Budget... Well I've seen the stif squatch and am trying to find £2,400 to buy one...
I have a ragley mmmbop, looking to "upgrade"
Living in Edenfield, most of the time my rides are up scout moor, round Cragg quarry and down to Lee quarry and back round through Rawtenstall.
Any pointers to good bikes, better value, or good shops in the vicinity would be greatly appreciated.
Hardtail or Full Suspension?
The Bird Forge is another steel HT worth looking at.
TBH though, if your budget is £2k ish, it's difficult to see beyond the Calibre Bossnut.
https://singletrackworld.com/2025/01/best-mtb-of-the-year-calibre-bossnut/
I've never had a full suspension and was only looking at Hardtails not sure why really just always been that way.
I'll have a look at that one thank you
I like my sonder signal ti. You should be able to demo them from alpkit too.
Thanks for that, I'll have to get a look at that too.
Are the components on the Ragley worth saving, could always do a frame swap to a squatch/Bird Forge/Cotic bfe etc? Frames are around £700.
Now is a brilliant time to buy a secondhand bike for cheaps.
I'd be looking at a short/mid travel full sus for your area, and you'd get a great one for £1.5k or less.
The Squatch is defo on my list, it ticks a lot of boxes. Pace have some full build RC529's on sale atm so worth a look? Depending what size you are there were still some decent looking deals on Orange P7 and Crush kicking about, e.g:
https://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.php?product_id=11980&category_id=21
https://pacecycles.com/collections/bike-frame-deals
I'm 6'2 so need the XL frame size but will deffo check that out thanks
Are the components on the Ragley worth saving, could always do a frame swap
Hah, I suggested exactly the same (the OP is a good friend of mine, I sent him here when I ran out of advice). He's looking to move to a 29er so how much of that would be directly transferrable I don't know.