Got the frame and forks (RS revelation) from ebay, seatpost (Thompson elite) from classifieds and wheels and brakes came from my old Felt. Gears (SRAM X9 and chainset (Shimano SLX) are new.

Just spent a couple of hours on familiar singletrack in Stanmer and it’s absolutely brilliant. My old Felt is heavy in comparison and the whole feel of the Soul is lively and fun. Trails that i’ve ridden constantly over two years suddenly came to life. Can’t quite put my finger on why it feels so good but I want to go and ride it again and again even though my legs are exhausted and it’s started raining.

Don’t think there’s anything that needs immediate upgrading but hoping to get a better set of wheels in the future.

Thanks for all the advice and tips 🙂

They are great aren’t they?

Wouldnt spend a penny on upgrades til after next winter when you’ve ridden it loads and really get a feel for it. I’d also maybe book onto a skills day because you can really hammer the soul, much harder than you’d think.

A few friends have just done a day with Jedi and say he’s amazing so I might give that a go. I’m hoping to have the Soul for a long time so would be worth seeing what it (and me) are capable of.

bike looks great, garden needs nuking from orbit

‘Garden’ is almost certainly a public car park! 😉

Yep, photo taken in the car park just off ditchling road next to the White cottage. I daren’t use my own garden as it’s in a shocking state and I knew the STW massive would pull it apart.

Regarding hammering a Soul, I was speaking to Cy last week about my riding aims with mine and he commented that most people underestimate how strong they are. He said the BFe came about because of alpine guides wanting a hardtail they could repeatedly ride off building sized drops! A Soul will happily handle really intense trail riding, the BFe is for those with balls of steel, or something like that – or as he pointed out is mostly overlooked, as a trail HT for those wanting the Soul geometry for less money but a bit more weight.