I think ive just found a crack in my bloody excellent but very very abused cannondale trail sl 26er.

the cracks not massive and maybe related to shimming the seatpost with a guinness can for the last year but i could well be int eh market for another frame if the crack propogates further.

cant be doing with 27.5 so what are my options?

thanks,

mark

Do you mean new? practically no one.
There’s that on-one thing, or a cotic BFE or ? :shrugs: go scour the classifieds.

Sanderson Life 853 frames still appear to be avaiable. Rather lovely.

Do you need it to fit 1 1/8 or tapered steerer? Sad about the Cannondale, that’s a great bike!

What in your opinion is ‘decent geometry’?

Think orange are about to release one.

There might be a mk2 Ragley Piglet for sale on here soon, mint condition, 26 wheels etc…. It’ll be frame only though.

2nd hand soul all the way, or new 26″ bfe.

Cotic BeFe?

I’m pretty certain Mark’s idea of good geometry is reasonably long, reasonably slack and low BB height (which is where most 26″ hardcore hardtails fall down). Original Bird Zero with 26″ wheels might tick all the boxes but it depends on how long a fork is being used.

While we’re here, does anyone know any 26″ hardtail frames with long top tubes? Like 25-26″ long. Also not costing the earth (otherwise I could just buy a 29er).

well teh old cracknfail was sold as a long low xc race weapon back in the day when long and low was teh demise of xc racers (2010!). off teh chart its a 69 head angle and 12.5 bb height.

i use a 5″ (homebrew modified 150mm) marzocchi fork so measured with a phone anglemeter its about 67 HA. bb height is 12.5 with the longer fork. just goes to show you cant believe teh numbers anyone claims about frames. i bought a dialled pa as i though it had the same geo – turns out the bb is almost 2″ higher – id have only got the listed geo if id run rigid forks and let the tyres down…

anyway i’ve used it on big jumps, destroyed back wheels and hucked to flat, fallen off skinny walls, bounced off trees and rocks and all the usual stupid shit you do on yer commute to make in interesting skatepark/wallrides/etc i’ve even done an xc race on it!

anyhow i quite like alex’s bird (fnarr!) but i recon its a bit (way!) too slack for my tastes.

I’m a full on luddite so 9sp and straight steerers here. I’m not into this epic barge ‘my wheel base is longer than yours’ trend either. i can barely manual my empire.

needs to do a bit of everything (see above) and be robust. ish. but definately fun as i’ll ride it most of teh time.

cheers!

Ragley.

OK they’re pretty slack, but! It’s all about the package, I had a Ragley Ti and it was the best allround hardtail I’ve ever ridden, people expect slack bikes to climb badly but it was a ridiculously good technical climber, and excellent “razzing about in the woods” bike. Did an XC race on it, a bunch of enduro races, some uplifts, bounced it down fort william worldcup dh…

Only downside is, the Mmmbop is stiff as ****, and the steel ones are heavy.

Never thought the Mmmbop was particularly stiff when used with a high volume tire.

Mmm, should have said, there’s been a couple of versions now hasn’t there? Mine were all 1st gens and among the stiffest hardtails I’ve ridden. Big tyre does help though. It’s why I got the Ti in the end, it’s actually fairly stiff for a ti frame but it made all the difference

I looked at the Dartmoor Hornet recently. They can run 26″ or 27.5″.
http://dartmoor-bikes.com/hardware/enduro-trail-all-mountain/hornet

Or just found one of these
http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/frames-forks-c6/mountain-bike-frames-c48/kinesis-decade-virsa-frame-p12058/s33799?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=kinesis-decade-virsa-frame-size-42cm-colour-black-size-42cm-colour-black-kuk-virsa-42-k&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&gclid=COb187z19c0CFdZsGwodw1wAmw

Brilliant bike. I had one for a while. Ran it SS, Alvine,1x 10. Just great.

Love my 2012 BFe, recent BFe release may even be sold out already. 26 all day long for me 🙂

Last 2 2012 Soul’s I bid on went for £180 and £250 with Hope Headsets

I have a brand new 2012 Prince Albert Classic I need to build up (might sell but I suspect my price would be too high) – @matt from here got a nice one recently from classifieds for what I thought was a steal around £70 I think

If the axle-crown on your Marzocchi is 530-540mm then an original Zero (if you can find one secondhand) will give you about the same head angle and BB 1/2″ lower. I think you’d fit a medium or large. Or a Dartmoor Hornet, I think that’s what John F has.

Bear in mind that a lot of these newer 26″ hardtails are 12mm bolt at the back, not 10mm QR, so that might throw a spanner in the works!