i prefer this setup; it remind me how hard our nenek moyang work to reach today level...
I recently sold my Commencal Meta AM, which although it was incredibly fast, I felt rather than being down to me, it decided where we went and i just hung on. This was great in many ways, but i didnt feel it was helping to improve my riding, so I decided to build a bike that would be a bit more responsive to my, much in need of improvement, inputs and which would be more of a go anywhere UK Trail/ Enduro style bike. I ride 2 or 3 times a week split between Surrey Hills & Swinley Forest and I try and get to proper mountains both here and spain whenever possible.
My Shortlist came down to a Nomad C, Specialized Enduro, Lapierre Spicy & the SB66c. And having ridden various incarnations of all of these I decided on the SB66c. My decision came mainly down to the geometry and weight in that the SB66c is the closest to the low slung frame design of the Meta, but about half the weight.
The guid cost just shy of £5K and has taken me about 3 months. As a result I will probably be on bread and water for the next year or so and thats even after shopping around from the likes of bike discount in germany is half UK price for Shimano, SRAM and KS (inc free post return and warranties are covered in UK).
2012 Fox 36 RLC FIT Kashima Talas Forks
Fox CTD Kashima + Boost Valve Shock
Reynolds 2013 AM Carbon Wheelset
WTB Bronson TCS Tyres (Conti Baron's for the winter)
Cane Creek Headset
Raceface Atlas 50mm Stem
Raceface Altas 750mm Bars
ODI Ruffian Grips
Shimano XT M780 Brakes (I-Spec)
Shimano Ice Tech 180mm disks
Shimano XTR Shifters (I-Spec)
Shimano XT 36/24t Crankset
E.Thirteen Bashguard
Blackspire Stinger Guard
Blackspire Big Slim 2 Pedals
Shimano XT Shadow + Medium Cage Rear Mech
Shimano XT Direct Mount Front Mech
Shimano 11-36 Cassette
Shimano XTR Chain
KS Lev 125 Dopper Post (with ODI grip mount remote)
Fizik Gobi XM Saddle.
I have been ridden it regularly for the last 6 weeks and for me it is the most responsive bike i have ever ridden (which I know contradicts some of the earlier reviews). It took me a while to get the rear shock completely dialled and i'm still not sure about CTD, which seems to require constant switching between trail and descend, where as with the old rp23 i could just set it up and forget about it.
Back to the ridding, its mainly been in wet to very wet and cold conditions and i've been doing quite bit of cross country single track at swinlely where the talas have come into their own, and more recently i've been riding quite a bit of light downhill on the south downs.... and the proof of the pudding is that i have beaten all but one of my STRAVA times which i set on the Meta. Whether this is down to "new bike" enthusiasm or the bike itself, well time will tell but being as dispassionate and as impartial as a man in love can be, this is the best bike i've ridden.
If you're still awake i hope this sort of rambling review helps!
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category...-frame-12-46751