Anyone tried this? How is it?

Been thinking of changing my hardtail to something that can accomodate my Fox 36.

Ragley say they're recommended for 120-150mm forks. Mine is a Talas so could be used at 130mm and 160mm.

i asked the same question about my evil and a fox 36 van, mixed replies, about 50/50,

best thing to do is try it, mine worked and i love it,dont notice the weight or anything like that, just notice it holds it's line and soaks up everything with ease, looks mighty fine too

my mate had a talas 36 on his cove stiffee, same thing, lots of people said no, he tried it and it was a big yes
😀

I use either Marz xc600 or my Fox 130s from my Kona on my Pig. Reckon any fork will do fixed @ 130, all depends what type of rider/riding you do.

what you want is an alpitude 😉

I reckon much more than 140mm of travel on a hardtail is a bit of a silly idea really. Just get some rear suspension surely?

Having said that, a 36 at around 140mm would probably be pretty devastating on a Blue Pig.

140 Vanillas on my Sovereign and that's all the travel I ever need.

It's no problem. Quite a few people have done this.

We will have a dedicated 160mm frame later this year.

We will have two dedicated 160mm frames later this year.

I run a Lyrik coil U-turn on mine, much better than the pike it replaced but I rarely wind it out to 160.

Tell us more Brant!

Thanks guys.

On reflection I think I might get frustrated with only being able to use 130 or 160mm travel on one of these so I'll sit down quietly and wait for the new bike lust to pass.

Tell us more Brant!

What would you like to know?

brant – Member

Tell us more Brant!

What would you like to know?

When are the T-shirts gonna be available? Can you do a Blue Pig one?

Materials?
Specs: Taper/1 1/8th / 1.5HT, sliders/vertical drops, ISCG?
Prices?

Not much really 😉

chakaping – Member

Thanks guys.

On reflection I think I might get frustrated with only being able to use 130 or 160mm travel on one of these so I'll sit down quietly and wait for the new bike lust to pass

er, the frame will handle fine at both settings, what's the problem?

i've got 140mm recons on mine – it's ace, the head angle feels very natural and the BB isn't too high. 160mm forks wouldn't cause me any problems, and 130mm would make next to sod-all difference.

sounds to me like you've got the perfect forks for a Ragley frame; 160mm for extra daftness, 130mm to hit the sweet-spot.

Brant; are you hinting at the long-awaited full-suspension frame? (edit, clearly not)

Materials?
Specs: Taper/1 1/8th / 1.5HT, sliders/vertical drops, ISCG?
Prices?

One model in our new externally butted Fathead chromoly, one in custom 7046 alloy.
Headtube is the 44mm standard and will take 1.125in, tapered and 1.5in
Dropouts will be licenced DMR Swapouts, so 10mm qr, Maxle or SS (if you want, but I think the brakes won't work right).
ISCG – yes.
Seattube is 30.9mm on the steel frame, maybe even 31.6mm depending on how the tooling comes out.

Pricing is looking like £349.00

Available November-ish.

Available

I reckon much more than 140mm of travel on a hardtail is a bit of a silly idea really

Agreed.

What is the benefit of the extra travel bearing in mind your non suspended rear where is going to hit what must be a massive lump to not be coped with by a mere 140mm of travel about 0.1secs later?

Or is it a change in HA thing?

Or is it just a fashion thing?

all of the above.

@ Brant – Sounds nice!

What is the benefit of the extra travel bearing in mind your non suspended rear where is going to hit what must be a massive lump to not be coped with by a mere 140mm of travel about 0.1secs later?

let people use forks they have lying around from their FS bikes.

plus – my legs have more than 160mm of travel, ymmv.

:Waits impatiently for new steel 160mm fork Ragley frame:

Running 160's on a standard 456 atm HT angle is spot on but the BB is a touch high and the seattube a little slack. Will this be addressed on the new frames Brant?

Will this be addressed on the new frames Brant?

It's six years since I designed the 456, so yes – things have changed.

It's addressed on the current Ragley frames. Proper seat angles and BB heights is one of the things we concentrated on, seat angle particularly being an issue for taller riders meaning that a 160mm fork is still "ok" on the Blue Pig.

h/a will be 67deg at ride height on the 160 frame, and the seat angle position on the 160mm bike is the same at nominal 30% sag ride height as on the 140mm frames.

BB is actually a little lower – rideheight to rideheight on the 160mm bike, to work better on "wideopen" stuff rather than just tech.

The 160mm bike will work great as a 140 bike, but is a bit tougher and heavier.

Cheers Brant, being 6ft4 it sounds like the frame I've been wanting someone to make at a reasonable price for quite a while. An all day frame that won't get to far out of it's depth on a proper DH track. Hope it'll come in a large enough size.

Very interesting Brant…. but will the 16 still be tiny and the 18 be a gate?

Very interesting Brant…. but will the 16 still be tiny and the 18 be a gate?

The 16 will be even tinier, and we might even do a 14!
18in has a low standover too.

Yes… that's it… improve the standover…

what are you? some kind of jedi…?

Are these frames replacing the Blue Pig and mmmBop?

Are these frames replacing the Blue Pig and mmmBop?

no.

what are you? some kind of jedi…?

standover kind of amuses me, as the only time I see people "stood over" their bike is when testing it for standover.

all the other times, people lean bikes over to one side, or are on a hill, or leant on a fence or something.

but we made the top tubes lower on the new bikes anyhow 🙂

I don't standover my bikes much… but I also don't want the top tube any nearer to my privates than it has to be.

Brant that all sounds very nice & that, but what I think we all really want to know is

what colour will they be?!

I also don't want the top tube any nearer to my privates than it has to be.

Surely you are either sat on the saddle or stood on the pedals when in motion?

I don't care too much about standover height but I do like my saddle to be *way* out of the way when I'm heading down a hill. hence riding a 17" frame when I'm 6'3

most fun I had downhill was actually on a 13" hardtail I used to run, could really throw the thing about. Climbing was maybe a little sub-optimal though

I like small bikes with long seatposts – drop the saddle as far as you can for jumps and fun bits. I also prefer if there is less chance of banging my knees on the top tube when manouvering through techy bits – and I have found a low top tube helps that.

A couple of my old bikes. Both of which have nice 23" top tubes.

The downside of the Nicolai was the slack seat angle which made climbing difficult. The Balfa solved that issue with forks at 120mm but up the Pikes to 140 and climbing goes to pot. I keep looking for something to improve on the Balfa and I like Brant's output except for the gate high top tubes… perhaps my only option is custom?

my hummer is too big for me standover but i never do that. its perfect all over for RIDING 🙂

Loving the Balfa Messiah what size is it?

I like Brant's output except for the gate high top tubes… perhaps my only option is custom?

New 160mm frame even in 18in might be ok, and I have another idea for another model too.

I should take pictures of my bikes with the saddle down so the look more "gnarr" 🙄

Tha Balfa is a size "long" which makes sense since both sizes had a 13-1/2" seat tube… that black spire seatpost is longer than the seat tube.

Minuteman info here…

http://www.balfa.wooyek.pl/balfa-minuteman.html

Hardtail as used by Russ Morrell for a 30ft huck in Superheroes III.

Brant… happy to help 😉