Looking to changeover to a 'fun' summer hardtail (from a Sanderson Life). Obviously there is the 456 Evo/Soul/Bfe to but what else is there slackish? 18inch frame or thereabouts. Our summer riding is a mix of singletrack with some jumps/drops.
Curtis?
Evil Sovereign on sale on CRC. Transition TransAm (think 18 bikes have one on sale) Genesis Alpitude. Dialled Albert/Albert 853/Alpine.
For the money, I'd be going for a half price Evil Sov from CRC. Either that or the new 456 Evo in raw with orange graphics looks lovely - full build for £800 looks awesome VFM too.
I found the 120-150mm travel 32mm stantioned forks (Rev Team Maxle) too flexy for the way I rode my Ragley Mmmbop. I decided to buy a Ragley Troof which is designed to take a 36mm fork at 160mm of travel... and I'm happy to report that it is rather good. Although perhaps tending a little more towards the DH and jumps/drops than you have described.
Chumba HX1
Evil Sovereign, BFe or Slackline with 140mm forks is the only way.
[url= http://www.progressive-bikes.co.uk/product/chumba_hx1/ ]Chumba HX1[/url] Great value at £299, and very nicley finished.
And as im feeling generous use the discount code 'special10' to recieve an extra 10%
Another vote for the HX1 here - I've had 2 and they're great frames.
Generally, bikes with shorter chainstays and top tubes are the most fun for playing about on. Stanton, Evil, NS, DMR, Santa Cruz etc.
You can probably ignore most of the posts on this thread as people seem to be recommending frames based on looks and marketing blurb.
Bikes with long forks, slack head angles, long top tubes and long stays are generally dull to ride unless you are going very fast down a hill.
Only silver left in the HX1?
The Carbon 456 with a slackset maybe. The Evil looks like a beast of a frame probably too much of a frame for the riding. Not loving the new EVO 456 decals but it is slack.
Cheeky bugger, I have a lot of fun throwing my HX1 around. It happens to look nice too.
Generally, bikes with shorter chainstays and top tubes are the most fun for playing about on. Stanton, Evil, NS, DMR, Santa Cruz etc.
Yes checking the TT length of some of them suggest quite a few differences.
I'd go for the carbon 456 with slack set, I didn't bother with a slack HA, but my Bro in law is building just such a bike as we speak.
Dialled Alpines are much loved. Apparently longer chain stays than say the Evil but brings out the 12yr old in me and whenever there is an Alpine thread the owners are glowing. There's one in classifieds for £200 (not mine and dont know the seller).
Sovs usually overpriced compared to the competition (esp as its "basic" cromo when most of the others use 853) but half price from CRC is a totally different barrel of eels.
*Drool* I like the look of this *Drool*
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http://dirt.mpora.com/news/limited-edition-production-prive-shan-hardtail.html
There's one in classifieds for £200
Unfortunately I live in a bit of the uk that isn't the (so called) 'mainland' 😉
After a very quick look at TT lengths (and price) the BFe looks good! Its certainly quite like a Slackline, tricky bit is adding/subtracting all the HA/SA at different fork lengths, sag/no sag and different A2C lengths. Just get out and ride...
slackline..
Just bought a frame to build up.. Great fun
£500 for chromoly steel in that macaw! Too big on the fork anyway, 140 max for the forks I have.
Slackline certainly looks nice, but small seat post size so dropper choice is limited (if you decided to want one), also a tad pricey when compared to a BFe - the only downside I see to the BFe is the lack of replaceable hanger.
A fairly long top tube is a nice thing if you want to be able to ride up steep stuff, whilst running a short stem to speeden up the steering of a slack angled hardtail, without banging your knees. And you can always buy a size smaller and get more standover for a more play than XC bike.
A fairly long top tube is a nice thing if you want to be able to ride up steep stuff, whilst running a short stem to speeden up the steering of a slack angled hardtail, without banging your knees. And you can always buy a size smaller and get more standover for a more play than XC bike.
Exactly what I did, I'm 5'11" and ride a small BFe with a 50mm Renthal stem 🙂
Lol was looking at the 'small' BFe thinking would it be suitable, I'm 6ft tall
🙂
I had the medium previously, and sold it to buy a small... medium is nice, but feels more like an XC size, which isn't what I wanted my BFe to be. If I was building up an XC rig, then medium would definitely be my choice. But I wanted it for a general play bike that I could use for 4x, dual, DH etc.
The small has more standover height, plus, stick a long seat post in there and you can crank out the miles if needed. I did Skyline over the weekend at around 5 hours - so it's no whippet, but it's a hooligan on the downs (or maybe it was just my lack of fitness).
What about the cove handjob,... i do alot of singlerack even been to wales,.. great bike like be in on rails, wicked bike!
+3 for the chumba hx1. Bloody brilliant frames (have a chameleon and a soul and better than both IMO)
Light and comfy but tough too.
NS Surge is great, works with 120-160mm forks, can be set up as single speed if you're that way inclined and has a nice long top tube with low standover for getting "rad" - had mine 3 years now and love it.
steezysix - Member
NS Surge is great, works with 120-160mm forks, can be set up as single speed if you're that way inclined and has a nice long top tube with low standover for getting "rad" - had mine 3 years now and love it.
Funny ordered one late last week and hoping its here on Wednesday.
If you want a fun bike I would say get a Dialled Alpine. My Mk1 is the most fun I've had on a bike ever. What's more, it just seems to get me down things I have never mangaed on any other bike.