I’m thinking of a sovereign to replace a Summer Season and Spicy, can I get some inspiration from the ST collective to guide me on my way.

Thanks

Ash

Have a look here

Craig that look great how does it ride on the ups

Pretty good to say its not the lightest bike only thing that holds it back is me. With 140mm forks on it climbs better than GT Avalanche did with 100mm forks on.

Normally I think the Sovereign is one of the nicest bikes around to look at.

The hideous blue on that one is utterly horrendous. Very interesting that by simply adding a few mismatched blue components in an attempt to achieve beauty you have turned a great bike into an eyesore, it looks more like something you’d find abandoned in an ASDA carpark
Or was it simply a cunning way to dissuade thieves from nicking it? If it was then congratulations on a job well done

That’s why it’s my bike and I can build how I want. Run along and try and troll someone else.

This was the second long travel steel hardtail I built in the last 18 months – I then went on to build another eight – I SHOULD HAVE STOPPED AT THIS ONE 😈

I think it looks well…

Mine.

I tend to bang on about how much I love it, particularly on here, but it is properly fantastic – endlessly capable, versatile, fun fun fun etc. Fun mainly.

Poor quality photo of me getting my gurn on;

CraigXXL’s only looks a bit off ‘cos it’s a bigger frame IMO. Lovely build though.

Would you say they run better with a 140 fork or less?

On paper, they’re rated for 80mm-160mm. I’ve only ever tried 140 and 160. I preferred 140mm of those 2 – much more direct and precise. I know there’s people on here who run forks down to 100mm…

Does anyone have a green frame?

A couple of those ones look like the old 853 version. They appear to be quite a bit dfferent to the new ones. The head angles look much steeper on the older ones.

They seem pretty expensive, have you had a look at those Cotics?

In that case anyone with MK 2 frames in black? David I think as I’m going to replace a Spicy I want a bombproof frame.

here is my DOC in black. Not quite a soverign but its an evil and its black

Mine is the mk2, Tange not 853 steel, in a large frame. I’ve also run it at 140 on Fox Floats, 170 on Lyriks and now at 150 on Lyriks again. 170 was just plain wrong, 140 felt good but the forks flexed too much. Dropping the Lyriks to 150 is ideal. The A2C at 150 is about the same as the Fox Floats when back to back at 140 but with great strength if at an additional weight penalty.