I’m seriously considering pressing the ‘buy now’ button and ordering a Cotic Solaris frame and my first 29er.

Having had a quick shop around the fork and wheel contenders so far are Fox 32 F29 100 CTD forks and Pro II Evo-Stan Crest wheels. Costly but achieveable.

What are other Solaris owners running and recommend?

Cheers

KoB

Hope Pro II/Arch and a 100mm Reba; I could see a 120mm fork being useful though

Cheers Ben

The test bike I rode had 100mm Rebas on. Which were OK for the hour I rode but I’m ideally looking for bolt-through tapered forks…in white 🙂 Which limits the choice and ramps up the cost.

I’m going to run the wheels tubeless too but can’t see myself buying ‘wide’ rubber. What do they Arch rims accommodate up to?

I’ve got 2.25 Ardents on at the moment without any issues but I think it would be a squeeze to get something much bigger between the chain stays

You want the Arch EX not the old Arch.

Wider than the older one so should take something like a 2.4 Ardent easy if the frame and fork can take it.

Or stick with Crest for lower weight.

Ahhh OK. Heck, tyres are another matter completely 🙂

I was thinking Maxxis Ikons or Crossmarks or Conti X-Kings. Which are all 2.2-ish I believe.

I also found some Stans Flows but for general xc/trail duties these are probably overkill rims.

I’m running 100mm bolt through dual air rebas, non taper. Wheel wise pro2’s with dt swiss but changing to arch ex next month. Had a shot of one set at 120mm and it was great fun but the owner (Bigdugsbaws)has since dropped them to 110 as he felt it didn’t turn as well. ATM I have 2.35 nobby nics front and back but would be looking to drop the rear to a 2.25 when I next change tyres. Have had no issues with clearance but they are running with tubes so that will make a difference to how big they come up.

OK, just checked the Stans website. The Crests are the lighter xc rim. So indeed Arch EX if I can find some cheap or Flows if I can’t.

Any other tubeless/ust wheel recommendations?

I should add that I have run a 2.4 Ardent on Arch rims when I was riding rigid without problems

I asked Cy for a recommendation on the wheels and he kindly replied via email with Arch ex on either Hope Pro or Shimano hubs, the latter having considerably less seal drag. He also suggested that Hope hoops with Crests were an acceptable alternative, but less stiff.

I had some built up by Merlin- Arch EX on Pro II Evo and they are very good so far. Chose Hope hubs as I have had experience of servicing both them and Shimano and decided I prefer working on the Hopes!

I have 100mm forks

Thanks jimw, I’ve just had a look at Merlin custom wheel builds. The ProII-ArchEx come in at approx. £370

The Arch EX are in total 160g heavier than crests IIRC (both wheels), and merlin use brass nipples so they are not the lightest wheel set but stiff – well for a 29er wheel that is

If you are looking for a tapered QR15 120mm fork then the Manitou Tower Pro is reasonably priced one and gets a decent write up. Just need to be aware you may need a different spring depending on your weight or how you like your fork set up. Weights pretty good too!

May not look pretty but you can always remove the decals or replace them.

‘Just Riding Along’ do good deals on Arch Ex’s and Hope hubs.

I’m doing the same research as you and seeing if I can afford to go 29er (or back to hardcore hardtail if I can’t).

Hope this helps?!

Try my Moonglu, £350.00 for 29ers, thats where I got my 26ers and ther’re spot on.

Why not RS SIDS

@matther01 – Yeah, spotted the Manitous earlier. Ideally I’m just after 100mm forks. Ideally Foxs but deals are hard to come by. Will check JRA, thanks.

@fathomer – Saw Moonglu earlier too, thanks. They’ve got one pair left :-S

@frankers – I’ve never had RS forks, or tried them for that matter, apart from the hour or so I rode the demo bike so uncertain. I need to do some reading about them. The ones on the demo where OK but just that.

Of course difficult to tell in such a short space of time. When I’ve checked Reba and SID pricing before they end up not being that much difference with Fox. Albeit not much being £100-£150.

I’ll keep looking 🙂

Wiggle are doing sets of Stans Crests with Hope Pro 2 hubs for £267 a pair with the code EXTRA10

I’m going for these wheels but can’t decide on which forks to go for. The RS SID looks a bit too XC lightweight for my liking. The RS Reba are a good price and I can’t find Fox forks anywhere for a decent price.

I got my RS SID RCT3 forks from Germany for £470 including carriage

I had my wheels made up by Just Riding Along, Arch Ex with CK hubs, was gonna go for Flow rims but glad i didn’t.

Had 2 pairs of 34 talas from this shop.

Tracked and recorded delivery.

Here.

I got my RS SID RCT3 forks from Germany for £470 including carriage

I had my wheels made up by Just Riding Along, Arch Ex with CK hubs, was gonna go for Flow rims but glad i didn’t.

How do you find the SIDs?
I always imagine lightweight Xc forks being a bit flexy, is that the case?

They aint that light weight really… i normally use Reba’s and they feel more or less the same.

The current SID is in effect the new Reba with different internal; but share the same uppers and lowers

Bikeradar report here

I weighed them at 1670gms, i nearly went for Marzocchi forks that way around 1960gm… glad i didn’t

Forkwise, I’ve a Marzocchi 44 Ti with 15mm QR. I baulked initially at the weight, and they aren’t cheap. But they are a really, really nice pair of forks.