Got to say, I love my bfe. I have it set up with a single ring on front, Zee mech, wide bars, short stem/ reverb / and Fox 32’s at 140.
I usually ride Surrey hills as it is the closest, but have been to the peaks and Wales etc. Was thinking of upgrading to a full suss as I just did Antur Stiniog on the bfe and then on a full suss and was surprised at how much easier it was on a susser (never been on one before) Thing is, I wondered what the best improvements I could make to the bfe in terms of forks (thinking some nice PIKES) or tyres (currently a sticky HR2 on front and beefy ardent on rear) that would make a fairly substantial difference to the ride?
How have other bfe owners got theirs set up? Pics if you can / want.

I have a black 26′ BFe with 140mm rev RLT’s, hope wheels and running a 1×10 drivetrain. Pretty much does everything for me. So much so the full suss is hardly used. I run Bontrager Xr3 2.25 tyres which are a nice all rounder.

Great bikes.

What’s that? 14Omm Bfe’s in black?

Apart from maybe needing a couple of hoses trimming (can’t be arsed until they need a bleed), I don’t think there is anything else needed. It is pretty perfect imo 🙂

They do look good in black for sure. Nice touch with the red hubs.

I have an xs in blue (I like lots of stand over clearance)
Revelations, reverb seatpost, 1×10 setup.
Conti rubber queen 2.2’s on pro2 flow wheels.
I love everything about it.

Forks are great(I really find it strange when people complain about them being too flexy), reverb seatpost makes riding much more fun and the tyres roll well and offer good grip.

Have no desire to go full sus.

(I’ll try and post a PIC later)

I miss my Bfe 🙁 Great bike that encourages you to ride past your comfort zone and give it the finger on the way. I had a pair of Rev U turns on mine and found them great. Same as you for most of the rest tbh. Short stem, wide bars, reverb, minion out back and high roller up front.

No trouble riding anything in the Peaks or Welsh trail centres. Faster than some friends on full suss, slower than others.

Not majorly helpful, sorry about that.

ooh pic

https://photos.google.com/u/0/photo/AF1QipOnQKlG1JwB0SP2plV1fgvXfoiA3GxDYiew5kg-

I’m a bit overkill on colour co-ordination 😳

I have a small BFe with old skool wheels, 1*10, Stans Ex flow on Hope pro 2 hubs. I prefer to use Fox 36 (2015) spaced down to 140mm. Use Hans Dampf 2.35 tyres.

My lads BFe is similar but has a 150/130 Revelation and that is also fine.

I have a Soul dressed up like a BFe. It’s great but Antur Stiniog was the nail in the “hardtail for life” coffin – looking forwards to revisiting in a couple of months on my Spitfire! I have 140mm Fox 32s on the Soul and although they’re just fine around here (the steep fun bits around the South Downs) they’re not good when it gets relentlessly rocky – my fingers hurt for a few months after Antur… The Pikes on my full-sus are in another league, both for stiffness and damping. If I had a headtube that would take them I’d buy another set!

Mine gets less use now than it should – the Alpine does everything (except change direction quickly) at least as well as the BFe and eats up rocks in a way the Cotic just can’t, at least when it’s under me.

Still love the BFe though. Tough as nails and bags of ‘character’.

My build is XS BFe, Marzocchi 44s set at 130mm, Flows on Superstar Switch with Butcher/Purgatory combo, XT brakes, X9 drivetrain with RaceFace cranks. All the kit has proved tough to break if not the lightest.

Gritstone rather then black, but close enough…

I have a bfe with pikes reduced to 130mm, saint cranks, flow ex rims. Running 1 x 10 with a 40t expansion ring. Just did some natural trails in the lakes recently and it was awesome. Love this bike.

I recently swapped out Fox 32 Talas 120-150 with Pikes at 150 and it’s made a massive difference to the bike. Feels so much more stable and planted over rocks and roots.

Have also installed a 42t extender and a oneup radr cage since I took the photo to help me out on the longer rides. Not sure I want to do much more with it at the moment but I’m sure I’ll think of something!

Love my 2012 BFe, 26 of course with adjustable 110/150 forks. It’s the bike I ride 90% of the time including Surrey Hills where it’s perfect for me. I have a FS setup for holidays / “big terrain” but after a few crashes on some jumps I retired from that and so the BFe is more than capable for smaller jumps and drops and the trails. The HT does make the trails make challenging to ride and I’m faster on the FS but that’s fine by me. If I had to have only 1 bike it would be a FS as renting when in Alps doesn’t appeal.

Taken at Mam Tor, Dark Peak

Pikes, XT, Flows, Reverb etc. Only bike and rarely wish for anything different. Swapping 140 Floats for the Pikes has completely transformed it, is a hooligan of a bike. Love it.

Tempted by the 650B version because it’s longer and slacker, but right now can’t justify the cost for not a lot of gain.

Some good food for thought there. Seriously considering a swap for Pikes, though I have just seen some 34 CTD Kashima fox’s that might be a good upgrade. Not a lot wrong with my current FOX’s, but thinking a maxle might make a stiffer fork for a start (mine are QR). Would like the adjustment I think on forks as climbing can be tough at times even at 140

Large BFe, 150 pikes, flows and 1×10 XTR. Was originally bought as a stop gap between full suss frames but couldn’t let it go now!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/v6d418]Antur Stiniog Berm[/url] by Matt Cotterill, on Flickr

have you done the blacks at Stiniog on it momo?

I ran coil Lyriks on mine but if I still had it I’d probably go with some 150 Pikes, just to save some weight really.

Trouble is I can’t help but think 150-160 is going to be a pain to climb on. My front ends gets off the floor with 140’s

I think 130 is the sweet spot personally. Mine’s a great all rounder.

Wish i could get pikes in 1 1/8th. Not a bfe but thinking of selling the lyriks on my slackline and getting some rct3 revs. Presume the damper would be similar to pike but less beefy stanchions?