2016 Kinesis Phase

Sorry, connection too bad for pictures!

But here is the new Kinesis MTB, having owned both an FF29 and a Sync I certainly have a soft spot for them, also well aware that top tube might not be for everyone…

67deg HA, pretty long reach, good standover, tidy internal routing, 3.9lb medium frame, £399 RRP. Takes a full 27.5×3.0 as well.

I think I like it. Think.

Why do they have Kinesis, Maxlight and Decade all as brand names?

On paper that frame looks good, in real life it looks like it should be in that Marin thread

148mm rear spacing 🙁

I will admit it can be a bit confusing, Kinesis as a brand name, Maxlight just means it’s a mountain bike (presumably so people can tell if they are looking at a road or CX frame, mountain bikes are pretty obvious) and Decade was a 10yr celebration thing.

Don’t forget Hope are making adapter kits for Pro2 hubs that take them to 148…

I thought there were Maxlight winter road bikes too

The road bikes are called Racelight.

Fair enough, I’ll not blame them for my inability to read

Had high hopes before I clicked the link, had a max light XC120 for years and loved, so much so I still have the frame! A work colleague also recently bought a racelight 4 seasons and that too is a stunning bike. That new Phase however is gopping. And the geometry looks awful. Shame as its well priced.

Me too! I have a Racelight 4S, an Aithein and a Mk1 Decade Virsa too. The Pha5e looks awful though. I might replace the Decade next year with the current one, and possibly get a 650 Sync, but that frame – eugh.

I really like that, when I rang them about 6 weeks ago it’s a pity they told me there was nothing in the pipeline so I ended up going elsewhere.

I like kinesis (I have a crosslight).

That ^ is a minger.

It’s not a long reach. Is shorter than my large Scott scale
Is fugly, but I can look past that as I know they make great frames, but it just looks too short in the tt

I think I compared it to the current TransAM 29 sizing, but could have got my numbers wrong. It was within a few mm, and the TransAM is considered rightly or wrongly to be ‘pretty long’ for that sort of hardtail, as in, not a race whippet.

I reserve judgement until I have ridden it, the FF29 was pretty conservative geo but rode fantastic, and I have never seen one cracked. Ever. I even asked google.

We ordered a couple of frames for my shop and will be building up a demo, so I can find out for myself if it’s rubbish 😀

Woof, is this what happens now that Dom has left? Geometry is pretty conservative for 2015, I’m sure some taller riders would like more than 434mm of reach. I guess it’s not meant to be rad stoked enduro numbers though.

67 degree head angle for that long low and slack handling

Not so sure about that.

I loved the old Phafivee, this seems like a sensible successor… Not that long or slack though is it?

All the closeups of big blobby chewing gum welds are a bit weird. I’ve nothing against a big blobby weld, I’m just not sure they should be the money shot…

Well it’s not Ragley slack.. good thing we ordered some of those as a comparison 😀

Are they replacing the FF29 with anything?

I hope so, but as stated above everything gets denied until it’s nearly here, double edged sword this ‘apple’ instant launch game.