tcarthew

I took the Banshee Phantom for a test ride this last weekend....omg, that 29er is so much fun! That is one hell of a bike! I can imagine the spitty would be good too.

Trek Fuel EX8? https://www.trekbikes.com/za/en_ZA/bikes/mountain-bikes/trail-mountain-bikes/fuel-ex/fuel-ex-8-29/p/2140600-2017/?colorCode=black I rode one, it's pretty awesome & the specs on it are great.

Thanks for the feedback, there is definitely something about the bike. Even my non-riding friends agree that it looks like it's worth it! But holy crap, that wait....they're only available from 30th of august! Thanks for all the comments so far, interesting reading, I also found a forum on pinkbike. The interesting thing I find is, no one has a bad thing to say about the bike, even when they've experienced minor issues such as creaking. YT seems on the ball in helping their customs out. I lie, actually EVERYONE seems to hate the YT bottle cage & bottle.

No sympathy for you, but hats off for finishing & for mentioning it. That kind of behaviour is bloody douchey & so against the spirit of the sport, especially a ride like darling. Love these "higher" starting batch guys, usually the older gentleman taking sh*t way too seriously trying to proove what to what? Name & shame I say! Speedy recovery buddy.

Thanks, that makes sense, I spend a lot of time on the tygerberg trails, just because I live here. I'd say I have a little more skill than average joe & road my previous bike (vipa) aggressive enough that I felt I need a "little more bike", especially one I could grow into skill wise. The AL one has the lockouts which improve peddling enough to justify tygerberg trails ;-) Interesting that you say you'd prefer an XL, would you mind sharing your reasoning? Or would it be purely personal preference?

I have the AL one to demo, so it has 3 modes, pedal, lock & open. I'm not the lightest guy around, but when it's in pedal mode, there's very little bob & lock locks it as much as you can expect. Quite similar in that respect to my vipa I had previously. My inseam is about 87cm, and tweaking the saddle a bit has made peddling more comfortable, but I'll need to tweak more I imagine once I get it onto a proper trail. Thanks to all for the input so far

Thanks, that's perfect. Playing around with the saddle height & for the most part it's working. Will try give it a proper ride tomorrow afternoon & the weekend. I can see how this bike can be fun, it's on the heavy side, but on the bike it doesn't really seem to be much of a factor really. I suppose I'll find out on the first climb.

Hi, I'm looking for YT Jeffsy owners, at the moment, I have one on loan for a test ride. I am in the market for a trail bike specifically, so this is kinda "the" bike for that style of riding it seems. However, sizing of these things is a pain in the ass. I've noticed (and maybe it's just in the western cape), that arranging demo bikes is not as easy as one would of hope, so it seems bike shops expect you to be happy with a guess based on a chart. According to YT, at 1.89m I could go L or XL. The demo bike I have is a L and it feels pretty good so far (which is 10 minutes!), but I can't really compare it to an XL at this point. What I'd like to know from the Jeffsy owners is: 1. How tall are you in metres & which size did you buy? 2. How has the bike been for you since you've had it? It would be great to hear from the AL owners here, most reviews nowadays always seem to deal with the higher end carbon frames & that's great & gives an indication, but some of us poor folk would love to have some proper reviews around the things the average joe can buy. Thanks in advance!

Ha! You're "that" guy aren't you? Devil on the shoulder... You are right, there's something "rowdy" about the trek, like the kid who listens punk in school while all the other kids are jamming to whatever pop song is spewing forth from the radios...

Haha! Pretty damn close to pulling the trigger actually, those are very good specs for a damn nice price... Taking price away, how does this compare to an aluminium tallboy? Less travel 120/110 & 68 degree head angle, but as much fun? Better long term investment? Better resale if I wanted to change up in couple years>

And therein life's my predicament right now! Hahaha, do I take that at that fantastic price or shop more! :-\

Excuse my ignorance, but what is angleset? I must say, I have learnt quite a bit from this thread so far! What Rudi-H said makes great sense & it's the realisation I'm coming to. It's about the head angle really, then what the geometry can support.

Hehe, you make a very valid point. This is why I ask the question, you read reviews & you never know how to take them or what the context is in terms of ride ability or trail or preference, etc. I am not as experienced a rider as many of you on this forum & I'm not really a race snake. I'm a competitive s**t, I like a challenge, so I really enjoy technical stuff. I love ascents as much as descents....IMHO, I don't enjoy the down as much unless I earned it by getting to the top myself on my bike (crazy I know). I currently have a very short travel marathon dual suss (100mm) & it's pretty stiff in comparison. For me it is a fantastic bike, but not the type of fun I'm after. I'm close enough to 40 that I'm not going to be making a breakthrough career in any discipline of the sport & I don't have the time that some to train. So yes, I want plush & squishy & forgiving & to be able to lock out & have it pedal well. Even if it's overkill for what we have around here. I tried the marathon bike, now I want to try the trail bike setup... I'd like a 29er trail bike with decent travel that performs well going up, going down, etchnical or no. We don't have hectically steep or super technical trails (yet), but we have enough of them that they can be more fun with the right bike. I don't have cash to burn, so I'd like to choose something that's going to give me that all round experience. I figure that's a 29er trail bike. Absolute max budget 50K..... What you boys got? Also, if it helps, I'm 1.89m & weigh around 90kg....weight is not a factor I'm too concerned about.

https://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en-ZA/5010 I considered a tallboy, but from 1 or 2 reviews I read it seems more xc/trail. Shorter travel & apparently doesn't descend as well. Fuel EX 8 & the stumpy are still my forerunners at the mo :-) That Evil is way way out of my budget!

Anyone know the general pricing of these bikes?

Woah, was that a mature response I just saw on the internet? I'm completely freaked out right now.

Any takes on stumpy vs trek fuel ex 8? I'm also looking at getting something more trail oriented. Specifically 29er trail that is. I want something fun, that can also do distance. I was looking at the Jeffsy, the Stumpy & the Fuel EX 8. I was put off the Jeffsey by really bad first impressions. Took me weeks to get a hold of the guy & then he seemed pretty disinterested in sorting out a demo. I've asked him to call back, but we'll see if that happens. But for now, it seems to be between the stumpy & the trek.

I have one too, freekin awesome purchase! I don't really see that as being a pity. Thanks to that, they're able to keep costs low, very low in comparison to droppers I've checked out in bike shops where you have to compete with the ridiculous costs of equipment in general, further aggravated by the shop needing to add more on to turn a profit. Personally, I think it's fantastic that there are guys out there selling direct to the public & trying to help out average joes who can't always fork out the big bucks needed in general. Also, the service from Lyne in general is phenomenal & so far, I've never gotten that kind of treatment from the bike shops I've been in....Whenver I've dealth with Lyne, I've honestly felt like they love what they do & they care about their customer.

@tcarthew, twitter is the same. A bit of everything there

Nice find, you realise we're in trouble....he joined twitter a year ago & he has 20 followers...