Fairlight Holt Hardtail

No worries @onecheshirecat 

Fairlight have changed the advertised clearance now.  

Without going into too much detail, their tolerances are so tight that combined with some minor variations in manufacturing, some frames will barely accept a 66mm tyre and some will not. My third frame will arrive tomorrow and fits into the former category.

I’ll see how it goes and sell it for a Mason Raw or a Singular Swift if it doesn’t work out.

If you’re worried about the clearance issue at all, give them a call. 

Thanks for the update, appreciate that.
I’ll be giving the 2.6 another go come the drier weather. Failing that, I’ll probably switch to 2.6 Forekaster/Rekon combo as I know they come up a little narrower than the mezcals.
Don’t think my pockets can stretch to the Mason Raw frame set!

Third frame has arrived and the tyre clearance is good. Plenty of it with the 66mm 29×2.6 Mezcal – it is drastically different to the previous frame.

It’s a shame Fairlight have changed their advertised tyre clearance as they can’t rely on the fabricator to hit their numbers. It would surely be better to get on top of that as they are clearly capable of making frames that fit a true 2.6 tyre.

Seat tube is fine on this one too.

That’s a relief. Rubbish for them that they didn’t get what they ordered, though, you’d hope there’d be some recourse if the product is that far out of spec, though? XC Hardtail is one thing, XC Hardtail with restrictive tyre clearance is another.

Indeed. It’s a bit baffling that Fairlight are taking the hit entirely instead of holding their supplier to account. Even if it meant a delay on existing orders, I’m sure that would be better than changing their design spec to accommodate problems in manufacturing. I don’t get why they would do that.

It does seriously undermine the whole I shaved 3 grams of a chain stay precision image.

But they must know that and know what their contract says. My hunch is that their legal advice was along the lines of “you can reject these frames and then fight it out over who pays what. In the mean time you’ll be spending money like water with no frames to sell “

That’s true, I imagine you’re right. The real problem isn’t so much that they’ve reduced the tyre clearance, but that it’s random and you don’t know what you’re getting. Fairlight were really nice to deal with on the whole and helped me out in the end, but with an out of tolerance seatbtube and chain stays I couldn’t possibly recommend the Holt to anybody, unless perhaps they are more open about what’s happened and move their fabrication elsewhere.

Anyway, I’ve moaned enough! My next post will be a photo of my build (with limited edition 2.6 tyre clearance)

This is such a shame to hear about. Been thinking of getting a new frame and finally have the money. I expect i’ll give fairlight a pass now. In this market surely they cannot afford to get something so basic wrong?

Thats a real surprise, Fairlight talk in huge detail about the carefil design snd butting of the tubing that goes into their frames, if their supplier is sending out frames that are the wrong shape it all goes out the window.

These are European made, arent they? SThink theyre Czech – same new builder as Cotic? Were supposed to be highly rated.

You don’t know that the frames are out of spec.  according to the contract Fairlight made with the manufacturer.

You don’t know that the frames are out of spec. according to the contract Fairlight made with the manufacturer.

No we don’t know what the contract says. But my opinion is that a company that is happy to create a 70 page pdf, for a single bike, showing exactly what the customer can expect in terms of, well everything, including tyre clearance, is unlikely to be vague with the frame maker.

Edit looking through the 72 page design notes maybe the problem is them not knowing quite how big some 2.6 inch tyres were combined with some allowed for variation in the spacing.

To be fair 2.4 inch would be fine for me

They have removed the picture of the 2.6 Mezcal from the design notes – that comes up at exactly 2.6 inches so they definitely know.

Yeah, so having popped the mezcal 2.6 back on, there is definitely rubbing on the chain stay.
Emailed Fairlight bit am still waiting on a reply.