I’m looking for a few ideas for a do it all hardtail frame, which is slack enough for a 120-140mm fork.

Ideally it’s got to be a jack of all trades and with a maximum budget of £399.

Should I be looking at On-One or is there anything else out there worth considering?

Pipedream Sirius

Cotic BFe.

Cotic BFe.

i second that 🙂

Bfe or PA.

Can you provide a bit more info on what you mean by do-it-all? Do you want to race XC, endurance races, go on all day epic xc rides, blast around trail centres, go dirt jumping, do uplift days, ride the Megaavelanche?

I don’t think you can get away from the fact that a frame will be biased towards one of those things and less good at the other stuff.

Edit: Bfe is a pretty good option though, very versatile but is a bit heavy. Check out the genesis frames too. Notice chumba are doing their HX frames for 299 at the moment too, good trail bikes if you want alu.

Dialled Prince Albert or Genesis Altitude ? but both are a bit weighty if you are erring towards XC

I’d far rather err towards “durable” than “XC” if that helps, so something which can handle the jumps is better than an xc race biased frame. But I don’t want to compromise too much on all day rides.

Bfe sounds like a very good bet then or maybe a genesis Latitude or Alptitude. I think I’m going Soul but that is a bit over your stated budget. Probably worth trying a soul and a bfe and seeing if you prefer lighter trail, or heavier gnarr. Once you’ve narrowed it down a bit then there’s loads to choose from in either category.

Surprised this hasn’t been listed yet…

http://www.stantonbikes.com/bikes

There is also the piglet or blue pig, although there have been a lot of quality and supply issues. I use my mk1 blue pig for everything you mention and would buy another.

i am fancying something like this again.
a tough long forked h/tail built up with robust gear.
seem to have done a full circle bike wise, and want something not too desirable, with minimum maintainance issues.

Do you want to race XC, endurance races, go on all day epic xc rides, blast around trail centres, go dirt jumping, do uplift days, ride the Megaavelanche?

I have done all of those things on my Evil Sovereign. Best hardtail ever. EVER. Get one.

New kid on the Block.

Stanton Bikes – Slackline

Cotic BFe
Stanton Slackline
Dialled Alpine
Evil Soverign
Charge Blender

Personally I ride a BFe and love it – although it really depends what you want to do with it. I run a small frame and I’m 5’11” – it’s a great play bike, can hang off the back, rag it around the woods and 4x tracks. But wouldn’t fancy doing an all-dayer in the saddle.

That slackline does look nice.

That slackline does look nice.

It does, but only in the 16″ imo.

That bloody Stanton Slackline, it does look lovely. I’m pretty set on a Soul but that Slackline keeps popping up in threads to tempt me. For what I want it for I’m sure the Soul is the better choice though and loved it when I test rode one.

Anyone know if there’s anywhere I can try and Slackline?

Funny how all bar the Chumba that people have mentioned are steel.

surely the 456 falls into this category quite nicely?

i would go for the 456, cos it is available in a 20.5 unlike the others.

Funny how all bar the Chumba that people have mentioned are steel.

Well if it was just for something to blast around on, bit of singletrack, some dirt jumps, then Alu is definitely worth a look. Got an mmmbop and that’s brilliant on shorter rides, though anything over a couple of hours starts getting a little uncomfortable. I’m sure someone will be along to recommend a SC Chameleon soon too.

Thought of a carbon 456? Meant to be very tough, light, and not be as harsh as alu bikes. Peter Poddy had one on the recent Swinley ride and it looks better in the flesh than it does in photos.

I’d spend the extra £80 and get a chromag aperture.

Soul is above your budget, but it sounds more suitable – Bfe & the Ragleys are pretty slack and weighty for all day rides…

My Soul currently has 2×10, uturn Revelations stuck at around 135mm, KCNC bits, Stans 355s and Maxxis Minion DHFs! It doesn’t know if it’s XC or Gnarrrr, bless it…

I’ve done the Puffer, 10UTB and Tour de Ben Nevis on my Summer Season. As well as big mountain days, Carn Ban Mor, Laggan Black and Golspie. It’s no the lightest but then again nor am I. I also have a Rock Lobster Team Tig 853 which eats up the miles but there is no way I could ride all of the above on it.

Rock Lobster Team Tig 853 which eats up the miles but there is no way I could ride all of the above on it.

Devs, curious to know specifically why you’d say no way to riding those on the Rock Lobster? Is it a geometry thing on the steep stuff? Or the build? Or think it’s too fragile?

My BFe is plenty light enough for all day rides, recently did a big day on Dartmoor with some really techy downhill runs and some big climbs, the bike felt perfect tbh. Run it locally on my xc commutes, hit the local woods for some general ragging and jumping and do some dh on it, not as smooth as my full suss but much more fun, especially this time of year.

Do it HTs are going to be abused so steel is a logical choice. Overbuilt aluminium can be harsh, whereas steel has a little give.

I ride a Dialled PA and think it’s great in 520 chromo, the current 725 must be awesome! The dropouts are very cool, big hunks of billet machined into clever little gappy masterpieces.

Quite tempted by a PA myself. Thinking an Alpine would be too heavy for me, but reading this on their web site…

Frame weight is around 5.5lbs. If you’re the type who thinks that’s too heavy, you probably don’t ride hard enough to justify owning an Alpine.

… makes me want to get an Alpine 😈

I use my Bfe for everything. It does the daily commute and can do DH. I can ride it all day…

Dialled PA +1. The new 725 frame is very nice a fair bit lighter than the older 520 by all accounts.

We are now doing the HX1 and HX2 for £299.

I’ll go out on a limb here and say that there is not a frame at that price that is in the same league, quality wise, as the Chumba frames. It’s just a case of does it have the features/geo that you require.

i.e. do they have rack mounts like a mk1 ragley ? 🙂

Frame weight is around 5.5lbs. If you’re the type who thinks that’s too heavy, you probably don’t ride hard enough to justify owning an Alpine.

That’s just a poor excuse for making a heavy frame.

That’s just a poor excuse for making a heavy frame.

Or you could man up and grow some muscles.

Or you could man up and grow some muscles.

Right that’s it, I’m definitely getting one now!

You should buy my one ride old 2011 725 version Dialled Prince Albert frame 🙂

The Bfe, Blue Pig and Prince Albert aren’t heavy for what they are, but the Soul is incredibly light for a steel frame. The difference is probably a pound (and a bit) between those 3 and a Soul. All 4 frames are more than capable of being all day all rounders.

Don’t forget, most forks weigh as much as/more than a frame (frame weight is generally less than 20% of the bike’s total weight).

BFe is a nice frame. Found mine a bit sluggish for pedalling around but for downhill and fun stuff they’re very nice 🙂

What height are you?

Charge blender is awesome but bias towards fun 🙂 4x, jump, dh, fast descending singletrack

Does everything exceptional except up.

I brought mine brand new £200. If you want to spend £400ish there is a proper pimp ti version on fleebay 2nd hand for £450!