List of rigid MTBs currently available — does it exist?

I’ve not come across one, perhaps as there are so few nowadays (?)

If there is one, or if no one cares, then this thread can die a quick death.

If not, then off the top of my head, including production fully rigid full bikes, gears or single speed (but no fat bikes, Monstercross, or expensive custom builds, or obscure things not available in the UK):

> Various Surly things

> Kona Unit

> Marin Pine Mountain

> Genesis Longitude

> Charge Cooker

> Pinnacle Ramin 3 Plus

> Bombtrack things

…I’m already struggling… And almost none of what’s left are dedicated rigid frames, so they all have long bendy sus-corrected forks.

Did there not used to be loads more about a few years ago?

It looks like cheap things like the GT Peace and Haro Mary are gone, Cannondales more expensive Trail SL thingy is gone, Genesis discontinued the rigid Tarn (now frameset only), even Salsa don’t seem to have a stock rigid MTB anymore.

I could be wrong on any of this obviously.

And of course the answer may be that rigid bikes only make sense to an increasingly small number of people, and many of those that it does makes sense for have gone for a gravel bike.

I don’t know about a list, but any list worth its salt should have the Singluar Swift on it.

Technically the Swift is suspension corrected and should be able to run a sus. fork, however the fact that it’s stuck with a straight steerer tends to limit it somewhat.

I have a Swift and love it but there’s the Stooge to of course.

– Edit –

The Sonder Frontier is available as a complete bike (as with the Stooge though I’ve no personal experience of one).

Stooge

Focus used to do one. Not sure if it’s in their current line-up.

The Stooge is great, I had one very briefly, and the Swift looks fabulous too. But neither available as full builds, both suspension corrected.

It’s really the lack of non-suspension corrected fame I find annoying for selfish reasons (can’t afford to go custom).

The Sonder doesn’t look as nice as either of the above, but should be on the list

http://www.ninerbikes.com

Does niner. Not count?

Currently have a (I think) 2009 vintage Charge Cooker (full bike, but nothing like the current version), and an on-one fatty.

Had an El Mariachi (full bike) , and a Swift (not a full bike) and before that a Sanderson Life with On-ONe forks.

…I’m already struggling… And almost none of what’s left are dedicated rigid frames, so they all have long bendy sus-corrected forks.

Have you ever ridden a rigid bike? Even 100mm corrected 29er forks are stiffer than Hugh Hefner (or any suspension fork for that matter), some are stiffer than others but you don’t actually want them that stiff as it’s both uncomfortably fatiguing and skittish off road.

The GT and Haro were really heavy IIRC, I know at least a couple of people that still have Cannondales.  I suspect their dwindling numbers are mostly down to the fact that for most people it’s an n+1 bike for the winter, so a frameset makes far more sense and they can use their old kit. 10 years ago 29ers were new and so it made sense to sell full bikes. That and you can’t really make a better rigid bike, Specialized can sell you a new Enduro every 3 years, but a singular Swift is still pretty much the same bike it was 10 years ago (it’s tweaked but mostly to broaden it’s appeal to 650b+’ers and the head angle/fork was changed to better replicate the way fork offset was going on sus forks).

I doubt Gravel had much impact, rigid MTB’s were never that popular in the mainstream.  Although some people probably bought stuff like the Vagabond/Fargo/Gryphon instead, or fat bikes. They could all scratch that n+1 winter bike itch in different ways.

Yes I’ve ridden one. Like the Stooge I said I had above (which I didn’t buy just to look at), and the various other things I’ve had which compelled me to start this thread.

Fair enough about wanting a bit of fore-aft flex though. It’s probably the aesthetics of non-corrected forks I like as much as anything else, and the ability to get the front end lower if you wish.

I guess I’m in a strange place with my rigid bike as my only one.

Don’t Orbea make a rigid XC bike that cost about 6k?

rigid MTB’s were never that popular in the mainstream

I remember when they were so popular they accounted for 100% of sales 🙂

I have a Ramin 3+ now and love it, great fun for the riding I do with very minimal maintenance. Don’t see myself buying a bike with suspension again anytime soon.

Wow, yep, there’s still a 6k Orbea by the looks of it… Defeats half of the point (for me) of a rigid build though, i.e. cheap.

Although there are other reasons I stick to a rigid now-a-days (one being self-preservation, as the speeds I would hit in my younger downhilling days were destined to get me severely broken)

 And almost none of what’s left are dedicated rigid frames, so they all have long bendy sus-corrected forks.

If you want non bendy rigid forks on a dedicated frame, you want a Jones with a truss fork.

Edit: or at least the 50% of you that wants a rigid bike for the handling rather than the cost wants one, anyway!

Other ones I can think of are the Brother Cycles Big Bro and it looks like Jones will be offering a complete bike soon. It looks perfect for me but I reckon once over here, you’ll be looking at a £2000 price tag, which is more than I’d be comfortable, or even able, to pay for.

I just sold my jones and still have a ramin 3 plus. The jones was nicer but not that much nicer in a cost vs nice comparison 🙂 plus the ramin does everything I need in a bike

Um, any old 26″ frame with a set of forks plugged in the front? The Surly Instigators I run, corrected for 100mm travel, are brutally stiff. Currently holding up the front of a sixty quid Cannondale frame, but thinking of swapping everything over to a Kona frame with a longer head tube that I got for the same price…

The right forks can make a difference as well .

I run a ragley td-1 which is a 29er that runs 1

26″ length forks for a low front . With my carbon forks fitted it’s harsh.

With my old chromotos its harsh.

I found some triple butted P2s from back in the day which have a good amount of twang and track well but unfortunately the steerers only any good for 6-8 hours of riding .need another 20-30 mm steerer on it to get comfy 🙁

Why do you want a dedicated rigid frame?

Ritcheyp 29

Jones, in all flavours.

I’ve got a Salsa El Mariachi with a carbon Firestarter fork.  Despite the Salsa also having been available with a suspension fork there’s absolutely no way you could call the setup I have flexy. It’s stiff as hell.

Are you sure it’s not the steep head angle you are after?  Cos that is a benefit for some riding.

Have you ever ridden a rigid bike?

Was thinking I’m too old for stw when I read this…

I’ve had a Cannondale Trail SL and it was great, only sold it as I’d run out of storage room.

I’m currently building up a rigid Kona Smoke 29er that I’ve welded disc mounts onto for winter mud duties. If it doesn’t work out I like the look of the BigBro.

I love my Singular Rooster. 29+ at nice low pressures give just enough compliance to make it enjoyable.

Olympia

I’”ve got a Salsa El Mariachi with a carbon Firestarter fork.  Despite the Salsa also having been available with a suspension fork there’s absolutely no way you could call the setup I have flexy. It’s stiff as hell.”

Yeah cheap carbon forks make bikes feel like that .Unfortunately the marketeers have convinced people carbon trumps steel.

I built up a 29er pipe dream skookum steel singlespeed with whiskey no 9 Carbon forks and it’s lovely

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Shand Bahookie? (but £££’s)

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Cheap 26 inch carbon forks making the front end of my bike harsh ….but lifting the TT bars far enough to be useful.

Without the TT bars I run my p2s as they ride so much better.

Yeah cheap carbon forks make bikes feel like that .Unfortunately the marketeers have convinced people carbon trumps steel.

Cheap carbon?  They’re £500.  I had steel forks on before, they were the same.

I meant stiff compared to 130mm suspension.

* edit – Fughedaboutit

The Genesis io was dropped and I wondered why as they seemed very popular

500 dollars maybe.

Take off a chunk for the markup the salsa stickers etc . They will be the same forks everyone else is punting

Likewise cromotos are a bloody awful fork for what they cost.

And don’t get me started on surly pig iron forks . Got a set of krampus forks on my cargo bike. They are perfectly suited to that weight of bike. Ain’t nothing breaking those forks. Unfortunately its like having some gas pipe on the front.

Of course it’s not 130mm suspension…. But then I’m sure he is aware that it’s not by the very nature of them being rigid as in fixed at both ends and non telescopic

trail_rat

…I run a ragley td-1 which is a 29er that runs 1

26″ length forks for a low front . With my carbon forks fitted it’s harsh….

Not everyone can run at your speed. 🙂

I find my TD-1 just right with a cheap 26″ length fork.

That Olympia looks rapid

Why do I want a dedicated rigid frame… hmm… They look better?

Don’t know how I ended up with just rigid mtbs, Ritchey P29er, Jones and Gryphon. The ability to run plus tyres in 29 and 27.5 flavour has delayed  getting bouncy forks and led to endless experimenting with different tyre/wheel size instead.

Isn’t that a Gryphon above? With straight bars? Brrrr…..

Trek have on off the peg rigid bikepacking mountain bike, the 1120 but again it’s suspension corrected (I suspect that most will be as it just gives you the option to move to sus. forks if you want to).

Singular Hummingbird, if you can find one?

Not currently available new, but there must be a few around still. And no, I don’t have all of them, just four.

I would think the number of complete bikes available is due to manufacturers not being able to sell them when they made them.

Also being a niche a lot of people who want them would probably prefer to build them up as they know exactly what they want and the manufactures don’t offer it.  I always like the Cannondale Trail SL frameset (also singlespeed) but the rest of the parts were crap so as a complete bike wouldn’t have been a great buy.

Thanks Andy, but I should clarify that this thread is so not so much for my current buying needs, more like general musing

The Hummingbird is a good example of something that barely seems to be made anymore.

So it seems like a list of production rigid MTBs currently available could, so far, look something like this:

Trail (primarily)

> Kona Unit

> Marin Pine Mountain

> Charge Cooker

> Pinnacle Ramin 3 Plus

> Surly KM, Krampus, Lowside

> Orbea Alma (£6000…)

Bikepacking (primarily)

> Surly ECR, etc.

> Genesis Longitude

> Bombtrack Beyond

> Brother Big Bro

> Sonder Frontier

> Trek 1120

Non-sus corrected

> Orange Speedwork

> Pinnacle Lithium

(both very light MTB though really, max tyre size is 2.2 or so)

It’s not a bad list though really, is it?

Could possibly add the Islabikes Beinn 29 to the last lot too?

They will be the same forks everyone else is punting

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