Second ride out tonight.
How often do you hanker after something for months, then when you get it, it's even better than you hoped.
Blimmin great - climbing and descending - probably just suits me. The best hardtail I've had and it's not the first 29er.
For me, riding in the Lakes, it's pretty much spot on - not even sure I'd want it any lighter.
And it's 'gorgeous green'
😀
Agreed. Love mine to bits. (mine's blue edit: but I do prefer the green!)
Has anybody ridden a Solaris and an FF29?
I'm finding the FF29 to be very fast but not as much fun as I'd hoped (maybe just because I'm comparing it to the Five which is stupidly fun). I've though about swapping the bits onto a Solaris frame, but on paper they look pretty similar (and both are green!) so I'm not sure it would be worth the effort.
I've ridden both. Both with 120mm forks. The FF29 was good but I found it a little harsh after more than a couple of hours. I always wanted a Solaris but they were out of stock at the time so went with the FF29. Luckily my lbs is a Kinesis and Cotic dealer so they got the frames for me. They said they sell way more Solaris frames than FF29s.
Anyway the ride. I've had a Soul in the past and I would describe the Solaris as a fast Soul. It's nibble, comfy and fast. One thing I will say is I switched the Easton Haven seatpost for an EA70 and it was much more comfortable. ESI grips took away a lot of the trail buzz too, although they don't last as long as normal rubber grips.
For me now the Solaris is my only bike. I sold my full sus because I always grabbed the Solaris. I'm now running a Raceface Narrow/Wide ring and it takes ten minutes to get the bike looking new after a muddy ride. I think this will be a bike that I keep for a long time..
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They look like lovely bikes, pics of the green one please! How do you find 1x10 on a 29er?
Solaris would be my next frame.
Really really wanted one but went with Scandal to save a bit of cash.
bikeneil, that looks all kinds of nice.
Love mine also. Mate's just built a yelli screamy though which might just make me jealous enough to swap.
Built mine recently and it's one ride old.
It is fun, but the ride was a bit of a muddy slog! Next ride I'll head a little further afield to try some more 'interesting' stuff. 🙂
Bikeneil - out of interest, what ratio are you running?
I'm running 11-36 cassette and 32 ring. Might switch to a 30 for the winter mud or i might just tough it out. 😀
I had forgotten how beautiful those Solaris' are. Very tempting!
So, all being equal, which would be faster over a 40k XC race: a steel Solaris or a carbon 26er (with a non-carbon wheelset)?
Should add for the wanters of greeness:
[url= http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5520/10686977775_4823e014fd_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/pimpmasterjazz/10686977775/ ]The Solaris after its first ride.[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/pimpmasterjazz/ ]NeilCain[/url], on Flickr
It's a L (I'm a gnat's whisker under 6ft and was torn between the M and L but ended up going for the extra length - extra standover would be nice tho). Otherwise spec is 2x9, Reverb, Thomson 50mm stem and the rest you can work out. 🙂