.

I think that Id get a medium in either of them.

Timigrant (Tim Coleman) rode one forbidden offering and one knolly offering last season (I don’t remember what models, but he reviewed the knolly and did a first-ride article on the forbidden). Based on one quick conversation with, I’d really like to try the forbidden mostly because of how excited he got talking about the suspension. I didn’t understand enough to know if it was good or bad, but it sounds exciting and I’d like to try it. 

Chromag has their full suspension bike test mules in the bike park lineups. If you can limp the slayer along a Taiwanese welded steel full suspension chromag frame may be in your future. I only say one a child was riding, so I’m not even sure what size wheels or travel the adult one has.

Have you looked at the new Stumpy EVO? That might fit the bill for you.

Im into local companies so am trying to support "local", although yes the Stumpy EVO would likely fit the bill nicely I agree. Not sure that Transition is local to BC (I know its WA), but...I also like smaller manufacturers so I can make that stretch...Id make it for Evil too if they were available in a spec (Insurgent MX maybe or Wreckoning)

Question, what is the comparable bike to the 167 Chilcotin: the alum Spire or the carbon Spire? You can spec either of the Spires XT Fox factory to pretty much match the spec of the XT/Factory Chilcotin, excepting for the wheels which are i9s on the Knolly and DT Swiss on the Spire.

The carbon spec Spire is same price as the alum Chilcotin, and the alum Spire is WAAYYYY less.

Alu Spire is 6061. Chilcotin is 6066. Is 6066 "worth" as much as carbon and is 6061 a notable downgrade? $7700 for the alu Spire vs $9300 for the EC factory Chilcotin and about same for carbon XT factory Spire. Lots of bucks. Not sure that id write that cheque when push comes to shove, but worthy of discussion.

So many sweet bikes this year.

I just checked pricing on Dreadnought and Forbidden JUST raised it $700. WTF! Its now too much for the spec.$9k for a non factory fox XT bike.

I like to keep my bikes for a long time. I’m hoping this will be my bike for the foreseeable future: production privee Shan No. 5. Steel 140mm R 160mm F. All steel 🤘

F'it, deposit placed. She will be mine in August. Never thought that I'd buy a Transition, but this is the bike for the foreseeable future.

Posted by: Ddean

F'it, deposit placed. She will be mine in August. Never thought that I'd buy a Transition, but this is the bike for the foreseeable future.

Judging from your past behaviour, I give it 14 months. 

Looks nice, enjoy

I don’t think that I’ve kept a bike less than 3 years. I’ll keep my hardtail and may keep my Slayer, but I suspect that if the Spire is a decent peddler that I’ll sell the Slayer. But who knows!

But I’m definitely not one of those replacing a bike every year or two types, and the last few bikes Ive bought have not been new...

Congrats Dean, the purple carbon Spire looks so awesome. I went with raw on the Patrol (it's aluminum only). Ordered mine from Kinetik and was told August as well, fingers crossed it's an accurate date.

Still enjoying my 2019 YT Jeffsy 27.5, only changes for 2021 were a new XT 12 speed drivetrain and Time Speciale 12 clipless pedals. I only want one mountain bike at a time and wanted something a bit more aggressive for descending though, hence the Patrol.