Preferably steel, would consider Ti - want something solid, attractive and geared more towards bikepacking, but is fun to cycle too. So far;
Cotic Solaris MAX: expensive build kits, no downtube braze-ons for water storage, but lovely bikes!
Surly Karate Monkey: At the moment, maybe the first choice? Solid, versatile, it's a Surly.
Alpkit Sonder Broken Road Ti: Not sure, gets nice reviews, looks good. Light. Decent build spec for £1600: but is it just a Sonder Frontier made from a different kind of metal?
I looked at Kona Honzos too, but they seem overpriced for their spec. Any other ideas?
I ride a Brother Big Bro, loads of fun. How tall are you?
About 5'10ish - usually go for large frames.
Have you heard of the Cotic Solaris max by any chance ?
2x downtube bottle mounts ?
And, not sure the build kits expensive is right, frame maybe but,,, cmon
Shame, Brother have a sail on - XL Large in Orange for 1100 - probably a little too big for me though!
https://pedalsbikecare.co.uk/shop/2019-brother-cycles-big-bro-complete/
Robots say aye! One large left. Come join the club 😁😁
Tempting! Thanks one the heads up - can it run a 100mm sus-fork? It's a RS Reba boost 42mm offset - 100mm travel. Cheers =)
Yep that would be bang on 😁 I do really like the rigid though, despite my knackered wrists
http://www.pipedreamcycles.com/shop/29er-steel-hardtail/?v=7516fd43adaa
https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-ht-725/
Solaris Max: Silver build, (11 speed XT at the moment), ‘downgrade’ to a Trace fork (still decent) - £1799. N.b. As mentioned above - 2 bottle cage mounts.
RSD Middlechild.
Well chaps, went for the Big Bro - £1100 in the end. Decent spec, seems like a 'do it all' bike. Will run it as a 27.5 hardtail. Looking forward to it!
Thanks for the suggestions.