Anyone else gone from a full sus to a 29 er Hardtail as their one bike, I’ve got a orange five which I hardly ride and am thinking of getting rid and replacing with a Kinesis FF29 er.

Has anyone gone a similar route, what do you think??

I bought a Cotic Solaris back in the summer to complement the Nicolai I already had. Since getting it I have ridden the Nicolai once so it has now been sold.

Saying that though I’ve just bought an orange gyro frame and am probably going to have to sell the Solaris to pay for the build.

So yes and, er no…. 😀

I did this but then bought a 29er FS as well, my hardtail is still my most rode bike especially in winter months

I have a Solaris and a Pyga OneTen29

How’s about a rigid 29er and keep the fs? That’s what I’ve done.

In my opinion it depends on your personal circumstances… We now have a family so I reduced my fleet to hardtails (the extra maintenance of a FS was a pain for me – not an issue for a 5 I believe, I had a SC blur).

I wanted a bike I could grab and ride anytime and potentially attach seats/kids bikes etc so it had to be a HT. When I rode a 29er HT I thought it was more of a ‘one bike do it all’ than my 26 HT and, unfortunately, I am no longer doing as many of the epic big rides so a HT is fine and that’s why I went 29er HT.

So it works for me but I do still miss a FS – the myth of a comfy HT is just that.

I sold my FS 29er because my Solaris was getting all the use.

My current go to bike is my Soul, so that may go to help fund the build.

The expense and gaff of the Five just puts me off riding it!!

I have just gone from 3 mountain bikes (soul, heckler fs and love/ hate ss)to 2

A Solaris and a soul

Solaris will be riden through the winter (no more ss), and get used for weekends away etc (no more heckler)

Depending on which bike I end up preferring day to day there is a good chance the soul will be relegated to “spare” bike, but we’ll see. I like the idea of having just one MTB I ride all the time

It’s early days but with 120mm x fusion slides the Solaris has a similar unstoppable feel as the heckler when rolling fast – only without the weight

Can you all just please stop reminding me how good the solaris is?

🙂

Went from a Nicolai FS Helius , sold and replaced with a 2 Souls Quarterhorse 29er, already had a rigid 29 in the Curtis XC9, had a PPI payout and bought the SC Tallboy Ltc, SC doesn’t get used much, but it’s there when I want to, ridden it more outside uk than at home

have tallboyC – bought a highball, felt too much like the same bike, sold the highball and built a krampus

great bike, the difference in another bike i was looking for, being used more than the tallboy

Mmmmm, 2 Souls Quarterhorse – Nice! 🙂

Would love one!!!

Currently enjoying my Solaris…..

Yup I had a trance and a singlespeed genesis. Sold the genesis, bought an el mariachi. The trance was last ridden in May last year!! Once I replace its bottom bracket it’s up for sale.

I did, though only due to financial constraints.. Was too skint to fix my (26er) full susser, which i planned to ride last summer, so have ridden my 29er all year. Bit if shock to my system after 10 odd years of FS, but it’s been fine, that doesn’t mean I don’t lust after a 29er FS now though

I have a Yeti ASR5C and Cotic Solaris. Although the Yeti was my dream bike and is fantastic to ride if I was to revert to one bike I would keep the Solaris. It was bought to keep the Yeti off the road after a wet summer and potentially bad winter in 2012. The Solaris is far more than a winter bike and has been used significantly more. Almost to the point that I’m now thinking of selling the Yeti and it’s not even two years old.

Pick the right 29er HT and you won’t be disappointed. My Solaris could really do with a dropper to improve it again and it would be nice to try it with a stiffer, 120mm forks.

Personally, I’m now looking for a 29 FS with the attributes of the ASR5C to compliment the Solaris 🙂

Yep, gone from a Top Fuel to a Superfly hardtail. I’ll let you know if I regret it later when I’ve ridden the Superfly.

With out wanting to run on too much about the Solaris, one of the great things about it is that like the Soul it can be built up as a racey, sharp handling lightish bike, or with longer forks, bigger bars and tyres and a dropper a tough, comfortable trail bike. Still think Cy should take a punt on some Ti ones.

Zesty 514 to Kinesis sync 29, the first thing I noticed was how fast the sync was on pedalling, especially uphill, the zesty was fast but the sync is more responsive, the backend is very stiff, obviously due to be ht and also the bolt thru axle the comes with the sync. Being Ti it’s light and very smooth on the trail, not as smooth as 140 rear suspension though 😉

I’ll be keeping the zesty though, it’s 4 years old now and worth more to me than what I could get for it s/h.

From a 5Spot & Superlight to a Lynskey Ridgeline and now Santa Cruz Highball.

No regrets. The 26ers just weren’t getting ridden. Now on a matching pair of Hoghballs one Singlespeed the other with gears. It/they do all I need!

Yup, had a Nicolai Helius CC, bought a FF29, sold the Nicolai. Sold the FF29, bought an Anthem 29. Still got that and bought a Genesis Fortitude. Best of both worlds with those 2 bikes

Yes, but not willingly.

When from my Meta 5.5 VIP to having a that and a On One Inbred 29 SS. Back in November the Meta was stolen, so now I only have my Inbred. It’s now setup with 1*10 as my knees couldn’t take SS as my only bike. Mines actually rigid, but where I live at the moment it seems reasonably ideal… been considering a 100mm fork for it but I probably won’t bother. I’m really craving another trail bike again, and have saved ~half the funds as it currently stands to start a new build. I won’t be getting rid of the 29er though, it’s a great all-day mile muncher and I can still leave most of my riding mates behind on the descents and even more easily on the climbs 😀

My current go to bike is my Soul, so that may go to help fund the build.

The expense and gaff of the Five just puts me off riding it!!

What’s the ‘expense and faff’ associated with a Five? I thought it just had the one pivot making it straightforward to maintain.

Fwiw, I went from rigid, to full suss, then back to mostly hardtail, though not a 29er. I ride the same trails and I enjoy them just as much or sometimes more, plus I have the bonus of crashing at slightly lower speeds. I was never too fussed about the maintenance side of things.

I have a Five and an FF29. They are very different bikes. The FF29 is much faster going up and along, especially if the trail isn’t too technical, but the Five is more fun and inspires much more confidence when the trail points down. I can still get down pretty much anything I could ride on the Five on the FF29, just a bit slower. Mind you, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m currently off the bikes altogether after a high speed OTB on the Five left me with a broken arm.

Still, if I were looking to replace the Five with a 29er HT (rather than compliment it) I think I’d be looking at something slacker and more playful than the FF29. A Singular Buzzard would certainly be on the list, for example.

Ive a 29er HT Spesh carve pro and a 26 spesh enduro and for me these cover every riding ill ever do and are a ideal combination.

29er for local and daily commute
26 for big rides in the lakes etc

love them both 🙂

What’s the ‘expense and faff’ associated with a Five? I thought it just had the one pivot making it straightforward to maintain.

+1

I sold a Ventana El Ciclon when I bought an Inbred 29er.
Then bought a Niner SIR.9.
Then felt I was missing a FS so built another El Ciclon…and rode it twice. Both times I rode it I spent the whole ride wishing I was on my Niner.
The Niner really is the best bike I have ever ridden. The ride is just lovely.

If Cotic had put an EBB or sliding dropouts I’d probably have had one of them.

Bregante – Member
I bought a Cotic Solaris back in the summer to complement the Nicolai I already had. Since getting it I have ridden the Nicolai once so it has now been sold.

Saying that though I’ve just bought an orange gyro frame and am probably going to have to sell the Solaris to pay for the build.

So yes and, er no….

Don’t suppose it’s a medium? Give me a shout if it is.

I got rid of my 5, coil lyriks and a CCDB. Swapped if for a clockwork. Best thing I ever did, 29er is great for munching up the miles, to be fair I tend to be riding more XC than I used to but I’ve never looked back.

Faff = cleaning, servicing shock, set ups. Expense = shock service! pivot replacement.

To be honest, I’ve had it 18 months and ridden it maybe 4 times, always go for the Hardtail just ride and forget just a squirt of oil on the chain..!!