I’ve recently got one of the Team Tig SL frames, I was hoping Merlin would do the same discount on an 853 frame as I’m a bit of a steel fan for hardtails, but I’m surprised how comfortable it rides and I’m sure the post man must have thought I was having a big box of air delivered it’s that light.
I went for the 19″ version in the end as I’m on the max for the 17″ (after speaking to Merlin) it’s got the longest headtubes of all my bikes and spare forks I had would not fit due to being cut for smaller headtubes on other frames so I had to get some new forks (100mm) – headtube 130mm, my older 18″ Fire Mountain and M Heckler is 110mm, so I find the front end a bit higher. Top tube measures 22″ c-2-c, 1/4in shorter than the Kona, same as the Heckler, BB 12″ with 2in tyres on.
Dunno what all this stuff about FR XC geometry is about to be honest, I can’t tell any difference, get it and change things like stem, seatpost, bars or forks to get it how you like it and ride it … Yeah ??