[Closed] Hardtail 29er - Ti or Steel or Carbon?

Kenesis sync, saw one in the flesh and it's bloody lovely, if ever so slight expensive...

Budget?

Get the one you like the most, regardless of material- it doesn't define the bike.

Sync, awesome bike. What size are you? The small sync is 650b.

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The BB put me off the Sync. I went for the Solaris and its brilliant.

Here's mine although it's now got a RF narrow wide ring.

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From your list, Fireline. Slack at the front and short at the back works for me.

Sync != Fireline IMO.

At least try one or comparable (Yelli Screamy, Singular Buzzard etc) before deciding against.

The BB put me off the Sync.

Sync != Fireline IMO

FYI: Sync really designed for 120mm

Sync is gorgeous but not, to my mind, comparable geom to the Fireline. I found the Sync quite flighty, not what I was expecting.

OP best thing you can do of course is try as many as you can.

I've come round to PF30, was really set against it, especially with my E-13 setup using external BB with stupidly small bearings. The SRAM setup use a decent sized bearing much bigger than HT II, and has a wider crank axle size, so should be a winner... what's not to like. It ain't completely stupid like BB30

praxis works adapter, sorted

It's not sorted though. It's a bodge. £1500 for frame only to have to 'glue' a piece of threaded tube in. Not for me ta.

Cove hummer bj even though it's 650b iirc

I was in a similar position. Thinking of a Solaris, but they were out of stock and would have really liked a Ti frame, but non fitted the bill exactly, although the Salsa probably comes closest. Ended up ordering a Highball, but then gave up with being messed around with regarding the importer getting them in the country. Cancelled the order and got a Yeti ARC. Best decision I ever made - absolutely perfect.

Storck Rebel 9

Purely because I've aways fancied a Storck bike

SIR.9.
Posh steel.
Lovely supple ride.

Singular Pegasus II, think you might have to wait for the Kickstarter though

bikeneil - Member

praxis works adapter, sorted

It's not sorted though. It's a bodge. £1500 for frame only to have to 'glue' a piece of threaded tube in. Not for me ta.

You don't glue anything in.

Nothing to add on the Sync yet (though hopefully I will be able to soon), but a little on PF30...

The PF30 BB's are expensive, and the bearings don't last all that long. Agreed.

BUT... You can buy/build/improvise the tools to remove the bearings from the cups very cheaply, and the bearing (in a SRAM BB at least) is an off the shelf bearing from any local bearing supplier for a few quid. Personally I'm happy that with the Sync I am now building up, that it's going to be £6-8 a time to change BB bearings instead of £20 a time to change the whole shebang on a Shimano HT2 (that don't tend to last all that much longer anyway!).

If you're dead set on keeping a 24mm axle crank though, then the Praxis converter BB is actually a wonderful unit, very well designed and executed. Nothing requires gluing anywhere, the BB screws up onto itself forming a friction fit inside the BB shell. Remarkably simple and well executed!

Anyway... Cartridge bearings on an MTB go through a very hard life, and should be considered disposable items IMO. The cheaper/easier they are to replace, the better. PF30 is easily maintainable with a couple of tools, and BB30 (don't get the hate on this either) even more so as the bearings just sit directly in the frame so need no tools to remove!

Certainly, I'd not let something so simple as a BB standard put me off buying my next frame. Only thing that would even make me think twice was if I already had some shiny expensive BB30 cranks, and the new frame I was looking at only had a conventional BB shell.

Oh, and sometime in the new year probably, if you fancy a demo on a medium sized Sync and you live in the Midlands, let me know...

I went for a Yelli Sreamy, got two mates who have Solaris, as you might expect they are different...... Why the Yelli? You can put a 140 fork on it, the HA is slacker and has short chainsys, it's a bike you can ride all day and rewards you when you point it down. As for the Solaris owning mates, they do like the Yelli 😀

Love my Fileline 😀

You can put 140mm forks on a Trans Am and it's got a 142x12 rear axel too and ISG mount on the BB. I'm saving hard!

It is not unknown for Ti Lynskeys to break.

Repeat

That Solaris looks the business but on paper they're about the same geometry and weight as an inbred, as are most steel frames it seems these days, perhaps some genesis ones aside.

Like the less weight but not sure I'd trust a ti MTB. Isn't the alu harshness meant to be a lot less apparent with bigger wheels?

It's a bodge

That Solaris looks the business but on paper they're about the same geometry and weight as an inbred, as are most steel frames it seems these days, perhaps some genesis ones aside.

Eh? 😕

Have you even seen either in the flesh, let alone ridden or weighed either?

Can confirm for definite that the Inbred 29er is 1lb (or more) heavier size for size than the Solaris frame. Also, the Solaris whilst not super slack by modern standards (and all the better for it IMO) is about 2 degrees slacker at the head angle than a 29er Inbred! The Inbred is cheap and cheerful, but it is steep and heavy by modern 29er standards.

Like the less weight but not sure I'd trust a ti MTB.

The material seems to be less of an issue than who it's made by to be honest. Used to be that Litespeed/Lynskey were a byword for quality, but these days the opposite seems to be true. I've owned a couple of Taiwanese Ti frames, and know several others likewise, and not one of them has had a single issue. I know a few people who've owned Litespeed/Lynskey made frames, and EVERY one of them has had a quality issue or another...

Isn't the alu harshness meant to be a lot less apparent with bigger wheels?

To a point, yes. But then again, designers and manufacturers are able to do things practically unheard of with ally these days compared to only a few years ago. Ally isn't the lifeless, soulless material it was portrayed to be by all the die hard steel fans when it first started being used to make bike frames...

Very happy with my Lynskey - ride it pretty hard and have never had an issue - but then again it is old school 26in. 😉

So billyboy, you seem quite Knowledgeable. Could you tell me when my lynskey is due to break? So far it seems fine, but I've only had it for 3 years. Oh, and thanks for the heads up.

BTW,I love my fileline too.

I have only had my 29er Lynskey for 6 years and it's not broken yet and aside from a couple of oddballs I've not heard any issues with Lynskey so clearly I'd be a fool to consider another Lynskey.

Nb given recent stories about the Litespeed "lifetime" warranty I'd not consider one.

According the the respective websites both are 71 degs and the frame weights are 272 grams difference, although I'd put more store in personal experience.

Liked the ride of the Soul but am starting to come round to the idea of an alu frame for a 29er.

After learning how fragile my lynskey frame is (thanks again billyboy), I thought I'd check on it this morning, what with last nights storm and all. As you can all imagine I didn't get much sleep, thinking that my garaged bike may split in half!
But guess what? it still hasn't broken. Wow, I'm so lucky. Yay!

Obviously I'm not a complete idiot, so I shall be checking it every half hour just in case...

Got a Solaris to go with my tallboy c and it's better than I hoped (having had loads of steel ht in past).
Light enough, fun and very confident downhill as my currently knackered shoulder and multiple bruises testify.
Use savings to get top forks.

Hey all, thanks for all the suggestions - was not meaning to open up a can of worms but it seems to..

The Kinesis and Transition have been added to the list...

Budget wise - Steel 500, Carbon - 1000, Ti 600-1000 ish

The reviews on the Titus seem great as do many others...

Cheers
Shiny

Could go custom steel?

Why are you ignoring alloy? The best feeling hardtail I ever rode is still the alloy kinesis maxlight xc120.

my garaged bike

You keep your Lynskey in the garage? Parked mine in the kids' playroom last night just in case....

PS was OK too.