This is my new bike (frame) and I am excited about it. That is all.

The gravel, wall and aircon unit are not mine!

what’s the monstrosity on the downtube !!!

A necessary one. Sadly.

Today it gets fitted with a mudhugger too. 😢

Is that steel or Ti? IF it’s steel, I hope you have better luck than me with clear powdercoat

That looks really very nice! What frame is it – looks like Ti?

@honourablegeorge – that looks a shocker but I think it’s fairly common with clear powder coat / lacquer – BTR have stopped offering it although a few companies still are. Something to do with clearcoat being porous / some surface rusting still happens a under normal paint but the primer / coloured paint cover it up. What frame is that?

It’s a Last Fast Forward. I should mention that Last took the frame back, and stripped & repainted it in black for me under warranty – I just sold the frame to a friend, and the quality of the replacement paintjob was fantastic, there’s literally not a mark or a blemish to be seen years later. Last stopped offering the clearcoat on the V2 FastForward.

Shame, because it looked amazing when it was new, but it just doesn’t stick well enough.

It Ti – a kingdom Vendetta. Perfect timing to coincide with the Hambini roasting!

Well, I think it’s very nice, mind you I’ve never managed to watch more than ten seconds of that shouty man.

And you appear to have to have got a BB into it too 🙂

Yes. I was actually struck as to how nicely mine span when I installed it, so I think it’s probably ok.

How’s it compare with your Pole? I keep dithering over a Kingdom but had a couple of opinions from owners saying they’re not great with 29 wheels and definitely more suited to 27.5. This was when it was one frame for both, not sure if they’ve adjusted the geo for wheelsize these days.

Th do a 29 specific one now. I remember looking at the old one when they did a crazy cheap offer on them, but the BB was sky high with Plus wheels, never mind 29s

Looks great

👌

How’s it compare with your Pole? I keep dithering over a Kingdom but had a couple of opinions from owners saying they’re not great with 29 wheels and definitely more suited to 27.5. This was when it was one frame for both,

It’s always been my view that 29/27.5+ frames are inherently compromised, especially if you’re pushing on the limits of the ‘Low’ part of LLS.

Mine is 29er specific. Its a hybrid of the XL Vendetta LE with a shorter ST, dropped, BB and a couple of other little things. It builds on what Ive learned from the Taival and the Fastforward before that.

I’ve only got a shakedown ride on it, and nothing ‘in extremis’ to tease out its character.

I jumped on and thought ‘this feels like the Taival’ then I rode it a bit more thought ‘this still feels like the Taival’ and then as time went on its subtlties started to show through.

As I said, its early days. Conclusions so far are that its at least as good as the Taival. It has the same stability, but at the same time a lighter touch on the trail. Seems to be more settled on corners, – which stands out the most on rough but flat turns. Seems that lets me turn in tighter.

The Taival is an outstanding machine tbh, it’s going to take some beating.