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More food for thought.

I went up to Cycle Revolution (or whatever it's called) in Colchester to check out the Sant Cruz bikes. They did not have any on display, but I got talking to the sales guy about my frame swap.

Caveat that he is a sales guy, so I am sure he wash trying to push a sale, but never the less, he thought my best bet would be a Santa Cruz Bronson frame, not the Nomad and not a straight swap on the Spesh Enduro frame.

His reasoning was that an Enduro frame 'is too big' for the UK and the Bronson would be a lot more fun.

The Bronson comes built with a 150mm Pike fork, but he commented that lots of people put in a 160mm travel
Fork without issues, even helps to make the front end a little slacker.

It's now got my head in a spin that I have he wrong frame for the stuff I do (which is mostly trails centre stuff like Bedgebury).

Thoughts?

Your rear shock O ring does not lie. Do you use all the travel on your rides? At the end of a vigarous session I have managed to knock my O ring off the bottom of the sanction before, which I would say is all the travel used. Check where your O ring is next time you have had a good session, If you have 10mm or more left, maybe you'd enjoy a slightly more playful bike that has less travel.

That said its also nice to have something in reserve, especially if your planning on going somewhere you have not been before that is going to be a bit more intense than your usual jaunts. In most but not all cases this will be at a compromise with the more gentle rides, but seriously how much is 10mm going to make?

For reference my bike is 150 front 130 rear, orignally 130mm all round but I bumped the fork up from new. 160mm on a Bronson should be a nice enough ride, will slacken the head angle by half a degree from the geo chart figure.

I installed my CC DB Inline today and also put on my new tyres (minion DHF and DHR2).
Went over to the Spesh shop and weighed my bike.
It's 14.7KG

I weighed an Enduro Expert (carbon frame).
It weighed 13.8KG

I was surprised there was so little in it.

The Expert has a Carbon Crank which is 250g lighter than the one on my bike. The tyres on my bike are heavier than those on the Expert by about 150g. So that is roughly 400g.

Amazing that there is so little difference in weight between the two bikes. Like for like with same crank and tyres, it's approx 400g difference.
I was expecting 2 to 3kg difference between a Carbon and Alloy bike.
Maybe the mods on mine have helped reduce the weight?

Carbon frames are not that much lighter, my bike with 140mm of rear and 150mm fork weighs 12.7kg and it's not even carbon.

As for the Bronson the bike you have is just as good for what your using it for.

I've got two feeling about santa cruz bikes after trying friends:
The suspension action of SC or any other VVP system bike is brilliant, works when you want it to and locks out when pedaling (without having to change settings of the shock).
The fit and geometry of the frames is really poor, their top tube is too short and they are not slack enough

Another thing which the shops won't always talk about is carbon failer. One of the guys i ride with all the time with had a carbon blur (26" version of solo), he ended up getting a hair line crack in the paint on the rear swing arm (the idea is that if the carbon (which should be stiff as f**K) was able to flex when it shouldn't have and damaged the outer paint, then what damage has occurred below the surface). Great customer service from SC, a warranty replacement rear triangle. 8 months later on, same problem again. This time a how new solo frame as warranty replacement. 8 months later same problem.

Again nothing to say there was damage below the surface. Mate has sold the replacement frame and is now on a banshee spitfire (this is how i ended up trying one and buying one). If you like a bit of strava anerziling, times were similar or quicker (bike felt more robust and confident inspiring). He has now changed the wheels to carbon which has helped to get the weight down to 29 lb

A bit of food for thought i hope

Yeah thank all. I'm not going to bother with a carbon frame. It seems an ott spend.
I'm happy with my bike, it has all the bits on it I want and I don't think I could 'use' a carbon frame any more than I can my alloy frame!

If I spend some cash on more bike stuff, it is likely to be on a Rubaix.

Carbon bike frames these days are all about stiffness and nothing to do with lightness, most good alloy frames will only weigh a fraction more than the carbon equivilant...
Some good component choices will make an alloy build just as light in my opinion..

If you're looking to build a sub 30 pound hard hitting am bike, then you're almost defineitly going to have to go for a carbon frame. As your other components, such as wheels/forks, need to be burlier to take the big hits. Whereas the frame can be just as stiff and strong being carbon.

I ride a nukeproof mega am, and it weighs in about 33/34lbs, not the lightest but it's ok. I have thought about carbon wheels/bars etc, but it just seems a waste. If you're trying to build a light bike, start with the heaviest component and make that light.

Two friends of mine have just bought new bikes, one a canyon strive race 9.0, the other a spec enduro. Both were similar prices, the canyon is considerably lighter....just so hapens to be the nicer bike and the one I would much prefer to ride. There's a decent chance a carbon framed canyon will be my next bike.

Carbon is lighter and stronger, and means you don't have to make component choice based on weight, and not performance. The only issue with carbon are the historic cracks etc, although these seem to have drastically reduced over the past 2 years. Bearing in mind, mass use of caron in mountain bikes has only been in place for the past few years, especially on longer travel bikes.