Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 86 total)
  • New XC Race Frame – thoughts
  • BIGMAN
    Free Member

    Right in the market for a hardtail mtb frame. Previously owned a SantaCruz Highball carbon and loved it. I’ve been away from MTBs for a few years so I just wondered if there is anything else I should be looking at that is the same style of bike.

    Has to be
    carbon
    29er
    100mm forks
    Laterally stiff in the bb area.

    Is there anything new I should be looking at?

    njee20
    Free Member

    Budget?

    All below 900g:
    Trek Superfly SL
    Scott Scale
    Cannondale Flash

    Heavier, but still light, and nice:
    Spesh S-Works
    Giant XTC

    Cheap alternative:
    Chinese carbon

    BIGMAN
    Free Member

    Currently considering an XTR equipped Highball Carbon.

    Circa 5k I would think.

    mrjmt
    Free Member

    Dirty harry?

    notmyrealname
    Free Member

    Niner Air 9 Carbon?

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Yeti ARCc worth a look.

    mtbmatt
    Free Member

    Pivot LES would fit the bill nicely.

    eshershore
    Free Member

    my Specialized Stumpjumper Expert Carbon 29’er hardtail frame is 1.18kg (I weighed it before rebuilding the bike)

    you can pick a complete 2014 bike up around £2000 with the same frameset

    sefton
    Free Member

    F29er Triton cycles…http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/mountain-bikes-c1/29ers-c14/cannondale-f29-carbon-2-mountain-bike-2013-p1245

    big saving and better spec than 2014 model – lefty fork is very nice indeed

    BIGMAN
    Free Member

    Thanks for that I will have a browse at these now.

    Niner does not appeal. I rode one last time round before buying the cruz and it was not as nice.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    That niner air 9 RDO does look good. Though for the frame Stif seem to have changed the dollar sign to a pound and then ADDED another couple of hundred quid!

    notmyrealname
    Free Member

    mrblobby – Member
    That niner air 9 RDO does look good. Though for the frame Stif seem to have changed the dollar sign to a pound and then ADDED another couple of hundred quid!

    POSTED 1 MINUTE AGO # REPORT-POST

    The Niner prices seem to have gone from just expensive to ridiculously expensive this year. It’s put me right off getting an Air 9 Carbon 🙁

    cubicboy
    Free Member

    Er, Open O-1.0? I have one and it’s great. Haven’t weighed it yet… can’t be bothered… but it’s supposed to be a fraction over 9kg.

    dirtyrider
    Free Member

    bollocks, no one buys an Open and doesn’t weight it

    cubicboy
    Free Member

    Not bollocks… honest. Have weighed bikes before when I’ve either serviced or built them up. We have a young son and another on the way so bike time is strictly for riding (wherever possible). So when I say I can’t be bothered, it’s not entirely true. Anyway, it’s light.

    njee20
    Free Member

    Er, Open O-1.0? I have one and it’s great. Haven’t weighed it yet… can’t be bothered… but it’s supposed to be a fraction over 9kg.

    I’d expect lighter than that, very nice looking frames those Opens!

    sefton
    Free Member

    scott scale is a safe bet…prob not get much better.

    adsh
    Free Member

    Whyte 29 C Team? Slacker HA and very long TT. I’m thinking of one myself.

    njee20
    Free Member

    scott scale is a safe bet…prob not get much better.

    Why not? Everything that’s been recommended is a good bike.

    sefton
    Free Member

    because it probably got more XC race pedigree than any of the above.

    I’d imagine most 29er XC race bikes will be good (all probably very similar in frame weights, geo, stifness etc…

    make a list and search around for best deal / componants.

    njee20
    Free Member

    Bollocks. That’s all.

    taxi25
    Free Member

    Seftons analysis seems about right to me, not sure why its bollocks.

    velomanic
    Free Member

    Whyte 29 C Team? Slacker HA and very long TT. I’m thinking of one myself.

    Just about to start my Whyte 29-C build, according to the workshop scales the frame weighs 1.2kg

    bill-oddie
    Free Member
    sefton
    Free Member

    because it probably got more XC race pedigree than any of the above.

    Except for the Trek….obviously 😉

    ….happy now

    njee20
    Free Member

    Except for the Trek….obviously

    ….happy now

    Haha, not what I was getting at at all. They’re all excellent bikes, don’t think you can say any one is ‘the best’. The 29er Scale doesn’t have anything like the race pedigree of the 650b one anyway 😉

    TheGingerOne
    Full Member

    Yeti ARCc

    Loving mine and seems rather fast and easy to ride

    jumble
    Free Member

    I bought a 2014 Trek Superfly 9.6, then sold the wheels and groupset. Moved my XT single ring setup across and bought some carbon wheels.

    Really impressed with it so far. Not as light as a Superfly SL, but I think spending the saving on the wheels was a good move.

    I don’t know the in’s and out’s of the geometry, but I have no problem lifting the front end and it feels very stable on the downs.

    I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but I have been riding and racing a Trek top fuel for the last 4 years and was really surprised how easy the transition was to the Superfly hardtail.

    njee20
    Free Member

    That’s what I did/thought ^^

    Are you me?

    jumble
    Free Member

    Separated at birth 🙂

    nwallace
    Free Member

    When I was looking for a bike that fits the OPs description I looked at

    Cannondale F-29, Scott Scale, GT Zaskar…

    I left the shop with a Rocky Mountain Vertex…

    You’re going to have to spend time riding them to see which works, and look at spec, and not get hung up on looks… the Vertex look lovely, handles amazingly and is more manouverable than my old 26″ Zaskar.

    TheGingerOne
    Full Member

    I’m not you, I’m me

    pjbarton
    Free Member

    That f29 that Sefton linked is amazing value! I payed more than that for the carbon3.
    Absolutely love the bike.

    sefton
    Free Member

    That f29 that Sefton linked is amazing value! I payed more than that for the carbon3.
    Absolutely love the bike.

    Yep I got one in Dec (and it was 3.5k at a lot of other retailers)

    had to peel off the crappy stans no tube graphics off the wheels though.

    all carbon, bars, crank, post, 0X (might put 0X gripshift on)

    the fork is soooo good too

    was surprised with Avid brakes (never had Avid before)..they are great so far.

    not been raced yet though.

    sefton
    Free Member

    also just to put a spanner in the works – how about a budget frame (ebay – dirty harry) and spend big on wheels/fork etc?

    njee20
    Free Member

    Could do a lot worse – you’re not going to get any of the 900g frames without blowing a good chunk of the budget, but you’ll save more weight and probably have nicer bits by building on a cheap frame.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    I guess it depends on whether the OP wants boutiquey brands for his £5k. Reckon some light Chinese carbon wheels, x11 group, a raid on the xcracer store, and maybe a Trek or a Scott frame would be well under 5k and weight weenie enough for most.

    Would be easy to blow that budget on some Enve wheels, or a Santa Cruz or Niner frame, and have to put the weight back on with cheaper components.

    njee20
    Free Member

    Reckon some light Chinese carbon wheels, x11 group, a raid on the xcracer store, and maybe a Trek or a Scott frame would be well under 5k and weight weenie enough for most.

    That’s my Superfly, and it’s 19.2lbs all in, so not too bad. The basic frame is £1000, they don’t sell the SL variant aftermarket strangely.

    As the OP was thinking of a Highball though I suspect Trek/China may not cut it!

    BIGMAN
    Free Member

    Well I have narrowed it down.

    Highball still in the mix with the addition of the Yeti. I’d spent so long away from MTBs i had not realised they offered a carbon 29er.

    Thanks for all the input.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Both are a lot of cash to drop on a frame when there are arguably better, lighter, cheaper frames out there… but that Yeti is lovely 🙂 That build that Graves rode looks doable for £5k other than the prototype wheels. Photos when done please!

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