Anybody had both a Soul and BFE? -Whats the difference?

Considering swapping the Soul for a BFE and getting rid of the Maxmax jump bike. Thus using the BFE for normal riding and buggering about on the BMX track.

Unsure how strong the Soul is and don’t fancy breaking it although I’m only 10.5stone.

The geometry looks similar, is the BFE MUCH harsher on the old backside?

I love the Soul and the ride is one of the outstanding aspects of it.

I was curious as to the ride difference in the two.

BTW it will still be running Pikes.

Yup; went from a large Soul to a medium (first batch was S/M/L, then Cy changed to small/big) BFe as a warranty replacement.

BFe has MUCH more of a solid ride than the Soul; it is utterly rigid – but perhaps not as harsh as, say, a Chameleon. The Soul has that lovely spring in its heel, something that the BFe definately does not have; much more of heavier ride in terms of both physical weight and ride. They are the same in terms of geometry (something I was confused about at first) but the BFe will take a much longer fork and HA is measured at a different sag.

I’ve had both & I much prefer the BFe. (I switched from large Soul to Medium 1st gen BFe too).

The Soul was too flexy for my liking, both when pedalling & cornering hard. The BFe feels much more precise & I don’t ever have to worry about breaking it.

I don’t find it any less comfortable (or perhaps any more uncomfortable) than the Soul on longer rides. They are both hardtails so you’re always going to get a bit beaten up, but if you stand up over the rough stuff its fine.

If you ride XC with your saddle up all day, then you’ll be better on a Soul, but if you give it some hammer & like jumps, drops & BMX tracks then the BFe is the one for you.

My only advice would be…. buy the small BFe, my big was lovely downhill, but just not as agile or chuckable as i would have liked, and quite the opposite to you vortex, i have sold my BFe and bought a jump bike.

I would need a small anyway.

I’m only 5ft 4″