I have a lovely 26″ soul mk2 in black, I love riding it, I can go fairly fast and fling it round the trails with ease. I have enough money to get myself a Solaris and build it to a fairly decent spec. Do I need it? No, do I want it? Yes. Pointless consumerism to buy a another bike when I already have one I love and which does everything I need it to. On a 29er Solaris would my smile be any bigger at the bottom of say lower cliff? Unlikely. But ohhh I’d get the shiny orange one and I’d be able to go faster on bigger wheels and and and…..be quiet head voices.

Just do it.

Do you want it? Do you have the means to buy it without getting into debt? If the answer to both of these is yes, just do it. You’ll only be annoyed at yourself if you don’t.

If everyone only ever bought what they “need” we’d all be riding around on shitty bikes, and wearing clothes from Asda* Ie. The world would be a f**king boring place.

Case in point, I’m about to hit 30 and just bought a skateboard the other week. Haven’t ridden one well in over 10 years, and probably won’t use it that much, but I wanted it (through some misguided sense of nostalgia) and had the means to buy it, so thought **** it, why not?

If you’re not convinced, wait a while; the frame’s not going anywhere.

*not that there is anything wrong with cheap bikes and clothes from Asda- they work, and will do for 99% of people, but they’re both definitely a bit dull…

When I got my Solaris my smile went up to eleven! 😀 😀

I’ve used mine for everything from Alpine downhill trails to 300Km ITTs to bikebacking. The only thing that lets it down is the lump of lard that insists on sitting on it 😳

The Solaris is the best bike in the world. And that is a scientific fact!