I’m going the completely wrong way about it but I recently bought a top spec hardtail and am contemplating moving all the shiny bits onto a full suss frame (my first).

Am eyeing up one of last years Orange Five’s currently available around £1300 but having had a look around a few LBS’s I can see a lot of great looking reduced rigs currently up for grabs around the £1800 mark in the end of season sales (Whyte’s, Giants, Stumpys etc) so surely there’s got to be some Five bashing frames out there for under a grand?

Needs to be large, and i’m lardy so needs to be stiff. I hate maintenance hence the Five single pivot seeming attractive to me.

I mainly ride trails, a few trail centers, Surrey Hills, South Downs etc. Yes I know, not exactly the Alps.

I’ll be fitting 1×11 and 140mm Revs up front.

well I must say, that’s a rather disappointing response

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-mega-tr-275-rockshox-monarch-2014/rp-prod106879

Bird Aeris.
Love mine!

SIZE?

I know of a mega for £650 iirc ex display.

Large plz. 6’1″, short legs long torso

Hey slimjim78.

I own a shop in Cornwall (Unit Cycles) and we have a 2015 Banshee Spitfire frame in Black, in Large I can do something on for you?

The frame is built to be tough and since it is designed by a Scot it is designed for British weather, ie loads of tyre clearance, all sealed bearings, full length cable outer etc.

The frame will accommodate 26 or 650 wheels (we have the 650b dropouts fitted) Stealth dropper routing, adjustable geometery. It comes with a Cane Creek DB Inline shock too.

RRP is £1660, I could do it delivered for £1350

Picture:

Cheers

Anthony @ Unit Cycles

Ahh drool at the Spitfire, I so want this

Cheers Anthony, that’s actually the 2nd Banshee i’ve been offered!

looks a real bit of kit that does. I’m a bit worried about it being too much bike for my nimbying among the hills.. ?

DAMN traders trying to lure me in 😛 – damn that looks noicety noice.

8)

I believe the Whyte T130 Works (complete bike) will be reduced to £2000 in Edinburgh bicycle Co-op sale that commences on the 15th August. I know it’s not a frame only option but at that price with Pikes and 1×11 it’s a bargain. They are currently still priced at full rrp and they only have a few left. Check their website on the 14th August as they usually list their sale prices the day before the sale actually starts. Worth a look maybe?

Napalm you are close to taking food out of my kids mouths with those pictures and offer ^^^ when my old Blur LTc finally gets replaced I will be contacting you to see if you have any similar offers available…

zeesaffa – Member

Bird Aeris.
Love mine!

This, £850 for frame only.

http://shop.birdmtb.com/featured/aeris-pre-order-deposit.html

Aluminium Bronson for £1300?

http://www.probikeshop.com/en/gb/mtb/frames-frames-c3425.html#t=51&typeSearch=1&page=1&filter=price&order=desc&search=3425&85=3226

Niner W.F.O for £767?

http://www.rczbikeshop.com/default/niner-frame-29-w-f-o-9-fridge-green-size-m.html

No Problem guys! 😀

Check us out on Facebook by searching for ‘Unit Cycles LTD’ you can contact us on there on at the shop on 01726 860830.

Cheers

The Spitfire’s a good choice! I have one in mint flavour! 😀 Has done me from XC races to smashing around steepish rocky stuff.

The Cane Creek shock’s brilliant too – Really plush open, but firms up nicely with the climb switch.

Another vote for Aeris. At least have a go on one 🙂

Dingleberry – how’s the weight of your set up feel? Are you using a 160mm fork?

Being a Spitfire owner myself (in stealth black) I’d snatch his hand off at that deal.. With the right build it rides like a mid-travel trail bike on the flats and it climbs very well considering that it goes downhill like its being chased by Ratboy with a live grenade between his teeth… 😀

Most fun bike I’ve ever owned and I’ve been riding mountain bikes for 25 years.!! (Good grief I feel old now)….

Man you’re twisting my arm..
How’s the Banshee ride on 140mm forks? Anyone doing so?

The more I look the more I like, especially with that shock.
I’m chewing over the Banshee, a reduced Orange five frame, or a new complete Whyte T130

I’m thinking that as a lard ass, the single pivot Five would be best compromise.. There’s a lot of bearings to service on that there Banshee..

If you’re a heavier rider then the Spitfire’s greater stiffness vs the Orange will be a good thing, as will the CCDB (any other shock will need a custom compression tune). Your weight won’t have any bearing on bearing life! 😉 The ones in my Spitfire lasted almost 18 months and 1000 miles and a set of bearings only costs about £20.

The geometry on their site is for 160mm 26 forks or 150mm 27.5 forks – so your Revs will make it about 1/2 deg steeper and a few mm lower at the BB. You’ve got 1 deg and 12mm BB height adjustment at the dropouts, so you’re talking 66.5-67.5 deg head angle and 338-350mm BB height. Very nice numbers for a trail bike. If you want to go FULL ENDURO in the future then some 160mm forks will turn it into even more of a downhill beast at the expense of some liveliness.

Go for the Spitfire!

Run mine 26″ in 650b dropouts and 650b pike at 150mm (was a 160mm 26″ Lyrik until I got the Pike).

More pedal strikes with the Pikes but 650b wheels would up the BB height by 10mm.

Awesome bike, and way more capable than my skills.

With all this talk of spitfire love I’ll just leave this here..

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1805724/

Selling my brand new 2015 spitfire, £1100 to a STWer 😉

Sweet b’jeezus, the black frame looks ace but I’m a total sucker for raw frames..

I may have to email you

nodrog2 – or anyone else? How sure are you of the T130 Works being £2k in the sale? That’s a hell of a discount!

Keeping my eyes peeled

Getting scarily close to pulling the trigger on one of the above Bashee’s.. can someone please tell me why a large won’t fit me at 6ft1″ with stubby 31/32″ inside leg?

Worried about shortish reach not suiting my freaky long torso. Used to riding large Cotic Soul/45650b for reference.

Getting scarily close to pulling the trigger on one of the above Bashee’s.. can someone please tell me why a large won’t fit me at 6ft1″ with stubby 31/32″ inside leg?

Worried about shortish reach not suiting my freaky long torso. Used to riding large Cotic Soul/45650b for reference.

My medium Spitfire is miles longer than my medium Soul – the former has a 40mm stem and the latter a 55mm stem and the Banshee still feels considerably longer when standing up. Looking at the geometry charts a large Spitfire is 30-45mm longer in reach than both your Soul and 45650b.

That is good news. Apologies, but i’m notoriously bad at working out geometry calcs.

The Soul was sold to me as a good ‘long’ hardtail option, and whilst I rode it for years happily – towards the end I tended to feel like I could use at least an extra 10mm on the toptube.

To me, the large Spitfire looks short ‘by eye’, and i’ve scoped an XL which again, to eye, appears nice and long. I have little chance to demo one unfortunately so am reluctant to plump out £1000+ and end up feeling cramped on the large.

I think that part of it is my fear to give up on soul/hardtail geometry and fully commit to trail geometry.. I’m a 120mm fork fan at heart.

Final question: will my 140mm Rev hamper the frame noticeably in any way? It bugs me when I only find reference to 150/160mm forks on the Spitfire.. although, my preferred riding style is to climb as well as descend – I already find my 45650b a beast to keep the front end down during climbs with 140mm up front.

the 2014 Nukeproof Mega TR 275 mentioned earlier are being sold off at £650 (RS Monarch shock).. good reviews, might be worth cutting my teeth on before committing to something as lovely as a Spitfire.. Perfect for my Rev with 130mm at the rear too.

what say you good folks?

2014 Nukeproof Mega TR 275 = great value.

Be very careful on sizing of a Mega TR, we build one up for a customer and it was very short and my god was it heavy!

As for the sizing on the Banshee, you fall perfectly in their range for a large frame:

http://www.bansheebikes.com/bikes_page/banshee-spitfire-mountian-bike/

Cheers

Anthony @ Unit Cycles

cb – correction, the T130 works will be £2399, the T130 S will be £1799

Selling my spitfire if anyone is interested….awesome bike, best I have ever owned. Forget the orange five having owned 2 previous to my spitfire there is no comparison

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1827625/