For that price, take the Spectral if you can get it.
You can’t easily decrease the travel unless the bike is designed for it.
If you want to stay Canyon for discount purposes, either the Neuron or the Spectral will be just fine on Tahoe Trail. It will be a little on the heavier side, but with some fast rolling tires you’ll be just fine.
I would avoid the Lux (unless you really want to race hardcore XC)
Look at the Canyon Neuron or the Lux - full sus but lower travel than the Spectral
Lux? Have you tried one? Just curious about your thoughts if you have ridden one. I was interested in trying the 9.0 SLX Team.
I haven’t. It would be “too XC” for the kind of riding I do. The Neuron would be more what I’d go for at 130mm, same as my Trek Fuel.
As many have mentioned, pretty much any modern XC FS bike can do what you’re after. Another bike worth looking at is the new Norco Revolver 120.
I’ve never tried any Canyon bikes. I have tried the Trek Fuel EX and Procaliber. As soon as my LBS has a TopFuel (any day now), then I’ll test ride that. I would like to do a back to back with a Canyon Lux. I suspect that the 120/115 TopFuel will be just about perfect for the casual XC racer.
Is that part at 19+ minutes in rideable at all? It looks like it could come as quite a surprise if you don’t know the trails. Amazing video quality.
I’m sure that someone with serious skills on a DH bike or with trials skills can descend that section, but for the other 99.9% it’s unridable.
Any thoughts on the orbea oiz TR?
It’s not a bad bike, but from what I understand most people end up dumping the stock shock tune as soon as they get the bike. There is a thread over on MTBR about how most people on the Oiz are switching to the Manitou shock.
Of course if you have a discount, you still come out ahead.
If you want a flex stay bike but arent interested in Scott Spark, I’d check out the Kona Hei Hei (and the keep an eye out for the 2020 model which supposedly is getting a bump in travel up to 120mm)
Good to know. I’ll look for that thread.
I like the spark (and can get a decent discount on it) but have read about problems with pedal strikes.
I’m also very tempted to wait for pivot to update their Mach 4 SL to 12 speed xt (they say maybe late summer), as I’d probably get the live valve with that as well. I can also get that for a decent discount.
Looking to use it mostly for xc marathon events, and I’m basically 100% roadie right now… so I have no idea what I’m doing 
If you can get a Mach 4 SL with Live Valve for a discount, I’d go that route over the Spark.
I have an Orbea Oiz TR - great ride. It’s very capable, but also climbs well. The only thing I wish it had was a traction mode like the Scotts do, but all the same the closed has a bit of give.
What are people’s views on the new Trek Top Fuel? They went from a 100/100mm to 120/115mm with a slightly slacker geo. Would this be that much more toward the trail end of the spectrum or would it still be considered an amateur XC race bike that would just be better for everyday riding? And how would this maybe compare to other ‘downcountry’ bikes like the Epic EVO, SB100, etc? (All of which tend to be 120/100mm)
Looks like the 2020 versions do!
And I just got my bike!
Gonna have to retrofit in that Squidlock!
I thought this was interesting from Geometry Geeks. I have a 2016 Top Fuel and just picked up that Cannondale SE2, which is a 2018 bike making it two years old. Look at the clairvoyance from Cannondale on that Scalpel SE2. I wonder if it was a test to see how the market played?
It’s also interesting how personal mountain bikes are and I wonder how super-duper pros feel about the recent change in geometry and travel. The new stock of XC race bikes is way different from three years ago.
XC Marathon events as the focus then I wouldn’t go over 120mm of travel in the front end, I just don’t think you’re gonna need anything longer travel for the trails used in most marathons and also wont want anything too slack if you want to be competitive.
Personally I’d consider the below:
Trek Top Fuel
Scott Spark
Pivot Mach 4 SL
Yeti SB100
Orbea Oiz
Santa Cruz Tallboy or Santa Cruz Blur
Long list of incredible choices that I don’t think you can go wrong with, at the end of the day if budget is not a constraint then you’re gonna end up with a 10-12kg (22-26.5lb) dual suspension bike and they’re all going to be weapons on both singletrack and climbs.
I want to jump on this bandwagon and ask for some advice.
Looking at starting to mountain bike more and am upgrading from '17 diamondback release 1. I’m in Maryland and the local trails sound like singletrack, with lots of rocky/techy trails in the greater Maryland/Pennsylvania area.
I’m looking at possibly doing some XC and am definitely interested in some of the longer events (Leadville, Tahoe, Marji Gesick, etc. – I’ll be moving out west or mid-west in a bit over a year). Unsure at the moment if I’ll dive full bore into XC or do mostly trail while dabbling in XC and maybe a bike park or two.
Bikes I’m looking at (around $4k):
The Top Fuel seems to split the differences between the two, but I’ve always loved Santa Cruz bikes. I’m test riding the Tallboy and Top Fuel this weekend and will follow up, but am looking for any advice you guys have.
The best bike will depend on the kind of riding you’ll be mostly doing.
The Tallboy will be most versatile. You can ride Leadville, XC, trail and even gnarlier stuff (eg Moab) on that bike.
Unless you’ll be getting pretty hardcore into racing, I’d probably go for that bike.
