stapfam

Considered it and my dream bike for a long time was a Whyte 46. Did a test day and and I am afraid that none of the bikes I tried that I could afford- worked. That Whyte though was good, along with a Santa Cruz and One of the top end Specialised. They are a bit pricey though and above my budget.

Now that Whyte has a different ride to most of the other bikes around. Instead of feeling like a Pogo stick on the test track- It was the bike gliding through the bumps and I was not going up and down with the bumps. Unfortunately- When I did get to try one on my local Hills- I did not like it. Ride was beautiful and I can see why a lot of the Enduro riders use suspension. Problem was uphills where I felt the bike was holding me back. Only a 15 mile test ride with a member of staff from the shop-perhaps not quite set up properly or I had a great deal of riding adjustment to make- but I was not prepared to put the money down on something I was not fully happy with.

So if I do the Enduro rides now- I use the Bianchi with the Thud buster Suspension post from the Tandem.

Now most of the Fast riders on these long offroad rides- use just front suspension. Only ever talked to one of them and he said that most of the effort involved in this type of riding is used uphill. The one place where Full suspension bikes do not have the edge on a standard bike. In fact- If he had a choice- then he would use a FullyRigid bike for performance but he was getting old and the body would not take it any longer. He had just reached his 40th birthday.