Am umming and ahhing over the spitty, But I’m not sure on the long reach (see my other thread…) or the steep seat angle (seems to put me in a weird position off the back of my saddle). Think I’m more leg than upper body which influences me in this respect.
Agree that drops taken at a reasonable speed and with even a hint of downslope can feel smooth even on a hardtail.

I Had a large TrA and now have a medium Spity both fit really well.
If you ride hard/uplift/Whip/land sideways then get a spitfire otherwise you will be wobbling the back wheel of the blur before and after every ride to check for play.

How tall are you SOAP?

5.10

Steve, if you’re interested I am about to list my large unused Blur TR (Alu) frame on eBay. I bought the frame from Stif earlier this year as it was the last Alu large I could find. Have been struggling with a shoulder injury, so I’ve never got round to building it up, so it has just been sat in its box since I got it. I am also under pressure from the missus to sell some bikes, so the frame has got to go. (My regular ride is a Tallboy LTc, so Ive decided to live with that, as 29ers fit my old f*rt status quite well)

My email is in my profile if you want more info etc.

I’ve been on my Spitfire exclusively for quite a few months now but I rode the Soul today and it’s pretty odd getting back on a bike that I was so tuned into and it feeling too short when standing up and long when sitting down. They’re both 590mm ETT but because the stack height is lower and seat tube slacker on the Soul the saddle is further horizontally from the bars whilst the reach is quite a lot longer on the Spitfire (which is running a shorter stem and wider bars too).

What I’d say is that although I can quickly adapt back to the Soul it’s never going to have quite as stable and powerful body position for shredding as the Spitfire.

Bowglie – I’ll email you.

You may be right.
All I want is an 18″ seat tube, 24″ top tube, 67 head angle, 72 seat angle, 26″ wheels, 44mm head tube, threaded BB, 5″ rear travel, dropper post compatible full sus frame that can handle xc rides in the lakes, jump trails, 20ft + gap jumps, 8 ft + drops and weigh under 30lbs fully built.

Is that a lot to ask?…

You are describing a medium Yeti SB66(c) then. 66.7HA, 71.7SA, 24.2″TT, 18″ST, threaded BB, 44mm head tube. Extra inch of rear travel for free. Seems strong too, here is a friend testing the strength of his:

Funnily enough I did have the SB66 on my radar for a while. Not sure why it dropped off, possibly I wasn’t convinced by the suspension action (yeah I know Jared Graves blah blah).
Your pic doesn’t work for me BTW.