So, I had a couple of bikes stolen, the insurance is going to pay out so I just need to choose what bikes I want, my dh bike and hardtail were stolen.

I have about 9k payout to my lbs so I do need to spend it all on bikes.

My short list are

lynskey ridgeline 26lt
evil sov
the new on one ti
ragley ti

basically I want it to ride for about 3 hours (i.e. trial centre lenght) but be able to rip it up drop and jump, the forks will be a custom lowered 2011 fox float 36 with 140mm forks

I'd be getting a Soda myself. Or a Soul and an MMMbop 😉

my moneys on the sov

Always the Sov. The best bike you could ever own.

(Or go one better- someone I know had a frame custom made out of Ti to the exact specification of the Sov).

Why not go full custom with Lynskey, then you will get exactly what you want.

I am tempted to get a full custom lynskey with the exact geom of the sov, the sov is my current fave, plus it gives me more money to spend on bling, though i do really want a ti hardtail.

An indy fab ti deluxe…………Thats what im saving for probly gonna take me two years but it will be worth it 😛

got to be Ti. Custom if you have money to burn.

I think I'd go for a soda if it was off the peg.

just an unbiased opinion of the ti ragley based on having previously borrowing one for a weekend.

Its a good bike. Though £900 over priced compared to its alu cousin. It just didnt have that ti feel to it.

Lynskey sovereign, getting jealous at just the thought!

probably a silly thing I wrote, so now it's gone !

If its a hardtail and you want to run 36's just get yourself a 456Ti. And once you've got the setup right, decide whether you want to go custom or not.

Out of interest, why 36's?

I ran talas 36's on my steel 456, and loved them – but when I bought a 456Ti found that the 36's seemed to 'unbalance' the bike and made it very front heavy. I put a pair of 140mm Thor's on and it feels right.

Heavy bike though, the Sov.

That is the only thing which is putting me off the sov.

For me I find 32mm stanchioned forks a little bit flexy, I like a solid front end, tbh, i think the sov will suit the feel I'm after.

Iainc – I don't spend my life worrying about things like that. Thats what insurance is for

if it were me i'd go custom ti, similar geo to my ragley but with a slightly shorter seat tube and lower top tube, perhaps slightly shorter rear end too, or adjustable, with maxle, like a 14.5inch blue pig, running something like 36 talas's up front…..
if only i had the cash.

Lynskey could do something very trick looking to sovereign geometry. Double helix and a dropped top tube? Not much change from £4k though I'm guessing.

I'd go with one of these if it were me

ianpinder…………….a robustly built one…………. 😉

😆 I'm down to a trim 26st

onewheeltoofew whats that?

OP good call on the fork. I'm currently running my Fox36 Float R's at 140mm fixed. Going to buy the spacer though to take them to 150mm as I think my full suss could work better at 150 😀

yes they are really nice, I have the 180mm version and they are brilliant

That.s the Brodie holeshot. They've been making them for years but now they come in full Ti glory.

brodie bikes blog

I like a solid front end, tbh

It's the secret of LT hardtails I reckon. Thors are good for this too, you can set them up pretty stiff, and bang them through anything.

Chameleon, can build it light…still solid.

Don't forget Hummer though. stupid light, very stiff and fast

You should have a look at the Moots Mooto X. The finish on Moots' products is wonderful and you can go down the custom route too. You can kiss goodbye to a good chunk of your insurance payout when speccing one up.

My evil's about 28lbs and has a "chunky" build on it. I'd say you need weight to build one up that is stiff enough. The new frames are also lighter.

I think I have the build pretty much specced, except I don't know how pimp i'm going to go with the wheels.

So far I think its going to be

2011 fox float 36 140mm
2011 xtr shifters, cranks and rear mech
slx cassette
2011 xtr trail brakes
thompson masterpeice seatpost
thompson stem
easton carbon dh bars (though I might get the rf atlas bars)
pro2 straight pull spokes on flow rims, though i might try the new xtr hubs

314g for SLX cassette, 250g for XT/XTR. biggest weight saving for littlest spend.

My evil's about 28lbs

Wow, impressive, that's not far off my Cham

ip – yeah, good point, quite agree. cheers

The Brodie Holeshot is a classic frame, with typical Canadian geo, long TT, slack and tough. I expect to have a few frames available though most are being reserved fast. Price will be around £1-£1.2K, I'll hope to know for sure by the end of the week.

Si

http://www.brianrourke.co.uk/rourke-953-mtb-frame-p-1174.html?cPath=86

953 frame at the heart custom built

A super solid custom Nicolai?

i was gonna say why not 953?….
didn't know if anyone had built a mtb with it or if suitable tubing was available…..
in that case what i said first but in 953…

All my full sus bikes are nicolai, fancy some other options for my ht

2011 fox float 36 140mm
2011 xtr shifters, cranks and rear mech
slx cassette
2011 xtr trail brakes
thompson masterpeice seatpost
thompson stem
easton carbon dh bars (though I might get the rf atlas bars)
pro2 straight pull spokes on flow rims, though i might try the new xtr hubs

Hmm, for me XX drivetrain, Formula R1 brakes and I-Beam seat/post

Or XT cassette at a minimum.

Tbh I will prob go for an xt cassette, however I won't go for SRAM, mainly because I'm used to and prefer shimano and secondly xx is pretty much 50% more then xtr, and that stops me from trying it.

I don't like formula brakes, I had a bad set, and whilst I appreciate that I've only tried one set, I am a stubborn so and so.

Ibeam seat posts limits your saddle choices

Custom Ti Black Sheep would be my choice. Mind you the best sheeps are the rigid singlespeeds IMO so you would have to ditch the Fox fork.

This is why Shimano made Yumeya.

Ian – so what got pinched? I am guessing you Helius ST hence the AM to replace it?

I think you're right about the Fox 32. As you know I was running a 150mm 32 Float on my AM for a while in a weight saving exercise but the fork was just too noodly for my build. On drops I could feel seriously worring amounts of flex and on hard steep turns the front end wanted to tuck under.

The 36 is one choice, but why not a Pike? Super stiff, a little lighter than the 36, can be made to work really well with the Push tune and you aren't paying for a whole lot of travel you won't be using.

As for the frame, well the world is your oyster. I think you're right to steer away from a Nic HT; I rode the Argon recently and while the geometry is sorted and it's super responsive, man was it harsh. Anything more than a few hours tops and you'll feel really beaten up.

I also rode the Ragley Ti. Now that is a seriously capable frame; probably the only time I've ever felt that the frame allowed me to get into a speed/drop/turn situation that the fork wasn't dealing with so well! It is amazing but then I think a big part of that is the combination of it being titanium and extremely well fabricated. By this I mean they've built in stiffness in the BB area for stomp and go power transfer, but compliance in the rear so it almost feels as if you have a modicum of suspension. It's less about there being more grip by virtue of keeping the wheel on the ground and more about isolating you from the impacts. It really did combine the best of steel and alu but the sizing is a bit of a pain as the ST is really tall IMO and even with the saddle down on its rails, I still felt I'd like to get it lower and more out of the way for better weight transfer and COG. The small might well fit me just right, but IIRC you're quite a bit taller than me.

The Ragely Ti is easy to test though.

if you wanted something custom made but not quite as ridiculously expensive as a custom Ti, then you could also consider either Independent Fabrications or maybe get in touch with 18Bikes in the Peak, as they are now doing a full custom steel option.

IF will build you anything you want with any tube set so they can accomodate your style and the loads that your bike's going to see (said as one Clydesdale class rider to another BTW 😉 )

Have fun building. Oh and by the way, how was the Mega?