i have a couple in mind (am going to get it from the same shop as i bought my anthem from).i believe that they can order cove,rocky mountain,charge,giant,specialized,gt.the ones i was thinking about were either a cove handjob xc,or a rocky mountain blizzard. basically have realized,that although it is a great bike,i don't really need full sus for the riding that i do (the ridgeway/salisbury plain/k & a canal to bath e.t.c) but the main reason is that i do not want to keep spending hours cleaning/looking after bike after a bit of rain/worries about things going wrong e.t.c. (obviously i will always look after my bike though) was planning on swapping components over to new frame.really wondering what you might recommend between frames that i have my eye on/even other suggestions for a frame.thanking you in advance
here is the cove [img] 
[/img] but it seems that rocky mountain don't have the blizzard on their web site.that is a shame as i really liked them.
p.s forgot to add that the shop can order salsa as well.now i really will shut up 😉
I don't really get this whole "full sus equals extra maintenance" arguement. I have a ht and fs and genuinely I don't spend more than two minutes longer each time I clean the fs. I've changed the bearings once in two and a half years despite riding the fs far more than the ht. I would make my decision entirely based on the type of riding I do.
The Anthem has such short travel anyway it's not a bad bike for the type of riding you describe and could be used when you get the chance to go off-road too. Don't really see much advantage of a steel HT tbh.
Why not pick up a second hand rigid bike for the rainy days when you don't want your nice bike to get dirty? You don't actually need the steel HTs you mentioned either for the type of riding you're talking about but it is always nice to have a nice bike!
some good advice there thanks. :-)truth of the matter is that i have a habit of changing my mind constantly/buying then selling things for a lot less (just ask my friends)i know it's stupidity,but i keep doing it.it does really get to me,as i have bought things that i really loved,but for some stupid reason,have sold not long after (i partly blame the depression/but it's also partly my own doing)i don't mean to start another depression thread (have done plenty of those/with some great advice from people on here).to finish with,it's like trying to stop smoking/drinking (it's like some sort of addiction if that makes any sense?)now i will shut up 🙂