Really liked the look of the ff29 but haven’t seen many for sale used and I think they’ve stopped making them?

Slightly different geo between sync & ff29

Similar but not the same…

Having owned a Sync, I was very impressed at just what a 29er with a 70 deg HA was capable of. It never felt too steep or out of its depth, and I took it down some fairly tech descents in the time I owned it. The 7mm reduction in chainstay length over the FF29 is quite noticable when you ride it too.

FF29 has indeed now been discontinued. Have a small frame for sale in black, about 20 rides old, belonged to my GF before she bought a Stanton Sherpa, if anyone is interested…

If the FF29 had 435mm chainstays I’ve buy one over a Stanton myself.

There are other differences than just the chainstay length… Being a geometry bore, and having had access to the bikes (and measured them properly) I can tell you that the FF29 has a static 71deg HA with a 120mm fork fitted. The Sherpa is over 4.5deg slacker, with a sub 66.5deg static HA with the same 120mm fork fitted, or is still only at about 67.2deg static with a 100mm fork fitted. The Sherpa’s BB is also slightly taller (the only reason I’m not already riding one, as I like my BB height down in the weeds).

This is why I’ve just bought a Whyte 629 complete bike to strip for the frame… Similar sub 2kg weight as the FF29, chainstays at 440mm aren’t mega short but usefully shorter than the FF29’s, HA is sub 67deg static with a 120mm fork (the 68.5deg quoted on Whyte’s website is for a 100mm fork with a Zero Stack bottom cup, not an external required for a tapered steerer), ETT and reach figures are nice and long so I can run a nice 50mm stem on a Medium for my preferred position, and they’ve lopped 25mm off the seat tubes this year to make 125mm droppers more easily accommodated. Oh, and even with a 120mm fork and 2.3″ tyres fitted, the BB height is still only 308mm! Happy days…

That’s interesting mboy, how does the 29r Sync compare? Did you go through the same process with that one?

I’m tempted by a Whyte 29er now…if only they made the 929 still 🙁

DeKerf Team SST, gorgeous.

http://www.dekerf.com/Details.asp?id=1

That’s interesting mboy, how does the 29r Sync compare? Did you go through the same process with that one?

Sync is very similar to the FF29, just 7mm shorter chainstays and slacker by 1 degree. Otherwise geometry is pretty much spot on.

I’m tempted by a Whyte 29er now…if only they made the 929 still

Seriously, don’t even go there! I missed the opportunity to buy one new because I was a bit broke at the time. Had assumed it wouldn’t be a flash in the pan given that though it was only made in small numbers, and they all sold easily. Have tried unsuccessfully to purchase a 2nd hand medium sized frame a couple of times too.

Spoke with Ian Alexander, the Whyte designer about the bike before, and why it disappeared so quickly. Long and the short of it is that Whyte are a brand seen to be at the cutting edge of design and performance, but that they also need to sell volumes of bikes. Soon after the 929 was launched, the whole industry started talking about 650b and that 29ers would quickly be relegated to XC race bikes only. Whyte canned the 929 as quickly as it arrived, and brought out the completely revamped 650b 901/905/909 range that has won magazine award after award for the last 3 years running. So from a sales point of view, I suppose they were absolutely correct. Doesn’t stop me wanting them to even consider doing a re-run of 929’s though. Even a small Ltd edition run, frame only, maybe 50 units… The tools are already paid for so nothing needs a redesign. Unless they want to ditch the front mech mount and sling some 142×12 dropouts on there, but I’m just being picky now! 😉

That’s why I’m considering a 901/905 – everything right apart from wheel size! Have you ridden one to compare mboy?

Here’s my Kona Unit : http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/yet-another-steel-29er-hardtail

relliot, funny, I went looking for dekerfs from this thread.

nice: http://fstatic1.mtb-news.de/img/photos/1/7/2/3/7/5/_/large/030910134644.jpg

He could do with refreshing the images on his site, couldn’t he? Captioned “precision” above the SST: spindly ST cranks, rim brakes. Would put some off, I’m sure. Maybe he doesn’t need those people.

Although GBP:CAD is better than it’s been for years. If you’ve been waiting for an excuse…

mboy – Member
Soon after the 929 was launched, the whole industry started talking about 650b and that 29ers would quickly be relegated to XC race bikes only.

That makes sad reading for me. I’m not stating one wheel size is best or even better than another, just that it’s nice to have the option of choosing a bike that suits you (sir)!

That’s why I’m considering a 901/905 – everything right apart from wheel size! Have you ridden one to compare mboy?

Indeed… And…

I just prefer 29ers!

I’ve ridden some very accomplished 650b bikes in the last couple of years, but on pretty much all of them have just wished they had slightly bigger wheels! Hey ho.