stone him!

Haha, I had a suspicion that would go down like a lead balloon! I know the ride is a tiny bit better vs alu but don’t think it’s worth the weight trade-off. Having said that I’ve briefly test ridden a cotic soul and was quite impressed.

+1 on the PA boriselbrus, in my opinion an odd bike which is too heavy for it’s intended use.

Of course Bedgebury is flat; it’s in Kent, not the Alps. Don’t slag off the black run, it might not be the greatest, but it was built solely by volunteers (inc me), if you don’t like it come and join us to build something better. Don’t understand why you think a PA is great, but a crush is overkill? Muppet.

Anyway, the PA angles are wrong. The bb is too high and the front emd too low even with high rise bars. With the same build, the crush has a 40mm lower bb and I don’t feel like I’m going ovrr the bars all the time.

I have a mk1 pipedream sirius and it’s been used for almost everything. they’re surprisingly robust, but are also reasonably light and handle very nicely. It’s actually currently built up with drops, slicks and rigid forks; but I’ve had it rigid singlespeed, 130mm suss forks up front and gears, and it rides really well in every guise. It was a great peaks trail bike before I got my Prophet. I’m looking to free it up from its road going shackles as soon as possible, though, because I miss fun local rides on it.

The new one gets very good reviews.

I’d also look at the Ragley Piglet.

ns bikes surge. Has the advantage of not looking like a ladies shopping bike, unlike the Dialled bikes.

Don’t slag off the black run, it might not be the greatest, but it was built solely by volunteers (inc me), if you don’t like it come and join us to build something better.

This is a fair point. I will get off my arse and assist. Presumably you are one of the Boars? I’ll look on their website for the next dig day.

Muppet.

This however isn’t a fair point.

I don’t feel like I’m going ovrr the bars all the time

Is that the fault of the bike or the rider? 😉

Soul I reckon, I liked my BFe but it was quite heavy and apparently you can get away with a lot on the Soul anyway. Plus they come in awesome shades of blue and orange.

Apologies for the muppet comment. Although I quite like muppets!

I don’t have the ‘going over bars’ feeling on my other bikes, or any other bike I’ve ridden. So yes, bike, not rider.
Please do join us on a dig day, generally 2nd saturday of the month, but check the website.

Woah! Lots to reply to… thanks for all the options.

I should have pointed out that it won’t only get used in Kent, i’m hoping to take it to other trail centres, particularly places like Whinlatter and Laggan, as well as Fort Bill, trips to Dartmoor and riding on Skye, though Kent is obviously where it will get used most.

Might be worth a punt s/hand to see if you like it on a HT before dropping £500 on something…

I’m not that keen on buying second hand, I got screwed with a second hand frame once, never again. I know I’ll like a hardtail (the enduro is the only FS bike I’ve owned), been riding and racing them on and off since 1998 with long travel forks. I’ve got all the bits off the enduro at the moment, and slapped on a Kona Hoss frame (bought for the bits to initially build the enduro), but it’s so boring and uninspiring, hence wanting a more fun frame to really get me back into it.

I’m afraid that I prefer the look of the Dialled Alpine and the Transition TransAM (REALLY liking the TransAM 8) ) to the Evil Sovereign (sorry), but not sure how well they would cope on longer rides – thoughts? Presumably the longer frame on the TransAM would help.

Bullheart and Boriselbrus, thanks for the offers of a test ride, I’ll bear them in mind.

I’ve been tempted to join the boars for the parking alone, but I used to love trail building… hmm…

6hr rides in the gnar chilterns on an alpine, works fine. will be riding it at SITS and bristol bikefest too, so it works for XC but is a hoot when it gets a bit downhill/rough.

That’s good news, I guess something like that or the TransAM might suit.

Found a thread on MTBR where people were raving about the TransAM, being that bit longer is tempting as I’m 6’1″.

I’d genuinely consider getting the float spacered down to 120mm – 140mm will only be good during the odd moment of lunacy but 120mm would be better for most of the riding you’re going to encounter (inc trail centres IMO)

Then look at the Genesis Latitude and Cotic Soul. You say you’re in love with steel but a lot of 140mm hardcore hardtails are a bit well-built and don’t actually feel all that springy and steely at all.

The TransAM is pretty harsh and heavy duty…

Part of my thinking in going for the Soul was that the BFe is unlikely to be more than 25% stronger and I bet the heaviest and bravest BFe owners put their bikes through more than 25% greater peak loads than 12 stone small-air me will! And the lower weight of the Soul should go hand in hand with better compliance.

At the moment mine has 100mm QR Reba’s but I have some 140mm 15QR Floats awaiting a compatible wheel. The 140s may be stepped down to 120 but I’m curious to see how uphill and tight singletrack friendly it can be with the longer fork with the bars and saddle position suitably tweaked.

Gary, I don’t know why, but I thought my forks could only be spacered down to 100mm, not 120mm. If that’s possible then I’ll do that.

The Cotic is very tempting, I have to admit, but so is the Dialled Alpine.

My old Curtis used to have a stiff back end, but I still loved the feel of it compared to all the ally frames I rode of the same design.

I went from a 5″ bouncer to a second hand dialled pa and it was a great descision. I was always planning on seeing how I go and then getting a new one or a soul but I’m sticking with what I have now until I bust it!

I’d say either a PA or Soul would be right up your street.

Chiefgrooveguru, if you get the wheel to suit your fox’s any time soon please let me know what you think.

Yeah, I believe there’s two spacers, two makes it 100mm, one makes it 120m if memory serves me correct.

Nice, thanks for that. A 120mm soul is sounding spot on having seen some youtube footage of a simple which seems to be exactly the mix of riding I envisage myself doing. 8)

Thanks for all the help, now to do the last bit of saving the £!