Best 29er AM full suspension frames Hammerhead Thumper, Stumpjumper Kona Satori.

Anyone interested in a 130mm full suspension 29er frame for All Mountain / Enduro action may well be very interested in this:

I’ve been looking for a Stumpy or Kona Satori frame only for a while but I’m now totally chuffed I didn’t find one! I stumbled across Switchback Bikes in the States last week and have just ordered a brand new Hammerhead Thumper frame with Fox Kashima CTD shock from the states for just over £500 including shipping and import duty! They’re made in the same factory as many of the big boy brands and with 130mm of fully active Horst Link suspension – I am certain this will ride like a beauty. Designed for 140mm forks (Pikes are going on mine) and very similar geometry to a Specialized Stumpy 29er with 68 degree head angle which can be further slackened with slack set compatibility if required.

These are still available for just a bit over £500 including delivery and import duty to the UK here – check the photos – the grey ones look gorgeous: http://www.switchbackbikes.com/hammerhead-thumper/frame

Bike Rumour review here: http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/12/20/first-rides-hammerheads-hard-charging-thumper-trail-bike/

The company has recently changed name from Hammerhead to Switchback Bikes so is getting rid of the old decalled ‘Hammerhead’ stock. These are £1200 frames and would be bargain at that. They’ve also got similar looking 27.5 150mm travel prototype frames for around £800 inc delivery and import duty.

Scott, the owner, has been unbelievable to deal with – totally transparent, honest and helpful through the whole process. I’ve got some nice parts for the build including some newly arriving Pike forks and approx one year old Hope / ZTR flows / Shimano XT/XTR / Reverb / Thomson… parts from my old long travel hardtail 29er.

I’m hoping to get the frame in time to build it up ready for the UK Gravity Enduro Round 3 in Afan next weekend. I’ll also be taking it out for downhill action on my annual 2 week holiday in the alps towards the end of July. I cannot wait for it to arrive and to get it built. It’s the first one in the UK so I know I’m not going to see another on the trail!

If anyone’s interested I’ll post some photos of the build here and let you know how it rides…………………………………

I was looking at these recently but didn’t realise they would ship to the UK. Let us know how you get on with it.

Looks like a salsa horsethief

I see they haven’t learnt from their mistake with the graphics.
Those 2 options at the bottom of that page look just as bad!

Talking bikes that look the same – check out the 2014 Cove Hustler – ready for release any moment. It’s a 650B with a tad more travel but looks identical to the Thumper and is quite obviously straight out of the same factory. Under £550 for a 29er version of a yet to be released Cove with top of the range kashima shock isn’t bad!

HappyBiker. They weren’t shipping to UK but I emailed them and Scott was superb. He added shipping to the UK for $100 (£60), import duty should be $40 so it should work out at $890 all in which is £533.

The UK shipping option is now on their website as standard so you can just go on there, pay by card, sit back and wait for it to arrive.

I’ll let you know how it rides and post some photos when it’s built. I really hope it gets here in time for the next UK Gravity Enduro round in Afan as that would be a top place to test it.

Thanks, unfortunately this doesn’t help with my fleet downsizing plan!

The frame arrived yesterday and is now built! Pretty much 2 weeks from sending to delivery and the duty was £38 including Royal Mail’s £8 handling fee.

This frame is amazing quality. If I’d paid £1800 for a Turner or Santa Cruz frame and it was of this quality, I would be well pleased. It also looks fantastic in the flesh with a slight greeny blue / emerald tint when it catches the light in a certain way. Great finish and lovely details. It weighs 3.15kg (6.9lb)which is only 200g heavier than my old steel hardtail frame.

The direct attach front mech I already had didn’t fit so I’ve fitted a narrow / wide 36t chainring so I can ride it while I’m waiting for the new mech to arrive. I’ve got my Crests fitted at the moment but it will usually wear Flows with Chunky Monkey / Hans Dampf tyres.

Bargin!

More photos here if you’re really keen! http://s1275.photobucket.com/user/blueandwhiteblade/library/Hammerhead%20Thumper?sort=2&page=1

These are still available to buy in any size for between £550 and £580 including delivery and import duty. The shock alone has an RRP of £389!

http://www.switchbackbikes.com/hammerhead-thumper/frame

I’ve only had the chance to ride this on the street and from that I know it will be awesome but I’ll add a bit more in a week or so when I’ve had the chance to test it in different situations (natural peak district rides, steep and technical trails at Wharncliff, trail centre rides at Cannock and Sherwood Pines.

That looks pretty nice. Looking forward to the ride report 8)

Very tempted by one of these – they look great in black.

A quick look at a total build cost with some Rockshox Pikes is coming out at around £1700 which, for something that’ll handle solid technical trails and even some enduro racing, isn’t too bad.

Currently justifying it to myself as it would be a “work in progress” build so would only shell out for parts bit by bit … maybe!

Also thinking that with some offset bushings and a 140mm fork, this would potentially run with a HA of about 67degrees?

snorkelsucker – Member

Also thinking that with some offset bushings and a 140mm fork, this would potentially run with a HA of about 67degrees?

Assuming it’s got the clearance- not all bikes do. I’d go headset personally, keeps more things as designed (though an FSR’s unlikely to get too offended at shock length changes tbh)

Fair point.

That said, the stock angles with a 140 fork aren’t too bad anyway, but nice to know there are options out there to slacken it if needed.

It’s a lot of frame/shock for the money really, which is hard to ignore. Keen to get an aggressive 29er as, having ridden an Orange Five 29, I was really taken with it.

Im sure these have come up before, basically a kona satori (same front end made in the same factory) but with a horst link rear. http://www.granarycycles.com are the uk suppliers but not sure they have any of these older models in stock, was looking at the thumper or whatever it was called before the re-brand but never followed up, good work getting it for £500 with shock, whats the tyre clearence like, maybe you could sell them to on-one in place of the el ghuapo 29er LOL!

Are those Conti 2.4s on that… looks like acres of clearance if so!

Hmmmmm

FYI, a works headset should fit and drop the HA by 1.5*. Have one on my salsa spearfish xc bike and its as good as hope stuff, just pick the length to suit and get it installed by a shop (unless your feeling competent).

I’ve got a mate in NZ who has a HH Thumper, gave me a shot of it at Dumyat last year, only rode it down, so don’t know how it pedals or climbs, but it was unbelievably good on the downs. I had to slow down as I felt the bike was too quick!. 😯

Loads of rear clearance. They are Conti X-King 2.4s in photos but I fitted my Flow rear wheel today with a Chunky Monkey (biggest 29er tyre I’ve found and highly recommended) on it and it has about 8mm clearance on both chain and seatstays. I’ll be running the CM most of the time.

Yes, same front triangle as the Satori. Have you seen the Cove Hustler 650B above also? Same design out of the same factory but scaled and modified for 650B wheels. I wonder how much they’ll cost when they finally get released!

Granary have the newer badged Unveil 9 on their website but non in stock currently. They are identical except for colour, decals and they come with a Rockshox Monarch rather than the Fox CTD kashima on mine. £1200 from Granary. After getting mine, £1200 would be good value. Under £600 is amazing! This grey ano one looks seriously good in the flesh. I’m biased, I accept!

Looks great, what kind of weight is your build it you don’t mind me asking?

13.3kg (29.3 lb) as pictured with reverb. It will usually be more like 14kg with Flows and big tyres. The frame is 3.1kg on it’s own. Got it in XC mode for pics but it won’t be doing much of that.

What size is that, and what height and inseam are you?

Mine’s a 16 inch small. I’m 5ft 8 with 31 inch inside leg. I’d only have the seat at the height shown in photos when cruising on fire roads etc.

Just came across this! So pumped to have a Thumper across the Pond….

I will come back to this after a while and chime in on some of the questions that haven’t been answered yet….

Thanks, Scott

Is the grey anodised or paint?
graphics painted or stickers or etched?
Rear axle type, maxle, syntace etc. ?

Thats what ive come up with thats not obvious on the site.

Does anyone else feel it’s a bit cheeky, if it really is a different rear end attached to a Kona Satori front? That goes a bit beyond taking inspiration if true…

Kona may not own the front so to speak, they could have just seen an existing design and stuck their rear end on it. Could also look like the front of a kona but be quite different, I remember a pace frame looking exactly the same as a viper frame but the pace one had modified internal stiffening plates and a few other things.

From what i read it IS the satori front, as podge said many compaines do not own a design, but buy from a manufacturer with some mods to make them a bit more unique or brand specific (KONA is a bike company not a bike manfucaturer, other people build their bikes for them). It not uncommon for companies to add off the shelf bikes to their lineups to fill gaps.

They do indeed look very similar (identical?) but the Satori has press fit PF92 BB while the Thumper has threaded.

According to what I read the Thumper is an off the shelf frame from Caribou that manufactures frames for many brands.

http://www.caribou-bike.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104:ibex-29q&catid=41:products-update&Itemid=53

I cant’t judge if there is foul play anywhere but Hammerhead/Switchback seem to be more open about the origin of their frames than many…

And yes, I’m very tempted to get one myselt 🙂

/Johan

Saw these a while back, does look nice.

Threaded BB shell, 31.6mm seatpost, sorted-looking geometry, sensible cable routing. All looks good.

Does the frame feel laterally stiff? Did you ask if the bearings and pivot hardware are widely available standard items?

They do indeed look very similar (identical?) but the Satori has press fit PF92 BB while the Thumper has threaded.

Well there you go, don’t judge a book by its cover etc.

The Satori used to have a threaded BB, it’s only the latest version that swapped to BB92.

STATO – Member

It not uncommon for companies to add off the shelf bikes to their lineups to fill gaps.

Yup. But there’s a difference between an off-the-peg/open mold bike, and a copy. So the question I suppose is, is this a Kona design (they say they design all their own frames) or a generic, and if it’s Kona’s own design have they given permission for it to be reused?

is this a Kona design (they say they design all their own frames) or a generic, and if it’s Kona’s own design have they given permission for it to be reused?

or do they even have the ability to refuse? their design but not ‘protected’ so it can be sold as open mould to other companies. Cost money to protect a design and they might not have felt the need. You right tho, could well be a copy with slight changes to butting and other hidden stuff which we would never know, seems to get good reviews from the public tho and thats what matter really i suppose.

is this a Kona design (they say they design all their own frames) or a generic, and if it’s Kona’s own design have they given permission for it to be reused?

or do they even have the ability to refuse? their design but not ‘protected’ so it can be sold as open mould to other companies. Cost money to protect a design and they might not have felt the need. You right tho, could well be a copy with slight changes to butting and other hidden stuff which we would never know, seems to get good reviews from the public tho and thats what matter really i suppose.

@STATO Great questions….here’s the Open, Honest, & Transparent answer.

The “Life of the Satori and Thumper frames:

It all started with Kona and Stefan Stark, he is a Design Contractor that works with companies like Kona (and others). He collaborated on the design of the Satori frame. Kona had the concept for what type of frame they wanted the Satori to be, they hired Stefan Stark to execute it.
http://www.mtb-news.de/news/2012/02/23/rahmendesign-aus-leidenschaft-fanes-konstrukteur-stefan-stark-im-ibc-interview/

Stefan Stark also does Design Contracting work for the manufacturers, Caribou is one of his clients. Caribou manufacturers Kona’s frames, so after the initial CAD design was finalized, that’s when Caribou steps in and works w/ Kona and Stark to get first sample/prototype frames built. Then all 3 of them work through that process and bring the frames to market.

Once the Satori was finalized, Caribou asked Kona if they could offer an open-model frame similar to the Satori. Kona agreed with the stipulation that the rear of the bike had to be designed to not infringe on their design. That’s when Caribou went back to Stark
http://www.caribou-bike.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101&Itemid=283 to design a new rear. He came up with the Horst-Link version, the tube shaping, etc.

Kona signed off on it and Caribou was able to offer the frame to Brands that would be interested.

From that point, I have a rundown on how we found and sourced the frame. It is one the Hammerhead Thumper page on our site

http://www.switchbackbikes.com/hammerhead-thumper/frame

We are really excited about the Thumper (and soon to be Switchback Unveil9) frames….they are exactly what I was looking for when deciding to start a Bike Brand.

Please fire away with any other questions you may have….I’m an open book 🙂
http://www.switchbackbikes.com/company/

Thanks, Scott

This is interesting, probably a question more for the OP, how was the import tax done, did you get an email/letter from UK customs or Parcelforce etc with the amount you needed to pay then the final delivery was done?

Tempted myself, will get the tape measure out tonight to compare with my current frame

Presume the bearings are generic 6802 2RS or something similar like most things?

Do you know the weight of a large frame?

Thanks for the info Scott.

When are the carbon frames available?

Thanks switchback, I thought i had read that before, thats obviously why, its on your site! Seriously tempted now, just need to work out how to sneak it in the house 😀

dlr – the postie sends you a letter/card telling you how to pay, once done they deliver the item. Same for all items that get stopped by customs.