Am looking for areasonably tough hardtail frame to build up with some 100-130mm forks I’ve got lying around, but don’t think I need anything too beefy,any ideas

Loved mine, and love the switchback that replaced it even more, sadly thats not made anymore, both are absolute hooligans, the original mini cooper of the bike world

both;
brittish
small
steel
fun
revolutionary (how many clones? 456, PA, soul, etc)

corners like theres no tommorow, and finds jumps the locals didnt even know existed! The only downside is since riding it more im finding myself overshooting corners, not that its not cornering propperly, just the laws of physics wont let me!

but…………….

DMR’ making a “new mountain bike” this year, tempted to buy one, just in case my switchback ever gives up the ghost.

Great frames.

Am I right in thinking that somewhere along the line there’s been a horizontal dropout version or is that just a dream of mine?

the new one is swopouts, so you can fit orrisontal ones

the switchback, has tiny little ritchley style ones, its the little things that make the difference.

thisisnotaspoon – Member
revolutionary (how many clones? 456, PA, soul, etc)

Out of the DMR range I’d have said the Switchback was most like the other frames you mentioned and the Trailstar not much like them at all.

And IIRC, the Switchback came out after the Soul and Prince Albert.

The trailstar is an incredible frame, I hate to use annoying buzzwords, but it’s great for “aggressive riders” ie people who put the saddle down, rail corners, attack descents, aren’t shy of drops jumps etc.

To top it off it really can be built as an all day bike that climbs well. It’ll be the next hardtail frame I buy for sure.

Am I right in thinking that somewhere along the line there’s been a horizontal dropout version or is that just a dream of mine?

Theres been a few, some early ones had mtb bb and horiz dropouts, then with the later ones they switched to bmx bb and horiz dropouts. Now they all have mtb bbs and swopouts.

The new ones can accommodate 130mm forks and are slighter longer, plus they come in an 18inch size too.

Real nice frames, Ive had three at different periods of time, and my brother still has one. Not really much like a 456 and a PA by the looks of it, they were really meant for jumps and 4x and the larking about, hence the short chainstays and short top tube.

trailstar LT was pretty much a, 4130, heavier, 16″ switchback.
trailstar must be at one of DMR’s oldest (even if just in name), making it 10 years old?

my switchback frames 3 years old, and that was bought after they’d been out for a good 4+ years or so as i lusted after one as a teenager, and I had to dig out a backcopy of a mbuk to find a review.

Might be a urban myth, but i heard you put the extra brace in the PA as a result of the switchbacks early problems?

thisisnotaspoon – Member
Might be a urban myth, but i heard you put the extra brace in the PA as a result of the switchbacks early problems?

Slightly amusing, but no truth in that at all.

The first 200 Prince Alberts had the extra tube gusset because I wanted them to look like a Hutch Trick-Star/GJS A-Frame.