Why on earth would you want to ride a 30 lbs hardtail? I am really struggling to find a reason why.

30lb is about right for a bike imo. Any less and it starts to feel unsubstantial, I wouldn’t trust riding a really light bike.

Whats to say you won’t have more fun on a lighter, more nimble HT, and that you would break one?

Learn to ride properly and you won’t need to rely on scaffold tubed frames.

I ride jumps that are 30ft, drops that are 5ft+ and take the sov downhilling and DJ. I can ride properly, just fine thanks 😉

Ideally I’d like a frame with the same geometry and standover clearance as the sov and a pound less, but it doesn’t exist (as far as I am aware)

Incidentally. Sov is cromo isn’t it? Wonder if they’ve ever thought about a posh steel version.

rs – Member

sorry, didn’t realise top-end downhill racers used 6lb steel frames… correction then… if riding a hardtail predominantly downhill for fun, a light bike is not important…

Still wouldn’t agree tbh, that comes down to taste.

Frinstance, my BFe was about 34lbs IIRC when built up heavy with dualplies and Lyriks… felt too sluggish to me, didn’t like it much. With more averagey kit on I’d guess it was 29, 30lbs, much more fun to ride and faster to boot.

I was similar, had a dialled alpine around 30ish lbs at first, ended up about 33lbs with bigger forks, wheels, etc and it was much more confidence inspiring on the downhills with the heavier kit, depends what you’re riding i guess.

I was similar, had a dialled alpine around 30ish lbs at first, ended up about 33lbs with bigger forks, wheels, etc and it was much more confidence inspiring on the downhills with the heavier kit, depends what you’re riding i guess.

What forks did you swap from/to?

pikes to domains, now have a giant faith which is much more appropriate 🙂

rs – Member

depends what you’re riding i guess.

Maybe a little, but mostly it’s personal taste I reckon. I never rode anything on the fat BFe build that didn’t work better for me on the average BFe (well, except when I bloomin punctured it at Fort William, wish I’d had the dualplies on)

Some folks just like bikes that ride differently to what you like… Also, it was easier to load onto the gondola and roofrack I think the lighter build got shaken around more in cattle trucks though.

My Bfe frame weighs 5.4 lbs (quoted). Probably one of the most do-it-all frames around. Light enough for big rides, yet doesnt feel unstable and is very tough.

A build with Wotans and burly rims, sticky tyres, dropper post, chain device etc was ~33lbs. Great fun on the downhills, but overkill really.

Just revised and rationalised it – now its ~26/27 lbs without the dropper post (havnt quite finished bike yet to weigh), with 140mm Revs, 2.4″ tyres… i expect its a lost a little bit of its stability, but gained a lot more agility, and should be much less of an arse to drag up a hill.

I seriously doubt I could EVER break the frame.

Its all in the build. A soul would be a pound less with the same build, but I couldnt run a dropper post as easily for more techy riding (and its £200 more!). A change of the relatively old and chunky EA50 bars and onone 456 stem in a few months will see a bit more weight off as well

Its all bikes.

Tim

My freshly built Pure 7 must be in the 30lb range, but it’s not an issue for me. I am grateful that I have a U-Turn fork on it to make it more climb friendly though. Job done.

It’s heavier than my Enduro, but the ride quality is…different. I like them both, but for different reasons.

I ride a NS Surge (will be a BFe as of next week) as a do it all bike with lyriks up front (lighter than my pikes were!). I have no idea how heavy it is but it’ll certainly be a fair bit over 30lbs. I love riding it! It’s fantastic on DH courses and I don’t like climbing much anyway so don’t give a crap how bad it is for that, I just get on with it.

or maybe, you wouldn’t hate climbing so much if you didn’t ride a stupidly heavy bike, with stupid long forks..?

just for balance like…

(i’ve got a blue pig, definitely over 30lbs, definitely ace)

or maybe, you wouldn’t hate climbing so much if you didn’t ride a stupidly heavy bike, with stupid long forks..?

It’s entirely possible, I doubt it though!

Northwind wrote….Incidentally. Sov is cromo isn’t it? Wonder if they’ve ever thought about a posh steel version.

My MK1 Sov is 853 tubing, it’s no lightweight but I love it.

robidoo – Member

My MK1 Sov is 853 tubing

I did not know that, cheers. Heh, and that’s the version I’ve ridden too, how observant am I…