It doing my head in I tell you.

I’ve sold my full suss frame as I want to go back to a long travel hardtail.

I’m torn between the bfe and the 456 but I’ve read that many reviews my headhurts.

I love the bfe, always wanted one but they are currentky out of stock on the mk2 and if I went for the newer one its £30 more and then I would need a mixer headset as my forks are non tapered.

I’m a bit concerend by the mixed reviews on the 456, gets real good reviews but then bikeradar give it a mixed review and a few other reivews echo their opinions its to hard out back..

What would you do? Have I missed any other frames around the £300-£350 mark.

I’m quite heavy and will be commuting on it too as well as riding my local hills( chilterns)

All opinions welcome !

Cheers

Steve

I went for a Transition TransAm – mainly because it was a good deal prettier than than the c456 & the one I got was (a lot) cheaper than a Bfe. Deals are out there… get a 2012 one tho, the dropouts are much improved over the 2011 & the seat post will take a reverb

Pics of the trans am please.

Where did you get it from mate?

I’ve had both (and a Soul) and they were both very good, but in short it’s the C456 I kept. In long…

Ignore the Bikeradar review, it’s absolutely demented. The C456’s not the stiffest frame I’ve ever ridden so how it stopped them from riding down rocky descents without destroying their arms, when stiffer frames like Chameleons and Sovs don’t… Personally I reckon the fork was broken and they were too keen to talk about the frame to register that. But anyway, it’s utter cobblers however it happened.

The BFe is stiffer, and obviously heavier. The geometry’s better IMO- subjective o’course but they descent similiarly while the C456 as standard climbs worse. The BFe also just feels that bit more inspiring when you jump on- the C456 will do everything the BFe did for me, but the BFe felt like it wanted to, if you know what I mean. Also the BFe is extremely well finished while the C456, well, it isn’t. Scratches easily and really feels like there’s no attention to detail, stuff like the cable guides being in the wrong place on the top tube etc.

But the downsides… Weight, obviously. And for me, stiffness- I don’t really like as stiff rear end on a bike, I always find a bit of compliance means extra control and speed, and the C456 works very well from that point of view for me. (comfort isn’t an issue on either bike)

And flexibility- I’ve stuck a 2 degree head angle reducer in mine which makes it a bit ragley-ish and makes it a very confident descender without making it any worse on the ups.

On that pliant rear end… Some people might call it bendy, or soft for pedalling. I don’t but that’s a matter of taste.

But they’re very close, and I’d own either again (or a Soul more likely).

cheers for that northwind.

One thing that bothers me is as I’m quite heavy @ 17 stone I can’t help feeling the on one will splinter to bits if I try and ride it hard’ whereas the everyone says the bfe is stiff but perhaps under my considerable bulk it may be like a soul for normal size people.

Yeah, I can’t help much with that except to say that it doesn’t feel at all flimsy… There’s a lot of material in it I think, personally I expect mine to work just like the steel one (except better 😉 ) and so far it’s delivering.

Was there not a similiar weight rider posting in your last thread?

I’ve started at many threads about it I can’t remember !

The 456 I’m looking at is the matt finish frame ,what’s the quality like then mate, does it run full length outers?

Mine is the original finish- gloss? Natural? Not sure what to call it. It’s like an angry stripper, scratches as soon as you touch it… Nothing problematic, but it looked pretty secondhand very fast. I don’t baby it to be fair but after maybe 3 months it looked much the same as my Soul looked after a year and a half. It has split outers.

I’m told some of the other finishes are better but couldn’t tell you which, I’m not shopping for one 😉

I have had the LT hardtail bug to, and considered the Carbon 456, and nearly hit the buy button.
However after seeing the state of my mates C456 after a Peak ride, I am glad I didn’t.
It was chipped that bad that I would not consider even getting on it again.
Being the wrong side of 16st I would not feel that the frame would hold up. Luckily the lad who’s bike it is, is around 11st wet through.

In the end I went for the Evil Sovereign, and glad I did.
Gears, Singlespeed, Rigid, 69er its all good. 🙂
Not the lightest, but one of, if not the best hardtail I’ve had

Why wouldn’t you ride it? Chips in the topcoat of carbon are as worrying as chips in the paint of a metal bike. It looks horrible but it’s not structural.

I have to say that I do think my BFe is fantastic. I’ve crashed it pretty hard and had some pretty bad landings on it but also done rides of 6+ hours on it. It sure isn’t light but I think that it’s ace. I’ll also be taking mine to Morzine in August to really get the shit beaten out of me!

Here’s a pic of my mates and mine together (within my group of riding mates we have four bfe’s and a soul!)

I love the bfe, always wanted one
Sounds like the perfect reason to get one.
And :
whereas the everyone says the bfe is stiff but perhaps under my considerable bulk it may be like a soul for normal size people

And I’d agree with that too. Bikes must ride differently depending on the weight of the rider, there’s so much variability in people’s sizes.
I have a Sovereign and always hear it described as too stiff, but I don’t find that problem at all, and being 14 stone wonder if its light, skinny folk that are finding it too stiff.
I’ve ridden 100 km on mine fine, but also trust it completely when trying jumps and drops even though my technique’s not great and a bad landing from a heavier bloke can be very high impact. I’d expect the BeFe to be similar.
Also, I reckon the slight weight increase of the frame is less significant with heavier riders. It’s a smaller percentage of the total weight you’ve got to move.
Like I said at the start, I’d go for the one I’ve always wanted. But if you are also considering the Sovereign, there’s a shop-soiled medium green on CRC for £200 which seems a bargain to me.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=85565

chvck what weight roughly is it

erm… somewhere between 30 and 35lbs, the farm scales (uncalibrated since about ever) put it at 32. It’s built up with parts i thought would take a fair battering without being too heavy.

Dialled Alpine,love mine

IMG_4532 by StuE1, on Flickr

http://www.dialledbikes.com/products/mtb/alpine.php

You could have my genesis altitude complete bike for the money your looking to spend. It has the original revelation chassis recon coil still so it’s great for a large bloke 🙂

You could have my genesis altitude complete bike for the money your looking to spend. It has the original revelation chassis recon coil still so it’s great for a large bloke 🙂

@ northwind. I appreciate that some of the chips were purely cosmetic. But others were not and well into the carbon
He has ridden it plenty since without issue, but personally I would be not happy with it with my considerable frame on it
Personal preferences and all that

On mine, any blow hard enough to chip that deep, is hard enough to dent a steel frame… Certainly doesn’t happen “just riding along”, I’ve got a decent size chip on mine that I made by riding into a bridge frinstance 😉

Anyone know if cotic work weekends as I emailed them either yesterday or friday but had no reply.

Just want ti find out if they are getting any large mk2 frames in ? If not how do I order a new one.

Cheers

Steve

Phone some of these shops, Im sure one of them will have a large frame in stock. You may even get it faced and chased for free aswell!

http://www.cotic.co.uk/dealers/

Love my BFe. Done the Alps and wasn’t out of its depth. I don’t find it harsh.

If CRC still have cheap Evil Sovereigns, I’d seriously consider them – built one for a mate, had a blast on it the other day, they really do feel lovely. Had to talk myself out of buyign one several times already.