After riding Fort Bill, a hamsterley enduro and Ard Rock on my 26″ Five I’m starting to feel too perched over the front. Jumping on various friends bikes (2017 five, airdrop, rallon and Stage 5) have opened my eyes to modern geo.
I am looking for a frame, forks and wheels deal that will allow me to carry over my existing decent components.
I am looking for a set up that will be gravity biased (forgiving of cock ups), fast, robust (forgiving of crashes) and not uber expensive. The ability to ride stupid off piste stuff and Enduro races is more important than mellow trail enjoyment.
I’m thinking Stage 6, transition sentinel, Five, whyte s150.
Any suggestions?

Banshee Rune?

There’s some good deals to be had on Specialized Enduro frames and Giant Reign/Trance frames at the minute.

I think airdrop do a frame fork and shock deal and the bike sounds like what your after . Bird will sell you pretty much any combination on the aeris and I think Cotic will to for the rocket .
I don’t think Whyte sell frames only.

I was in the exact same position, riding a Blur TR. For reference, I’ve just finished building an Aeris 1.5 temporarily with 26 inch wheels. With 140 forks the BB sits at about 320 which is mega low. With a 160 fork it should be about 326 which is still really low but a bit more tolerable. Corners should be awesome, rocks less so!

If the Sentinel rides like a pumped up Smuggler it’s going to be a truly brilliant, brilliant bike.