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I have just purchased a large steel Sonder Signal frame in "gunmetal"...really torn between the two colours, both look great. I can see this steel frame being hugely popular.. will gve Cotic, Stanton etc.. a real run for their money this year.
https://alpkit.com/collections/sonder-signal
I have a 130mm Rockshox Reba, some Mavic crossmax wheels, 11-46 SLX for the rear, few more bits needed.
*liked*
Looks really nice- pretty conservative geometry but nothing wrong with that.
3.2kg for a large frame on its own!!! 🤯
Could have done without the massive seat tube brace
Love the grey and the overall look but nearly 7lb is personally a bit much for me for an xc/trail hardtail
The pictures make the seat tube look really slack
What's so good about it?
Nice looking frame,I think I'd go for the gunmetal too.👍
What’s so good about it?
It is heavy
It is not particularly cheap
Are they good things?
Is that a mullet build? Front wheel looks like a larger diameter
Nice. Good choice.
A munter build as far as I can see?
The pictures make the seat tube look really slack
Yeah it does. Looks just about the same angle as the head tube, geo chart says 74 degrees though...
quite a kink at the bottom of the seattube, so the angle of most of the tube is quite a bit slacker than the effective.
Interesting that there's so much reinforcement around the headtube: DT & TT Gussets and headtube rings. I'd like to to know if this ends up stronger than the Ti version, where there's none, or if it's all necessary to get to the same strength given the wall thickness of the rest of the 4130 tubing.
??
The seat tube angle reminds me of this,
And the memories of trying to ride uphill on that thing are too fresh even a decade later.
Is that price quite a lot for a 4130 steel frame that weighs quite a lot?
Maybe I’m looking at this wrong - but my last Steel hardtail was a Gary Fisher back in the late 90’s and that had a double butted 4130 chromo frame I think? I know inflation but I paid £400 for that as a complete bike.
Cotic have discontinued the Soul now, but that wasn’t a huge amount more expensive frame only than this from memory? Think that had a bit of 853 in it too.
I agree it is a slightly heavier frame, for comparison.
Large 29er:
Sonder Steel Signal = 3.2kg
On One Big Dog = 3.1kg
Cotic BFeMax = estimated at 4kg
Cotic Solaris Max = 2.2kg
Small BFeMax is 2.85kg, I doubt a couple of inches of extra tube takes it to 4kg
My med Solaris max weighed in at 2.5kg on my kitchen scales, without axle, seat clamp or bosses but with hanger.
What’s so good about it?
Its a Sonder and they're the new Cotic (people frothing at the mouth and touching themselves over them etc).
Does seem pretty heavy. My large last fast forward was 2.7kg with my luggage scales.
Prize wise it’s midway between the current price of an on one big dog and cotic or bird. Would’ve been nice if it was £300 like the transmitter but we can’t have everything. Geometry seems a bit short though... same as the Ti model I guess... my mate’s signal Ti is being built up next week so will be interesting to see how that rides compared to the More LLS FF.
these days having anything available to actually buy is a bonus!
People on here always seem to expect bikes to be cheaper. These will sell to people who’ll see them as well priced… of which they’ll be plenty. Seat angle probably looks slack because unsagged long travel forks anyways make hardtails look slack.
My Genesis Tarn is pointing at it and making fat jokes.
Do they do an aluminium 29er hardtail, or just the B-plus Transmitter?
kelvin
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People on here always seem to expect bikes to be cheaper. These will sell to people who’ll see them as well priced… of which they’ll be plenty.
£499 brings it rather close to the BFeMax though, which has an 853 badge on it, and Sonder are probably still seen as something of a budget brand.
And that seattube brace...
Seems like a reasonable bike material and weight-wise for the cost. The brace looks a bit unnecessary though...
Nice - been waiting to see these for a while. Originally they wouldn't take a 27.5 because of the chain stay gusset, any idea if that has changed?
£499 seems about right given the competition. Same price as the Genesis Tarn, 50 quid less than the Ragley Big wig (which has fantastic details but I'm not convinced that makes it a better bike). Cheaper than the Nordest of Production Prices.
What bike if this type doesn't have the seattube brace at the moment? It's a trend.
Nordest Britango is about the same price wise isn’t it? Better looking and lighter. I know which I would buy
My Genesis Tarn is pointing at it and making fat jokes.
Lol, 🤣👌
I think for that cost I’d want something a little higher spec than plain 4130 - maybe some 725 main tubes or something.
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chakaping
SubscriberDo they do an aluminium 29er hardtail, or just the B-plus Transmitter?
They sell the frontier which is cheap £299 for frame and rigid fork but fairly old school angles. Aimed more at bike packing I guess.
What bike if this type doesn’t have the seattube brace at the moment? It’s a trend.
Stanton Switch9er. Does seem to be the outlier though.
My Genesis Tarn is pointing at it and making fat jokes
Don't know which Tarn you have but the new ones are quoted at 4kg including axle, headset and seat collar. Doubt those three things weigh a kilo
My Genesis Tarn is pointing at it and making fat jokes.
perhaps it shoudn't then...
from Genisis website: Weight: 3.98kg incl Seat Collar/Headset/Front Axle/Rear Axle
The tarn weight includes the carbon fork. I had the 2018 tarn in large and it weighed over 3kg. Can't remember the exact number but it wasn't 4kg!
Stanton Switch9er. Does seem to be the outlier though.
From memory the Switch9er doesn't have the very low stand over, top tube seat stay straight line from Head tube to axle that seems popular at the moment does it? I seem to recall it's about half way between the old style double triangle and this?
The stack is way too low on the XL.
Bike designers get a grip. Tall people need more stack.
- Headset spacers
- High rise bars
- Stems that aren’t 0°
So many options to get the bars where you want them. You don’t have to copy the slammed look that all the smaller folk have on their bikes.
Coconut and Cromo; Without axle and collar my tarn frame is 2.7kg in a large. Genesis quoted that weight with fork,headset,axles and seat collar and didn't change it when they went from alu to carbon.
On a A lot of XL HTs I still can’t get my bars high enough even with the -
Maximum 30mm of spacers under the stem as recommended by fork manufacturers to avoid death.
A 40mm rise bar (try and find anything higher in 35mm bore)
There aren’t many stems with more than 5mm rise in 35mm bore and 35mm length.
And Top it off with a 29er fork at 150mm
The headtubes on A lot of XL hardtail frames need to be a touch longer and bottom bracket drops need to be factored in.
35mm bars does limit you.
I have some 50mm Spank Spike Vibrocores in 31.8 but they are too noodly
The XL 2012 Rockhopper frame I bought off here for £25 last year weighs 1.9kg and has a 140mm headtube. Goes uphill like a rat out of a trap...just sayin,' like.