£100 chepaer than a Solaris, made with 853, can be run singlespeed and with a belt, comes in green (admittedly not that green).

I’d say Cotic have some fairly serious competition here. It’s going on my Xmas list.

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gallery/article/pipedream-skookum-new-steel-or-titanium-29er–35763/2

Was looking at the ti, dare I say nicer than the eagerly awaited fireline, but what the hell is a skookum?

Wikipedia says that a skookum is;

a souvenir doll once common in the United States in tourist areas.

so, now we know 🙂

i was looking at this last night, looks really nice, was primarliy interested because of the belt drive compatability,
A quick goole search shows not many places selling the belt drives.
anyone know of anywhere with prices for all the parts you would need?
Assumming you would run singlespeed do you just need a chainring, sprocket and the belt?

That looks very tasty indeed.I`m currently contemplating selling my Anthem and my XTC and replacing them with a 29er.

It`s a toss up between building up something like this or the Solaris or taking the easy/cheaper optton of a Canyon Grand AL 29.

anyone know of anywhere with prices for all the parts you would need?

ir_bandito would know, I think.

Andy

I was put off belt drives by people on here shoiwn pics of how theirs had broken because of small stones getting caught in the teeth of the belt.

Very interesting but put off by effective CS length of 450mm/17.7 inches isn’t that really long? Also “only” 2.35″ max tyre size

Is that actually the price of the Ti frame?
If so, its great value…

It ticks all the boxes for me – until you get to chainstay length which is a tad long. Once you had tensioned chain in ss mode it would be longer still. A shame as otherwise looks spot on.

Only 10mm on the stays versus the Solaris

Which makes them 20mm more than they need to be 😉

Regardless of chainstay length, belt drive etc etc nobody will be able to buy one because Pipedream are incapable of either answering their phones or replying to emails.

Oh wow, if its not to heavy that is a great frame. I have been after a belt frame after passing on a norco Judan a while back as it was made out of on-one style gas pipe. It is a good green too. Hmm do I need 2 expensive single speeds?

honourablegeorge – Member

I’d say Cotic have some fairly serious competition here.

Not being funny but is that not exactly what we said about the Sirius, before it turned out that everything they said pre-launch was basically wishful thinking?

Northwind – Member

Not being funny but is that not exactly what we said about the Sirius, before it turned out that everything they said pre-launch was basically wishful thinking?

Like what? (I don’t remember anything pre-launch about the Sirius, although the one person I know who has one seems pretty chuffed with it)

I liked my sirius, in fact i owned two. I thought it rode fantastically an was a cracking bike.

honourablegeorge – Member

Like what?

They claimed 4.1lbs for a medium, which is lighter than a Soul- lots of folks got very excited about it, talk of it being a Cotic beater. Then that turned out to be absolute balls, the real weight was over 5lbs. Also, pre-order customers were kept waiting for much longer than promised.

Weight isn’t everything, it’s a nice frame to ride, well finished too. But they have history of optimism.

but what the hell is a skookum?

another name for a sasquatch/bigfoot like monster/devil in british columbia

I have a Solaris and am considering one 😳

I had a Sirius R853. Apart from being a bit heavy (certainly heavier than the Soul I had) it was a great ride.

I think they are subtle in a good way. Stu is great to deal with if a little difficult to get hold of!

Now 10% off too …..

My Sirius in SS guise:

I’m happy with my Sirius and would certainly consider buying Pipedream again. The final CEN tested Sirus was heavier than advertised (I think that the pre-order adverts were based on the non-CEN prototype) but it still turned out to be a great frame that won a fairly competitive What MTB shoot out.

Pipedream do seem to have turned out consistently good frames, but I would agree with others that they do sometimes make it hard work to buy from them.

I had a Scion which was essentially what they promised the Sirius would be and it was a really nice frame both to ride and in terms of finish. I’ve since tried to talk to them about the Skookum but as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve had no joy.

I’m not overly fussed now though as I’m not a fan of the dropouts or the belt drive setup.

Stu at Pipedream quoted me £200 for the beltdrive setup.

Prices on Gates website come to about £170 for belt and 2 sprockets, + their exhorbitant delivry cost.

i bought my Centretrack setup from the states: bikeparts.com, came in much cheaper.

(I’ve also been offered trade price on a setup by someone at Gates, and the obvious markup is shockingly high!)

I am toying with belt-drive Rohloff Ti Skookum….

Cheers for the info IR, may be worth a bit more research on the gates stuff but it does look good and i think that may be worth pursueing, i think a belt drive SS would look rather smart all in.
A guy i ride with has a sirius and it is a really nice frame and rides well.

I like the sliding dropouts, but am unconvinced by the belt drive set-up, and how that may effect rigidity around the joint.

how that may effect rigidity around the joint.

Less so than a suspension design. I had issues woth my Carbon-drive belt slipping off due to frame-flex, but the Center-track doesn’t suffer at all. Any issues are solved with a fat axle of some sort. I use a bolt-in Hope Pro2 Trials. Other options would be the 10mm thru-axle conversions, or nutted Rohloff or Alfine.