How hardcore do you want?

This is my unbreakable… seatpost at full extension for the ups, and drop it away for stunts, jumps and silly stuff. I've broken more stuff than I care to remember but this is my nemesis… but I'm trying.

Weighs about 34lbs but it does have 200mm 6pot ti brakes, 2.5" DH tyres and Diabolus finishing kit.

point243 racing do a very similar frame – check out http://www.balfa.co.uk.

Like a love-struck teenager I still miss this, but sadly its frame turned into the receipt for two weeks nursery bill for the children…

Not great for pootling about on, but thrash it & by god it was simply brilliant.

Oooops.

Got a KOna Five-O frame and built it up burly, Saints, Pikes etc and very impressed with it, not that heavy and rides nicely, climbs alright and is a blast downhill.

ridiculous, specific HT downhill bike.

cant wait to get my summer season, gonna use it for heavy trail bashing, and toying with entering some "miniDH" races on it too 🙂

currently mourning the fact its not slot dropout 🙁 (too much time to think about it before it arrives)

That belongs in a circus.

love that evil!!

I'd keep an eye out for an 07-08 Sub Zero, fantastic piece of kit, rumor has it that they were thinking about bringing it back (along with the Patriot), here's hoping!

mmmmmmm.

Ahem.

james – Member
"Cove Sanchez"
What? I thought that was a dirt jump frame?

Can be built up as a dirt jump or a heavy duty trail bike. Can take a 130mm fork.

Cove Stiffee,

Got one for sale here: http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-17-cove-stiffee-fr-frame-pixie-blue-3

Andy

Currently getting a coat of paint in Canada, plus getting the Chromag seatpost, saddle, handlebars,stem and quick realease.

Can't wait to get my grubby hands all over it 🙂

140mm Vanillas up front, will be plenty hardcore enough for me.#

😀

Rode a SS and an Alpine.

*I* preferred the Alpine, significantly so. However, there's a significant price difference between the two. I sold the SS to a mate who loves it and several other guys have them and regular 456s. All think they're great. If money / budget is the deciding factor it would seem a no brainer – SS.

When the Evil Sov's first came into the country (ish) I test rode one (same one as STW tested). It was lovely but in the build / components etc it seemed a bit portly. The Alpine has come closest to the Sov, IMO. Oh, and the price of the Sov' was just insane.

I'm surprised at how well the Alpine rides in general, everyday sort of rides. In this respect I think it's a suprisingly good all rounder. I used to ride a 17 (17.5") MkI PA and I think the Alpine is quite different (to those also recommending it as a hardcore HT). Although fair play the Alpine is a 15.5/22 so quite different in sizing. I think the breakage rate on both is tiny to almost nothing so they're both plenty strong (Mike's site used to have some stuff about his 4X riders using small PAs for racing).

Currently though everything else is sitting unused and unloved in favour of the recently rebuilt mighty Kobe 😎

cookea – triple crowns on your dmr? That is'nt hardcore just plain bonkers

the head tubes gonna come off anyway, so might as well make the most of it 😉

Genesis Alpitude for sure-steel is lovely and geometry is spot on. I have had a P7 (with a rolloff-which is for sale by the way), a Lynskey ridgeline-still got but prefer the steel-feels more springy, had a Rocky Mountain aluminium core built up for trail riding-too harsh.
We've got 09 Alpitudes on the hire fleet just now and they will be available to buy at £950 after 30rides.
I can honestly say its the best hardtail I have had. Try one.
Emma-Hub Glentress.

voodoo bakka is another option.

all "hardcore hardtails" secretly aspire to be a Sinister Ridge.
fact.
unfortunately, none of them comes close.

best hardtail ever.

T45 is a good material for strong frames as you can use a bit less of it.

One of these pretty much fits the description. Added to the Price/weight/warranty ..

I spent a summer in the Alps doing XXXC

I cant believe your still trying to push that term, you must be totally stoked on your RAD skillzz dude.

Samuel, you little bitch, get a Surge!

Or, if I end up strapped for cash you can buy my new Evil DOC off me and we can be evil buddies. If you can find a DOC my new one doesn't feel too different to the sov- different enough, but it's still mental downhill.

this….

has been a wicked trail/jump/all mountain HT for me. And cheap.
slot drop-outs, and alfine'd up.

Bumhands, I absolutely love your Curtis, it just looks so right! HELL of a lot of money to spend on a hardtail frame though… But very very nice.

For my sins, I popped out to the shop earlier and bought a copy of MBUK for the first time in months (I know, I know, sat at home with bugger all to do this week!), and lo and behold if they're not doing a steel hardcore hardtail grouptest this month… The 4 frames as follows…

NS Surge
Transition Trans Am
Cotic BFe
Evil Sovereign

Well Bugger me! Total bike porn! 😛

I'll have one of each please if anybody's buying… 😉

so which one won?

evil sovereign's are awesome frames, (had 2 so far). but it seems that they are now so cheap, cos they are mass made with 4020 chromoly, instead of the older reynolds 853 front triangle, and 725 rear triangle. if you can , keep an eye out for 2nd hand one.
failing that, the dialled bikes alpine, is pretty much identical to the sovereign. the only thing is it has not got the adjustable dropouts of the sov. but at £360 and amazing purple colour, i know where my money is going, just need to grow some b#lls, to ride it as it should.

The Alpine might look like a Sovereign but last time I checked, the geometry of the 2 was quite different (i.e. Alpine has slacker head angle and steeper seat angle).

Alpine has gone up a bit in price this year (now £380) and the purple is no more. New colours are Kawasaki green and translucent red.

Alpines have a slacker h/a on them, and it does make a marked difference to the ride- the sov is more "involved"- you see that as either a good thing or a bad thing, but for me, I like muscling the bike around rather than it being a total steamroller. Makes it a better climber too.

I'd normally say go for the alpine, but I'm a bit of a brand tart and when an Evil DOC or Faction is about£70-£100 more new you might as well, eh? A touch slacker, but a lot of fun.

Can't see the Sov or DOC on Evil's site anymore. Has the Faction replaced those 2 models?

Another vote for the NS surge, have one myself and love it. Not the lighest bike but certainly a nice cheap option. The newer 09 models are a bit lighter than my 08 and have iscg tabs also.

Mine 🙂

Mike- they aren't on the website, but they do still do them. I don't think the website's been updated for months now, but there is a new 2009 DOC made of Tange Prestige rather than 853 that costs £600 rather than the previous mental prices. The Faction and the DOC are running side by side by the looks of things- odd, since they're quite similar.

my fully-geared HCHT [less core than those above but core enough for me] :

Orange P7 Pro. Bought one two years ago, changed the tyres to Hutchinson Toros and now it's a beast. Bought a thudbuster for it last week though cos I'm 30, so that takes it out of the HH category.

Works well with big volume tyres (2.4 NN's) and lots of sag – the Talas is very handy too.