MilkManMike

I will admit, trek wasn’t even on my radar for this. That does seem like the answer to my question. XT/SLX drivetrain runs circles around the SX/NX crap on other similar priced bikes. A fork upgrade, and a decent set rims, and she’s a beauty. I would give the brakes a try before upgrading, seeing as they are 4 pots, and Shimano trickle down tech has surprised me in the past. I will be calling around trek dealers in the morning. I wanted to get a TIG trail, but was put off with the fact that their website doesn’t provide local pricing. I know I can call the factory or email them, but it’s 2023, and if I can’t do my tire kicking online first, I’m not going to buy from you. When I replace my Spark with another XC/Marathon bike, I will definately be looking at the Mobu though. Would love a Meta 140, but who sells them locally? I am willing and able to build up a bike if I have to, but I would much prefer to just buy something readily available. Which is what makes the trek so appealing now that it’s on my radar. (Edit, I see they have a South African online store now. That’s great). Pretty much a coin toss then between the trek EX7 and the meta TR essential then. Meta needs a lot less to be upgraded though… maybe rims… so probably a better buy… why on earth spez doesn’t offer the allu stumpy in similar build spec makes no sense to me…

Hi guys, please help point me in the right direction. I am seemingly looking for something that the bike industry doesn't see a need to provide. For a whole lot of reasons that probably do not make sense, I do not want a carbon frame. But that doesn’t mean I don't want high end components. I am happy to build up a bike, but its not exactly easy to get good allu frames locally either. My current bike is a 2021 Spark 910, and I am planning on keeping it as my marathon/XC steed. But I want a new bike for trail riding and to travel with later in the year, which will include some light bike packing and some trail park riding and exploring in Europe. I want a bike I wont feel sorry for if it take some rock damage, and also wont mind chucking on a trailer or hooking on a lift that isn’t 100% perfectly padded, this is why I dont want a carbon frame. Looking for something in the 130-140mm travel range. I was leaning towards a Stumpjumper, but the only Allu option is horribly specced. The Comp is actually a decent value for money option, and the Expert is really well specced, and basically what I would want, but just on an allu frame. I looked at the frame only options, but they only offer the evo frame in allu, not the ST version. Are there any other good non carbon 130-140mm frame options I can look at so I can build a nice bike up? I had 3 ST stumpjumpers (1 allu and 2 carbons) before the spark, and loved them all, with the latest version being the best trail bike I have ever ridden, so I am biased towards stumpies, but not dead set on one. But what other options are out there for a really good non-carbon trail bike, either frame only, or full bike that I can just do a few upgrades on? I did ask at Helderberg Cycles if they could order me a allu frame, but the salesman said they can only get allu frames for warranty replacements, not for retail. I am in half a mind to just buy the Expert and an entry level allu version, and have them just swop everything over between the two bikes, but who is going to buy a carbon stumpjumper expert, with a bunch of entry level components on it, and at what price? and I dont have the patience and will to sell the parts out separately in the classifieds, as I would rather gauge my eyeballs out with a spoon than deal with a hundred “is it still avaialble” messages. So, before I end up blowing R155k to get the bike I want, that should only cost R100k, what other options are there? Surely there must be some well specced off the shelf non carbon trail bikes still on the market?