Combination that my riding interests have changed and the fork on my 26” Soul being epically s*** (my shoulders shouldn’t hurt this much after 15 miles!), I’m considering a new hardtail.

In the stable I have a:
– A Banshee Spitfire for all mountain shredding… 😂
– A Rose cx for light gravel/winter hack

So I am looking for something in the middle. Something comfortable enough for long days around the Yorkshire Dales, and fun enough for a few hours round West Yorkshire singletrack (where the full sus is overkill and the cx bike is battering)! And also good for a few days UK bikepacking. Weight and comfort are important to me as I don’t want to feel trashed, plus the ability to fit a dropper post.

Was looking at building up a SC Chameleon, but reviewing previous threads on here suggests it doesn’t tick the comfort box.

What suggestions folks? 5’9” women, so can get away riding ‘men’s’ frames.

Sonder broken road, I’ve got the PX copy and it’s marvellous as a mile munching hardtail with 29 wheels

On One Whippet, light, capable enough for your riding requirements, Yorkshire company.

Bikepacking can mean a lot of different things, but if covering lots of ground or raw speed is not high on your list of priorities, I’d definitely suggest a look into the current crop of trail/AM LLS hardtails. While not the fastest (going up) they are a level above in terms of comfort, stability, durability and fun.

I’ve done bikepacking trips on XC bikes, dedicated bikepacking bikes (Surly Ogre) and on a full on enduro bike. The one with the enduro bike was my favourite by far, slower but way more comfortable, the geometry and burliness of the bike made it handle the load much better and wasn’t afraid of breaking something or slashing a tyre and was actually having fun riding. Can imagine this would somewhat translate into a “hardcore hardtail”.

Bikepacking can mean a lot of different things

This is a very fair point. For context we’ve done part of Cairngorm Loop and round the back of Ben Nevis on our Cotic Souls. I’m happy to do gravel/touring on the CX, so I guess something like those Scotland routes, where I have no interest in racing, just enjoying it and having a bike that is both comfortable and fun.

We live in the golden era of the allmountain hardtail, so I’d suggest a Pipedream Moxie or Cotic Solaris/Bfe on a higher budget, Bird Zero 29 on a middle one and Nukeproof Scout 290 or a tighter wallet

the fork on my 26” Soul being epically s*** (my shoulders shouldn’t hurt this much after 15 miles!),

Don’t want to push you away from N+1, but fixing this issue could leave you with a good bikepacking bike with lots of cash left over to buy fancy lightweight stuff to take with you. Obviously if it’s a straight steerer Soul this could be more of an issue!

My main bikepacking bike is a Cotic Solaris (Mk1), not ridden any of the later generations so can’t comment on those. I also use a Salsa Spearfish FS, will be using it for the Cairngorms Loop next month, and a Singular Puffin fat bike – I was out on this in the Dales today as it happens.

My wife has a Stooge that she uses for general riding and bikepacking. It’s a rigid fork but it will take a suspension fork (straight steerer so might be limited in choice). She’s 5’2″ so would definitely fit you.

I currently have an alu SC Chameleon and have previously owned a Sonder Broken Road. Chameleon is just as comfy – in fact, all the reviews of the alu version mention how comfortable it is. Don’t compare it to earlier versions.

@clink very interesting. What’s your opinion of the two? We are located close to Stif Yorkshire, so when they eventually open, I can probably get a test ride, though I’d look to build it myself I think.

@clink very interesting. What’s your opinion of the two? We are located close to Stif Yorkshire, so when they eventually open, I can probably get a test ride, though I’d look to build it myself I think.

They are very different bikes. BR is designed from ground up as a stable bike-packing stead; long chain stays, slack (for xc) ha, 100mm fork. Chameleon is an all-rounder, I’m running mine a lighter end of spectrum with carbon wheels and 120mm fork (29er). They are both ‘good’ bikes, but I prefer Chameleon, I’m sure other will prefer the BR. Not much help, sorry!

I just cycled from Haydon Bridge to Morpeth up the Coastal Path to Berwick and then back down on the Sandstone Way; which is mostly quiet roads in great scenery with the occasional offroad lump to get over. [Don’t bother to do the long brown offroad option south of Wooler. Some very hard sections can’t be cycled, both us and the much faster Orbeas bailed out]. Between us we had a Dialled Bikes Prince Albert 26″ a Trek carbon 29er and my old Inbred 29er We met a couple on Orbea hardtail 27+s which seemed to fit the bill really well but honestly it didn’t make much difference. We bivy bagged some nights so had a bit of kit to carry. If I did it again either my Inbred or Big Dog would be fine, but if I were doing the TransCambrian it would be the Dog. I wouldn’t consider doing a route with a lot of proper offroad without a sus fork, and the others were envious of my Thudbuster. The load can smash your bike into any sort of rough track. I recently put a 100mm straight steerer Recon on the Inbred. It was easy to source.

Wanna buy my Stanton Slackline NextGen2 16.5″? Just had to re list after being let down.

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*Ok I have no idea how to link it, or my user profile in classifieds. Pffffft, have a wee search if you are interested.

I had a chameleon with 27.5 wheels and 2.8 tyres on and it was a really comfy ride. Up to the 30 mile rides I did on it anyway.

Planned to replace it with a carbon chameleon but got a good deal on a transition throttle, which is very similar in geometry.

Would buy another chameleon without a doubt

Sonder Brokenroad in TI is off the shelf excellent at everything.
I also own a Sonder Frontier which is so cheap its ridiculous and a great track slayer and packer.
Alpkit are also a dream to deal with.