Any ideas for a steel XC (Race) hardtail?

Orange R8 was my first thought! And at £550 is at the upper end of the budget. Need to keep the front end adjusted for around 100mm of travel!!

Lord of the Pies

Any reason why you wany a steel rather than an alu race bike?

Yep, never had one and just fancy a change!!

Singular Swift will be my weapon of choice for next year, currently building it up 😀

The Swift is a 29er isn't it?

All the kit is coming over from my old bike, 26" wheels!!

But I have been looking at the Singular Hummingbird

Rocklobster great value, light, fun to ride, recommended.

On One, £135, and you can buy some better kit.

A Genesis Altitude has got to be worth a look (currently top of my list). Should be £400 I think and is 853 like the R8.

I've not seen a frame weight for the R8, anyone know where it weighs in? It should go without saying that it's ridiculously expensive, I'm just wondering if the weight gives any tradeoff for its lack of flexibility.

Oh, nobody's spammed for Cotic yet, I'll do it… The Soul's got a fair race record, and is reasonably light at 4.4lbs for the medium, though it runs about a degree slacker than the R8 if that bothers you. Far more flexible frame obviously though not as race focussed.

Charge Duster?

The R8 is well out of my budget but 'ridiculously expensive' is relative I guess. 2010 Rocky Mountain Blizzards another off the peg 853 hardtail (and I have to admit they look beautiful) retail for £868!!

I think that the 631 Whyte 19 Steel is expensive at £649.

As far as the price goes, you only have to compare it with a Soul to see how overpriced it really is- I don't just mean "here's another 853 hardtail", the construction is very similiar. Yet it's £100 more. So, either there's some frame magic going on there or those are solid gold stickers. And it's not as though the SOul's exactly a budget option…

I'd steer clear of the rocky mountain. Don't be tempted by their devilish looks, aftersales and warranty is shocking from Silverfish.

Another vote for the Rock Lobster (from Merlin) – £299 for an 853 lightweight steel frame, and just right for 100mm forks – and its got those lovely old skool Ritchey drop-outs!

456's are OK but they're a good 2lb's heavier than the Rock Lobster and IMO don't work well with a 100mm fork.

Psst – Sanderson

Any ideas for a steel XC (Race) hardtail?

Would've thought giving away the best part of 1.5lb just to have the frame made out of steel was a no-no for an XC race bike? Surely there's only a couple of sub 4lb Steel frames out there, and they'll be pretty flexy alright!

My Genesis Altitude (4.5lb frame weight in 17.5" version, geometry as good as spot on the same as Cotic Soul so it rides well) covers ground pretty quickly with the right rider on it (ie. not me!), but I'd say anything more suitable is going to cost a lot more! So it's gonna be a price Vs weight compromise I'd suggest.

So long as the components are a reasonable weight a steel frame can build up to a perfectly good XC machine, I've seen a Chas Roberts DOGSBOLLOX built up for racing at 17lb! That was obsessively specced, tho'; carbon bolts and covers on the Hope brake reservoirs, anyone? Still a good 853 frame should make a sweet racer, that'll benefit from long-term upgrading and weight shaving; just cos' it's cheapish doesn't mean it doesn't justify throwing some cash at it over a period of time. A decent light wheelset and brakes, light stem, bars and saddle, like an SDG I-Beam FX, will all shed the ounces over time. Ally frames can and do fatigue over time when ridden hard, a good 853 frame should last a very long time, unless you play pinball with a tree. 😆

Salsa Ala Carte.

A decent light wheelset and brakes, light stem, bars and saddle, like an SDG I-Beam FX, will all shed the ounces over time.

Absoultely, don't get me wrong, my currently 26lb Genesis could probably be got down to 23lb or maybe a touch less, with a lot of money thrown at it… SID's, full XTR, Crossmax SLR's that kind of thing… But it would still be giving away 1.5-2lb to the equivalent ally, carbon or ti race frame, and surely that's the point when it comes to an XC race bike?

Orange R8
Charge Duster
Pipedream Sirius
Kinesis Decade Versa
Singular Humingbird
Voodoo Bizango (if I can find one!?)
Rock Lobster Tig Team 853
Cotic Soul
Salsa Ala Carte
Genesis Altitude

The Orange R8 looks great in the flesh, as for steel being a bit weighty for XC race. Basically the bike in question is being built up with short (up to 2hr), lung bursting, eyes out on storks, all out, stood up more than sat down, winter training rides!! All the kit to go on the frame is sat in a box ready to be fitted. So its just the frame thats needed. From my perspective £550 for a frame is fine, but I think thats pretty much top whack that I'm prepared to spend.

Cove Handjob possibly? There are also some good deals on '08 RM Blizzards if one of those appeals.

The Cove is a little too trail for my purposes, along with the Cotic I think.

Both excellent bikes though

Rock Lobster 853

Mm, not sure what you mean by the Soul being too trail, run with a 100mm fork it's got fairly classic 70/73 XC geometry. I think Kate Potter's Soda might run standard Soul/Soda geometry, though I know it's a one-off she rode a production Soda at first. Soda's a fair bit lighter than the Soul, of course, but the Soul's still a respectable weight. I'm interested to see if the Orange comes in significantly lighter.

(too late for an edit, but as a follow-on to the last one… I'm still not sure I'd recommend a Soul, though it's probably as good as any other steel HT for this purpose. TBH I'd say get a Scandal 😉 Nice compliant lightweight frame, has some of the qualities of a classic steel frame and weighs nothing.

I would have gone for the Scandal, if it wasn't for the almost aggressively dismissive response I had from them regarding an issue relating to a 'bent' inbred!! There point was fair and valid, but the manner in which they dismissed my query means I wont buy from them!!

To be fair, may have just caught them on a bad day. But if you're not going to offer advice or help to a potential customer then you can expect that customer to go elsewhere. Good customer service goes a long way with me, and I'll pay extra for it any day!

I'm a bit naive when it comes to all the different disciplines within mountain biking like 'trail' etc. (I just pootle around for fun) but as far as racing goes I did think that the Handjob was pretty lightweight for a steel hardtail and meant to run with 100mm-130mm forks. I've never ridden one though so don't know what they're like. Perhaps a Blizzard is worth exploring (probably not nearly £870 but there are a few 2008 deals around the £500 mark to be had).

There seems to be a wealth of good quality steel hardtails around at the moment, it's hard to choose(I'm struggling to decide whether to replace my 853 Inbred with something new and if so, what).

Think I'll be going and having a chat with 18Bikes in Hope about Cotic, does look fancy!

FWIW, I've owned a Soul and currently ride a Scandal, the Scandal is just as compliant as my Soul was, is lighter and costs under half the price.

In fact the Scandal is so good I'm getting another as a dedicated SS bike.

the manner in which they dismissed my query means I wont buy from them!!

I've left now, if it was me what wrote it.

Sanderson Breath? Hardly any difference in weight between this and the Life and it's beautiful – really well finished.

nuttysquirrel – Member
Sanderson Breath? Hardly any difference in weight between this and the Life and it's beautiful – really well finished.

plus one

Jamis Dragon
http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/hardtails/dragon/09_dragonpro.html

that Dragon is very nice looking! fantastic paintjob.

Brant; No bud, I know of what Shaun's issue related to, this was a few weeks ago and is now being taken care of by planet x/on one!

Personally, the R8 I think would be quite appropriate for Mr Shaun Pies…