Analysis Paralysis: Which "Enduro" Bike

Looking for something to complement my Transition Spur as a quiver for two for Colorado's front range. I *think* I've narrowed things down to the Alchemy Arktos 150 and Nukeproof Giga. Bit of a travel difference but similar weight, and similar sales pricing. Bike will hopefully see the odd enduro race, an occasional day at the bikepark, but will mostly enjoy human-powered trips to White Ranch, Maryland mtn, that sort of thing for those familiar. I'm usually OK at bikes and don't necessarily want a couch to just plow through shit.

Alchemy is down the street from me and any warranty issues would be covered. Though, with the way the bike industry is I think Nukeproof finding a buyer is as likely as Alchemy going under. That's a different discussion. A sale Alchemy will also come sans UDH and with a super boost rear end, which is sort of annoying. The nukeproof has some nice parts hanging off of it, but I might be blinded by the novelty of that transmission drivetrain.

Is anyone on the Front Range riding a big bike like the Giga? Regrets? Success? Am I the asshole for asking an impossible question when I should just ride my damn bike?

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Neither are red. Start over

IMO, you really can't go wrong with any of the recent enduro bikes these days... and for the FR specifically, you can very easily ride most of our legal technical trails on a 140mm trail bike for the most part. I spent most of the year on the Stumpy EVO set up as 160f/158r (with the Cascade Link) and it was incredible; now I'm on a Forbidden Dreadnought that's 160/160 and is also awesome. You could probably throw half a dozen bikes into the mix and it always just comes down to personal preference, fit, riding style, and the deal you can get.

FWIW, with the Nukeproof situation I'm not sure I'd go that route given all other options. And I'm not sure how Alchemy is still hanging on (but their deep red Arktos looks pretty sick).

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Originally Posted by smmokan

IMO, you really can't go wrong with any of the recent enduro bikes these days... and for the FR specifically, you can very easily ride most of our legal technical trails on a 140mm trail bike for the most part. I spent most of the year on the Stumpy EVO set up as 160f/158r (with the Cascade Link) and it was incredible; now I'm on a Forbidden Dreadnought that's 160/160 and is also awesome. You could probably throw half a dozen bikes into the mix and it always just comes down to personal preference, fit, riding style, and the deal you can get.

FWIW, with the Nukeproof situation I'm not sure I'd go that route given all other options. And I'm not sure how Alchemy is still hanging on (but their deep red Arktos looks pretty sick).

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100%. If most manufacturers were making lousy bikes it would be an easier decision. And agreed on a trail bike being enough for most of the riding around here. Truthfully, I could overbuild that spur and probably be fine for 85% of what I like to ride. But I don't want to mess with that bike, it covers a lot of ground well and I don't want to compromise that.

As for Alchemy, I think they run a pretty lean operation. Offering multiple travel options from the same front and rear triangle must have saved them a bunch on tooling. I'm at least a little concerned for them but it's hard to predict what's happening next in the bike industry or broader economy. Any brand could go the way of Guerilla Gravity

Nukeproof just declared bankruptcy (along with all the other brands under their patent company) and Alchemy is probably in the top 3 brands that I'd expect to go out of business in the next couple years. At best, I think you can expect questionable support from both of those brands.

So yeah, neither of those.

If I was getting something to compliment the Spur, I'd probably lean towards a 160-ish rear travel bike. Much less than that and you start getting into overlap territory, imo.

That ibis HD6 that pinkbike just reviewed looks cool. Yeti SB160 if you just want to throw money at the problem. Status 160 if you want to save the money for something else.

Haven’t ridden one, but hear the Status pedal quite poorly. Stumpy EVO would be the pick from Specialized in that category.

I think Toasts recommendations are good! I really liked what I heard from that Pinkbike HD6 review and the Ibis’ I’ve pedaled have all been great.


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Originally Posted by VTskibum

Haven’t ridden one, but hear the Status pedal quite poorly. Stumpy EVO would be the pick from Specialized in that category.

I think Toasts recommendations are good! I really liked what I heard from that Pinkbike HD6 review and the Ibis’ I’ve pedaled have all been great.


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Thanks for that. I agree that the HD6 sounds very good for my use case. I wasn’t entirely forthcoming in my original post, both the bikes I mentioned can be had for ~ 40% off. That puts the nukeproof at ~$3k less than the ibis at similar spec. Of course, an HD6 frame is closer to $4k so I wouldn’t be coming out ahead of I snapped a nukeproof frame and couldn’t get a warranty. Still, at discount we’re approaching used prices in a normal market, and the components can at least be warrantied. Not without risk but I don’t have a track record of breaking shit

If you want to stick with the Transition theme, they are starting to go on sale. Pro Bike supply has the Spire for decent price:
https://www.probikesupply.com/collec...um-primer-gray

Ripmos are discounted everywhere as well. Great pedaling bike

You could buy my RFX.
170f / 163r, built to death, 27.5, dirt cheap.
And local.

Good sales on the new yt jeffsy and capra

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Originally Posted by miker27

Looking for something to complement my Transition Spur

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ebike and mtb is the way.

You know it's going to bug you if your bikes don't match. Get a Spire. $4900 for Fox Factory and XT is a great deal. I can attest that they pedal great. I rode a 50 mile XC race and put multiple 10,000 foot climbing weekends in this summer on mine.

https://www.transitionbikes.com/Bike...e_Closeout.cfm

^^^ yeah, strong case for the spire. I have a couple buddies that have them, and it's the same deal - they pedal them on huge rides, no problem.

Specialized enduro is similar. Deals might be available on the current version, since the rumor mill is speculating on a new version.

The suspension performance on this bike is unbelievable and they are basically silent. I see them all over the internet (Jenson, etc.) for about $3k.

https://gtbicycles.com/collections/e...46592976912681

WeAreOne Arrival

Truly an awesome bike for what you are paying for, especially with the weakness of Canadian dollar for you guys.

Awesome pedalling platform and wicked on the down. 170 over 152, much smoother on the down, the 152 with only low 20% sag feels "sporty".

Seems like you are set on the lowest price you can find on a decent bike, but I would pass on the two you have posted and get a Spire. Noted as a good pedaler and Transition has good support. Big bikes need parts from time to time. That being said if it's not in the budget, it's not in the budget.

I think you have a good sized risk of going to ‘overbiked’. Most front range trails, which chunky, really ride much better on shorter travel bikes or long travel bikes with steeper geometry. Even trails like Longhorn don’t really want a 170mm enduro bike. You’ll end up constantly trying to chase corners with a long bike. The Spire is build for northwest ‘charger’ which are way more wide open big features. I wouldn’t like a spire on Dakota Ridge or anywhere at White Ranch. I know some people ride that style of bikes on those trails but plenty of people drive f350’s to soccer practice. Being overbiked isn’t fun.

Buy a Revel Rail 29. Much much more nimble than the options discussed. Climbs better. Will feel worlds different than your spur. On an ‘okay’ sale right now. It’s ‘steep’ geometry… but that rides much better on most Colorado trails (and Moab in my opinion).

Thanks for all the replies, lots of good thoughts here. Unfortunately, I'm trying to keep the price within reason and take advantage of what might be the "bottom" of this covid cycle. It's a gamble. If I had $8k that I could justify on a new bike I would wait until spring and do this properly with some demos. I spoke to the folks at alchemy and they seem pretty confident in their survival, full speed ahead on tooling for new models. But what else are they going to say?

As for being overbiked, that's a real concern. The problem is when I set out to buy an xc bike I could do some racing on I accidentally bought a Spur and it's just so capable. Trying not to have massive overlap. I like the idea of the Rail, but the geo is almost identical to the Arktos save for a 1.25 degree steeper head tube. Dropping the fork down to 160mm would help for that if needed. I think that alchemy would be the answer if I wasn’t worried about their future in this climate. Super boost is also obnoxious

If it helps your decision at all, of the ~30 bikes I've spent a decent amount of time on in the last 5 years, the Arktos was probably my least favorite. Granted that was the prior generation of the Arktos, so maybe the newer ones are amazing. But the suspension design is still basically just a knock off of the older yetis, which yeti abandoned a while ago because it doesn't actually work that well. Super linear, so it manages to both not absorb small bumps well and still get crushed by big hits. And it has a weird swoopy leverage curve just to make tuning a damper for it more difficult.

Revel usually gets more hype, but the Canfield Lithium has the same CBF suspension platform, is cheaper and have some pretty good sales going on (including demo bikes). You just can't put a bottle inside the main frame triangle

^^^ This is the way. Well established Local brand with a strong track record, cheap, metal, middle of the road geometry. CBF really is magic.

My $0.02 I could never go w a frame that doesn’t have in frame bottle storage which rules out Canfield and Alchemy for me. Revels use CBF and have that mandatory feature! Buddy has a Rascal and loves it


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Originally Posted by toast2266

If it helps your decision at all, of the ~30 bikes I've spent a decent amount of time on in the last 5 years, the Arktos was probably my least favorite. Granted that was the prior generation of the Arktos, so maybe the newer ones are amazing. But the suspension design is still basically just a knock off of the older yetis, which yeti abandoned a while ago because it doesn't actually work that well. Super linear, so it manages to both not absorb small bumps well and still get crushed by big hits. And it has a weird swoopy leverage curve just to make tuning a damper for it more difficult.

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^^ (except I haven't riden an Alchemy, just looked at the LR charts and wondering WTF they were smoking) There are too many good bikes out there now to buy one with 2013 kinematics. yes, the Alchemy "sine" curve is that bad.

Yeah not a ton of bad bikes, shit I built up a 1400 dollar status 160 into a 160/170 durbro rig and it’s so fucking fun, and it’s quiet and bomber and just works. So so so many good bikes.