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I'd go
Kona Hei-Hei / Cove Hummer
Giant Anthem
Spesh Pitch
I don't get the Cotic Soul love fest, it didn't really bring anything new to the party at all.
Dragon - hard tail ti variant Hei Hei, I presume.
Best Ive owned would be a Cotic Soul, although I think I wanted a De Kerf Team SL slightly more but could never get my hands on one.
Cove Handjob
Turner Flux & 5 Spot
I'd love another handjob.........
My Titus/Hammerhead 100X is still my favourite bike despite that it is somewhat outdated for some of the modern trails. It is still stiff and creak free after 12 years (9 years in active duty) and really fun and engaging to ride even with 2nd hand kit from the main bike.
It is also sad that it has built-in self-destruction mechanism which will kill it someday. The seat tube is fairly short and many of them have cracked from top tube - seat tube junction.
Nearly forgot Breezer Storm
I don't get the Cotic Soul love fest, it didn't really bring anything new to the party at all.
Look at it in terms of when it first came out in 2002 through rather than when it hit it's peak popularity 10 years later. OK a 100mm hardtail wasn't anything new, but it wasn't an XC bike whereas at the time everything else was either built for XC racing or was built much tougher (DMR trailster, Spooky Metalhead).
2005 specialized enduro - the bike that was #enduro before #enduro existed
Specialized Pitch. Suddenly we could buy a 6 inch trail bike that would climb well, descend like a dh bike, you could do all day rides on it then take it to the Alps
The 2005 enduro beat the pitch to that trick by a good few years.
Yes, but the Pitch was brown. Brown!
loved my demo9, loved my bottlerocket and now loving the saracen 16x i bought soooooo cheap as noone seems to want them but me. happy days #26forever
For me it was these, all hardtails as I never got on with full-sus. Also the steel Kona Lava Dome/Cinder Cone with rigid forks was bags and bags of fun and always felt sprightly/inspiring and took mad abuse for the weight.
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Funny, since I started this thread I've been[i] really[/i] enjoying my 26er. Hope I'll be riding it for a good few years yet. It's a slightly overbuilt 180mm "Alps bike", but also works great as a pedal/push-up mini DH shred sled.
I can see the appeal of the Soul for the riding a lot of people do. I sort of regret not having owned one myself TBH.
I'm going to say Orange Patriot.
Ragley Blue Pig. Geometry that feels so weird at first but works so well once you've got your head round it.
I regularly trawl e bay for a ti version, but sadly in vain so far.
Blue pig 16 inch frame for sale near me . Tempted . Probably too small though...
Another vote for the Orange p7 I loved mine, still wished I hadn't sold it but what's done is done. Mine was a 2010 one classic black with white decals great bike.
My other vote as an xc trail bike, the Speshi Camber Expert 2012, 10/10 mbr, pretty sure it got Bike of the year in one of the mags, I've still got mine and its an awesome bike.
Even though im trying to sell it, will be sad to see it go to the point I probably won't sell it.
I've only ever ridden 26" and would go with all three of my bikes, all cobbled together through bits bought on the classifieds on here over the the last 10 or so years:
- Tinbred
- Heckler
- Superlight
I'm well aware they're all utterly obsolete but somehow I manage to keep riding them. Just modernised the Tinbred with new forks and 1x10 and I absolutely love it!
(and I do still have a huge soft spot for my 1986 Hoo Koo e Koo and 1993 P7...)
Funny you say that molgrips, look what I was riding again today...
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The last 2 models of patriot were awesome. Though I did lol when one of the first complete production models lasted about 4 hours of riding before the swingarm fell apart. I could make a space for either of those in the garage, right now. And imo they're only going to get to be better buys as lyriks and 55s and chunky wheels drop in price
I hope people don't seriously think it's hard to get 26'' rims...
We have plenty on stock in the ware house, ready to be shipped to any good LBS (albeit not in the UK) so I am damn sure any LBS can have one in no time
The idea it is hard to get 26" stuff is ridiculous. What it is easy to do is to get top notch 26" stuff for silly money, I'm still buying 26" stuff - like an EC70 wheel set new for £300. Yummy. And forks for 1/3 the RRP. For now I'd far rather top level carbon 26" stuff for less money than average 650b stuff.
Obviously everyone is naming stuff they have had, so I'm going to do the same and nominate the Blur XC Carbon. I also had an original Heclkler, Superlight, and Blur Classic and they were all great bikes, ahead of their time.
That said, I agree with the person that said long travel, light fullsussers that still pedal well are the ultimate improvement in recent years. The short travel stuff was well sorted back in the day of the original 4" Heckler. As a classic design, the Mojo has to be in the mix.
575.
Obviously.
What came first - the Heckler or the five? I think the idea that a bike could be reasonably light, have a good amount of travel and a serious amount of longevity makes these bikes so important in the development of real all mountain riding.
I'd say the Iron Horse Sunday was the ultimate 26" DH bike - but only because the Session and the V10 have gone for 27.5
Hmmm. I had a Sunday and then a summum.
The latter seemed a lot faster and even easier to ride on steep terrain.
oliverd1981 - MemberI'd say the Iron Horse Sunday was the ultimate 26" DH bike
Really? Great in its time but that time was a while ago.
The summum is avialable in 27.5 now too - so it's disqualified. I guess the 5 is too.
That would rule out way too many bikes, sorry.
Another vote for the Cinder Cone (mid 90's & steel); the Heckler / Five design.
Gt Zaskar
The do anything hardtail?
Or the first of the whyte designed marins?
That would rule out way too many bikes, sorry
In that case 27.5 must be a backward step, as the question states 26" version has to be it's ultimate incarnation...
In that case 27.5 must be a backward step, as the question states 26" version has to be it's ultimate incarnation...
Objection overruled.
Forget about 650b. Simply asking which frames are/were the ultimate evolution for 26in.
The Alpine Five may be great in the alps but is possibly too big to be a versatile trail bike.
Nope, it's great as a trail bike.
Is this thread about the best 26" bike or the one we remember most fondly? If it's the best then surely the answer is a bike from a couple of years ago, the best before they stopped making 26". Fair enough voting for a 2004 Specialized or whatever but if you rode one back to back with something like the Yeti mentioned I expect it wouldn't be 'the best'
Could be wrong like.
If it's the best then surely the answer is a bike from a couple of years ago, the best before they stopped making 26".
That was my intention for the thread TBH.
I can understand that some people might honestly believe a '97 Kona is the ultimate 26" bike though. For them.
Ragley blue-pig?
so, so, capable up or down anything technical.
😀 Mk 1 Blue Pig owner, ragged around Calderdale as much as possible.
I think the Mk2 is much faster, but it might also be that nach is just, eeer, faster than me on his. Bum.
While building it I dreaded climbing on 160mm forks, but the Blue Pig has been a great bike so far 😀
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I don't feel qualified to say "ultimate" because I don't have much to compare it to bar XC bikes I owned before, but it's done everything from chugging up hills in Calderdale to uplift trails in the Alps. I'm finding I have no urge to trade it up for anything else yet, but this year I've found myself eyeing increasingly niche upgrades like Procore and those new Spank bars.
The mk1 Bluepig was a shocker. My mate had one (after buying in to the hype) and had no end of problems with it as no one seemed to have bothered with quality control. It took so long to get sorted that he ended up with a mk2 replacement that also had qc issues so he eventually got a full refund. With the little time he had to ride it he found it to be a bang average pig iron frame.
Maverick Ml7
Genesis Core 40
I still ride them both.
Has anyone mentioned the Cannondale Prophet yet?! My vote!
The 2005 enduro beat the pitch to that trick by a good few years.
Yea, but for a good couple of years the Pitch Pro was <£1100 from a lot of shops until it got 10/10 in in an MBR test and they couldn't get enough of them!
Same test gave the Prophet 10/10 too. IMO the prophet was a much nicer bike too, for some reason I bought a pitch, think it was that Spesh update the spec to Sektors whereas the 'dale was looking quite long in the tooth.
Wouldn't a more modern 4 bar frame like the transition suppressor be a better choice than the pitch?
I haven't ridden either, but I know which I'd rather own.
NomadC and Cotic BFe 8)
Hardtail - Stanton Slackline Ti,
Full sus - no idea, currently stuck wondering what to replace my 2001 Turner RFX with but haven't found a decent contender yet.
Another vote for the ASR5 here, as a trail bike.
It's older sibling, the ASR-SL is still the quickest, most nimble bike I've ridden XC on.
Mintyjim - MemberHas anyone mentioned the Cannondale Prophet yet?! My vote!
Just coming to post the same thing... not without it foibles but a bloody brilliant bike/frame