I posted up a little while ago about a £1k hardtail via C2W. I’ve just found out the limit is actually £5k, so I’m now not limited.

I was going to go with an On One Parkwood when the limit was £1k, but now I can stretch that

I originally wanted a steel hardtail 29er. Now this gives me the opportunity to do that. Any thoughts then on a hardtail 29er, ideally in steel but would consider ally, would prefer for it to not be carbon (I might stick on a kids seat at some point)

It has to be a fully built bike, not a frame and various bits (though I don’t mind sorting pedals!)

Cotic Solaris and Surly Karate Monkey is on the list

Budget I guess up to £2k ish but again can tweak that a touch

Main uses are forest singletrack, XC type riding, bikepacking, ability to maybe hit some trail centres one day

Chromag Surface or Niner ROS 9

Any restrictions on where you can buy from?

Stanton Sherpa
Kinesis F29
Chumba Stella
Kona Honzo
Santa Cruz Highball (alu)

Loads out here.

ROS9 is nice but ridiculously priced at 900 quid for the frame. That Chromag is lovely.

Whyte 29C

Restrictions are buying from shops that are part of the cyclescheme network – but their focus is small independent shops so that works well. Can’t buy from online retailers only though, I think they need a bricks and mortar operation

Thanks for the recommendations, will check them out. More thoughts welcome!

I’m loving my FF29 at the moment, it’s up there with the best bikes i’ve ridden.

ROS for me. I’d have one, if I could afford to hang nice bits off it…

ROS for me. I’d have one, if I could afford to hang nice bits off it…

The ROS is lovely, though I really can’t work out why it’s about 400 quid more expensive than pretty much everything it’s competing against (at least in the UK, in the US it’s about the same price as the competition.)

Titus Fireline, lighter and posher version of Parkwood that will meet all the requirements you’ve stated. They’re a great bike for the £.

The ROS would be my choice also, looks lovely!

Canfield Nimble is another on my list. Agree that the ROS is expensive, and I’m not mad keen on eccentric bottom brackets, they’re just attention seeking 😉 badum tish!

When did the cyclescheme limit change from 1k to 5k. Just googled it and can’t find anything about it

It hasn’t increased from £1k, its about the way the credit is provided

So its basically employer linked, if you have some form of credit agreement you can up it.

Surprised as the lack of love for the Cotic Solaris, I thought I’d hear more shouts for that

benp1 – Member
Surprised as the lack of love for the Cotic Solaris, I thought I’d hear more shouts for that

On that note I’ll say Solaris then. Mine is a great ride, very capable (of more than its rider in this case) and rather pleasing to the eye.(IMHO)

Mine is a 1×10 complete build but then I swapped out a few bits from the parts bin. Plus I pretty much use mine for all the riding you mention at the outset.

Surprised as the lack of love for the Cotic Solaris, I thought I’d hear more shouts for that

Surely that’s taken as a given? It’s a bit like the VW Golf advertisement: “It rides just like a Solaris”

I’ll jump on the band waggon…. Cotic Solaris….Mines, my go to bike for a lot of rides. I love a previous quote on STW “the only problem with them is, you ride all your other bikes less!” Very true 😆

Wow, Chumba has come back in a big way! Their line up looks very nice, both in spec and aesthetics.

You said Solaris was already on the list 🙂

New Chumba do look good now they are under new management. Don’t know what uk availability is like though.

Charge Cooker 5!

Anyone claiming the ros 9 is a looker is just wrong in the membrane. It reminds me of Homers car. There isn’t a line on it that looks right.

Treat yourself to a Kinesis Maxlight Sync Ti.

MSP! Away and get ur head looked at man 🙂 that ROS9 is stunning. Check out Niners website. The purple one with lumo green decals and black fork is awesome!

Main uses are forest singletrack, XC type riding, bikepacking, ability to maybe hit some trail centres one day

Don’t know why the Singular Swift has escaped a mention until now. Choice of champions. Would have thought it was up there as the “standard” – been around for longer than the Solaris. Some tweaks on the new version including more tyre clearance for bigger tyres.

Great frames for the type of riding you describe and a whole lot more. comes with rigid fork, will take a 100mm fork too, but plenty decide they get on better than they thought with the rigid fork and stick with that.

You could build up something very nice with your budget.

Great frames for the type of riding you describe and a whole lot more. comes with rigid fork, will take a 100mm fork too, but plenty decide they get on better than they thought with the rigid fork and stick with that.

Getting hold of decent 100mm forks with a straight steerer is proving increasingly difficult though.

Isn’t the swift F&F only? The OP wants a complete bike.

Sorry, missed that part.

But there are a few dealers already stocking Singulars, I’m sure a build would be easy to sort.

I got my Peregrine on the Halfords C2W, so it’s certainly doable. Wasn’t even a Singular dealer. I asked them to get a bike’s worth of stuff in including the frame and forks, and they did. For an extra £140, they’d have put it together for me, but I was being cheap, and more importantly, wanted to do it myself.

Fork issue’s a point too.

After some of the halfords horror stories I’d have said you were being sensible not cheap!

Not Ha;lfrods, but a well respected bike shop in London, which might or might not rhyme with Bomgor Dikels.

Plenty of others can take their vouchers.

Sorry I misunderstood.

No worries, I misunderstood first.

Trek Stache rides v well and superb value for money.

I’ve been looking into exactly the same thing, albeit using a £1k contribution from my work’s cycle scheme.

Check that a shop will definitely take a voucher in part payment, as some won’t. Evans and Paul’s are notable large retailers who will though – and who also have a large volume of sale bikes.

Being a hardtail fan, I’ve looked very hard at the Solaris, FF29 and Karate Monkey – which are fairly commonly available as custom or factory builds. Brief thoughts:

– Solaris: appears to be the most “rad” and looks a reasonable compromise of all factors (2,200g?); I’m a Cotic fanboy, so this would be front runner for me
– FF29: great reviews and lightest (>1,800g), currently available for £399
– Karate Monkey: very versatile, but less obvious VFM and heaviest (2,500g)

The hurlde I’ve yet to overcome is that my current Soul is so good and that it would cost a fair old chunk to move to one of these 29ers, even with the cycle scheme voucher discount (which isn’t that much when it’s capped at £1k).

My FF29 is lovely.
Ticked all the boxes of being light and fast and lives up to the big BMX tag too. Next is to put some bigger grippier tyres on although that is the main limiting factor is the max rear tyre size. Plenty of room with a Bonty 2.2″ in but I doubt many 2.4″ tyres will fit. (Frame is listed to a max size of 2.2″.

Thanks for all the ideas. Ironically I went for a ride tonight and tried a trek remedy, first go on a full sus and was fun so vaguely thought about getting something full sus, but think I’m erring towards a hardtail still

Current favourites are
Cotic Solaris
Santa Cruz highball
Kinesics FF29

Didn’t realise Santa Cruz did a hardtail within budget. Hard getting a test ride near me for the Kinesis but will prob try a Solaris and a highball and see what I think, although there’s no ally highball near me, only a carbon one. Spoke to a local dealer about a Cotic Solaris and they’re going to build one up (sold their large demo bike…!)

.

The ROS is lovely, though I really can’t work out why it’s about 400 quid more expensive than pretty much everything it’s competing against (at least in the UK, in the US it’s about the same price as the competition.)

Thought the same when I bought my SIR.9 a few years ago, but having tried a couple of simmillar offerings (Karate Monkey & Swift), I’m glad I bought it. It’s a good bit lighter & the ride is just lovely.

Stretch the budget, get a Kinesis Sync Ti. You won’t regret it! 😉

On a serious note, the Sync is incredible, I’ve been lucky enough to have one for about 8 months now, every time I ride it it reminds me just how good it is. I get a bit complacent at times, but then I ride another bike and then get back on the Sync and a big grin immediately consumes my face again! Basically, it’s all the best bits of an FF29 (an awesome bike in it’s own right and IMO the obvious choice if the budget won’t stretch any further) but usefully more forgiving. It’s far from cheap, but if you’d asked me to write a spec sheet for my ultimate 29er frame, so that someone could then design it, the Sync is what they’d have come up with! The FF29 really is 95% as good though, and most of the time the head has to rule the heart. If you’re anywhere near Worcester, you can have a go on my Sync, but be prepared, you’ll stick your hand in your pocket!

Also a small mention for the often overlooked Whyte 729. There’s a lot of focus on Whyte’s Full sus bikes, and their new 650b hardtails, but the 729 is a superb bike in its own right. It’s a little less sharp than an FF29 say, but it will also suit some riding styles more than the FF29 anyway.