Evil Sovereign or the Blue Pig X from Ragley?? I’ve heard the Pig x is not quite so harsh at the rear..

Why are you interested in these two specifically? They’re fairly different.

Sov is nicely springy in the rear in my experience, feels very comfortable jumping and dropping.

[quote Why are you interested in these two specifically? They’re fairly different.

I thought they were fairly the same. ie long travel Hardtail. I’ve bopiled it down to these on reviews alone.. nobody hass a bad word to say about either…

Pigs are long and slack and sovs are not. Sovs are like 4x bikes that adapt to trail riding.

The sov will be slack with a 150 fork.

They both get rave reviews about how they handle the trails. Is it that the pig x is more downhill orientated?

where do you usually ride?

The sov will be slack shit with a 150 fork.

I’m after a bike for Wales, FOD, etc. Looking to ride down Snowdon sometime this year apart from that my local bridleways etc.

I Agee with David because I tried it and the Bb is too high. I run mine at 130 with a fair bit if sag and some compression damping

I run my Sov at 140, have run it at 160 but didn’t like that. It’s superb- you need to a be a half decent rider to get the most out of it mind. It’s a lot less laid back than the Ragley but I reckon a far more engaging, exciting ride.

Perfect for big mountains- it loves rocks. It’ll eat Snowdon for breakfast. To get the most out of it you need to slam the stays as short as they’ll go and I find they ride better with a very unfashionable higher rise bar.

The best bike I’ve ever owned, period.

I had a Sov for a while – ran it with lyrics at 140. Better than the 32 floats I had on at first.
It’s a really tough bike. Quite heavy frame.
I never suffered with any harshness on what I would call normal trails. You could beat yourself up on some descents as it was never going to fall apart. Good for riding most stuff you might find on a day out.
It’s not especially slack but that never really bothered me.

Sov is a great frame, but unless you are doing big jumps and drops it is overbuilt/heavy.

Avoid long travel hardtails, the vast majority are crap.

If you are set on a long travel hardtail then look at the ragley bagger. From what I remember it is slack enough to be able to take a longer travel fork and not handle like wet noodle.

What you want is a bfe with a short travel fork. HTH

Kudos: I have mine with sensible wheels and 2.4 tyres, an air shock and 1×9. It’s never going to be an xc bike because of the frame pork, but it’s not a lump at all.

Can never resist a chance to post a pic of the Sov…

The eagle eyed will see the BB is high as it is sporting 650b wheels in this picture.

The 36s are a spot on match for the Sov in terms of stiffness, they are spaced to 140mm.

Normally run it as seen with 26” wheels.

I own 7 mountain bikes and 2 roadies and the Sov is the only one that is a true keeper!

As alluded to above, the pig is a different beast entirely, I would suggest if you want a secure, planted feel then the geo on the Pig may suit, if you like a bike that is a bit of a handful then the Sov is great.

Cheers

Geometrically the more typical long-travel hardtails (eg Cotic BFe, Stanton Slackline, Transition Trans-Am, etc) sit about halfway between the short and steep Evil and long and slack Ragley, and so are probably a better place to start.

Shorter steeper hardtails are more likely to suffer the downsides of long forks because the shorter front-centre means the BB height increases more quickly and the shorter wheelbase means the bike is more prone to feeling unstable as the BB becomes higher. Smaller frames don’t work so well with longer forks as the bar height can end up too high for a shorter rider and the BB height increase is exacerbated further.

~130mm forks are a good length for many riders on the more typical LTHTs – actual fork length in use depends on the specific forks and how much sag and compression damping you run. Chunkier forks tend to be longer for a given travel than lighter ones and even comparable forks vary a lot: Fox Float 32s are similar to Rockshox Revelations but almost 10mm shorter for equal travel.

A very sunny October day.

I’ve had a couple of 525 Dialled PAs and the BPX is much twangier in the rear (ahem) yet feels more solid up front due to angles/tubing/BB etc. It’s nice and direct but the minimal bracing of the seat and chainstays does add a liveliness that is fun with momentum. I love the nerdy visibly butted tubes on the top and seat tube as well as the Maxle drop outs, guides and dropper friendliness. I like that the BB is a little higher and there’s loads of standover. I’ve not found a need to shorten the fork, 140 has been great and 150 is on the way. The slackness encourages a more exaggerated style towards the front wheel, which coincidently is quite handy for cornering effectively with a long fork. The steep seattube (relatively) gets you back up the hill for another go and keeps you in the fore. Mud room is generous as you probably know.

Weight is 2.34 vs 2.79 for the BPX & Sov. 450g is a fair chunk, but I gather Sov riders aren’t weenies.

I can’t pass judgement on the Sov but the BPX is very good indeed! If you wanted to know I’m 5’11”, it’s a 17″ with a 60mm stem and 711 bars. I’d like to go wider but would be punching trees on the local stuff.