[Closed] 29er Frame

Got a Scandal and a Solaris. The Solaris replaced the Scandal (althought i still have it) as my rigid bike. Both frames are nice to ride. The Scandal has slightly better tyre clearance but i prefer the look of the Solaris. Cant say the Cotic is a massively better ride than the Scandal but i really like the feel of the steel frame and how the Cotic looks. Choice for me would come down to looks and budget.

I have a scandal V2 and love it, great VFM and a great ride...

Jay

orange clockwork 29 er £350 ridden one in 120mm format, very capable

High latitude here, it's ace.

if i had a bit more money, maybe i'd have bought a solaris, they're ace too.

if i had a bit less money, i'd have bought in scandal, or an inbred, guess what, they're ace too.

i couldn't comment about the pipedream, but that looks ace.

i doubt you'll get a 'bad' bike, that's a good list.

None of the above, but I just finished this a few minutes ago:

[IMG] [/IMG]

I've only ridden it up the road, so can't comment on how it handles.

That kona looks nice

Out of your list I'd vote cotic, great looking and good materials. Although if you're a fan of your present inbred why not get one of those, more £ on build

Get an on-one, spend the money saved on nice wheels, you'll notice it more.

Kinesis FF29?

Get an on-one, spend the money saved on nice wheels, you'll notice it more.

How so? Presuming wheels were of a reasonable standard i think the difference between the cotic and on one would be significant. IMO buy the Solaris 🙂

Got a Cotic Solairs [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-cotic-solaris-full-build-may-split ]HERE[/url] for sale, great bike, but my back isn't HT friendly at the min 🙁

I'll second the FF29, better than all the other alloy ones listed and very highly rated by the people here at STW towers

I've a Scandal and its been great, I had ordered a Solaris but couldn't get one so went for the Scandal and I've no regrets. I'd agree with IA, I'd be inclined to put more ££ into the wheelset/forks and a dropper post. For your shortlist though you could add the Singular Buzzard and Swift and the new Dialled 29er

My Scandal

[img] [/img]

Just got a Scandal, I'm very happy with it. I don't think you would regret getting one? For the money you can't go wrong.

Appears to be a lot of 2nd hand Solaris about which is odd??
Scandal looks very good for money

si_progressivebikes - Member

"Get an on-one, spend the money saved on nice wheels, you'll notice it more"

How so? Presuming wheels were of a reasonable standard i think the difference between the cotic and on one would be significant. IMO buy the Solaris

i think the idea is that bigger wheels naturally flex more, and will tend to be heavier, both things we tend to try and avoid.

there'll be something like 300grams difference between an inbred and a solaris, which i doubt anyone could notice.

spending an extra £300 on the frame saves 300g, which you may not notice (i know i definitely wouldn't).

spending an extra £300 on the wheels may even open up the door into a world of carbon rims.

or at least that's the idea - i think...

SpongingMachine, I'd be interested in how you get on with the Unit. I've got a stock build (singlespeed, rigid) and much as I enjoy every ride, it's not a delicate machine. It's a bit of a plough in fact. Is that just 29ers? 🙂

In my entirely unscientific experience, the difference between average and nice wheels on a 29er is far more noticeable than on 26. In terms of how the bike feels to ride (how nimble) and how stiff they are.

However, if an inbred rides like mince and a solaris is amazing, clearly spend the money on the frame.

However, plenty folk like on-ones (indeed the OP does!) so they're probably fine?

SpongingMachine, I'd be interested in how you get on with the Unit. I've got a stock build (singlespeed, rigid) and much as I enjoy every ride, it's not a delicate machine. It's a bit of a plough in fact. Is that just 29ers?

Hard to say as it's the first 29er I've ridden. I rode it for the first time today and have to say that it felt slightly less nimble than the Kona 120 it's replaced. I think that's mostly to do with the 800mm bar I've stuck on there. I'm gonna cut it down tomorrow. I'll let you know.

I have just ordered a 29er frame. Was going to get some crest or flow rimmed wheels. Will the flows be more more solid?

Flows should build into a more solid build. Tougher, heavier, wider rim innit.

it felt slightly less nimble

For sure, nimble is not a word I'd use to describe my Unit, more battering ram. Kind of like its rider 🙂

Appears to be a lot of 2nd hand Solaris about which is odd

is there? where? spotted one "i might split" in the classifieds but..

Sponging -Machine - bit stalkerish, but do you live in Plymouth? I overtook a white car with a kona Unit with super wide bars on yesterday between 4.30 and 5pm on the a38 just past March Mills roundabout....
it caught my attention as the bike was running gears and I wondered how you've a unit with a mech hanger???

Sorry for weirdness!

That was me. Well spotted. Went for a quick roll around Cann to give it a test.

Kona offer a geared dropout for the Unit. Cost me £25, which seemed a lot but I suppose isn't much more than a regular mech hanger. The sliding dropouts are bolted in, so it's really easy to change over. Otherwise, the Unit comes with all the cable stops you need to run it geared.

I got it from Dartmoor Cycles. It took them about 3 days to get it from Geneva.

The white paint job on my Mondeo's pretty nasty though. Getting swapped for one in Panther Black next week. Meow!

Sponging - Well it was the mech hanger on a unit that grabbed my attention! Did Dartmoor cycles supply the Unit frame as well? I'll look into this...

I can imagine one day I might convert my Unit to geared, but not sure why I'd buy a Unit frame and add gears from new. Aren't there other bikes in the Kona range that are basically geared Units? If you're buying a Unit because you think you may one day fancy a go at single-speeding, just bite the bullet and get one with one gear only 😀

But if one you only want / can have one bike, have always ridden with gears and are SS curious then this sort of frame is a good option. Or a slot dropout inbred 29er(will they make anymore??!) or a swift...

Just make sure you go the single speed route first and keep the other hanger in your spares drawer just in case 🙂