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There's a medium Cotic Flare in the classifieds.
Modern 29er hard tails are so much fun and so capable that's probably still what I'd have if I only had one bike. I have a Bird Zero 29 and a Cube Stereo and yes the Cube is capable of more but it scares me as it's much more capable than I am, it's easy to get out of your depth quite quickly. It also requires more maintenance, changing 16 bearings was a major pain in the hoop.
Good question. I ride a hardtail always have. Currently running a Bird Zero 29er with a 140mm Fox 36.
However on a recent trip to Antur I got properly beaten up. The stars aligned and I had 2k to buy a second bike. Got one of these. If you can fit a large I'd highly recommend it. Only thing you'd need to budget for is a wheel upgrade as the standard rear wheel and hub is a bit crap.
https://www.rmcycles.co.uk/bikes/mountain-bikes/gt-sensor-carbon-pro-le-sea-green-2024__23304
Edit: Only had it a week, so taking it to Grenno on Sunday to wrap myself round a tree and see what it's capable of. I expect I will be the limiting factor, not the bike 😀
It looks like this, but there's only one of them and you can't have it...
So many folks saying that a hardtail is a no go, but in the traditional spirit of recommend what you bought, I’d go with a Cotic Solaris Max. I live in the lakes and typical riding is rocky, steep at times, hike a bike but I’m not after super high speed, and my Solaris just makes me smile, looks after me and is such a practical easy to live with bike. Was out today near Patterdale and was just an absolute blast.
At that price point, 29er alu hardtail, 130mm fox 34 or z2, 64ish HA. 80% as good as an FS going down, better everywhere else. Better spec for the money and cheaper/easier to maintain all weathers. The upside of an FS isnt worth the slog of having to pedal the additional weight around.
I have a Nukeproof Scout and a full fat ebike. The FS analogue bike doesnt get a look in.
To be fair trips to BPW etc are probs gonna be so far apart they're not THAT much of a consideration.
There's a medium Cotic Flare in the classifieds.
Looks like a bargain that. Brand new basically looking at the pics...
However on a recent trip to Antur I got properly beaten up.Ha ha, I’ve done the same thing and feel your pain. Great fun though.
Completely, loved it.
There’s a certain swagger in strapping a hardtail to an uplift trailer.
I took my Trailstar on many an uplift 🙂 had my Blender at BPW a few times as well. Can't say I wasn't jealous of all the nice big bikes though.
However on a recent trip to Antur I got properly beaten up.Ha ha, I’ve done the same thing and feel your pain. Great fun though.
Completely, loved it.
There’s a certain swagger in strapping a hardtail to an uplift trailer.
Even more when you overtake the StormTroopers on 170mm gnarpoons. 😎
That Flare does look nice but not really that different to my Rocket to justify the spend.
There's also a very nice looking 18Bikes no7, although I would prefer 29" I think. Hmm.
(For clarity I don't think I've ever overtaken anyone on a bike)
We have a Ti HT in the garage, which my other half was given for the TNR - occasionally I ride it to remind myself how sh*t it is compared to my Epic8.
The only thing it does better is a total lack of care for it, which translates to a set of bearings once a year. If the choice of riding a great bike and a terrible one is a set of bearings, and I still chose the HT, I’d probably give up cycling.
XC bikes have better geometry that some bikes I raced EWS’s on pre CoVid - these 120mm are remarkably capable & fast as hell. With a decent set of tyres, they can double as a good trail bike - in that sense it’s probably the most versatile bike I’ve owned.
This is my perfect mountain (ATB) bike, makes me smile every time I ride it, makes others smile too!
There’s a certain swagger in strapping a hardtail to an uplift trailer.
No one noticed or cared.
Ride whatever you want.
Just don't think your a hero for it.
Aren’t uplift tracks perfectly manicured with all those nasty leaves blown away?
My Cotic Rocketmax is also in the classifieds…..
I think you need to work out whether the occasional BPW/Alps/Enduro-type rides are something that is likely enough (or often enough) to sway your choice.
If it's more of a "I'd really like to do this and don't want lack of a suitable bike to be an excuse" then I'd be tempted to keep your 456 Evo and change the Rocket to a mid-travel (140-ish) 29er trail bike in your favourite flavour.
If it's more of a "I like the idea of BPW and Alps trips, but realistically it's not going to be in the next year or two" then I'd consolidate to a short travel full suspension, something like the Flaremax suggested or similar (120-ish rear travel, 130-140 front with some nice relatively quick trail/XC tyres) and have a set of chunky wheels or just tyres on standby for if the bigger days out do materialise.
A swagger that no one notices is not a thing to be jealous of. 🤣
Ohhh your RocketMax looks bloomin' lovely @rico70. If I was riding in the Peak regularly like I was a few years ago I'd be well tempted by that.
Actual riding for the next year will probably look something like this:
Trips to easy trail centres with MiniMonkey v1 (she's six, will be riding an Orbea Laufey 24 when she turns seven in Feb - can do most of the blue at Sherwood. Hardtail territory.
Laps of the local woods. Mostly non techy singletrack, a few jumps here and there. Grand on a hardtail.
Odd weekend rides - maybe once a month or so - in the Moors, Dales or Peak (all within a couple of hours or so of home). I've ridden them all on a hardtail before perfectly happily. I prefer singletrack to wide rocky Peak stuff anyway. Maybe trips to Greno or Wharncliffe but again I've ridden both (slowly) on a hardtail.
Weekend trips away - maybe a couple over the year. Could be BPW or the Lakes, could be somewhere else. I reckon this is where I'd miss rear suspension the most. I've done some riding in the Lakes on a hardtail (Borrowdale Bash, Back o'Skiddaw, Grizedale bridleways etc) and loved it, though I reckon bigger cheeky stuff would probably be off the table. Never done BPW on a hardtail but tbh I'd sooner be in the hills anyway.
Alps is more of a long-term pipe dream a few years down the line when MiniMonkey is a bit more confident and would probs be as part of a family holiday to start with rather than just a biking week. So hiring or buying a full sus if that materialises would definitely be a possibility.
I think writing that out I've convinced myself that if I'm gonna change to one bike, a moderately chunky hardtail is probably what I want (if not need), with a view to maybe adding a meatier full sus later if I start getting into the chunky stuff more.
But I have listened to all the suggestions on here, honest. Thank you all!
I don't think that's a bad plan at all! If it tickles your fancy Alpkit/Sonder have some great deals on the Signal at the moment and I think they have demo's available from their stores which may be near you?
https://alpkit.com/collections/sonder-signal
To be fair trips to BPW etc are probs gonna be so far apart they're not THAT much of a consideration.
Last time we went (me and my teenage sons) we took two hardtails and one FS and were on the blues (their first time there) and maybe one easy red.
One of the constraints to progressing onto the reds during the day was the two (older school) hardtails. Bikes that are good for local stuff to us but honestly out of their depth at BPW once off the blues.
I realised that if we went once a year it would be worth just hiring an appropriate bike for each of us to open up more trails and reduce the battering!
Yes it's spendy but...
- It's the right kit for the place - in our case that is kit that's total overkill for our normal riding
- No mucking about with bike racks at 6am
- No worries at the services having to leave someone with the car
- Save a fair bit of fuel (45mpg Vs 60+mpg with no bike racks) and the car is nicer to drive without 50+kg of bikes and racks sat on the back or roof.
- Low faff at home time, drop off bikes, change and drive away.
YMMV
I have done BPW and les arcs on a hardtail 10 years or so ago. Back when I was slow(er) and (more)rubbish, and it was my only bike.
I was however younger and fitter, riding XC 3 or 4 times a week - I cant imagine how an occasional-rider dad-bod would hold up to it.
It was still rubbish. In hindsight any suspension bike would have been preferable.
And modern bikes if you pick and spec the correct one*, won't give up anything on your more frequent riding.
*if your experience is having the choice between a heavy duty big travel full suss and a hardtail - you are probably going to attribute the presence of suspension to all the downsides of your Rocket, when really its tyres and geometry making the biggest difference.
Something like a Spur, Tallboy, Flaremax, Spectral 125 would be excellent. Leaning more heavily towards the local stuff, Epic Evo?
Yeah I'm swaying back to the short travel full-sus idea now. Not least because there is a rather nice gen 2 FlareMax on a popular auction site at the moment (miles away though, boo).
Going to BPW on the 29th with a few. Couple of us going to take HT's for a grin on the morning session
I’ve got a brand new c3 Cotic BFe 29 inch or mullet rear frame for sale in the classified if your in North Yorkshire…
I keep eyeing up that Jeht in the classifieds, too. Probably a size too small, but it's still 40mm longer than my Rocket and I always struggle with standover... Hmm.