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Hi guys.
The appeal for the simplicity and robustness of a do it all hard tail is really getting me at the moment!
Sadly, im not the best of riders and struggle with my health slightly, so do occasionally struggle to adapt to different bikes. But I fancy a hard tail again.
Sooo...
Back in 2019 I bought a vitus sentier vrx.
https://www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/Bikes,3/Vitus/Sentier-VRX,22048
I struggled to get on with it and tried to ride alot of steep tech (my local), jumping from that to a YT Capra 29 I found really hard and my poor ability had my over the bars a few times. Which doesn't happen on the Capra.
Now, the predicament I have is... I'd like a another hardtail purely for simplicity and reliability in the sloppy mud. It's chronic with mud where I ride, and the Capra 29 is my pride and joy with some nice components that I can't keep ontop of. The Capra is my go to best bike.
How similar would a nukeproof 29 scout be to the sentier. I plan on doing a frame only build with exactly the same cockpit and contact points of the Capra. That way they won't feel too dissimilar.
Would I be right in saying the sentier isn't too far different from the scout geometry? Or should I go for it with a scout?
(Not really interested in any other frames as I've been offered a scout at a great price)
Thanks guys
This is something I’ve often struggled with! I love hardtails but it’s not easy to get them to match full-sus bikes so you can easily swap between them.
You can compare the geometry of those bikes on geometrygeeks - however don’t fall into the trap of just looking at the static angles on there. Sagged the Capra will be about 0.5 deg slacker whilst the hardtails will be about 1.5 deg steeper. Also the hardtails will lose about 20mm of stack but gain about 20mm of reach at sag.
So if you fit the Scout with a -2 deg headset you should end up with a hardtail that’s a fairly close match to your Capra. Won’t be cheap to get all the parts though, fork especially!
Hello Dave frames get recommended in all sorts of threads for trail hardtails where I don’t think they’re anything like what should be suggested.
However in this case where you’ve struggled with going over the bars on steep tech the Hello Dave from Planet X is well worth a look. It’s got a long reach / long rear centre /slack headangle and a big fork. You should be nicely centred over the middle of the bike and it’ll also be really stable.
See also the Marin El-Roy for something similar.
The Scout and Sentier are both good bike - the Scout is a bit more hardcore than the Sentier but I don’t think it’s miles ahead on steep tech.
fit the Scout with a -2 deg headset
I was going to say exactly the same thing on reading the OP.
Superstar do a nice angle headset, there's a money off code on their homepage at the mo.
I have them on two bikes and they have been the single best upgrade on both. Proper slack head angles are the future for that kind of riding IMO.