Hi ,

I’d like a few opinions on this from people deeper into the mountain bike scene than me.

I have a commencal meta 5.0 2005 . I picked it up second hand in 2010 and have put a few upgrades on it , dropper , xt brakes and rotors , wider bar short stem , 1 x .

In hindsight maybe it wasn’t worth putting much cash into a 26 inch bike with a straight steerer.

Bike serves me well , I think it climbs great but I haven’t ridden many other bikes so I haven’t got much to compare it to .

Now I’m lured by all this talk of new geometry making bikes feel a lot safer and confidence inspiring  to ride . I always feel my old meta is a bit “sketchy ” like it is tipping me over the bars a bit . So I’m thinking a newer geometry bike might sort that possibly .

So….

If I won the lotto I’d get a pole evolink or a super slack 29er as I’m a tall rider 6’2 and I hear big people should go for 29ers .

But I don’t have the cash and I don’t get out on the bike often enough to justify a big spend , so I was looking at instead getting a Calibre Bossnut at £900 , an affordable well regarded bike , taking all my nice upgrades off the meta and swapping them over onto the Bossnut , then selling the meta with a load of brand new unused parts off the Bossnut for around £350 – £400 ?

So Ill have a bike with new geometry , a modern wheelsize a frame that is much more future proof and Ill be able to sell on the meta for a good price to get back some of the cost of the Bossnut .

Is this a plan ?

Will the newer geom of a Calibre Bossnut be a large improvement on the old geom of the Meta ?

Does any one make a modern geometry trail bike frame that takes 26 inch wheels so that I could move all the meta parts over entirely ?

If anyone has the patience to read this essay and give any ideas it’s much appreciated .

J

Sounds like a faff to me. Apart from the dropper.

I don’t know what vintage you xt gear is. But if it is as old as the frame then you are unlikely to notice any difference from the serviceable deore stuff on the bossnut.

You could do it, but I am not sure you are going to improve the bossnut or increase the price of your old bike.

I wouldn’t bother putting the new bits back onto an old frame. Sell everything as parts.

For £95 more than the Bossnut there’s the Marin Hawk Hill https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/marin-hawk-hill-27-5-inch-2018-bike

The xt gear I got in 2015 , not that old , it’s those one finger silver xt levers and icetech rotors . The calipers have these fan blades on the pads. Would this be surpassed by the stock bossnut stuff ?

I’ll want to keep the 1x and the grip shift I use with it . Also the bar is wider than what’s on the nut and the stem I have is shorter too.

So is it better to break an old bike up to sell as parts than sell as  a whole ?

A good old bike is still better than a new shit bike… in my opinion.

For years I owned various carbon (eg S-Works) Enduros and Stumpjumpers, all in 26er guise.  They were great.  Or rather, they were great for XC with a bit of AM (all IMHO).  Last summer I decided I wanted to play with this new-fangled geo … demo’d a Bird AM and found it a revelation – way more assertive on the steep stuff and still rideable all day long on XC epics.  Couldn’t justify the £2k+ cost so I built up a 901 with 140mm Yari etc over several weeks and found it 95% as capable as the Bird.  All for a IRO £800.

Couldn’t be happier TBH.  Sensible spend and an all day shredding machine that demonstrates for me how this new-fangled geo and 27.5 lark has transformed things.

I wouldn’t go back to 26 territory now.

This is of all IMHO.

Someone I know is running a Bird Aeris 1.5 with 26” wheels. You can sometimes pick those frames up 2nd hand for not a silly amount of cash – although not massively cheap either. Not ideal but you could upgrade to 27.5” wheels at a later date if funds are an issue. That’s assuming most of your existing kit with transfer over.

Im sure I’ve heard of some feedback frames having replaceable dropouts for different size wheels but can’t remember what bikes those were. Banshee spitfire maybe?

Have the Bossnut V2 and have upgraded many older bikes…

1. upgrade:

straight steere 44 mm I.D. is no problem for tapered forks:

https://www.uberbikecomponents.com/view-product/uberbike-15-headtube-tapered-fork-headset-ceramic-bearings-black

I use this low cost headset to adapt tapered forks to older frames. There are many good 26 inch tapered forks around. Some are “new” and get dumped right now for silly money. You might add a bit more travel and a new fork and you end up with an fantastic bike!

If the geo feels a bit strange / short you are able to tune with the “stem” or “offset saddle post” as well. These old bikes are fun and fun to keep them going.

2. Bossnut V2:

good old bike is still better than a new shit bike

that’s definitely not correct with the Bossnut V2. Yes – pre-assembly is bad, yes the Formula hubs are bad, the paint lousy – but overall the design is very good. I use this bike a lot and it’s a very good trail bike.

The RockShox fork felt stiff and I had to do the “small service” to get the thing working o.k.. RockShox didn’t put enough oil into the lowers and a bit pm600 grease onto the upper seals helped a lot.

But still – the fork is now “o.k.” but not great. Ordered one of the FOX 140 mm, 34,  Fit4 forks in the recent CRC sale (around 260 bucks…) and will put this fork in soon.Together with this fork the Bossnut will be even better!

Old bike / new bike:

You might have to upgrade your old bike – but the new Bossnut V2 as well!

The 1k Bossnut is a great base for upgrading – but guess you like to upgrade it soon. So although there is some more investment needed…

older 26 inch bikes: the bits and pieces are so cheap right now. Rims are still being manufactured (example: custom wheel sets with DT rims from actionsports.de or similar). And fantastic tapered forks are being dumped for silly money right now…

This uperbike “adaptor” headset plus a longer travel fork…

Speaking as someone with a same era Meta 5.5 vip frame lying dusty in my shed, I don’t think you’ll get the money you would like selling it as a full bike.

What size is the meta frame? I’m 6’1 and was riding a medium, loved the bike at the time but my current bikes are longer so less ‘sketchy’ / chuckable.

Thanks for all the above advice so far

Jeff , the meta is a Large and I’m 6’2  . Shame that they dive bomb in value so much. If that’s the case I might keep it as a spare or a bike for friends who visit .

So do your new bikes have a lot less of that ” oh no this thing wants to buck me off ” sensation ?

Is the Calibre Bossnut even that much slacker than the older bikes? , some are saying its pretty tall and short on various forums

Is the Calibre Bossnut even that much slacker than the older bikes? , some are saying its pretty tall and short on various forums

No – for “current” bikes the Bossnut is simply an up to date trail bike.

No super slack and long wonder bike. Guess you would need XL size for you? Geo chart is on the calibre web page.

HA 66.8 is quite “normal”. More “Enduro” type “fashion” is 65 or even bit under 65 deg.

But these numbers are not sooo important. More important is the feel of the bike and if it’s fun to bike.

And that’s definitely the case. I use the bike for trail biking – my 150/150 all mountain bike with 2.6 inch rubber will beat the Bossnut on downhill runs. That’s clear. But on – lets say more tame trails – the Bossnut is quicker and more playful.

The new longer / slacker bikes are more stable downhill, but perhaps a bit at the expense of quick reactions on flatter twister trails. I’d say the Bossnut isn’t in the long / slack category, but it’ll likely be longer and slacker than your 2005 bike.

As Andreas says, it’s probably up-to-date for a trail bike, but it’s no enduro bike.

I looked up the Banshee Spitfire – looks like you can get dropouts dornthe frame for either 26” or 27.5” wheels. If your parts on the existing bike are decent you could just transfer them across to that frame as a 26” wheel bike and then later change to 27.5” when funds allow.

OP, in classic STW fashion I went from the meta to 2 bikes:

Bargain L (XL?) 26″ Santa Cruz Blur LT frame off of the classifieds here. Bunged a new set of bearings on and some Lyriks. Not long/slack/modern geo these days, but I think it’s a cracking bike. And I could reuse my wheels etc. Realised that I preferred VPP to single pivot.

Bargain XL 2017 Kona Wozo fat bike – longest bike I’ve ever owned. love it as well.