Right having sold my big stupid bike, I'm going for the one bike to do everything on until I can afford to have a trail bike and DH bike. So thought that I'd give a steel hardtail a go (as it means I can get something brand new and I've never had one before)…

I'm looking for something that I can do the odd trail centre loop (Cannock / Dalby), dirt jumping, light DH and general mucking about in the local woods (singletrack, jumps, drops, short DH runs) and have narrowed the choice down to the following:

On-One 456
On-One 456 Summer Season (one concern is that is it too slack?)
NS Bikes Surge
DMR Trailstar III
Dialled Bikes Prince Albert

Any opinions / experiences of any of the above would be much appreciated – in terms of build, it'll be 130 / 140mm forks, single ring, lightish wheels short stem – nothing too heavy but pretty sturdy.

Cheers

DMR or the NS, the others are just xc bikes really. Or a cotic BFe if you can afford it.

Cheers – that's what I was starting to think looking at the angles etc.

I also like that fact that the NS is small, but sized like a bigger frame and has a descent length top tube. The DMR is proven though….hmmmmmm

I use my DMR sidekick for what you've suggested. 1×9 with pikes. Great fun, with long seatpost you can pedal it round for a day in reasonable comfort

why not a Ragley?

why not a Ragley?

Pretty long, dead slack, long chainstays. i.e. shite for dirtjumps

Ive had a few dmr trailstars over the years, really good for jumps with a 100mm fork but maybe a bit short for the other stuff unless your small. Im 6foot2 btw so it was fine for jumps.

The ns looks good, short stays, and a longish tt (the 17inch one may be a bit too long)

Id probably run 120mm forks on either of them tbh.

for the money a 456. i've a DB Alpine, but my mate has recently got hold of a 456 frame and stuck all the bits of his big bike onto it.

jumpy, pumpy, short blasts, long rides, drops and wot-not. good bike and the finish is good, too….

I ride the surge, it is kinda heavy though you can buld it up lighter if you so wish (sub 30lbs apparantly) rides really nice, I like the burlyness of it and it rides really nice.

Trailstar is a classic frame, had one and it was also quite nice, I do like the new swapout dropout system they have now if you fancy swapping between single speed and gears.

I'd definately look at the new BFe too, could be built up pretty light with 140mm forks and is a really nice sized frame (mate rides one and it is very nice)

i had a 2009 surge. was pretty awesome, did most things on it. jumps, trails, dh. I only sold it as like you wanting a bigger bike and needed the money for it. I would say nothing less then 140 travel as feels a bit low as it can go up to 160mm. The 2010 ones are lighter and have neat adjustable dropouts.

My Surge, rides just fine at 120mm travel if you want it that way, but being able to adjust the fork travel for the more dh type stuff is great.

yeah it rides ok with 120 but does feel low. Makes the bb much lower and you feel it on corners

that looks sweet, stupid similar set up too ha ha

Are 456's sturdy enough for jumping duties?

yeah it rode well, i would love a new one with the lighter frame and dropouts. The bike weighed about 34.5 pounds.

mindmap3 – Member
I'm looking for something that I can do the odd trail centre loop (Cannock / Dalby), dirt jumping, light DH and general mucking about in the local woods (singletrack, jumps, drops, short DH runs)

Thanks for considering the Prince Albert. The Alpine might be more suited to what you want to do though. It's better to have enough burl for the DH, jumps and drops than too much burl for the XC.

I wanted a bike for exactly the same things as you ride, and your options are very similar to mine. Ended up going with an older Trailstar LT and I'm really happy. Running a 140mm pike on it and it feels awesome.

Fun mode:

XC mode:

All it needs is a chainguide but I'm too poor for one 🙁

Main reasons I went with this are:
a) already owned an older short travel Trailstar and loved it
b) don't like a long TT, this is quite short at around 21-22" which feels perfect to me.

I'd second what Mike has to say, reading your original post I immediately thought of an Alpine.

You should be able to get a good deal on a secondhand one making it not too much more than the frames you've mentioned.

I had one with 160mm Lyriks on and it was superb doing the light DH stuff I get up too, in the end I decided I needed some additional skill compensation and got a full suss.

have DMR sorted out their bending / cracking frame properties?

Cheers guys – I think the Surge is first choice at the mo (TT is the same length as my old large Chameleon – which felt fine for all riding, apart from the seat tube was a tad long for the arsing about type riding).

It'll be run with nothing less that 130mm forks (probably longer, depending on what turns up on E-bay / STW Classifieds).

Not keen on the Alpine – just don't really like the looks (sad I know).

Those built up Surge's look pretty good – how do they ride out of interest?

I've got an NS Bikes society which was a slightly less slack version before the surge came out. Good fun and fine on all day rides but nowhere near as fun as a surge (which a mate has and I've ridden).

I've been eyeing up the 09 models on winstanelys site for ages but they've bloody run out of the medium size! I've got a large society and it's too long so will be downsizing.

Have you seen any surge frames for sale? CRC have the 2010s coming in April sometime.

Krag – I think I'll be hanging on till April when CRC get some in (especially as I'm quite taken with the green, and the new graphics look pretty good). Its also my birthday in April, so I know what I'll be asking the goat for!

They look pretty good on paper and those who have had them, or similar bikes seem to really rate them.

did you buy one? not getting on with my Bluepig and considering selling it for a NS Surge.

the surge is great. altho i want to sell mine, anyone interested? u guys seem to love them like me