Pondering replacing my hardtail. Requirements: metal frame, decent 140 or 150 fork. Trail not xc style geometry, but not too slack. Shimano group set. Open to buying complete or building up. Commencal meta HT looking most likely. Considered a Cotic BFE. What else should I think about?
Orange crush
Saracen mantra
SARACEN.CO.UK i like the look of this - whyte secta - with some choice upgrades: https://www.mbr.co.uk/reviews/hardtail/whyte-secta-rs-review
Tonnes and tonnes of great hardtails second hand for way less then £1k
Cotic BFe or a Bird Forge (quite possibly my favourite bike yet).
Both will be a joy to ride.
Something from Pace. I recently had one of their steel HT's and it rode superbly and had a high quality finish. Should defo be on your list.
I'll second the Pace, I have an RC 529. I bought a rolling chassis - frame, forks (Pike Ultimates) and wheels. I can't see me ever replacing it. Looks great and rides great.
New only or second hand an option? Only that I’ve got a Ragley Big Wig in size medium which ticks all those boxes which I need to move on soon…
I wouldnot rule out looking for a Ragley,. Places now do the dropouts and the steel frames Bigwig and Bluepig are great fun.
I’m looking to buy new… That Saracen looks very close to what I want. Cheap, but the head angle is a bit slacker than i want.
I’d get a BFe but it depends on what you want to be different/better than your current hardtail.
Bear in mind that hardtail geometry charts are not easy to compare because of static vs sagged and people riding a wide range of fork lengths with a given frame.
Have a look at the Merida Big Trail range. I’ve got the older version and it’s great, and the new version is supposed to be even better. Nice spread of budget / level.
Both the older version and the new one were reviewed very positively by @Ben_Haworth which helped me pick mine. Just be wary that some of the new models might have thru headset cable routing - my older one doesn’t thankfully!
Kinesis FF 29 might do you.
I thought the Merida might have been a winner.. internal cable routing through the headset is a big no
Pipedream Moxie frames are on sale, aren't they quite well regarded? I'm not sure how they match your needs.
PIPEDREAMCYCLES.COM -- Edit --
Couldn't you ask Stan?
I was in a bikeshop the other day and they had a banshee paradox built up and it looked amazing . Had me checking the state of my savings account.
i like the look of this - whyte secta - with some choice upgrades:
MBR.CO.UK I bought a Secta RS earlier this year to replace an old Orange Crush. I’d been seriously considering a Cotic and had looked at some others.
The Secta was almost a spur of the moment purchase when I saw a good enough Al hardtail with all the parts and a lovely red color in large for £1500. £1500!
it has similar reach to my A150 and does everything a modern hardtail needs to for me. Given the OP’s comments on ‘not too slack’ I think it has an HA of 63.5° and comes come out longer than my A150 (64° HA)!
Only reservations would be: 170mm cranks and the ‘size specific dropper’ on the large is 200mm. It is shimable to 175mm. Inserted all the way into the frame it is spot on at 175mm and too tall at any other setting.
Orange have most of their HT's in the summer sale atm.
I recently bought a Bird Zero to replace a Merida Big Trail. The Zero is just brilliant, it was bought as my winter/bad weather commuter but I've been riding it more than my Aether. I might need another bike for winter now...
I had the older version of the Big Trail (2024) and found it a bit small on a size M, for 2025 they adjusted the sizing.
Give Bird a call, they usually have a good stock of Zeros.
Another vote for Bird Forge, I'm in love with mine.
That Secta looks incredible for the money!
Regarding angles, add 2 deg to the hardtails’ head and seat angles to compare them to full-sus bikes (to compensate for how sag changes things). You’ll see that what seems insanely slack on a hardtail is just normal. My “63 deg HA” hardtail feels less slack than my 64.5 deg HA full-sus.
Karate Monkey?
Really enjoying my Krampus as a cure for the itch. Rigid: tick, suspension: tick, gears: sure, single speed: yup, Trail abuse, Bike packing. All the cable routing on the outside, so easy to chop and change, or substitute parts if something gives up the evening before a ride.
Couldn't you ask Stan?
I just tried that.
Appropriate.
The most talked about subject on STW over the decades?
I'm biased obviously... but recently built up a new BFe with 160 forks... and it's amazingly capable. Tried a new Solaris first, but didn't get on with that as nearly as much. I'm a big fork fan though.
Nukeproof Scout is a great trail hardtail, but not sure if full builds are available again yet or just frames?
Sonder (through Alpkit) do some more adventure right through to quite hardcore hardtails in Steel, Alu and Ti depending on preference & budget too (Broken Road and Falco are more trail, through to Signal and Dial I think are a bit more aggressive)
