Hi all,

I’m on the hunt for a new bike and am struggling for inspiration…

Ideally looking to build a wheels on the ground, distance covering machine but everything I’ve found seems to lack something.

Previous bike was a Large alu Santa Cruz Highball so something along those lines I reckon.

~£500 hardtail frame
29er
100-120 forks and may run it rigid with a 490-500mm AC height fork
Weight isn’t crucial but have tended for lighter rather than burlier before
Stealth dropper not crucial but nice (I have a 31.6 KS Lev-Ci I can use)
2 bottle mounts
SS ability a plus but not crucial

Of the steel 100-120mm forked hardails a Cotic Solaris seems a sensible shout but doesn’t grab me for some reason. I would have gone for a Stanton Sherpa but there aren’t any in my size left and I don’t fancy £700 for the UK made ones. Maybe something new from Singular could be worth a wait???

On the alu side, everything seems around £500 but again aren’t super inspiring. It is a shame SC have discontinued the alu Highball. The Chameleon looks great until I noticed only one bottle mount, which as minor as it seems is a deal breaker. Also a bit heavier and burlier than I probably need and quite a few pennies. I seem to be drawn to a Trek Procaliber frame at around £520-550. Trek would be the last place I’d go to for interesting frames and it’s a lot of money, but I like the ideal of the bendy seattube and it seems to have everything I want in a frame. Looks tidy too.

Carbon seems to be out at that price point. I’ve done the whole Chiner Niner thing in the past and build an 8.5kg droppered hardtail with one, but the fit and geometry isn’t ever quite as “right” as what is out there currently.

So… lots of negatives but there must be something decent out there for good old fashioned XC riding- what have I missed 😀

Ta!
DanW

Pipedream have one. New Nordest is lovely but 27.2 post.

Sonder Frontier?

Sanderson Town Crier in 29er flavour, probably well within budget.

Sensible tubes for a zingy steel ride I would imagine, 27.2 seat post required though.

Pipedream

Bit long in the fork they are designed for but certainly look lovely!

Sonder Frontier

QR Boost spacing seems like the only oddity but looks great value, thanks

Sanderson

I had forgotten those, ta

Nordest

That Britango looks like my type of thing. Nice

Thanks all, I’ve haven’t had to look at new kit for the last 4 years or so, so it is all good info!

Have a look at Stooge, for something a bit different and special.

Check out a thread on this here forum about the impending On One Scandal v3. It should be out soon but I am not sure on the price.

Ritchey p29er? They retail alot higher but you can find them for roughly £500 if you shop around

Trek pro-cal owner here. The wobbly seat post is brilliant at taking lots of trail chatter out of the ride. Shame they’re not terribly fashionable…

good old fashioned XC riding

The pic you’ve posted is certainly that… looks like a bike from 2010.

Like I said, deeply unfashionable (but fast, light and pretty comfortable for a HT).

I would have gone for a Stanton Sherpa but there aren’t any in my size left and I don’t fancy £700 for the UK made ones.

Someone has a large one in the Classifieds if you don’t mind secondhand.

Check out a thread on this here forum about the impending On One Scandal v3. It should be out soon but I am not sure on the price.

I think it was around £200 ish (great!) but first versions for checking expected around late August at the earliest and then a slow boat for the main order (boo!)

Ritchey p29er? They retail alot higher but you can find them for roughly £500 if you shop around

The Blue/ red/ white Ritcheys were on my list when buying the Highball. Lovely frames but the latest ones are £900!

I’ve got a lot on my SH list but definitely keep this on there, ta

Someone has a large one in the Classifieds if you don’t mind secondhand.

Definitely don’t mind SH. I will do my sums on the fit and see if a med from Stanton or this Large might be options. I was definitely one of the first frames I thought about!

The pic you’ve posted is certainly that… looks like a bike from 2010.

Hardtail XC bike looks like hardtail XC bike shocker 😉 I’ve survived just fine on a rigid 70 degree HTA bike so I’m sure I’ll cope ok 😀 My problem out on the trails is definitely my me rather than the bike 🙂

Trek pro-cal owner here. The wobbly seat post is brilliant at taking lots of trail chatter out of the ride. Shame they’re not terribly fashionable…

I’ve got to admit it wouldn’t be my first choice but it does seem to tick all the boxes and have the novelty factor in the seattube design.

Onza payoff is on sale at the moment. Building up a frame seems to be the way to go as some of the parts on the complete builds are a bit heavy apparently.

3.3kg though! I haven’t had a bike over 20lbs for a long time so I think this one may be a bit too much for my hard wired weightweenie tendancies

Yeah, Im not sure about their numbers. Lots of bikes with regular cro-mo (non Reynolds/Tange/etc) come in @2.25-2.5 ( nordest britango for instance. So either the onza is massively overbuilt or they weighed it with the forks on or something.

I’d have thought a sub 20lb hardtail would be pretty hard to do short of carbon everything.

The Highball SS, Chiner Niner and Scalpel I’ve had previously were all sub 9kg. The key is attention to detail and far too much time on the internet!

Kinesis Maxlight X Only one bottle holder thou

The specialized epic is listed at 1175 grams but it’s way out of your price range. I’d be interested to know what you end up with and what weight it is. I must admit I don’t worry too much about weight, within reason and thought you’d spend quite a lot more than £500 to get the full bike under 20lbs.

thought you’d spend quite a lot more than £500 to get the full bike under 20lbs.

In the 26er days, I had bought a Hi-Mod Scalpel frame for £600 so a 1600g full sus frame wasn’t a bad starting point (not to mention smaller wheels which keep the weight down)! Likewise the HongFu 256sl 29er was 1062g for £500 delivered, so a decent base to work from. 9kg hardtail/ 10kg full sus is very do-able without spending mega money so long as you have patience for the right thing to pop up but that’s another question for another day 😀

The Genesis Mantle seems to offer reasonable value as an XCish frame, with decent tyre clearance, dropper routing and is pretty long/ not crazy steep

https://www.cjperformancecycles.com/37016/products/2018-genesis-mantle-carbon-mountain-bike-frameset-in-black.aspx

https://www.biketart.com/bikes-c1/mountain-bikes-c34/genesis-mantle-30-2019-p43650/s120782?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=genesis-mantle-30-2019-l-size-l-size-l-gnad2l&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&glCurrency=GBP&glCountry=GB&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2M6c7-7y4gIVCL7tCh0PywtMEAQYAiABEgKvWPD_BwE

Step cast Factory fork and an overall solid spec seems to be the better value of the complete builds too

Has anyone used Biketart or CJ Performance Cycles? I don’t want to get caught in a Dave Hinde scenario 😀

Something a bit different (ruining the thread title) but keeping a lighter more XC theme going… I’ve always wanted an Element and Paul’s seem to have a decent offer. Not sexy spec but something to work from and should be a lovely bike overall

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/2108/products/rocky-mountain-element-c50-full-suspension-mountain-bike-2018-smoke.aspx?currency=GBP&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz6rcoO_y4gIViZntCh2sDA5VEAQYASABEgJ4lfD_BwE

I’m in a similar position to the OP; I’m unhurriedly looking for a new xc 29er frame to replace an ancient 29er Inbred, preferably a new steel frame. The Nordest Sardinha looks interesting. It’s longer than my existing frame, a definite priority. It takes a 27.2 seatpost, a bonus in modern hardtail frames and both my fork and back wheel will fit, with a scrap of fettling. The only question left for anyone who knows, is will it take a direct pull front mech and an old triple chainset?

I’d test ride a longshot Solaris before writing it off. Takes a bit of adjustment in ride style but it is the most competent all round bike I’ve ridden. I was worried about weight (having come from a stolen all carbon Whyte 29 – carbon everything and still not under 20lb) but I genuinely haven’t noticed it once. Have now bought into dropper posts too … I wouldn’t say essential (I rode it for a year as an XC setup, loads of carbon post out) but useful when switching between riding the byways and playing in the woods (the boys are more into the jumping around the woods bit).

The main thing that puts me off a Solaris is that when people try something different or buy something new they tend to say the Cotic felt a little “dead” in feel by comparison. A few people I have ridden with have the normal Solaris and seem to love it but… I’m not sure it is for me

Just taken the leap on the Genesis. Should be around 21 lbs with meaty tyres, dropper and 120 fork so something a bit different to what I’m used to but still quite “jey” at heart 😀

Cheers all

edit: STW review here in case anyone was after something similar

Review: The 2018 Genesis Mantle 20 is no boring XC race bike

Just been asked how I am getting on with the Genesis Mantle… short answer is it went straight back to the shop as the quality of the was very, very poor. I would have been disappointed with it even for £100 I think. Sounded good on paper but no way would I recommend one

I’m intrigued as it looked an interesting bike – quality of the what was very very poor, and in what way poor?

On One / PlanetX have re-released the Whippet..
check it out.

Lost the post I was writing so I’ll be brief:

Headtube had chunks missing inside, was really uneven and badly finished.

BB shell likewise had chunks missing inside were the BB sits, was really uneven and badly finished. Even if it were perfect there wasn’t much material for the pressfit BB to sit in and I could see this being a creaky nightmare as it was so flimsy.

Had a poke around inside the frame and the finishing was awful. I’ve had a chiner niner before (Hongfu 256SL) so I like to think I’m realistic about how a cheapy carbon frame may be finished and that the inside can look rough but still be functional but this Genesis did not fill me with any confidence. I honestly wouldn’t have ridden it if it were free.

The frameset option is a matt CF finish with paint for the gloss parts (I think- it has long been put out of my mind!) but it looked like decals on a matt frame and was easy to peel. Not to mention looking incredibly tacky and cheap.

As soon as I got the frame out of the box there were so many ropey looking aspects I packaged it straight back up and sent it back.

Maybe if the frame were already built up you may not notice these things and it *may* be fine but having seen it all there wasn’t any way I was going to keep it.

Sorry that’s a bit ranty but I hope it helps someone 🙂 If I were buying again I’d give the on-one a look and I can’t imagine it being any worse! 😀

2nd hand Sherpa 👍

Thanks for the info, definitely best not to keep if you’ve no confidence in it…