batmobile Posted September 27, 2016 Share Morning Peeps I'm in the market to upgrade my ride. Narrowed things down to a Santa Cruz Tallboy 2/3 or a 2017 Spez Camber Carbon Comp. A third option would be the new Scott Spark 930 carbon, when they arrive. So budget of abut R60k. I recently had the Spez test bike. It was good, but not good enough to say that I'm not going to even bother with other bikes and fork out the money. Does anyone know if SC test bikes are available to ride in JHB? I know Mikes Bikes stocks SC so will need to phone them to check. Questions then to SC owners. We all know and read that the reviews of them are good. If you bought one did you manage to test ride it or was it bought purely on the reviews of mags and fellow riders. If you bought the frame only and build it up, was it again purely based on reviews or did you actually ride one. Really hard to decide to spend between R30-50k on a frame only to find that it's not quite as awesome as everyone says it is. The other things is, would a 100mm fork be out of place on the TB? Let's face it with the prices of bikes these days competing with small cars it really makes sense to ride before you buy not? Tough first world problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skott5 Posted September 27, 2016 Share Ja, to answer your question just get the TAllboy .. no Need to test ride 100mm Fork will work, 120 would be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malpiet Posted September 27, 2016 Share Santa Cruz ftw!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vetseun Posted September 27, 2016 Share SANTA. Its a pleasure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ians H2Sport Posted September 27, 2016 Share if you are looking at those bikes, you have to consider the Pyga Stage. Ride one, you will end up buying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vetseun Posted September 27, 2016 Share if you are looking at those bikes, you have to consider the Pyga Stage. Ride one, you will end up buying it.If you dont test ride the Santa Cruz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
428 others Posted September 27, 2016 Share See below Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoke101 Posted September 27, 2016 Share Currently ride a TB 2 have ridden the Camber too. They both good bikes but the SC wins every time. I have messed around on a TB 3 and its defiantly way more "Trail" orientated than the TB 2. The TB 2 is an extremely capable bike, I race mine at the sharp end of the field keeping the pro's honest and others have hit the World Cup DH road gaps on theirs. Yes you can run a 100mm Fork with know issues I did and so do most of the guys racing. I pushed mine out to 110mm and then 120mm as I prefer the bike a little slacker and it helps when hitting the rough stuff at speed, I have a hydraulic lock-out so the extra 20mm is not an issue. Yes I did test ride the bike before building mine up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruz Addict Posted September 27, 2016 Share Santa Cruz all the way, but have you considered a Hightower/ i bought my nomad frame and built it up against the spec that i wanted, its the best choice i ever made, there is black magic in the carbon i am telling you. the bike has saved me from certain crashes due to lack of skill more times than i can count. while the others may be good bikes a SC is a f****ng awesome machine that will never disappoint. as a comparison( no they are not xc bikes but still) i have been to several demo days and ridden several other bikes back to back with my SC and despite them being good and feeling ok they have just never compared to my Nomad. other bike i have tested are Pyga, Giant, Banshee, Specialized and Transition.i know these are my opinions but hey thats my 2c worth on your question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ians H2Sport Posted September 27, 2016 Share Geez, where do all you Santa Cruz chaps come from?? I rode a Tallboy 2 in the US last year and was very, very impressed. Confidence inspiring to say the least. Reasons I went for the Stage: - Patrick Morewood's passion and technical brilliance - 2 bottle cages on the frame - looks terrific - makes technically poor riders like me feel confident & fast - Locally designed. local is lekker - low weight for what it is - great specs for the price - SID fork, carbon rims - Not a mainstream bike - Great after sales back up What a bike!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAAD4 Posted September 27, 2016 Share Notice how everyone ignored the Scott part. Like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JXV Posted September 27, 2016 Share I'm not sure the other two can breathe the rarified air where the Tallboy thrives.For R60k you are looking at a used frame if you want a Tallboy with decent bits on it. Your shortlist is a bit confusing - perhaps tell us what bike you're currently on, what you don't like about it (i.e. what the new one must deliver over and above the old one) and the type of riding you will be doing with it. From your shortlist, all 29ers, I am discerning a desire for a trailworthy marathon/XC bike but wearing a 100mm fork hence the confusion. Does this mean you have a fork available? If your bias is more towards competitive XC then the Epic needs to be in the list. The Camber is a nice capable trail bike suitable for XC and marathon riding, provided you're not racing hard. The Scott is a race bike and the Tallboy is probably the most versatile of the three; suitable for competitive XC racing but also a nice marathon bike with good trailworthiness, especially if you fit a 120mm fork to it. And yes I agree with ians - the Pyga Stage/Stage Max deserves a look but again, you may need to find a used one to stay in budget.. Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dev null Posted September 27, 2016 Share The Spark is a very different bike to the other 2. What sort of riding do you want the bike to excel in? How do you expect the bike to perform in climbs? If I had the money I would have 2 bikes. The SC is sort of between a XC racing machine and a Enduro Trail Shredder, not excelling in either. The Spez is good for Enduro, but useless in XC. Same for the Pyga Stage. This is my take. As a parting note. If I had the money for 2 bikes, the choice would be a BMC FourStroke for XC, and a Pyga Stage Max for Enduro. EDIT: I better run, the SC fanboys will be hot on my heels. Needless to say, whenever I see a SC, I want to hit the owner over the head and take the bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odinson Posted September 27, 2016 Share The Spark is a very different bike to the other 2. What sort of riding do you want the bike to excel in? How do you expect the bike to perform in climbs? If I had the money I would have 2 bikes. The SC is sort of between a XC racing machine and a Enduro Trail Shredder, not excelling in either. The Spez is good for Enduro, but useless in XC. Same for the Pyga Stage. This is my take. As a parting note. If I had the money for 2 bikes, the choice would be a BMC FourStroke for XC, and a Pyga Stage Max for Enduro. EDIT: I better run, the SC fanboys will be hot on my heels. Needless to say, whenever I see a SC, I want to hit the owner over the head and take the bike. Don't agree with your first statement re the Scott. The 2017 Spark 930 has 120mm front and back travel and a head angle of 67.2°. That's very progressive for an XC style bike. You'll be easily hanging with more "trail" type bikes on that Scott, but could also blast an XC course. I've never been a huge Scott fan, but they've done an excellent job with the new Spark range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robodog Posted September 27, 2016 Share The Spark is a very different bike to the other 2. What sort of riding do you want the bike to excel in? How do you expect the bike to perform in climbs? If I had the money I would have 2 bikes. The SC is sort of between a XC racing machine and a Enduro Trail Shredder, not excelling in either. The Spez is good for Enduro, but useless in XC. Same for the Pyga Stage. This is my take. As a parting note. If I had the money for 2 bikes, the choice would be a BMC FourStroke for XC, and a Pyga Stage Max for Enduro. EDIT: I better run, the SC fanboys will be hot on my heels. Needless to say, whenever I see a SC, I want to hit the owner over the head and take the bike. The Pyga Stage is available in 2 main variations: Stage 96mm is a full on marathon machine but with slightly trail orientated geometry.Stage Max is 126mm and full on trail machine with beefier carbon in high stress areas on the frame. There is a 3rd variant in-betweener - a 110mm Mini max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batmobile Posted September 27, 2016 Share I currently have a Booth carbon 29er with a 100mm SID fork(could possibly appear in the classifieds sometime soon), also has 100mm rear travel. I'm not looking for a serious trail bike nor a xc bike. Want something which fits in between so in the lines of 120mm front and rear. I'm definitely not a race snake. If I go for the SC it would be a frame and I'd strip components. Just having an itch to get/build a new bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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