So it’s time to upgrade from my beloved 19″ Soul. I’ve got as much bounce out of it as I can – 140mm travel up front, big Spesh tyres for soaking up the bumps. And I really love this bike.

But I’m getting a little better at the jumps and the drops, and I want to ride BPW and Afan and Antur without feeling like my wrists are going to snap off.

So it’s time. But with my budget – around 2K – there’s a million choices. Even after you select a wheel size.

Couple of things are tempting me:

Saracen Killi Flyer 650b. Partly because it’s on sale at the LBS and I know they’d take care of me.
Whyte T-129, because it gets such a great write up, and I tried a 29 hardtail locally the other day, and got the sense that with a bit of suspension it’d be great fun
Giant Trance – cos they let me have a spin on it at Soho bikes the other day, and I really wanted to ride it more as soon as I got on

As you can see, I have no real clue. Anyone gone from flexy steel HT to FS and got a happy story?

Thanks

If it’s your wrists that are the problem and you’ve already got 140mm forks then I’m not sure how moving to a full suss will help (unless it is a >160mm, which none of the ones you mentioned are). Maybe you just need a better fork.

Read this:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-slack-low-tough-140-160mm-full-sus-frame-forks-for-140mm-hardtail-rider

I rode my Soul for the first time in months last night – my god, it was bumpy and nervy and slow! Need to ride it more, I think the big bike has diminished my skills…

Tim – you’re welcome to a go on my Liteville 301 one Sunday morning?

Yes please mate! the more demos the better.

I think if I was you I’d be going bigger- since it seems like you want the full suss for harder use stuff, and also to put more clear water between the two bikes.

(this isn’t a recommendation but) I had a lovely Soul and then added a lovely GT, which was ace but really pretty similiar in “role” to the Soul. So I sold it and built a big slack lyrik’d thumper for downhill, harder everyday trails, alps trips, and eventually for enduro once that became a thing. So it basically took over at the exact point the Soul gave up, not much overlap between the two. Worked brilliantly and it’s exactly what I’d do again.

choice is simple Santa Cruz or Orange 5

I’d take the bits off your Soul and put them on (say) a second hand Bandit frame (as they don’t sell them new in 26 anymore). Keep the Soul frame, you’ll not regret it and I wager it will get built up again when you have the spare cash.

You’re welcome to try my Spitfire – I’ll be out in Stanmer/WP Monday night and was planning on riding my Soul for a change. It’s a medium but the reach is as long as on a large Soul so although it’s a size too small for you it should fit ok for a test ride.

I was planning to swap parts from my Soul onto the full-sus but as I wanted better forks (stiffer and better damped) and as 27.5 wheels made sense to me I decided to do a fresh build – although the two bikes have identical transmissions and near identical bars, stem, brakes, wheels and dropper posts (fitting my criteria of sufficiently high performance vs sufficiently low weight at sensible price and with high reliability).

I’ve ridden my Soul at Antur and BPW. It was bloody hard work at the former – took months for my fingers to stop hurting! The Spitfire is on another league downhill – partly thanks to 160mm of Pike but equally due to 140mm of KS-link awesomeness and CCDBa. Scary thing is it’s equally good uphill. What it isn’t good at is pottering, it likes to go fast all the time!

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/radon-swoop-175-8.0-se-128911?currency=3&delivery_country=190

Cheers chiefgrooveguru – that’s a great offer. Not sure I can take you up on it for a while as it’s holiday time until beginning of August, but I’d love to try it out when I’m back. Email’s in the profile, and many artisinal beers can be yours.

keep the soul and get something like an enduro comp for when the need takes you for more squish.

I’ve got a soul, just got a bandit 27.5. All I wanted and more, climbs rough stuff quicker than the soul and is so confident going downhill I’ve got closer to hurting myself in 1 month than I have with the soul in 18 months!

Feels playful like the soul does but being fs is a lit more composed as it gets rougher.

Oh and someone just won a pro enduro I. USA (beating Curtis Keene) on one so it’s #enduro credentials are bombproof too!

Good deals on new 27.5 bandit frames on eBay & pinkbike?

Dunno

I did a lot of ebay bargain hunting and got a 30lb build with a reverb and good tyres for less than the cheapest stock build.

Thanks Ceepers – got a demo for a Bandit booked in for August.

@timnwild

Think you will like the bandit. I demoed a few bikes, the bandit stood out for me. Tried a covert too, lovely but too much bike for the amount of climbing I enjoy. The bandit smashed all my strava pr’s up and downhill on the demo loop. I’ve smashed most of my local ones since I got it too.

It’s a great bike, I don’t think you will find a negative review!

I’m riding a dialled alpine with good spec and going for a whyte T130 works as my full sus alternative. Weighs about the same with a bit less bounce on the front but a lot more at the back (and bigger wheels).

I went from a Soul to a Trek Fuel EX. They seem to have a similar feel in term of geo.

Tim,
If you’re around West Berks you can try my MetaAM29 out.

I think that was the soul that I sold on to you wasn’t it? Glad you’ve got so much enjoyment out of it.

I’ve recently had the same conundrum. I’d agree with others who said not of get rid of it completely. When I sold my original cotic to you it was because I had bought a meta5. It was an awesome bike that did everything brilliantly and basically made the soul redundant.

After about two or three years with the meta and realising that I couldn’t be at the perfect trail centre every weekend I decided to move it on and bought a 2nd hand soul frame which I loved just as much as the first (there is something about steel hardtails isn’t there?).

That one was built up with 140mm forks and big tyres just like yours by the sound of it. It was great fun but eventually got moved on and replaced with an Orange R8 frame with 100mm forks which is set up in much more of an xc kind of way.

It’s the perfect bike for doing a bit of everything on but for getting the most out of jumps and downhill I decided I needed a full suss again.

I bought a DMR Bolt Long frame. Not built it up quite yet but should be finished tonight. I’m no downhiller as I don’t quite have the balls or skill for the most extreme stuff but it should be all I need for taking on a few things that I wouldn’t on the hardtail.

Like others have suggested I made a concious decision to buy a bike that wouldn’t replace my R8 for day to day riding because I know I’d regret it if I were to get rid. In my experience any off the shelf full suss isn’t going to give you the same long lasting sense of fun that a steel hardtail like a soul or R8 does but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for them too (good deals on the new style meta at the moment). I also love being able to build up and spec a bike just how I want it so that might be an option for you too. Could you get shorter travel forks for the soul and use the 140mm ones on a full suss frame?