well I've been thinking of getting a full sus xc bike as my backs starting to feel the solidness of my Easton Aluminium hardtail!

been looking around and unless I go for the Tomac Eli on CRC for 600 pounds (yes I know Tomac have gone out of business and the name will be restarted soon...) then its either a variant of one of these or the intense - or is it?


what's your opinion on what I should look into?

Haven't loads of the Tomac Eli frames been returned after the seat tubes have broken?

saw that but as far as I can see its mainly a problem with the 2004 build - not sure of course what year CRC would be selling though!

but I guess the real question is what full sus xc steads are worth spending on at the mo?

I want something that will ride a bit like a HT but that I can actually sit down on for more than a couple of minutes without getting back pain!

Not sure about the Eli problems, just what i've heard on the grapevine.

The owner of my LBS has a Giant Anthem and he swears by it. 80mm of travel and will build up fairly light, the maestro system pedals well too.

Dave was riding an Anthem while Mike was on the Blur. The Anthem seemed to climb a bit better but that had very little to do with the suspension design. ;-)

Having seen so many people floating along on bouncy bikes Barbara has got me building a basic 4" bike for her. If she likes it its going to be expensive. :-/

I can't say I saw any wildly bobbing bikes on TransWales which shows how much shock and frame designs have progressed in a very short time. We rode with a couple on Cubes which one of my mates here in France also rides - worth a look.

Matt get the I-drive Frame, I considered the Tomac, £540 on wiggle ( well £600 £60 free stuff ), or £540 at winstanely.

Or on CRC the 4inch version GT ID4 for £420 or something, reviewed in this months MBR and liked, dunno if it's RP3 or RL shock though so ??

Why not try a thudbuster LT, I couldnt believe the difference it made to my hardtail...a lot cheaper than a new frame.

thanks chaps

as to trying sus seatposts - tried it and found they made my knees hurt with all the bouncing around - did help a bit, but couldnt get on with the changing length of pedal stroke...

have to say the GT's dont make me want to spend my cash - dont know why its an aesthetics thing!

the giant nrs composite looks nice but Im not sure it'd cope with my lack of finesse!

the anthem dosent really do it for me at 900 pounds for the frame

- not sure why the blur and intense do conmsidering the cost...

also cant find any info or websites selling cube bikes - my googleing is failing me !

Try a thudbuster Matt, they arc back so your legs don't change and they work great.

Shame on the GT's, they out ride anything else, but haven got the look / name. Thankfully no look and name is a good thing to me, and also the lack of £1600+ frame price :)

Paulscycles will do you a nice Trance for £600 + better forks.

Google brought me back to bikemagic and an address in Scotland with a phone number.

I got an Intense Spider XVP "cheaply" about 6 months ago. It's a bugger to clean and the tyre clearance sucks. However, all this pales when you ride it. Fast fast fast!

I've got a Giant XTC hardtail and I had a Marin Mount Vison (which was cannibalised to try and keep the cost of the Spider down); the Spider feels faster than both. It may just be in my head, but the Intense just covers the ground quickere deals with ups and downs faster and is certainly more agile than the Marin (Marins are top bikes though).

The only downside is I've managed to fracture my left arm twice getting used to the completely different handling. Nice bike, shame about the rider...

have to say the thudbusters look intersting although I'd rather get a test ride before buying one and Im not sure if it will cure my new bike craving...



thanks for the phone number link John I'd missed the fact they'd put contact details in the thread - d'oh


Im also looking for just a frame option as I'd strip all the tasty bits off my E8 as I dont need 2 xc machines and a town mtb...

have to say the scott spark looks tasy although I doubt it'd last long beneath me!

Are you still an ex-pat Matt?

nah moved back to the uk a year ago so enjoying the hills again :-)

I missed the hills too much while in amsterdam! so at least I can find proper bike shops now - only managed to find 2 mtb shops in amsterdam!

biggest problem I can see with the cube bikes is the dreadful shock positioning right in front of the wheel!!!

seals wouldnt last long with the english dirt Im sure

My mates 100mm four-bar Horst Cube has the shock in front of the seat tube. It must be a different model.

I think Cube has single-pivot/low shock bikes and four-bar/shock in front triangle bikes. I've certainly seen both, but they might be from different model years ;-)