I need some help. I got my refund check today for Jolene and I’m having a hard time choosing her replacement. I’m looking for a 5"-6" travel trail bike and I’m about 90% set on a Yeti 575 with the enduro pro kit; http://www.yeticycles.com/Bikes/Bikes575.cfm
I’ve test ridden a Cannondale Prophet 1000 and liked it a lot but as a friend said Cannondales are like a-holes, everybody’s got one. I have also considered a Santa Cruz Nomad which would be my 2nd choice. The main dilemma I’m having is with the Fox 36 TALAS. I’ve read a number of negative reviews relating to the travel not being a true 150mm and the hassle of 3mm increments of travel change using the TALAS system. I’ve experienced this firsthand with the TALAS Float RL on Jolene. It is kind of a pain twisting the hell out of the knob to reduce your travel to 90mm to go up a hill. I spoke with a FOX rep and they said they are making some improvements that will be out soon. Some of the improvements are true 160mm of travel and a 3 position TALAS system 160, 130, or 100mm; 3clicks vs. what seems like 50 clicks. The problem is neither Fox nor Yeti can tell me when theses new forks will ship, just sometime in June. I need a new rig now; I got some fillings rattled out on Saturday riding rock gardens on the Discipline. Anybody have any firsthand experience with these bikes, the Fox 36 TALAS RC2, or any other “all mountain” bike they could recomend?