Looks nice, sovs always look great. I wanted one for ages, got one and rode it once, hated it for pretty much the reasons in the first post. It was all just too much for me to be honest, felt like it was looking for opportunities to kill me all the time 🙂

I sold my frame 2nd hand for 300 glad I didn’t hang on to it if thats all they are new now

How about upgrading to a dropper post sometime. I think that you would be surprised at what one would do for you 😉

Gordymac

The fact that they are a bit of a handful means that there’s no shortage of second hand ones from people who ‘can’t really justify it’ or some such. That’s how I ended up with a second hand one in such brilliant condition.

I’ve also heard that the frame can be a bit dull and lifeless. Yes it is dull and lifeless if you are not thrashing the hell out of it!

How about upgrading to a dropper post sometime. I think that you would be surprised at what one would do for you

Despite it sounding like advising you to buy your way out of a wrong purchase, I very much agree with Gordymac. I bought a dropper post for my FS initially, but found that I didn’t use it much, and that it added unnecessary wieght to an already heavy bike. I stuck it on my Sovereign when it came, and quickly realised it seemed vital for getting the most out of the frame. With such a short top-tube I noticed that if I didn’t drop the saddle, while out of the saddle in techy stuff, it kept on getting in the way, and forced me to shift my weight even further forwards than I’d like. A dropper solved this (I know just dropping the saddle normally would achieve the same effect, but it becomes a pain very quickly, with all the stopping, dropping and raising).

Hi Buzz,

As I suggested when we rode a couple of weeks ago I think that an angle headset may help. Slackening the head angle will increase the front center (and thus wheelbase), slow the steering and lower the BB slightly.
http://www.workscomponents.co.uk/works-components—10-degree-ec34—traditional-1-18-fitment-6-p.asp

I think that your idea of running the chainstays at the longest setting is good.

Personally I would consider wider bars to slow the steering rather than a longer stem. A short stem with wide bars will slow the steering without moving your weight forward; this is good for steep trails.

If you’re finding the brakes too strong cruzheckler’s suggestion of smaller rotors is sound.

Hope to ride with you again soon.

Edd

There’s soft and there’s soft. My point was that I think these kind of bikes perform at their best with wide enough rims and big enough tyres (and stiff enough carcasses) to run lower pressures. Obviously the quicker and harder you ride, the bigger/tougher you need to go. The last thing you want is the tyre squidging/rolling/squirrelling amount but a reasonable about of give will stick you to the ground harder – and running higher pressures is equivalent to running less damping so things get more boingy when you go too hard.

I can’t imagine enjoying riding any MTB fast downhill with the saddle up, especially any hardtails, and especially any long fork hardtails where you need the leg movement to keep the rear tyre as happy as the front.

I began riding on a sov and had it set up a few different ways. If you are not that confident hammering downhill then slackening it off may help but that will perhaps take away from how it was conceived. Its no downhill, FS bike after all. I ended with Lyriks set at 140, more travel seemed to raise the bb too high. This seemed to cope in the Peaks but was also OK for woodsy singletrack places like Wyre and Cannock. The frame is so burly that 36’s seemed a better choice than 32’s to me. That said its a versatile frame and a lighter build with less travel might be fun. One of the nice things about the sov you can change it quite a bit to suit your style, requirements. If you want slammed rear end and short travel you can have it or you can go for an easier ride at first. I would personally just get out and ride it