It could be either a short travel full suss or a hadtail. The objective is to get a light second bike (the other one weighs a shade over 30lbs).

It must have:

– A head tube that can take a tapered fork
– 135mm by 12mm rear
– Built around a 140mm fork
– Not be a cross country bike

Budget is around £1200.

Transition bandit – last years model should/could be found for around half that unless you looking at a whole bike?

No just frame and I don’t have to spend that much, it’s an ‘up to’ figure.

How much does the bandit weigh?

Bandit is on the heavy side but it looks nice enough. It also looks to have a 142mm by 12mm rear or 135mm by 10mm.

An old Cannondale prophet mx

Yeti ASR5?

Two excellent suggestions. Thanks. I recall the Prophet MX being highly recommended by Dirt.

Hardtail suggestions?

Argon cc

Getting a light second bike is easy. The harder part is gettig said bike that’s right for what you want it for. DH, XC, Freeride, enduro etc. or all of the above..?

Its a good point symbian. Put it this way, if the Cotic Soul had a 12mm rear axle I would have one of those.

I need the 12mm rear because I want to use one set of wheels between two bikes.

If you’ve got a full sus, I cant see the point in a hardtail with long forks. It’ll ride just the same but not as well.

David that’s true, but I need something that will require me to ride a bit slower. It’s time to slow down a bit.

If your budget is £1200, why not get a shorter forked light hardtail with some lighter wheels within budget?

New SC chameleon will probably be light, looks like they’ve slackened the HA so it’ll be good with short forks if you want a slack HA.

It’s the wheels that I really want to use betwen both bikes but I like your thinking. Will investigate the Chameleon.

you could always use a 12->10mm step-down axle and broaden your frame options…

How about the NS Surge. 10mm axle though. I have a 12mm axle atm & will just need to get a 10mm axle.
Super versatile frame with long or short forks, adjustable dropouts etc. short chainstays a la Stanton Slackline, Slack HA a la Pig X.

or this..

http://tinyurl.com/b8j6c3g

Frame £559 @ Zulu bikes

Tymnian I love that Privee Shan. Do you know if it has a 12mm rear?

140mm is not short travel, for me a blur LT would be a good choice if you can find a taper headtube frame as I dont think they did them before late 2011

Edit not 135×12

http://www.production-privee.com/PBSCProduct.asp?ItmID=11265930

has Rear hangers: removable designed and provided with 135x10mm, options: 135×12 and singlespeed (40€ per kit)

its a beautiful bike, I wouldn´t say no

Only needs to be a 140mm fork not necessarily a 140mm rear travel, e.g. The Blur TR.

Instead of restricting your options on rear maxles- which is quite a big deal- I’d do as suggested and sleeve the wheel down so you can use it with a 10mm. A little heavier but it’ll pay off.

davidtaylforth – Member

It’ll ride just the same but not as well.

Nope.

New Chameleon looks nice! 4.7lbs and they’re claiming 68 HA @ 491 A-C (that’s 120mm Float 32 static) but it looks slacker in the pictures.

Santa Cruz: Making alu hardtails that weigh more than steel ones since 1993 Bet it rides well though.

It’s a pound lighter than the old one though!

Bet it rides well though.

Just the same as a Blur LT but not as well, so I hear… 😉

I was so hoping the Ragley Troof I had was going to be my equivalent of what I think your after… but unfortunatley the frame cracked after less than six months (before I had even bought the 135×12 dropouts… luckily!).

I’m still looking for the same – I want it to take all the parts from my Nicolai; dropouts to take 135×12, full 1.5″ headtube, 31.6 seatpost, ISCG… and be singlespeedable… and light.

I’m currently running a little Mmmbop as my hardtail and it does some of these pretty well. Although I would change it tomorrow if I find something else.

To run the 135×12 wheels in it I usualy change the (Hope) end caps but I also have an axle like this 135mm Axle at CRC. It’s handy for trueing wheels as it’s a straight shove in quickly and go ride/fix. Mine is made by Nukeproof from parts of the Forth Rail Bridge so I tend not to take it out on the trail.

The only way I can see to tick all the boxes is custom; Chinese Ti, Nicolai Argon AM, BTR Ranger etc… but as it’s my second bike I’m not that bothered (until I break the Mmmbop 🙄 ).

Hey Messiah good to hear from you.

One of the interesting insights from this thread are these step down axles. I wasn’t previously aware these were available and it looks like this is just the thing I need.

Being able to swap the wheels between bikes is a big bonus as a)they are really nice wheels and b)it costs less. I’d rather have one really nice set of wheels used between new bikes than two sets of mediocre ones.

The Argon AM is what I’ve been thinking of but they are soooo expensive and I’ve always said that hard tail Nic’s don’t really make much sense when there are so many other great hard tails out there, made out of steel. The Argon FR I tested several times was pretty damn good though. Easily as good as the best hardcore steel hardtails I’ve tried.

If you broke the Ragley didn’t you just get a replacement?

transition double.
bandit is more “xc”

or pivot bikes 4x

Blur TR (or c)

Hi Geetee.

The Troof was near perfect but no more frames were available so I went for a refund.

Argon FR’s have dated geometry so for me they are out. The AM is tempting but the cost is high and although I like the little alu Mmmbop I’m not sure I want a harsher frame… weight’s I have seen for the FR and AM are all over 5lbs which is a lot of material for an Alu hardtail!!! Good enough for Shneidi in the Mega though 😯

Have you considered doing a Spanner Bikes and getting a Ti hardtail frame to your own specifications? I’m thinking it might be the way to go for me as I know what I want but nobody is building it… although the new on-one 456 Ti would perhaps have tempted me if it could take a 1.5″ steerer and 31.6 seatpost.

Will the 2013 Nukeproofs still have a 135×12 rear end?

If so, the TR version (130mm rear?) would be a good choice.

If they’re good enough for Sam Hill…

good enough for Sam Hill to be paid to ride them…

😉

How about a BTR Ranger with custom dropouts?

Those axle things do work well. Use it quite a bit when I want to put my beefy wheels on the hardtail. If I’m doing that then I’m generally not bothered about the extra weight!

Edit: oh and regarding the what frame question, if I did have to replace my mmmbop I’d be having a good look at the new chameleon. Quite like the look of the Trans Am too. Though I think both fall foul of your axle requirement.

How about getting 18 bikes to build a custom steel frame based on soul geometry? Or even buy a soul and have them or somebody else put new dropouts on it?

I Ache – I was on the phone to them this morning 😀 Great suggestion.

It looks like the step down axle is the perfect solution which open up all the great steel hard tails out there.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

I was speaking to Kingdom Bike about my requirements and they send me diagram of a good looking 650b prototype a bit like the Brigante…

Which had almost all the bells and whistles I wanted, and all the lessons they learned from overbuilding this prototype.

I’ve asked him for a 26er version but Chris has been very busy of late redesigning the website and other stuff.

Mythic rampant – thats what i ride round our hills…

Freeborn bargain at the moment. all requirements apart from maxle back end. dont need that in surrey anyhow, the chainstays are ribbed so its pretty stiff .

http://www.freeborn.co.uk/mythic-2012-rampant-frame

It really is a great little bike. pedals great, supple (I had the shock pushed by tf) and feels more than 100mm in the bigger stuff.
can run full length post so fine for XC duties.

Involving enough as doesn’t steamroller the trails like longer travel bikes but still keeps you in there for KOMs 😉

I Ache – I was on the phone to them this morning Great suggestion.

It looks like the step down axle is the perfect solution which open up all the great steel hard tails out there.

Any time. The step down axle looks like a good idea in which case I suggest you just get a Soul. I would suggest you got a BFe, I love mine, but you said you want to take it easy and the BFe encourages the opposite.

Involving enough as doesn’t steamroller the trails like longer travel bikes but still keeps you in there for KOMs

No more KOM attempts for me otherwise I might end up being KIA!

I would suggest you got a BFe, I love mine, but you said you want to take it easy and the BFe encourages the opposite.

😀 Quite!

I smashed the top part of my humerus last October, three weeks after our second son was born. I just cannot, under any circumstances, afford to have any more accidents (this was not the first. Nor the second. Or the third time. 8O)