Hi,

I’m struggling to find 1st hand reviews and I’m interested in opinions as an all round bike, particularly winter warrior mostly for fun woody trails but also all day rides with up-hills as well as downs.

Other main bike would be my O5.

I’m wobbling between this and slack 29ers

… currently have a 456C in this space.

Thanks.

Ade

Yup

Up and down the road

Not much I could glean from my very brief experience I’m afraid!

Nicest green I’ve ever seen though to be fair…

I brought a slackline. I then rode my mates switchback which instantly killed all enthusiasm I had for my slackline 🙁

I guess you have to be pretty ballsy to get the most out of the switchback.

Can the bike turn you into a better (ie more gnarr!!) rider or can that only come from the rider?!?

So Edward – how was it for you? Sounding pretty good if it made the slackline seen ordinary.

what sort of riding were you putting it through?

… good question teamhurtmore… not hoping to change my riding style maybe just get a more fun and bigger wheeled HT than the 456C.

I love my 05 but fancy a funner HT as another option…. not fussed on Ally HT’s either.

mboy – NP, think you have more of an idea than most of the press so I reckon you could drink off that one for another couple of months.

Ade, just about to pull the trigger on new bike (29 FS, 120m evo or equivalent) but have been intrigued about longer travel HTs. I have only ever owned one MTB – trek HT with 100m – but this has been all of over th place and done me proud ie, I am used to HT riding

But am of and age where FS may be better for the old body vs technical numpty and love simplicity of a HT. So the Stanton’s seem interesting.

Second question is how hard you have to ride to make the most of certain types of bike. I mix it up a lot, but am a but if a mincer in truth. So would super slack be a waste on me or would I adjust and become a better/braver rider?

Excuse the ramblings….

ade1993. I’ll be honest, I rode it around a car park. As soon as I sat on it I realised it was longer and slacker. It just felt right, it fitted like a glove. I find my slackline too short. It took me about 2 seconds to realised I had brought the wrong bike 🙁

teamhurtmore – yeah it’s a dilema isn’t it, particularly with the lack of opinions and demos available 🙂 I’m not completely convinced on the 29er thing but have only demod a fairly steep FF29. Couple (most) of my mates now have decent slightly slacker HT 29ers bikes that I’ll try to swing a leg over too for comparison but so far I still love my 26 inch wheeled Orange5.

edward – okay thanks mate. There seems to be a pattern forming here. What sort of riding does your mate use it for? I would certainly need a bike that could climb decently as well as descend.

Ade, he uses it for pretty much everything, except for when we book onto uplifts and we use our dh bikes. He did also smash pretty much all of his Strava times around Llandegla first time he rode it too.

I must add though, he does have 26 inch wheels in the Switchback. I don’t buy the wheel size debate but lets not go there.

Haha, interesting. Yeah let’s not go there.

Thanks.

Fast and fun..

oh dear, sounds like a bit too much fun to me. 😉

Thanks Nic

Is this like stantons version of the BFe? Looks good.

kinda, it’s 650b and a bit slacker I think. similar though. hard-hitting, slack HT.

Hopefully next weekend !
Hurry up and ship em out!

lol. enjoy!

Are you buying the frame or the bike?

THM, Yes slack HTs can inspire confidence to try stuff you might not have done before.
I’ve had a 456-evo, Ragley Piglet and 45650b in the last few years, i love a slack, steel HT.

That said i thought he 45650b was too much, 150mm forks and 27.5 wheels made the bike brutally effective but boring…. It’s being butchered for parts to build a 27.5 FS as I type this and I’ll be keeping the 26 inch wheeled Ragley for HT duties… the 140mm fork and smaller wheels give the bike a more playful feel than the 45650b.

Edward- what forks/travel is your friend running on the switchback with the 26″ wheels be interested to understand what effect it has on geo.

thanks in advance

It doesn’t matter what the wheel size is. All the wheel size does is determine how high the bike is off the ground. It would have exactly the same geometry if he had bigger wheels in, just further away from the ground.

Do you have to buy Stanton bikes direct or are there any dealers, particularly ones that are doing interest free?
😉

You can buy direct or from dealers – drop them a line and they’ll be able to point you in the right direction.

I ended up buying a Switchback and after my first ride yesterday, I’m happy with it. I think very little of that is down to the wheelsize and very much because it actually fits me.

My Slackline was ace but too small – I swapped an XS BFe frame that I’d built up as a jump bike for it.

Very nearly bought one. It’s just a bit too small. They need to do a larger size (longer not taller).

I have a Switchback. Running it with 26″ BOS 140mm Devilles with 27.5 wheels
Great bike, have only ridden round Swinley a couple times & local woods with it. Having not ridden a HT for a little while realise you get lazy on a FS.

I am selling my 16.5 green Switchback frame if you are interested.
Do they encourage you to ride faster – yes.
Do they improve you bike handing skills – no.Which is why it is up for sale while I am still in one piece!
Cheers
Jeff
jeffbushi@yahoo.co.uk

How much jeff?

edward2000 – Member
It doesn’t matter what the wheel size is. All the wheel size does is determine how high the bike is off the ground. It would have exactly the same geometry if he had bigger wheels in, just further away from the ground.

What about trail then? That won’t be exactly the same.

^ sorry I’m not following you.

Well, what I mean is that if you used the same frame and forks with both 26″ and 27.5″ wheels, the trail would be slightly greater with the larger wheel size.

Whether it would make a noticeable difference is another matter, probably not is my thinking and I’m probably just being pedantic..

Sorry for draging everyone back but has anyone had any experience of running the switchback with 26 in wheels?? Whats the geometry like etc? Cheers

Geometrys exactly the same. Read my posts above.