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Its a Hardtail life...
 

[Closed] Its a Hardtail life...

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[#4543056]

Ok so im fair new to the world of hardtails, currently riding an alpine and have a cannondale prophet, wanting to build something that i can have even more fun on! a hardtail... question is what frame do i go for? i want something i can do xc on but also tech stuff like drops,stairs, n bits of downhill, im looking towards the Ragley/on one- kinda frames at the moment, ive seen some good deals on the on-ones but some say only take 120mm travel forks? or 100mm travel? ive been told the 456 is prob going to be the best as it takes a 150 travel ? im wanting to run a 140 really, what frames out there can i go for? and will the on one 456 frame take a 140 fork? Cheers!


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 9:52 pm
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Cotic Soul with 140mm fork; I know there are a lot of Cotic fanboys on here but they really are that good.

The 456 will take 4, 5 or 6 inches of travel, hence the name.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 9:57 pm
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Prince Albert,


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:00 pm
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The 456 will take 4, 5 or 6 inches of travel, hence the name.

I was not aware of that. Every day's a school day.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:02 pm
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Sell you my ti456...

Best ever hard tail, fact......


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:03 pm
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Best ever hard tail, fact......

Why you selling it then?


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:06 pm
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456 is at its best with 140mm IME. Works well. Not the biggest fan of the handling tbh, that's why I'm selling mine, but they're good solid effective bikes.

Ragleys... Well, I love mine, but it's the Ti- I reckon the others have their shortcomings but you might or might not care. My Mmmbop was just ludicrously stiff, back wheel had a mind of its own, bouncing off rocks all over the place... And the Pig is hefty and IMO a wee bit dead feeling like heavy steel frames can be. But the geometry is ace- descends brilliantly, but also a fantastic stood-up climber.

Still getting to know my Ti but so far, might well be the best hardtail I've had. It's going to be competing with a Soul and a Soda though so quite hard competition.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:07 pm
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ive seen a DN6 on one inbred will that take a 140 ?


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:09 pm
 Bazz
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Why you selling it then?

Wrong size wheels innit 😉


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:09 pm
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I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Sovereign earlier. Although you can only get them second hand nowadays.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:10 pm
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Its just a fad. 😉


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:10 pm
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chris_mbuk - Member

ive seen a DN6 on one inbred will that take a 140 ?

Inbred is now warrantied up to 120mm. But tbh it's more an XC frame. (the DN6 part is just On One's name for their cromo tubing, doesn't mean anything)

If you're looking at On One, then the 456 is going to be the correct choice for you.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:13 pm
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Its just a fad

What?


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:13 pm
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Another Cotic fanboy here, get a BFe it sounds spot on for what you want. Im not a fan of the 456, the EVO might be a different beast and I'm sure the Ti feels totally different.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:14 pm
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Yep. It's all I ever bang on about on this here forum but the correct answer to 'what 140mm hardtail' is Evil Sovereign - best handling rad HT ever made. Stanton Slackline and Cotic BFe are viable alternatives, 456 if you're on a tight budget.

These are facts.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:15 pm
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Its just a fad 😉

It's not! Once my Solaris has a dropper post (waiting for Thompson) it will be all the bike I ever need


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:15 pm
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Evil Sovereign - best handling rad HT ever made

+1
This is a fact 🙂


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:18 pm
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hmm ive no idea.. cotic bfe u say?


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:19 pm
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I rate my BFe on par if not slightly better than my 853 Sov. Both are streets ahead of the 456 I had in the middle, all three have pretty much the same build so I can't put it down to that for the different feeling.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:23 pm
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How impolite of me - forgot the obligatory pic of my Sov. Mine is shortly to be retired with its bits being transferred to my new big bike but it has done sterling service as my only bike for the last 3 years...
[IMG]


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:31 pm
 JAG
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I've not owned any of the other bikes mentioned but I LOVE my Cotic BFe

I do everything on this one bike; XC, Jumps, Drops, Black runs at Cannock Chase, Downhill stuff and anything and everything in between.

It simply copes - it has 140mm travel Fox FLOAT forks and a 3x9 Shimano SLX drivetrain 8)


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:34 pm
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looks pretty cool ill look more into these thx


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:36 pm
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Mine is shortly to be retired

Are you selling it?


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:37 pm
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Prince Albert.
Best bike I've ever ridden.
[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:46 pm
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A guy I ride with has a Pipedream Sirius and he shames us on everything with that bike.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 10:55 pm
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Surely a Cotic Bfe must be worth a serious look! Their fork range is from 100mm all the way up to 160mm so they'll do just about anything. Either that or a Ragley Blue Pig but I'm not sure if they're quite as versatile. Both fantastic bikes though!


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:12 pm
 wors
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I've had a pig for nearly 3 years now and love it,ridden allsorts of different stuff on it.
that said I keep looking a full bouncers. Threads like this keep me thinking I'll be wasting my money!!


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:19 pm
 lrd
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what's up with your alpine, i love mine?


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:20 pm
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You could buy a nice Transition Transam frame off me...


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:23 pm
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Isn't the Alpine the sort of bike you want?


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:30 pm
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Maybe he means Orange, not Dialled.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:34 pm
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Are you selling it?

Don't think so, due to a combination of the fact that I still love it and the fact that it is all but worthless - it's had quite a hard life - a few dings, damaged dropouts, drilled out/ chopped off cable guides, repainted, cracked, re-welded and re cracked. I'd flog it if someone offered me an outrageous sum, but that would be pretty daft of them.
I see a future life for it as a rugged singlespeed thrasher...


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:37 pm
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I'd probably say Cotic Bfe as they are £300. Or a carbon 456 if you want the lightest long travel hardtail in the budget range I think you are looking at.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:38 pm
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Three years and 6 LT hardtails since I had it and I still think it was the best
[IMG] [/IMG]


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:50 pm
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re-welded and re cracked

Really O_o ! Where did you get a crack and how hard was it to get it fixed?


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:53 pm
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For the sort of riding you're describing, its sounds like you want a short travel hardtail.


 
Posted : 09/11/2012 11:58 pm
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Blimey so many great bikes to choose from.

My Mmmbop was just ludicrously stiff, back wheel had a mind of its own, bouncing off rocks all over the place..

The mmmbop is just so much fun though because it is a handful. Being so stiff and light it feels so fast when you stomp on the pedals. Also great on the downs with the slack angles. Brought it on a bit of a hardtail whim and hated it at first, it took me a while to work out how to get the best out of it but now I absolutely love it.

Also you might find yourself reconsidering the 140 fork once you've had a hardtail for a while. Got a 150 rev on the mmmbop but run it at 120 pretty much all the time. Not that convinced about big forks on a trail hardtail.


 
Posted : 10/11/2012 12:02 am
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Its got to be a Cotic Soul. Ive ridden an Orange Crush for the last 3 years and a '12 Five this year. I'll be buying a Soul at some point and building it up over a period of time. I've got other priorities right now so it'll probably take a while, but its ging to happen.


 
Posted : 10/11/2012 12:03 am
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Where did you get a crack and how hard was it to get it fixed?

Managed to crack it at the headtube/ downtube join on one side - not really sure how, just general use. It was really really tiny crack (maybe 5-6mm).

I took the paint surrounding it off with a wire brush, keyed in a little groove with a dremel and took it to a local metal fabricators - they put a tidy little TIG weld over the crack FOC, but unfortunately the crack has reappeared through the weld - it's still tiny, and I've ridden it very hard with no apparent ill effects so far but it's clearly not ideal. I still feel like I got my money's worth out of the frame though.


 
Posted : 10/11/2012 12:04 am
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If you want something that leans towards the XC side of doing most things (i.e. it's lighter and less stiff than the heavyweight hardtails but still has great geometry for descending and having maximum fun, strong enough for proper ragging but just isn't tough enough to withstand repeated big crashes if you're into dirtjumping or have a habit of casing big gaps), then I highly recommend one of these:

[img]


 
Posted : 10/11/2012 12:24 am
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Just something to note and I clarified this before I did it. The 456 carbon IS warrentied upto 160mm travel fork. (6.3")

I run mine with a fox 160mm and it rides so well imo. Though it does look and feel really slack so if your not comfortable using such a long travel fork a rs pike sits atleast 1 degree steeper.


 
Posted : 10/11/2012 1:16 am
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Stanton Slackline 853?

the most fun I've had in a long time, 150mm fork with a short back end, 50mm stem 760mm bars an absolute hoot....... hardly touched the FS since.

[img]


 
Posted : 10/11/2012 4:41 am
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A 17" Cove Stiffee? I've had this for three years and its great fun to ride. I'm selling now though as I fancied a change (I opted for a Ti Holeshot). Haven't got around to doing an ad' for it yet, but yours for £530 posted. Let me know if interested (email address in profile) and I'll provide all details you need.
[img]


 
Posted : 10/11/2012 6:38 am
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how much jamest ??


 
Posted : 10/11/2012 9:17 pm
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