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Hi, I'm looking at a few frame options - Stanton sherpa, solaris.. And also the singular Swift. I'm wanting something I can use as a bike packing rig, and also something I can put a suspension fork onto and hit the trails with from time to time. I've no concerns about the swifts capacity for touring, but If you have a swift what do you think of its capability as a trail bike? Is the straight head tube of any concern? Is it a racy bike or more of a plodder? Cheers
I have the older Swift model. 100mm forks are fine on it. I'm never really sure what a trail bike is, but as a yardstick, it's fine all the way round Afan, apart from bits like Blade where it gets a bit jittery. Once it starts getting beyond that, it gets quite out of its depth I think because of the steeper head tube and fairly old-skool geometry.
Eventually I wound up getting a Sherpa which I find is a lot more capable downhill (and up).