Hi

I have recently built up a BFe and it’s fantastic when gravity is my friend but it’s just feels a little ‘dead’ on the flats. I had intended to build a soul but a decent secondhand Bfe frame came up and the price I couldn’t really refuse!

I’m considering sourcing a secondhand frame and swapping the components over.

Is there a massive difference in the way the frames feel?

It’s my only bike and it’s mainly used for glentress but also bombing around and jumping off things etc.

Put some 100mm forks and a 50mm stem on it

I have a 50mm stem on it. My forks are pike u turns and I do adjust depending on what I’m doing.

Lighter (but still rugged) wheelset and cassette?

Losing a lb from my wheelset up on my Soul has felt really good.

I have 120/150 Sektors on mine, 50mm stem. Feels great to me both ways but different certainly on the flats, the bike loves to pop off stuff and have fun. I cannot answer your question directly as I’ve not ridden a Soul. I would imagine buying a used Soul is pretty low risk, if you find it’s not for you you can sell it again or the BFe.

What do you mean by dead ? I suggest you pedal harder, go faster and find some features to make the ride more interesting !

The cassette is XT so that’s about as light as I can go within my budget. Wheels are flow ex running tubeless. I have seen a soul frame for 250 so I’m just wondering…….

My BFe weighs in at 28.4 pounds exactly the same as my previous bike which was an orange five SE. However it doesn’t climb aswell but it’s much much better on the descents. It seems to come alive when speed is applied! It’s by far the best bike I have owned/tried on the downs but not great at climbing. I’m wondering if the soul would be an improvement on the ups and flats but still has that wow factor on the descents.

i’m going to make 3 wild guesses:

1) the frame is too small for you
2) you’ve made matters worse with that dinky stem
3) you’ve got massive knobbly tyres at 25psi

what did i score?

What length are you running your forks whilst riding flatter stuff? The slacker head angle may make it feel a bit like that.

I have a BFe too but I can’t really say if mine feels dead or not because its an XS built as a jump / mucking about bike. Angle wise it feels pretty much spot on with some 130mm Z1’s and is a hoot on the descents.

What size is your frame?

Ha!

The frame is 17.5 and fits my 5’11 body perfectly.

Currently nobby nic/ racing ralph combo on 35/30 psi

The stem I’m not sure

I will give you 1 out the 3! ( stem is debatable)

Mind map 120. Only 140 when I’m jumping off stuff.

joeelston – Member

The frame is 17.5 and fits my 5’11 body perfectly.

I will give you 1 out the 3! ( stem is debatable)

i’ll take 2 ta!

Ahwiles? I don’t think the frame is too small. The tyres are pretty nippy.

I’m 6’1 and ride the medium BFe with 50mm stem, definitely not too small.

Hmm, I kind of know what you mean, though I really like mine. I find it’s the sort of bike that rewards proportionally to what you put in. Maybe working and attacking the trail more would help? Manuallng bits, pumping compressions, floating over rocky bits?

i’m also 6’1″, and in Cotic world i need an XL, with a 70/80mm stem. fwiw i sometimes quite like boring flat bits and a good bit of climbing

smaller frames are ‘more chuckable’ (whatever that means), and that’s taken to be a good thing, but there’s a compromise, surely? – or we’d all be riding 11″ frames – with our stems fitted backwards.

According to the cotic website I’m the right height for a medium 17.5 frame.

It seems to come alive when speed is applied!

Erm, go faster on the flat then.

and according to the cotic website i’m the right height for a 19″ large.

which is clearly bollocks:

why picture no worky?

the saddle was an inch or so too low when i took that photo.

I’ve had a Soul and a BFe and now a Soda, and weirdly they’ve felt like pretty different bikes. I never gelled with the BFe, basically it was very good but it was never magic. It’s not the weight, I had fairly similiar weight builds overall, more the feel. The BFe went as fast as I told it to, the Soul told me to go faster 😉

Thanks Northwind. That seems to make sense exactly.

Ahwiles I’m not showing any where near that length seatpost! I only have 31 inch stumpy legs though 🙁

or, to put it another way, you’ve got a long torso.

if i had your torso, i’d be 6’4″.

and you’re riding a medium?

ok, it’s probably great for 4X, or Dh’ing, but i’m not going to lose any sleep trying to figure out why you find climbing a bit of a chore.

Ahwiles. That’s something tbh I hadn’t thought about. My previous frame was a 17 ” orange five with a 50 mm stem and that climbed much better than the Bfe. Same tyres, wheel weight etc. on the five I was running a slx triple but never used the granny ring. In the BFe I have a saint cranks and single ring. I know there isn’t a huge amount in the weight difference (200g) I’m just wondering if that extra weight is actually making a bigger difference than I imagined.

Sounds like you need to go on a skills course, to learn how to make the bike feel less “dead”

[Standard STW Response]

😉

If the frame has a lower TT, your knees don’t bash on it, hence why DJ/4X riders have small frames (and sometimes a long TT to compensate – same TT length as much larger frames – 18″, 19″)

I have done three skills courses! I’m an ok rider! It’s the little trips out when it’s mainly flat what feels a bit unresponsive. Not dead as such just no zip to it, if that makes sense.

Not ridden a Soul, but 18 months into being a BFe owner I’m definitely learning that (as others above have said) it’s a bike that needs ‘riding’. If you just sit on it as a passenger it’s pretty dead feeling – once you start to get involved and look for lips, lumps and drops to pop off it really starts to feel in its element.

In terms of climbing I find that you can sit and winch (or on the flat sit and spin) but again it’s a bit uninvolving – hammering at stuff in tougher gears seems to make the uphills more fun (if harder work). Did a couple of laps of Sherwood on my BFe at the weekend – didn’t shift from a 34/17 gear and rode pretty much all of it stood up and attacking stuff – had a right laugh.

FWIW mine weighs 29lb and runs 130mm Bombers on a 50mm stem.

Colournoise I can only climb while standing. I can’t seem to spin it up hills. This is including roads. I guess it is what it is.

sounds like you need to put some 650b wheels on it. 😉

Annebr I’m no longer a victim of aggressive marketing 😉 3 years ago and fully subscribed to every mtb magazine, I was!

Um where are you riding…?

FWIW – it sounds like you should have bought the soul in the first place

http://www.cotic.co.uk/news/ 02/09/2013: Soul – Tough as Old Boots

I’ve got an anthem for those long XC rides, the BFe rips everything else

I live in peebles so much of my riding is glentress. When I can I get to the lakes etc. I kinda wanted a bike I could also take to fort bill. But 90 percent of my riding is the red route glentress.

damn, you ARE a better rider than me, that rules out being a wimp then! 😉

so why did you change from the 5 to the BFe, seems an odd move?

as said above i’d make the switch if it doesnt work out someone will buy the soul…probably me if its a large! 🙄

Because the five was incredibly boring at glentress! Strange thing to say I know. My first bike was a rockhopper which gave me a buzz going down at glentress. The five just seemed so easy. I wanted a a frame which would give me an adrenalin rush without having to find incredibly steep stuff. The BFe really gives a buzz when I’m descending. It feels a little bit out of control, which I like. The five kinda felt ‘normal’. I only ride for fun.

There’s not much of a difference between the Soul and Bfe, the Bfe has just been stiffened and strengthened to accept the longer travel forks and weighs around 1b more than equivalent Soul frame. So I can’t see changing frame to make a huge difference.

Some stuff in this post (including Cy’s input) http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/whats-difference-between-soul-and-bfe

Thanks for that link bungalistic.

Because the five was incredibly boring at glentress! Strange thing to say I know. My first bike was a rockhopper which gave me a buzz going down at glentress. The five just seemed so easy. I wanted a a frame which would give me an adrenalin rush without having to find incredibly steep stuff. The BFe really gives a buzz when I’m descending. It feels a little bit out of control, which I like. The five kinda felt ‘normal’. I only ride for fun.

ha ha, oddly enough i started on a hopper then bought a pitch, which made everything too easy so went to the Beefy for all your reasons too!

Sounds like a normal bike ride?!

Five has longer top tube, longer front centre as well, therefore with same 50 mm stems the five will be probable have better weight distribution for climbing, I am same size as you, and find my soul a little short, but a large would be huge.
120 mm fork seems best on the Soul

Tough lump of steel bike in feeling a bit dull on flats and climbs shocker!