Before you can say “rock me Amadeus”, here’s some deets about the new Falco hardtail from Sonder Bikes.
Sonder Bikes press release:
Sonder is excited to launch its new 120mm trail hardtail, the Falco. Designed to bridge the gap between everyday-fun and serious off-road performance, Falco is for the rider who wants a quality bike that will diversify alongside their own levelling up. Featuring trail-ready geometry and a 66° head angle, the Falco is the Goldilocks of Sonder’s hardtails. Proven to be just right for those taking to off-road trails for the first time, the low bottom bracket and long wheel base ensure a planted feel on high descents. Stable without being boring – the Falco’s geometry and lightness encourages you to let loose on the trails and will leave seasoned riders gunning it down the steeps!
Designed and developed in the UK, Sonder retains meticulous control ensuring the final product and its components are not only of the highest quality, but also meets rider’s needs and demands, all at a competitive price.
| Sizes | Small | Medium | Large | X-Large |
| Head angle | 66° | 66° | 66° | 66° |
| Head tube | 100mm | 110mm | 120mm | 130mm |
| Seat angle | 75° | 75° | 75° | 75° |
| Seat tube | 400mm | 425mm | 445mm | 465mm |
| Reach | 420mm | 440mm | 465mm | 495mm |
| Stack | 627.7mm | 636.8mm | 648mm | 655.1mm |
| ETT | 582.2mm | 610.6mm | 638.1mm | 670.5mm |
| BB drop | 75mm | 75mm | 75mm | 75mm |
| Chainstay | 430mm | 430mm | 440mm | 440mm |
| Wheelbase | 1,089.5mm | 1,113.6mm | 1,152.8mm | 1,186mm |
Trail ready Geometry
The Falco is designed to be trail-ready, whether you’re getting into mountain biking for the first time, upgrading from an entry-level model, or branching out from gravel riding. Born from a desire to build a bike that would handle pretty much anything you could throw at it, without being overly complicated or intimidating. This idea evolved and took shape as a hardtail with a more upright positioning, a neutral geometry, 29” wheels, and a versatile spec. The head angle at 66° keeps things fun and flickable on twisting trails, without giving up control on steeper lines. The chainstays are short, but not too short. The reach long, but not too long. Constructed using 6061 Alloy, the Falco sits in the middle of the range between an XC bike and an enduro bike.
The frame is built with the future in mind, featuring a UDH hanger, boost spacing, internal cable routing and threaded BB. Naturally geared towards riders who want to move from road to trails, the Falco is the perfect companion for a lap around Carsington or taking on your local trail centre red route.
Design Intent
The Falco is the latest iteration of our trail ready bikes, which started with the 27.5 inch Transmitter. Signal carried this through to larger, faster rolling 29 inch wheels and now Falco carries on this tradition, proving itself an exceptional introduction to trail riding. At the core of the Falco is a desire to be a bike that can advance with its rider. Adaptability is relied upon throughout – build it light and fast for XC miles or adopt chunkier tyres to chase your mates down big descents.
Rather than wishing for better parts before your bike hits the dirt, component choices across the four builds will allow the rider to customise the bike depending on their own needs. It’s a bike you can grow with and develop your skills on the ups and downs.
“The Falco might be the perfect mountain bike,” says Neil Sutton, Sonder Product Manager. “It’s not going to beat an Evol down a descent, or a Dial in a head to head lap, but for all the bits in between it’s got you covered.”
Replies (11)
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WTF does that word salad mean?
Looks nice mind. Do the expensive ones come with a decent fork?
I fear that someone has plugged Guy Kesteven into Chat GPT.
Either that or they’re trying to be funny.
Not really, they’ve put a Recon Silver on the £1,500 and £1,650 models.
I’m seeing an On-One Scandal from 2019 in the photos. That’s no bad thing.
\looks like a 29″ Transmitter
Before I sold it I stuck a 120mm SID and a 29 front wheel on my Transmitter.
It rode surprisingly well!
It’s a nice looking bike but always amazes me how many different bikes Sonder sell. Most companies struggle with overreach but they seem to do well.
Yeah, and I was kinda wondering what the point of this one is. If you want a non-rowdy, just-riding-around mountain bike there’s the Dial already. This feels like it’s filling a non-existent gap.
I was having a poke around their website earlier, and the Dial has a 69deg head angle – which is unusually sharp these days, even by XC race standards.
So this Falco will be their “best for most people" hardtail MTB, I reckon.
I’m not quite sure where we are with bike prices now, but the £1.1k Deore version looks easy to recommend to people – as we said, it’s just a shame they couldn’t get a slightly better forks on them.
Yeah, I reckon that’s it. It looks the part for not too much, and should be a good laugh to ride down and back up.
While you can get the Stif Squatch for the same price with Pikes that’s where my money would be going.