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I ride gnartastic 150mm full sus enduro weapons and as such have no idea on what to recommend to my dad who wants a 650b light weight trail hardtail. Not too racy stretched xc and at 65 he's not going to want a stanton switchback.
He's thinking ti/carbon. I'd say good quality steel/ti so its got a vague bit of give in it.
His other bike is a genesis 29er with an alfine - good for touring and reliable but too heavy to drag around the local muddy fields. He wants 650b so its a bit more manoeuvrable - he had a on-one inbred so knows about different wheelsize feeling.
Custom built from a nice frame or fully built doesn't matter
Help!
As you say just get a steel hardtail, imho the all round ride quality will make up for the slight extra weight. Many to choose from.
He wants a Ritchey P-650b! Fairly sure you can build that into something that isn't a head down bum up race bike.
Kinesis. I had the Decade Virsa which was a stunning bike. You can run 26 or 650 and builds into a really lovely bike. I ran mine with Alfine and 1 x 10 with a set of Reba 120mm up front.
Only sold it as I bought a BFE.
Kinesis Sync is available in 650b if small or medium. Not much good if he's tall..
Canfield EPO with 650b+ Wheels
Surely a Soul 275 is the obvious choice?
I know Jambalaya - but what brand? probably not a specialized/giant thing, he wants to one up his riding mates...
I like the idea of ritchey...
I've had a cotic soul in the past so might look there again
I saw an absolutely cracking deal on Ritchey 650b frames the other day. Less than half price. Might have been Wiggle?
If he changes his mind and may be interested in staying with a light and playful 29er then I'm looking to sell my Fireline 18".
See my profile/advert, I can email pics if you're interested.
Soul seems to fit the bill?
Maybe if a soul was built up with light parts it could be a good plan.
My Soul with M8000 XT and Fox 32 forks weighs just over 25 lb. In its winter form, with rigid fork and singlespeed, it's about 21.5 lb.
OP as others have suggested a Soul (buy British, great bikes and brand) or perhaps a Transition TransAm ?
@monkeys post says it all really, light bike sold for a BFe 😀
25lbs doesn't sound too bad, possible to go lighter without getting to XC race geo?
first word in the title of the thread is "lightish" and you have people recommending steel 😆
then come a load of people with magic scales
A Whyte 90x sounds like it should fit the bill as well as, if not better, than the Soul.
Santa Cruz Highball
[i]he wants to one up his riding mates...[/i]
26er then, and under the recommend what you've got theory - a 456Ti 🙂
Dirtyrider my Ritchey is 10.5kg(ish) and I'm planning on getting it sub 10kg soon. Definitely not magic scales!
Scott Scale 650b carbon
everyone - whats your spec? those ritcheys do look mighty fine
If he wants carbon and has cash to splash then a pivot les 27.5? Definite one-upmanship there!
Check out the Orbea Alma range, sweet looking frames.
Dirtbiker, it's nothing too out there although I have just bought a Lefty XLR to put on it:
Ritchey P-650b, 17"
White Brothers Loop fork (100mm)
SRAM X01 cranks with 34T absoluteblack spiderless oval chainring
XT cassette and chain
SRAM shifter and rear mech (X0 & X9 respectively)
Hope hubs on crests with Schwalbe Ron + Ralph (both snakeskin)
Ritchey WCS finishing kit
Hope Tech X2 brakes + KCNC Razor rotors
Selle Italia Flite Ti saddle
King Ti bottle cage
ESI chunky grips
Bonus shot from when I took it up Snowdon last month.
[img] 
[/img]
Ah nice, lovely looking bike. Those chainrings look so good.
I'm now thinking along the similar lines of soul or p-650 with 120mm rebas, hope/crest, xt 11spd, carbon bars and finishing touches like rotors and esi grips. Cranks are an interesting one, much to be saved going spiderless?
Great inspiration, ta
What about a kinesis phase?
+1 Kinesis. I really enjoyed a Maxlight (original one), lovely ride, Easton tubing, never harsh yet never worried me about not being able to handle it. Have you looked at a [s]Maxlight XC Pro 3?[/s] dang it you said 650b
+1 Virsa then
The AB oval chainring that I've got is around 66g for the spiderless version so you'll be able to save a pretty hefty chunk considering you've got the spider on there as well as another chainring (AB equivalent 104 ring is ~44g)
If you're bothered about weight, then I'd say go for the SRAM 11s cassettes since they're considerably lighter than the Shimano alternatives.
Tell him not to drink so much on a Saturday night, he'll be able to keep up then! 😆
[url= http://www.mantel.com/uk/ritchey-p275?r=L3VrL2ZyYW1lc2V0I3N0YXJ0Mw== ]This[/url] help? If he's the right size
25lbs doesn't sound too bad, possible to go lighter without getting to XC race geo?
22lbs?
he can keep up not a problem richardk - he's just bored of lifting a very heavy bike over stiles, ummm i mean gates on bridlepaths, and cotswold makes everything even more grim.
thanks ben, and what bike would that be?
kinesis is still on the cards.
and i know all about the sram vs xt cassettes, never realised it was that much till the other day
I going to build up a Zero.tr this week which will probably tip the scales at under 22lbs by my estimate. Still all present and correct modern trail geo, 130mm forks etc. Won't be the cheapest build we ever did though 🙂
Must be the Ritchey surely?
£450 instead of £1000 that's fantastic, no. I'd have one myself if I needed another HT ...
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ritchey-wcs-p-team-frame-2014
Chromag Rootdown or Wideangle?
Fair play that Bird Zero.tr is lighter than I was expecting. Full build with xt 11 spd, carbon wheels and bars at £2300 too...
Yeah its pretty light. You'd need to go SRAM drive though to be Sub 22lbs. Sub 23 is probably doable on XT. Hell even the M size basic Sektor build is <25lbs!