OK, so I’ve got the 26″ Five where I want it and it’s not going anywhere. The problem is that I don’t often do the sort of rides that can do it justice. Truth be told I’m not actually a mountain biker at all, just somebody who uses a bike to take advantage of Scotland’s fantastic access rules. Most of my riding is tame forest tracks, landrover tracks, windfarm access roads etc. Basically enjoying the countryside and trying to stay fit. Of course these rides can leave me at the top of a rocky descent and I’ll still take the Five for any ride that I don’t know as it’s the only bike that’s ever made me enjoy such descents. But I have lots of loops that I do where I know I wont be doing anything technical and wouldn’t mind something a bit faster than the Five for those rides.

I’ve played with some 29ers over the past year or two. I’ve owned an FF29 and now a Solaris. I loved the way the FF29 climbed and much prefer the Solaris on the way down. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t like hardtails. They just don’t suit my sit and spin style.

So I’m considering a full-suss 29er frame, which I guess would fall into the category of a marathon bike. I’d like to use my existing kit from the Solaris though. So, my wish list includes:

1. Must take a 120mm (Rev) fork (tapered steerer).

2. Must be an interesting colour. I don’t do grey and black and white are just two ends of a greyscale as far as I’m concerned.

3. Light would be nice, but stiff is probably more important

4. Would prefer shorter chainstays (or at least sub 450mm)

5. Not too steep at the front (69 degrees at most)

Basically something with the same geometry as the Solaris but a bit of squish at the back would be ideal.

Any suggestions?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cheap-29er-full-sus-frame

Fits most of what your after, and the green is certainly not boring.

http://www.bikes.com/en/bikes/element/2015#/models/element-950-rsl
With a 120mm it will go to 69 HA
Stiff, nice weight, full carbon is light and not sure what colour you can get.

I have the 950 but the Manitou fork is only 100mm and the OEM isn’t convertible but others may be.

I never thought I’d own an XC bike…. it partners the Blur LTc with 160mm forks and nice big tyres.

Every time I ride the rocky I’m impressed, seriously. I’m holding it back when I thrash it it’s hard work but I just knocked over a couple of Strava times that I set on the Blur which was a surprise. I can also ride it all day long and it rolls really well.
https://instagram.com/p/0PV2fPiFlz/

Salsa Horsethief. 68 degree ha and 437mm chainstays.

or a Salsa Spearfish. Lots of them kicking around 2nd hand.
I have the Horsethief and it’s probably more similar to your Orange 5.
Saying that, it is a great do it all bike.

Whyte M-109 (ali) version were on discount, though fails your colour test requirements, are full built bikes & a 0.5 of a degree steeper than what you want.. but in all honest I think this would fulfil 99% of my riding…

Pyga oneten29 seems like it ticks all your boxes (ok again .5 degree steeper at 120mmm), and have gotten discounted quite a lot (well it is/was expensive).

Dare I suggest a Gyro?

Camber Evo

rocky Element 29er with 120mm fork

mine has fox talas 120mm to 90 mm forks with 98mm rear travel, reverb, xt drivetrain crank brother wheels and is 28lbs w/o pedals

brilliant all day bike, fast comfortable capable

Santa Cruz Superlight 29.

Single pivot like your Five, but lighter and 29″.

I’m running mine with a 120 reba, wide bars and a 50mm stem, and chunky tyres – its a good fast all-round trail bike.

With the dropper off, a 90mm inverted stem, and skinny tyres it turns into a decent XC bike too.

Going to have to agree with Z1ppys comment on the m109 ,still at £1300 at a major store and capable of a lot more than a 100mm travel bike should be ,a lot of fun ,love mine

Thanks folks. Lots of good suggestions to mull over there.

Hard to argue with the Cube at that price. Call me fickle, but I’ve never liked the look of that suspension layout and I have an aversion to press fit BBs. Still, it’s one heck of a deal and the colour is right, so it’s still on the list.

Rocky Mountain is not a brand that I’ve paid much attemtion to so far, but I’ll do some more reading on them.

A Horsethief 2 frame in lime green would fit the bill, but I understand that the distributer didn’t think we could handle that much colour in our lives so only imported grey frames into the UK.

Spearfish/Whyte M109 (and I guess we have to throw an Anthem 29er into this pot too)? Yes I can see the logic. If you want an XC/Marathon bike then get a propper XC marathon bike rather than just a slightly less capable trail bike. But it means either going full build and selling bits of buying a shorter fork (and probably lighter wheels than my Arch Ex on Hope jobs). Also, while I like the idea of a 29er being faster on tamer trails than my Five I’m more of a trail rider and am not actually racing anybody, so would probably prefer something more relaxed than a full on XC bike.

I’ve toyed with the Pyga on a number of occasions. The good people at Drover cycles had some good deals a few weeks back and even offered to send a bike up for me to test. But I’d hate to waste their time so would only do that if it was a serious possibility. Could I get past my irrational hatred of press fit BBs and fully integrated (i.e. non-existent) headsets? Maybe, but then there is still the overly complicated suspension design with the associated aggro when the time comes to change them. I want a bit of squish at the back, but in all honesty a couple of big bearings and a decent shock should do the job.

Which brings me back to the Gyro/Segment again. The problem here is that I’ve always seen this option as a replacement for the Five rather than a stablemate. I know that the Gyro was a better fit for the riding that I actually do than the Five, but at the end of the day it wasn’t as much fun and since I ride for fun that killed it.

Specialized/Santa Cruz? Not read a bad thing about either of them and there is still a 20 year old fully rigid steel Rockhopper hanging in the shed so I don’t really have anything against Specialized. Neither set the heart singing though, for some reason.

Still, as you can see, I’ve not actually ruled any of the options out yet.

Pivot 429

Rocky Mountain is not a brand that I’ve paid much attemtion to so far, but I’ll do some more reading on them.

Well worth reading up on, my LBS/mate is the dealer here (might have something to do with what I’m riding) but by eck it’s quick, and good…. Some very sound design over a long time going on there. I think the UK dist is a little poor, but have a look around it’s what the marathon guys I know are riding and I’m a little tempted to have a go at the marathon myself now.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/pivot-mach-429-suspension-frame-2011/rp-prod123443

Bought ‘lovely’ green Horsethief 2 from HiBike last month for just under £2K – with the euro it is probably cheaper now. Almost certainly lighter than a similarly priced Segment.

Another couple of good options there. Thanks. Although the more I think about this the more I wonder whether I shouldn’t forget about 29ers and just ride the Five. Will anything else be as fun and if it’s not will it get ridden? I’m not racing anybody and does it really matter if I’m bimbling along a forest track on my Five while Harry Heath is sending road gaps in his? I doubt Harry cares. In fact I doubt if anybody does and even if they do it’s not like I ever meet anybody when I’m out riding anyway.

I would like something a bit faster/more efficient than the Five for those tame trails, but I could just buy some pimp summer wheels with some light rubber.

Has anyone put a 120mm fork on an Anthen 29er? What’s it like?

Thudbuster for the Solaris?

Will be selling my carbon ghost 2978 soon if interested; 100/120mm travel, short chainstays, wicked fast and surprisingly capable on steep stuff

Hey Roverpig,

I have a 2014 Titus Rockstar 29″ for sale, just recently built up with full XTR, Crossmax ST wheels, XO Trail Brakes, SID forks, monarch shock, Easton Carbon bars. No expense spared…..

Also the frame is one of the last ones to be handmade in Portland, Oregon

I built it up for exactly the same reason as you now describe but my riding and racing has shifted. It has 1 dry, 10 mile ride under it and it absolutely spotless.

It’s a medium and I could do you a silly deal….

All the best,

Lee.

Another vote for the Rocky Mountain Element.

Its a Rocky Mountain love in – I love my Element too. The UK distributor has been trying to shift a couple of 2014 ones (mostly black) on eBay for a while now in M and XL if that’s any help, though it sounds like you have the parts and just need a frame.

Santa Cruz Tallboy, fantastic with 120mm up front, even better if you can stretch to a carbon frame. 445mm chainstays and the ballpark head angle you’re after with 120mm forks. Still the benchmark marathon/trail full-suss 29er in my opinion.

Thanks folks. The Titus looks lovely, but I’m definitely a Large (especially in this sort of bike) and would prefer to go for a frame as I have all the other bits.

Interestingly CRC have a carbon ghost 2978 in my size with a grand off. It’s still a full bike, but I guess it’s worth considering at that price.

I’d not thought of a thudbuster, but have considered going down the 650B+ route with the Solaris. Running 2.8″ tyres at sub 20psi might be all the squish I need. But if I wanted 70mm of undamped suspension I could just buy a BSO from the local supermarket 🙂 Still, that’s a discussion for another thread.

I’ve certainly got plenty of options to mull over now. Probably too many. So, I think what I’ll do is park this idea for a while. Enjoy the Five and maybe get the Solaris out a bit more often. Hopefully I’ll eventually get a clearer idea of what I want 🙂

By the way Kryton57 , I thought the rule with all Giants was that they worked better with forks that were 20mm longer than the ones supplied by Giant. Although, you’d have thought that Giant would have worked that out by now!

I was after a fs recently and someone offered me a rockstar frame in large at a decent price- may be worth checking in my profile?

From the way you describe your riding it seems similar to mine. Having fun on trails but not racing.

I really like my horsethief.
It’s not got any fancy parts or anything, but it just feels right.
Have no urge to change (though tried an XC bike and a fat bike but didn’t like them)

By the way Kryton57 , I thought the rule with all Giants was that they worked better with forks that were 20mm longer than the ones supplied by Giant. Although, you’d have thought that Giant would have worked that out by now!

I’m happy with mine at 100mm (I race it), but just wondered what effect adding that 20mm does – might it be the same “trail demon” effect that the 26/27.5 Anthems apparently receive?

Spearfish/Whyte M109 (and I guess we have to throw an Anthem 29er into this pot too)? Yes I can see the logic. If you want an XC/Marathon bike then get a propper XC marathon bike rather than just a slightly less capable trail bike. But it means either going full build and selling bits of buying a shorter fork (and probably lighter wheels than my Arch Ex on Hope jobs). Also, while I like the idea of a 29er being faster on tamer trails than my Five I’m more of a trail rider and am not actually racing anybody, so would probably prefer something more relaxed than a full on XC bike.

I have a spearfish (green original one) and it was perfectly happy with 120mm rebas, currently run it with 100mm Fox and a Works-components slackset to take 1.5deg off the headangle. I tend to set the 80mm rear travel quite soft, to make best use of it on the sort of terrain you describe, access tracks, xc singletrack etc. This does mean its a bit soft to be at its best in rough stuff but it copes perfectly well and is quite good if you run it a bit firmer.

I wouldnt worry about your wheels or fork, they will be fine.

Roverpig 2978 is a damn good buy; especially at that price.

Adding a dropper, and removing the spacer in the fork to give you a full 120mm does wonders.

Then slamming the stem and widening the bars and you’ve a damn fun trail/cross country bike.

Still unsure of selling mine; love its playfulness and acceleration.

Oh also be aware that the rims are a little lightweight for trail use; ended up replacing mine with flows/hp2s