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I finally seem to have got the 29er bug so was thinking of replacing the Soul with a Solaris. However I have just been looking at the Stanton Sherpa which seems fairly similar . Anybody got any real world experience of the two? I have always liked the Cotic but am open to suggestions especially as I understand the Solaris has relatively limited tyre clearance around the chain stays
Can't comment on the Stanton as I've not had one though it was a possible before I got the Solaris.
Originally I had Ardent 2.2 on the rear but didn't like it and put a Bontrager XR3 2.2 on. Both have been fine for clearance though I've not been in really muddy conditions. I can get my little finger in the gap between tyre and chain stay. This is on Hope rims.
I've not found any practical limits on tyre size on the Solaris. Quite happily ran a trail king through the winter with minimal clag. You'd hit problems if you went for something like a Hans dampf but (in my opinion of course) if you're really keen on tyres that big you might want to be looking at something a bit burlier
Would love to offer adive but my lovely green XL sherpa is sat behind me waiting for parts so I'll get back to you in a few weeks 🙂
Oh I suppose I can say I decided on the sherpa over the solaris as it has a slacker headangle, comes in XL and has a 30.9 seat post for which I already have a dropper...
There, thats definately all I can say...
I had a Solaris.
I now have a Sherpa.
I've said this a couple of times on here and the following are my personal thoughts as I know the Solaris is a well reviewed bike.
I found my Solaris to be closer to a 29er BFE than a 29er Soul. I went from a Soul to a Solaris and found the frame too stiff for what I was expecting and wanting.
I ran my Solaris with a 100mm Reba with a 2.25" Ardent out back. clearance was tight but not troublesome.
My Sherpa feels more compliant and closer in feel to what I wanted the Solaris to be I.e. a 29er Soul. It's slacker and feels more comfortable than he Solaris did with a 120mm fork.
I've had a couple of Cotic frames and love the stuff Cy designs but the Solaris wasn't for me.
Both frames are/were XL.
I borrowed the demo Solaris from my LBS and thought it was great. Wanted to demo a Stanton but they didn't have one as they're both so similar. I went for the Stanton in the end as Cotic currently have no large frames in stock and don't expect any until the end of July and I wasn't that desperate to have that particular bike. Took delivery of the Sherpa last week and its awesome. Whichever bike you go for you won't be disappointed.