come on guys how do you rate these frames a rock lobster 853 a on one 456 and a prince albert 725 or a ragley blue pig. like to hear what you all think. 😀

For what riding?
All good frames, but RL853 is more ‘XC’ than the others.

Sooner have a second hand Soul. 😉

But if I was skint an Inbred punches way above its weight. I’d happily buy another. What about a Sanderson Life ?

Did you say Sanderson?

Wee old railway shed and a Sanderson Breath by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

Save a bit more and get a Cotic

What makes the Cotic so much better? Seems when ever this question comes up, everyone says “Save up and get a Soul!”…

I don’t rate any of them

Pipedream Sirius.

Like my charge duster very much, frame is a keeper just about to rebuild it with u turn pikes as a bit more playful. Was a winter xc bike for a long time.

One of these? 🙂

pipedream 1 by h4muf, on Flickr

Amazing thing.

Is that a 200mm front rotor? 😯

How about an Orange P7?

Only ridden a 456 out of your list I didn’t like it at all. Infact I gave the frame to my wife and got a BFe. I LOVE the BFe, nearly got a dialled but I preferred the colour of the cotic.

Blue Pig is quite different from the PA. if you’re looking at steel bikes you have to include the Soul and BFe (love mine). If you’re considering the PA then why not look at the classic with 853 tubing

I_Ache:

Out of interest, what didn’t you like about the 456 and what do you love about the bfe?

Hard to put into words why everyone says to get a Cotic Soul – it just rides like a bike should!

All the springy benefits of a steel frame, it weighs loads less, handles any fork from 100mm-140mm well and is just fundamentally great fun. I bought a second hand frame two years ago and have done thousands of miles on it, yet every time I ride it, I come back smiling. Thats why you should get a soul!

h4muf – cranks 😯

It is the Olympics 😉

I bought a second hand frame two years ago and have done thousands of miles on it, yet every time I ride it, I come back smiling. Thats why you should get a soul!

then you’re suggesting something unavailable now other than second hand.
OP, contrary to another poster on one of your ( several ) other threads, i’ve broken two steel hardtails. ripped the headtube off one ( that didn’t end well for me either ) and cracked the other at the DS chainstay.
FWIW i now ride a genesis alpitude. great frame, and those guys look great in their promotional blurb, but don’t expect any answers to emails, or accurate info on specs on their website either ( it’s iscg 05 ). i do really like the frame though.

It’s all horses for courses – if you’ve destroyed two steel bikes than maybe a Bfe would be better? Certainly Rock Lobster isn’t going to be up to it.

I’ll no doubt be corrected but 853 is tougher than Cromoly (it certainly air hardens after welding) so the soul may be tough enough.

A couple of mates have Blue Pigs and really like them, but it’s a much heavier & slacker bike than the Soul. The 456 is heavier too but gets a good write up. I like the Soul because it does everything – I have two wheel sets for it – for the last few months I’ve been hammering it around the Dark Peak with 2.5″ tyres and on Saturday it’ll be a 24lb XC machine 🙂

@del you can most definitely buy a new Soul

They all have Betamax wheels. You won’t even be able to buy air for those tyres in a years time.

have had a Rock Lobster 853 for around 6 years and love it – everything gets regularly upgraded and it gets ridden probably more than my 5. It does all depend on what you want to ride though – mine gets used on tight techy natural singletrack mainly and rarely on big stuff. It’s my regular winter night ride bike. The Orange comes out for big days, proper hills and trail centres tho as the RL with a light zingy frame and 100mm forks ain’t the best for that stuff

I am thinking of buying a soul but have a thing about SS which I am training myself to forget!

however my question is BFe or Soul? Which one should I buy? I am 5 10 tall but weigh 14 stone 🙁

I am not a ‘rad’ rider but love single track…not fit enough of singlespeed around the hilly Kent north downs I think.

I have an old cindercone 97 which I am thinking of doing up. Needs gears as it is a SS conversion.

Honestly, any list that includes a Lobster and a Pig is a bit too confused, you need to work out what you want it to do rather than just having a list of bikes that are made out of similiar materials.

anotherbike – Member
I_Ache:

Out of interest, what didn’t you like about the 456 and what do you love about the bfe?

I didn’t like the feel of the 456 in general it, it didn’t feel right but the BFe with the same kit just feels right. The 456 felt like a long travel XC bike to me, its marketed as a tough gravity orientated trail bike just what I wanted and it is cheap. The above combined with the rave reviews on here persuaded me to buy it in the first place.

Having said that, that many good reviews can’t be wrong. Maybe they like long travel XC bikes, maybe it is does feel as a tough trap HT should, maybe its the magic 853 in the BFe that makes it so good. Both frames are the same size and the BFe seems to have bigger tubes but I find it more comfortable and can happily bash it around the dark Peak all day. The 456 was uncomfortable after an hour in the local woods.

that ended up quite long and your probably not any wiser.

from the 456 camp, price is right…

and the bike works for me as a 150mm thumping HT. I have ridden it all day, did the IoM E2E on it 2 years running though probably a bit too heavy for it really.

Great to get your head into it. They seem to go second hand for sensible too so not much to be lost by trying it

however my question is BFe or Soul?

For the riding you describe, a Soul. Don’t think you need the beefiness of a BFe.

Ask yourself what fork travel you would want for what you ride: if 120mm +, get a BFe, if 120 or less get a Soul.

Your sizing is probably a medium.

Get a Dialled Love/Hate mk1 (loads on ebay). Than way you can run SS or gears if the mood takes you. Perfec’

Only ridden a 456 out of your list I didn’t like it at all

Yup same here :D. You need to tell us more what kind of riding you want to do, and why you’re stuck on Steel…

Hi all thanks for your help so far.I will try to expand on the type of rideing i do.As a ex roadie all i know about is road raceing and tt/s i felt i was getting a bit old for the road raceing at very near 50y/o so i started out on the mtb route now most of my rideing is green blue and red trails but im now having hankering for the odd xc race.So i was looking for a steel frame that i could us for both trails and xc.I have ridden many makes of road bikes from steel/ aluminium / to carbon but for the mtb i have only ridden aluminium and i feed its just dead it dose the job but theres no feed back from the frame/bike, I ride a merrida tfs 700 trail at the moment.So was thinking of a steel frame as i feel i can remember in the past they had a bit of soul and life about them. 😀

Airbus – many of the older design steel frames, like the Rock Lobster are pre CEN testing and in general a fair bit lighter than some of the current offering as they have less strenthening in them (in general terms). hence the trend for steel HT’s going from 100mm up to about 140mm, with burlier builds.

If you’ve come from a road racing background and are happy with the racing position, I think you might be happier with a more race/xc oriented bike. Have a look at world cup xc races, they go through some pretty gnarly stuff and 100mm of travel doesn’t seem to be a handicap for them.
I have a sirius and Orbea Alma, by far the most used is the Alma. Just a thought.

airbus

Try a Ti frame, all the benefits of a good steel frame and less weight.

Love mine.

They all have Betamax wheels. You won’t even be able to buy air for those tyres in a years time.

Favourite post on here for ages.

Thanks Don that thought had crossed my mind to had a look at a scott scale 40.not heard much about the scale 40 even thou its aluminium and i was thinking about somthing steel 😀

a steel frame that i could us for both trails and xc that has a bit of soul and life about them.

I think you have answered your own question there.

There’s a boy selling a soul in the classifieds just now. I posted to ask for pics…but deleted it as I don’t need it and cannot afford it 🙁

There is a 19″ Curtis XC 120 – T45 over on ebay sigh: so many different beautiful frames out there.