What do you think of it?

chuffing brilliant.

if you’re looking for a lightweight frame, with super-sketchy xc-racer handling, look somewhere else.

if you’re looking for a sturdy frame, that’s a bit of a hooligan really, but doesn’t like swearing in front of his mum, then the high latitude should be on your list.

the front end is sort of long and slack (you can use a shortish stem), which seems to keep things confident on steep descents. The sensible-length-chainstays combined with a seattube with only a subtle curve seems to keep the front wheel grippy and planted on steep climbs.

it’s even got a 44mm headtube so you can mess around with silly forks andor a slackset if you want to.

i originally wanted a Solaris, the high latitude felt very similar, was half the price, and didn’t need me to take a hacksaw to the front mech before i could fit even a skinny rear tyre.

(sorry Cy)

weaknesses: not light (my 20″ frame weighs 2500g), rubbish at bolehills pump track.

had a look at this one today, not the lightest & naked front and rear mech cables in the UK? not our weather friendly, 44mm headtube looks weird on a skinny frame too

I’ll be riding mine for the first time this weekend.

Ready to go! by simondbarnes, on Flickr

Have swapped the stock wheels out for a Stan’s 29er Crest wheelset and bunged a Spesh Purgatory Control 2.3 on the front and Ground Control 2.1 on the rear, both tubeless. This has taken a bit over a kilo off bike weight. Looking forward to riding it 🙂

Just back after a couple of hours around Rivi (couldn’t believe how dry and dusty the trails were). Really quite good fun. Climbs well (loads of traction) and a bit of a blast on the descents (though was taking things fairly steadily as haven’t mountain biked for best part of a year – still manage to have a silly crash though!)

Tubeless tyres didn’t kill me either (1st time using them)

Winter Hill by simondbarnes, on Flickr

Rivington Pike #windy by simondbarnes, on Flickr

Well, this saves me starting a new ‘ooh, look at what I just got’ thread. 😉 Not had a proper, off-road ride yet and boy, does it feel slow on road compared to a geared bike!

Thanks guys

rOcKeTdOg – Member
…naked front and rear mech cables in the UK? not our weather friendly,

they’ve been fine all winter, i’m not convinced it’s that bit an issue…

…44mm headtube looks weird on a skinny frame too…

see? – even you believe it when it says ‘of course i still go to church mum’ – but the tubes are really quite chunky.

(ok, i’ll admit, 44mm headtubes can look a *bit* odd, but they do add a degree of flexibility that it’s hard to dismiss)

I like the singlespeed one up ^^^^

Ta. 🙂

ahwiles – Member

rOcKeTdOg – Member
…naked front and rear mech cables in the UK? not our weather friendly,

they’ve been fine all winter, i’m not convinced it’s that bit an issue…

speaking purely on experience of my own trails, i.e. mud tyres from Oct to last week, anything that cuts down on maintenance is good, cables under the BB would just draw the filth into the cables and compromise shifting in a short time.

I find DT routed cables to get less draggy than TT routed ones. Partly due to having smoother routing to the stops (especially with low bars – like on a 29’er), partly as there is less outer cable, and partly as gravity draws water and contaminants into the TT to SS/ST sections of cable and into the last loop from SS to mech on TT routed bikes.

The “DT routed cables are terrible in mud” thing is a lazy UK journo thing.

All in my opinion/experience of course (15 years of bike retail experience).

😉

I prefer downtube routed cables.

Saw these at the bike show, and really like the look of them

Given the weighty (sort of) frame…. What’s the weight of them complete? Geared rather than Alfine probably

Mate of mine has got one who knows his stuff and described it as a ‘proper’ mountain bike.

I’m very jealous as I’ve got the 26″ Latitude and would have possibly gone for the HL had funds allowed.

Cheers

Danny B

My 17.5″ 2×10 was 29.5lb out of the box. Dropped just over 2lb with a wheelswap before I rode it though.

camwba96 – here’s my 2 penneth.
You’ve posted lots of questions on here about steel 29 ers recently, including questions about my bigwig.
Why don’t you actually go & ride some of the bikes you are interested in & make your OWN mind up.
What I think of a bike will not be what you think of a bike.
Etc
Repeat to fade.