Currently own a C456 which is fine. Nice weight, handling, does the job (it’s a 2nd bike). I previously owned a steel 456 and didn’t like the harsh ride, the weight was less of a problem.
I’ve see a Cotic Bfe and I’m tempted. Anyone gone from a C456 to a Bfe? What’s your thoughts?
It’ll be built with Fox Vanilla 140, crests, 1×9. I’m not a big air merchant and light on components. It’ll mainly do shortish blasts on open moorland singletrack and playing in the woods. The Yeti ASR5c will do the longer days

Sounds more like Soul to me.

Why swap, about the only thing you’ll gain is weight.

BFe is a great fun bike, which is the sort of thing I hear about the C456 mind, and good for what you want

You could put the components onto the BFe frame and if you don’t like it it will be easily to sell on.

FWIW my BFe has 150/120 sektor forks, it climbs and descends fine in both settings btw, I think 140 will suit it well. I use mine for everything from short rides to long, technical and xc. I bought it as a second bike and it gets ridden the most with the FS now more “alps” (cough) orientated.

Dave, I do like the soul, but people seem to think it doesn’t suit 140 forks. That and wor lass has one! Don’t want matching.
I’ll gain a better looking bike

140mm BFe if you are going to throw it down steep things like a hooligan. 120mm Soul if you want to ride up, along and down.

P20 – Member
Dave, I do like the soul, but people seem to think it doesn’t suit 140 forks.

Soul & Bfe have identical geometry.

I can’t shorten my Vanilla forks from 140. Good point about the soul and bfe geometry.

What you need is a Singular Buzzard as well as your C456. That’s what I’m doing and they’re both ace

I’ve got a BFe and IMO, it really doesn’t suit 140mm forks. The BB just gets too high. If the Stanton Slackline had a proper sized head and seat tube, I would have one in an instant.

The Buzzard does look good and I’m tempted by a 29er, but it seems heavy and far more capable than I need

Is your choice purely aesthetic, or do you have a reason to swap a lighter, equally capable bike, for a heavier, possibly less compliant ride?

But surely we never sacrifice style for speed?
The C456 is just a bike. Nothing wrong, but nothing exciting. I’ve had a few years now and fancy a change

getonyourbike – the mk2 slackline will have both a 44mm headtube and a 31.6mm seat tube, there was a pic on stantons facebook page last week (as well as a pic my new ti build 🙂 )

stevede – Member
getonyourbike – the mk2 slackline will have both a 44mm headtube and a 31.6mm seat tube, there was a pic on stantons facebook page last week (as well as a pic my new ti build )

If only they did it in the first place because I only bought my BFe about a month ago and I can’t afford to swap it. 😥

🙁 The BFe isn’t a bad bike at all though, not a bad 2nd choice! I’ve had a couple in the past.

The BFe is a pretty good fun frame, definitely get some shorter forks for it though.

If you’ve got some pennies available then the Privee Shan is worth a look, stunning to my eyes!

slackline over a BFE with 140mm forks

And the Slackline is a beautiful looking frame…not that style comes into it at all. 🙂

Here’s mine 🙂

I found my current green Bfe frame harsh as f%”k on the rear end !

was sold within 2 months.

I found my current green Bfe frame harsh as f%”k on the rear end !

It’s a hardtail – the clue is in the genre! 😉

This whole thing started because I’d seen a 2nd hand BFE. But it’s looking like a Soul is more appropriate. Those slack lines look nice

A cotic Soul definately fits the bill for you P20 imo – even more so if you change your fox van for either an adjustable travel fork or a 120 travel fork. I had an air u turn pike 454 on my old soul and kept it between 120 and 130mm most of the time.

The Slackline is a thing of beauty, lovely bit of kit.

P20 – I reckon a Soul would suit you very well but doubt it will give you anything your 456c doesn’t already provide apart from the aesthetics of course. How about a Solaris or similar?

If I’m staying with 26″ then I’m not giving up my Vanillas. They’re my favourite all time fork. I took a set of floats off to get the vanillas

140mm Floats or Vanillas are great on the Soul/BFe. Bear in mind that a 140mm 32 Fox is only a few mm longer than a 130mm Revelation. Short stem (50mm on mine), low rise or flat bars with no or minimal spacers.

chiefgrooveguru – Member

I found my current green Bfe frame harsh as f%”k on the rear end !

It’s a hardtail – the clue is in the genre!

Ah so thats where I went wrong … 🙄

serioulsy though I have ridden a lot of hardtails over the years and I cant remember any of them being as harsh as the Bfe ?

I heard stories about the BFe being harsh so I bought another HT frame (Dialled PAC) as a backup in case. Built up the BFe and loved it from the first minute, ridden it on long rides (7 hrs) and never found it “harsh” – perhaps it’s personal thing, I do have a decent amount of natural cushioning though.

But it’s looking like a Soul is more appropriate

Told you so 😉

Here is/was my Bfe….

I found my BFe quite harsh until I swapped the rigid Thompson seatpost for a nice bendy carbon one. With the rigid seatpost I felt like I was being booted up the arse every time I hit a bump. Also big tyres at lower pressures help massively with the comfort factor.

A cotic Soul definately fits the bill for you P20 imo

[quote]I reckon a Soul would suit you very well[/quote]However, his and hers matching bikes isn’t a good look!

My (aka p20’s better half) Soul

Cotic Soul by ahsatb, on Flickr

Looks like you are stuck with the 456 ;-P

I have to say that I do really like my BFe, but I don’t really see any point to changing from a 456c to one, they are designed for pretty much the same purpose, I was originally looking at 456C’s but decided on the BFe when one came up reasonably local for a good price.

mine:

I have only ridden mine with the Reverb, I do have comfort issues, but they are the same as my previous frame and am currently in the process trying various saddles as I feel this is the issue, and not the frame.

I am running 110 – 140 revelations, if I am riding localy I tend to stick them down to 120mm, anything abit more interesting and they get wound up to 140mm!

Adam

that red stanton is stunning
Thats all G

Ahsat what size is that Soul, 14″? Stunning looking

Looks like a 16″? 14″ Cotic frames look more like this (gratuitous BFe photo alert).

Hora, its a 16″