[Closed] Evil sov, to buy or not?

SpokeCycles loves his.

Have you considered a Dialled Alpine? Very similar and a very lovely bike indeed. I use mine for everything from long XC days to chucking about on some jumps. Way cheaper than a Sov too.

[url= http://www.dialledbikes.com/products/mtb/alpine.php ]http://www.dialledbikes.com/products/mtb/alpine.php[/url]

Hi hooja

I had the pleasure of owning both and what I can say is the new current sov
was a good play bike compared to the soul but was a slightly harsher ride where the soul was more geared for trail riding and more comfy . The soul was beautiful to look at good finish etc, the sov paintwork is awful mine looked like 10 years old ( black one ) after a few months and a friends white version flaked away in weeks which is mad for nearly £600 frame !!

I've had both a Mk1 soul and an original Sov'.

The Sov was a better play bike, looked like a nicer build quality (welds etc), but as said above, the paint sucked the fat one! I had mine re-finished at Argos and it was loads better.

In comparison, I found the soul, well, lacking soul...? I don't know if it was the angles or what, but it just felt dead. Having said that, the paintwork was the best I've had on a steel hardtail.

I've also had a Mk1 & 2 Alpine. The Mk1 was brilliant - a real sat in bike, whereas the mk2, despite Mike at Dialled saying they have the same angles, felt like a real perched on kinda bike. The bottom bracxket height was huge on the mk2, almost 2 inches over quoted.

In all, I'd go Soveriegn, but expect it to look old sooner.

I've got an older sov (on which the paint seems to be about 8 inches thick) and it is excellent.I use it for just about everything in terms of my riding. I have a short 50mm stem on it now and my mate runs a 60. It climbs unreasonably well- I've taken it up big mountains, raced it twice and take it round the peak, trail centres, everything.

It's not going to be as capable up as the soul, never. But it's still very good- fire on a 70mm stem and you're laughing. I've ridden up to 45 miles on mine and even when I ran a 31.6 seatpost (I now run 27.2 with a shim just for continuity between bikes) it was never uncomfortable.

However, it's mindblowing excellent going down. Full on tears of happiness, spaff in your trousers awesome. Fortunateson off here just finished 2 weeks in the alps including the Megavalanche on his, I've taken mine down my local DH track and it's just superb, as well as being the most fun you can have on 2 wheels down any XC trail or trail centre thing. The outright best bike I've ever ridden/owned, and I've been through a lot. Fortunateson got his rolling in February and since then I swear it's made him a better rider.

You should definitely, definitely, no questions asked buy it.

Oh, and despite the paint on mine being like lead armour, my bike looks shagged too after 3 years. But that's because I've ridden it a lot more than any of my other bikes.

all sounds good, think it just comes down to the fact that this has turned up before anything else. dialled alpine does look good but dont think i've ever seen a 2nd hand one and £370 new is too much .
How much more painfull really will the sovereign be on a long xc ride than the soul, i'm happy to sacrifice some for the chuckability, but its still got to be a pleasure not a chore, to just go for a long ride.

Like I say, I find it comfortable. I rode SITS on it one year, and Fortunateson did 10 under the ben on his. Because you've got a small seat tube there's a lot of post to stick out which has a lot of give in it.

That and steel is real or something...

ooops! i bought it...
anyone want to by buy an 18" barry white inbred frame?
Bol*&%$$, now i've got to buy some new tyres aswell!!

Well I can't speak for the Sov, but what with it being a similar design I can say I've always found the Alpine v comfortable. Only time I find it a bit jarring is when I switch back to it from my bouncy bike and realise how lazy I've got at absorbing things with my legs.

Perhaps there's no Alpine's around second hand because they're just so good that no one wants to get rid of theirs 🙂

I'll stop with the Alpine enthusiasm now.

Hey you bought it. Cool.

You won't regret it I'm sure.

You won't regret it - the Sov is just an outrageously good bike. I've got a few lovely bikes (Ti On One, DW 5-Spot, Intense Slopestyle) but it's the Sov that puts the biggest smile on my face.

i have both a new 2010 sov and a 3 yr old soul, love them both, my sovs finish is perfect and the envy of friends, i have a white one and the finish is almost pearlesant, the welds are perfect and when i took it out the box it was obvious why it cost 600 quid, lovely attention to detail,

my soul is a red version, the only bit i don't like is the stickers are on top of the paint, apart from that it is a cracking bike and i will never part with it,

the sov is a heavier ride but downhill and in the air it inspires confidence, the soul is much more agile but a little bit more skitty going downhill but still very inspiring, the cotic climbs much better and is less tiring to get to the top,

both in my opinion are on the top rung of hardtails, you won't go far wrong with either, (i should point out that i bought the sov as i gave up waiting for the delivery of a new bfe after 5 months, but i don't regret buying it although the bfe is bloody lovely too)

enjoy what you now have, but if you get the chance buy the cotic soul as well,

And then buy an Alpine and conduct a lengthy and detailed review of each so we can solve this important debate once and for all.

yep i'm up for that, alpine was the first thing i looked at after giving up on the bfe, i was up brickhill woods/woburn/aspley call it what you will the other week, resting with the guys after the first hrs ride, soem guys i think they were the lot from reserviourgoats hauled up, one of them was riding a kwaka green alpine and it looked very nice even when parked next to my sov 😯