[Closed] Recommend me a tough 29er hardtail

[i]everyone down that way seems to have a waggon-wheel baby-head roller.[/i]

It'll be Fat Bikes as far as the eye can see by Christmas, mark my words.

On-one Parkwood/Titus Fireline? My Fireline is great round Stanmer and at Steyning with 140mm Revs on it.

First fat bike I ever saw was on the SDW, so you probably aren't far off.

Still, who would want to carry 20 kilos of mud on their wheels up Ditchling?

[i]Still, who would want to carry 20 kilos of mud on their wheels up Ditchling? [/i]

*shuffles feet and mumbles*

😉

tbh, you see lots of everything round here.

If I had one bike to do it all it'd be a lovely 29er steel frame with slidey dropouts and I'd run it SS/rigid all winter and slap gears and a sus fork on it for longer/hillier summer rides.

I've got a 26" steel Curtis frame - that as a 29er would be great.

There's a few local frame builders too if you wanted to go the custom route but I don't know what they charge.

El Mar?

Not all that slack, mind you.

Jones 😀

Singular Buzzard?

Not sure on angles, but think Sam had a few frames left, with a revised batch in the pipeline?

Stanton Sherpa

Genesis High Latitude, Chromag Surface, Cotic Solaris

Stooge - Buzzard - Canfield Nimble 9 (mine!) - Fireline

As a 29er rider and also a similar block size to you, If I had that money I would go down the Stanton Sherpa route.

http://www.stantonbikes.com/content/sherpa-853-available-now

I'd suggest a Parkwood, but you say no Ali...

Stanton Sherpa
Cotis Solaris
Canfield Nimble 9
Quarter Horse 2Souls
Chromag Surface
Titus Fireline

EDIT: DOH! Took me so long to sort the list, they all been mentioned!

Sherpa would be my choice, in that green, it's lush!

^^ good list zippy

Nicolai Argon TB..one in the classifieds, almost new, mint. Light, very strong, exclusive, versatile.

Niner ROS9 ?

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You could do a nice Sherpa build on your budget.

If you were considering alu, I'd suggest the Trake Stache too - great bike and the frame material is less of an issue with big wheels IMO.

Buy once, buy right, get a quarterhorse and don't compromise

That Niner looks nice, but aren't they generally horrifically expensive?

What about a Transition Trans Am 29?

I'd love a quarterhorse but at the moment my budget doesn't stretch that far. You could build a really nice spec Dartmoor primal 29 given the frame is only £185.

Grey Sherpa, bloody nice looking frame that.

ragley bigwig its well made good angles and is a hoot to ride.

Santa Cruz highball? Kinesis ff29 (or a sync if you can stretch to it).

I have a Solaris and these are the first bikes I would look at if I was replacing it

Great responses here chaps, got lots to think about.

That Stanton Sherpa looks right up my street. Wish they did an 18". The

Singular Buzzard looks nice. Shame 400 notes for 4130.

Surely a no brainier:

[img] [/img]

(2 Souls Quarterhorse)

frame material is less of an issue with big wheels IMO.

I have both Canfields, I notice a big difference. The N9 is like having 15mm suspension compared to the Yelli.

[img] [/img]

after snapping my whyte 29er full suss frame I moved to a ragley Big Wig and can say its a much better handling bike , it was good at swinley today 🙂 I have 120mm forks up front

I can also vouch for the ROS9, a buddy has one but yes they are pricey.

Surely a no brainier:(2 Souls Quarterhorse)

Not sure about the Quarter-horse. Very slack seat-angle.

Where are you located now? You can try my large if local to Somerset

I've got a Kona Honzo 1st version in blue in 18" for sale if that's of interest?

Not that local Candodavid, but my wife's family are down that way, very decent of your to offer. I give you a bell when we are next down that way, if that's okay?

What a leg-end!

Kona Honzo. Like all the others, just less expensive...

I ride a 29er Inbred and it's excellent. Can't fault it much so I'd buy another one of those and put an epic spec on it with the cash you save.

No problem, just drop me a line

Kona Honzo. Like all the others, just less expensive...

I have 2 friends who rag the hell out of their Honzos and they love them. Big fun bikes.

Or save 1150g on a Honzo frame and get a Taro with same geo...

[img] [/img]

I remember when a thread like his would have spiralled into a wheel size bitch fight within three or four posts. Is STW finally getting over itself?

Anyway, FWIW I'd go for a Parkwood if you're on a budget or a Buzzard, ROS9, QH, Canfield or similar if you're not. I'm not really sold on the Sherpa. Of course, you *actually* need a Stooge.

Nice looking Kona there.

My for sale Honzo is almost as pretty.

😉

My Honzo is a total beast. Can't recommend it enough.

I'd love that Niner but the price is just silly (check out the US price to see how comical it is over here!) I'd go for the Sherpa.

'ow much sillyoldman?

hopefully i will be buying a new bike in the nearish future, and a tough 29er is the top of my choice list.

in the past i have built up 2 tough robust 29ers, the 1st was a chumba hx2 built with a 140mm white bros fork...it was fantastic, easily capable of riding down stuff a susser did, and this was 5 year ago.

i also built a surly k monkey up using the 1st gen 120mm revelation forks, this too was fantastic in the rough and descending.

1 thing i have noticed is that the quality of 29er forks has made this type of bike as good as any full sus bike.

is the pike air fork the toughest 29er fork now?

is the pike air fork the toughest 29er fork now?

X-fusion Trace?

@ton yeah if there is one bike to rule them all as an all-rounder, it's a trailsy 29er HT I think - it'll never be quite as forgiving as a FS of course but a dropper post goes a long way to mitigate that. Personally I CBA with FS anyway, too much tech and maintenance.