I appreciate that this has been covered many times in the past, but wondered if there is anything new to be considered.

A friend of mine currently has a Coiler, but is looking for a lighter but still robust frame (he goes through pivot/swingarm bearings like water), that can be built up light for UK riding and heavy for Alps trips.

The obvious choice from my perspective is the Five. But then again I’m biased as I have one!

He was also looking at the Heckler. But the head angle seems a bit steep on that, i.e. 69deg compared to his current 65deg Coiler!

Nomad is out of his price range.

Not sure that Metas/LaPierres are burly enough.

Anything else that he should consider.

Cheers

FM

Specialized enduro? The 2010 / 11 ones are stiff as. I have an 08 sl and love it and I’m 15 and a half stone.

Marin attack trail/wolf ridge is pretty burly too. If he likes Santa Cruz, what about the Butcher?

Ventana

losing weight off his a*se. seriously it’s what i did a couple of years ago dropped two stone and loved the bike i had already.

We sold a Transition Covert to a MASSIVE guy. He loves it and it’s solid.

Nicolai

Look further than the 5 and Spez Enduro because absolutely everone has got one!.

I agree with the angles but any bike can be bouncy or solid as this is adjusted by the rear shock set up, isnt it ?. The Covert is a good option, “boutiquie”, and you wont see many of them on the trails….

Alternatively what about the Pace RC405, currently cheap on CRC and again a rare find, perfect for trail / AM use, oh and personally they do look quite stunning

Kev

Santa Cruz Butcher or an Alpine 160 both are fairly slack, and should be able to get 30lb ish builds stick a coil shock on for the Alps and DH tyres.

Funnily enough Nickhart that is what he is intending to do! However his Coiler will still be heavy!

So the question still stands. Although he could get then away with a lighter less burly bike.

I’ll take a look at the butcher.

110 kgs got a 5 with 36’s which does the uplifts. Had bushes, but over 4 years never had pivot bearings. Nuff said. Like to try somthing different such as a tracer but even with lifetime warrantys on bearings its still a pain being off the trail.

we have a rider in our sunday group hes a fair lump and rides a spech pich and it takes what he can give it

How tall is he?
There’s a nearly new alpine 160 in the classifieds at a bargain price (18″). If it’s his size, he’d be mad not to.

how heavy?
how much travel does he want?
what type of riding?

i have knowledge of this problem as i suffer trying to find suitable frames due to my weight.

im 165 kg and have just bought a scott voltage fr 30 and its brilliant for me. because of the lower than average leverage ratio, it means i can run a relatively(for me) low weight spring on the rear….whereas with other frames i’d be holding back a lot due to blowing through the travel most of the time…most spring manufacturers only go up to 750/800lb springs whereas i needed well in excess of 1000lb sometimes.

I now find that i can hit drops that previously eluded me.

as long as your mate is below 18-19 stone….most bikes would be fine..above that and it gets harder

check the overall travel..then divide that number by the amount of stroke that you have on the shock…this will give you the leverage ratio…..the closer this is to 2 to 1, the easier it’ll be to setup for a heavier rider…i.e foes/scott/orange(7+only)….. mine has 170mm rear travel and a stroke of 70mm which puts it to about 2.3/4 to 1
most longer travel frames(newest designs excluded) run close to 3 to 1 ratio.

hope this helps

Backhander- cheers for that heads up but looks like it might have gone. Probably too small anyway as he’s over 6th.

Transporter 13 – 16st +, 140-150mm UK, 160mm Alps etc

No problems mate. Just get one of these;
http://www.tamedearth.com/shop/2010-knolly-endorphin-sale/
Chuck some 36s on it et voila. Light enough for UK stuff and plenty burly enough for the alps. Pedals amazingly, stiff as ****.
67.5deg HA at 160mm.
Call riding high UK first to see if they have any remaining deals though…

anything from 19 to 22 stone here.
stiffest 2 bikes i have ever ridden are a nicolai ergon fr and a ventana el capitan 29r.

Its a Helius FR Ton.

Can’t see 16 stone being a problem with most frames.

pete……………..i am confused………with old age 😉

transporter13 – Member
how heavy?
how much travel does he want?
what type of riding?

Good questions transporter13 I would also like to add budget? if your mates anything like me he has very little money to work with.

How much does he have to spend?

Wolf Ridge IMO. 16 stone isn’t so heavy that he should be destroying frames really, it’d put me off the lightweights but not anything more solid.

if i weighed ONLY sixteen stone, i would ride any bike i fancied.

The advice I normally give out is go up a discipline or two depending on how much weight is involved and riding style.

There is no reason why heavier riders should lose out on riding, yes bike builds are more tricky but that just makes them more fun.

Wheels, cranks, forks and frame as well as brake rotor size should all be upgraded first.

As for frames to run without a budget, not enough info to say really.

Feildmarshall how much of a budget does your friend have? and how much servicing experience?

Last Herb AM 🙂

Big lad on a Heckler here.

About £1000 for the frame.

Hence why the Five that I suggested is out of the question.

Heckler seems a good buy at the price point. Plus 1/8th head tube means that having to buy new forks can be avoided.

16st here, & my Ventana El-Ciclon has taken a beasting. Somewhat overbuilt compared to the latest hydro-formed stuff, but you’d not know it when riding. Double bearings at each pivot. Not took mine abroad, but my mates has had a few Alps trips. Bit over your mates budget unless you can find a nice s/h one. Speak to Riverside Cycles, I’m sure my mate said they take them in part ex ?

to be honest…at 16 stone i’d get what ever i fancied….even at my size, ive never broken a bike or parts….through weight…only by crashes etc.

i ride any components i wish even now…..ive ridden nearly every style bike there is..i.e hardtail xc/through to full on dh bikes and the only ones that start to have problems through lack of stiffness is the ones with silly shock linkages on the longer travel frames.

if he hasnt destroyed a coiler yet(one of the most flexy bikes ive ever had the misfortune to ride) i doubt he’ll break anything.

the best pedalling am bike iver ever ridden is a mongoose teocali…dont be put off by the name…they are really very good…and normally very cheap due to brand snobbery…get something like an 09 teocali super in medium(18″) with a rp23 shock and mate it with some 160mm+ 36’s up front and you’ll have a bike bike is every bit as stiff as any other(if not more) frame on the market with the added bonus that it wont cost the earth to replace should anything unfortunate happen. it’ll climb really well, descend really well and last really well too…..as it happens…my mate has one that gets the shit beaten out of it at least 2-3 times a week..i.e 15′ doubles/10′ drops…longer rides with anything in between.

I had a 2007 Teocali. Went through pivot bolts quicker than inner tubes. Snapped 4 sets in 10 months. And I weighed less then than I do now!! Pedalled well though.

true…pre 08 teocalis werent the best…i also had an 05 one as well….it was the bottom linkage bolts on that one 😀

The issue isn’t that he has wrecked the Coiler, unlike his previous Reign, but wants something which isn’t such a pig to drag uphill as the Kona, yet is still robust.

Appreciate all the comments/suggestions so far.

in that case then….the simplest/light frame that springs to mind is

orange 5 with air shock and lockout
140mm rear travel
as those frames go…pretty bombproof

the kona’s werent ever the most sprightly bikes to get uphill

transporter
couple of q’s mate.

what bike do you ride now
and how much in stone do you weigh

you seem pretty clued up bike wise mate
and i am just interested.

Seems we have come full circle. 🙂

As that is what I firmly believe would be ideal for him, as that is what I have and I am a similar weight and have a similar riding style to him and have wrecked my previous two FS bikes.

it’s out of his price range, but I think it would be money well spent.

Buy a used bike? new bike you’re stuck with it used you can try as many as you like!’

Trek Remedy 09 onwards, 05/06 enduro, Giant Reign and Reigh X, why buy new? it will simply lose half it’s value as soon as you sit on it 😯

Nearly 17st here, my 575 was pretty flexy, Maverick ML7/5 was stiff as a board and my current Epiphany seems pretty stiff too, despite what I had read.

Tomac Vanish? 160mm travel, around £1100 from CRC. Might be worth a look as an alternative to a Orange.

Transporter – I’m not being funny here, just curious.

You weigh 165kg/26 stone.

What rims are you running? How do they take the constant kicking?

I weigh 18st and I’m always knocking the bastards out!

ton – im 26 stone mate and have just bought a scott voltage fr 30 2011

mainly because

it has adjustable rear dropouts…qr/12mm/10mm bolt through as well as adjusting the wheelbase
it has a 1.5 headtube….so i can run angled reducer cups if i want to adjust the headangle..it is 65 degrees at the mo’ but with a set of tripples on and a reducer set..i can get it down to almost 62.5 degrees 😀
it has the option of using 3 different shock shuttles to allow the use of 3 different length shocks for different terrain and riding discipline…..
you can run 215×63 giving either 140 or 160mm travel – 222×70 = 150 or 170mm – 241×76 = 160 or 180mm rear travel….the best of anything that i would ever want.
it has a 31.6mm seat tube for a dropper post

the only downside for you taller guys is…it only comes in either short or long….both frames are a touch under 15″ from c-c seattube. Im 5’10” and picked the short as it is almost identical in tt length to the 16″ patriot.

bullheart- i mainly ride downhill or freeride….big gaps/drops/fast gravity assisted stuff….sod riding uphill…wastes energy 😀
i never really damage any part on my bikes to be honest…i used to ride bmx and trials when younger(still 16stone then) so got used to using my arms and legs to absorb all but the biggest impacts…..its all about being light on the bike in my opinion….not saying that you guys arent….but im a lot lighter and more forgiving than a lot of skinny guys i know that are plowers…it does make a huuuge difference

im running the standard alex rims on my scott at present but have used mavic 521/321/325/721/729, azonic outlaw rims, spank rims, halo tornado/sas/freedoms/combats etc in the past and never really had a problem….if i had to list a favourite…i’d say mavics are the best..namely being 321/721/729’s

any help?

I was 29 1/2 stone at my heaviest doing cwm Carn dh course. I run nics as my full sus bikes, like transporter says you can run lower leverage ratios. My current stoy shock on my am is running 550lb spring.

My ht is more of a joke, running a 3.1lb ibis tranny carbon ht, which I’ve done some pretty big drops on.

16st run anything you want, he’s not that heavy.