Folks,

I’m in the market for a 29er HT and have been looking at the SolarisMax and Sherpa.

Do any of you that own these know the approximate weights for full builds?

I’m interested to see how heavy 29er HT builds are when you’ve got a Steel frame as the basis.

OK, it’s not the Solaris Max but the original Mk1. A pretty standard build – Large frame, Shimano XT drivetrain (with Raceface 1x at the front), Shimano brakes, Hope XC hoops, X-Fusion forks, Reverb dropper and SPD pedals was 12.5kg. It’s now got carbon forks and no dropper and weighs 11kg (maybe 100g more)

Interestingly my wife’s 26″ Soul with identical build but obviously with 26″ wheels rather than 29″ weighed in at 12kg despite it being the XS.

I don’t think you’d save a lot of weight using an alloy frame but a quality carbon frame would knock about 1.5kg off the above weights.

I don’t think you’d save a lot of weight using an alloy frame but a quality carbon frame would knock about 1.5kg off the above weights.

You’d need a sub 750g carbon frame to do that.

But then that’s the point isn’t it? If you want a very light bike the frame is just one part of it. With some components, such as forks, current technology has a limit below which you lose either or both functionality and reliability. If you are a sponsored rider doing XC races then a sub 10kg (9?) bike is fine, if not desirable, but for the rest of us we aren’t going to get the benefits. I’d rather have a 11-12kg bike that I can trust not to break under me.

I don’t understand the relevance of build weights. The SolarisMAX weighs 4.9lbs. The Sherpa weighs a little more, maybe 5.2lbs. You could save about 0.5lb with an alloy frame and a bit over 1lb with a carbon one, maybe 2lbs at the most. Everything else will be the same.

Mine is 26lbs (or 11.7kgs apparently).

Large Solaris frame

Fox 34 Factory

Roval Traverse 29 wheelset, Spec Butcher/Slaughter Control tyres

X01 11spd groupset

Guide RSC’s

Nukeproof Horizon pedals

Reverb

Joystick stem & bars

My wheelset isn’t overly light at 1750g & my tyres certainly aren’t light, but it tends to be used & abused & has been problem free (which is why I bought it).

XL Sherpa, Reverb, Pike, Flow rims, Hope hubs, Zee chainset – 30lbs on the nose with pedals.

I would like to think that 27lb would be possible but sub 26lb would be difficult .

That said I would rather ride it than my lighter XC bike

Had my mk1 Solaris (medium frame) weighed by a LBS a while back.

X Fusion forks, XT gears and brakes (Hope front ring), Hope headset, seat collar, pedals and XC wheelset. Skinwall ardents. Renthal bars. 60mm stem and rigid post. Charge spoon. Incl. bottle cage etc it came out at 26.4lb

Not sure how accurate the scales were but it seems about right judging by the comments above.

My large mk1 solaris weighed in at 25lbs:

SID’s, carbon post, hope tech xc wheelset, xc tyres, 10 speed X9 groupset

Sherpa was 27, same as above except for Pikes and ali seatpost.

Metalheart owns both of these. I’d ping him an email/message to get some feedback.

Hmm, I really must weigh my bike at some point, just out of interest. Not that I’d be planning to do anything about per se, I like how it rides for now

My Travers titanium frame is weighing 5lbs but admittedly it is an XL and built a bit tougher.

Built it into a 22Lb race machine with not silly light bits ,Sram XO,Stans Crest and Fox SC.

A reasonable weight is achievable with both of those frames.

Just be a bit sensible with the speccing.

Thanks,

Max

I’m normally a bit of a weight weenie when it comes to road bikes, but went with a sherpa. I have never weighed it but given the overall weight of the bike the frame weight is less important.

I will have to weigh it. It has full xt, stans arch rims (xt hubs) and rockshox sids with easton bars/stem/seatpost

I would definitely recommend it, although I expect the cotic would also be similar.

Thanks for the replies so far.

I’ve been riding an old Genesis Altitude which is an 853 frame and that comes in around 28 lbs.

I’ve finally decided to get a more modern hardtail but didn’t want a full on XC 29er.

Interesting. My Pact frame – Titanium, Boost, medium –  weighs 1.8Kg. That’s just under 4lbs.

My XC bike (Genesis Mantle) weighs just over 10kg. That’s with lots of carbon, tubeless 2.2 tyres on DT XR1501 wheels, no dropper and Fox 32 Stepcast forks.

You can get lighter than this, but not much for a 29er. I think a steel HT with dropper, fatter tyres, burlier fork and wheels etc is going to be at least 25% heavier – but may be more suited for your riding.

For shortish rides on dry / compacted woodsy trails, there’s a lot to be said for a skinny bike.

I’ve got a stanton Sherpa with hope enduros and pikes. It is ‘burly’ but does what I want it to do. Definitely wouldn’t choose it as a lightweight option but surely you’d go Carbon if that’s what you want?

I seem to recall that my large Mk1 Solaris weighed 29lb (with pedals and a dropper). I’ve never found any correlation between weight and climbing speed though, or weight and fun. Actually, thinking about it, the most fun bikes I’ve owned have tended to be the heavier ones, so maybe there is a correlation there 🙂

I’ve had two Sherpas, never a Solaris, managed to get both bikes just under 27lbs, carbon bits and tubeless probably helped, it certainly didn’t feel heavy when ridden it was very fast and nimble and I had no issues on the climbs.

metalheart owns both of these.

true, but I don’t own (bike) scales…

from memory my mk1 Solaris weighed 27 pounds sans pedals. I might have given a **** back then. But not that much, it had a 203rotor up front (and M4s for starters)

solarismax is built for bikepacking with both sized wheel sets. Definitely lighter than the Sherpa but that has scraper B+ rims and Maxxis minion/HR2 2.8” rubber. It’s never going to be light.

being a FF I’ve never been bothered to weigh either.

its kind of a moot point as the details of the new SolarisMAX haven’t been released yet. Who know what the weigh of it now is… (or when it’ll actually be available either…).due to the comparable lengths I’d expect the SolarisMAX to be as heavy (if not more) based on how short the Sherpa feels in comparison to the ‘old’ SolarisMAX.

metalheart owns both of these.

true, but I don’t own (bike) scales…

TBH it was more the general comparison I thought might be appreciated

Wayhey!

Yup Solaris definitely lighter… 🤣

(is it nice out?)

Just sayin y’know….

Thanks for all the input.  Certainly a lot to ponder.

These are the 29ers I’ve looked at:

Stanton Sherpa

SolarisMax

Genesis Mantle

Saracen Zenith Eilte

Now, I just need to make a decision…………………