Steel 29er alternatives

I ordered a new britango, as September delivery was confirmed before I placed the order, however it doesn’t look like they will materialise anytime soon and nobody can get any date from the manufacturers. It feels like it could drag on for some time
I need a bike built up ASAP for peak 200 and Cambrian way double (both of which I am supposed to be doing this month/early nov)

What are my alternatives?

Ultra distance, bikepacking, mountain marathon, 24hr races and general hooning around during those rides/events.

Must be steel (or titanium, if I could afford it)

The britango seems spot on, on paper

I have bought everything for the build already, so must be boost friendly, and 120/130 travel

I like the look of the titanium sonder broken road but can’t afford it.

Stanton Sherpa? I think they have the £650 4130 model in stock at the moment. I like mine for distance riding, very comfy even with a parts bin build and skinnyish tyres.

I originally discounted the sherpa as an option, as I am planning on building it up rigid ( with some bouncy forks to swap onto occasionally) with 2.6″ tyres and I am not sure that the sherpa would play with 2.6?

I discounted the solaris max too, as it just seems too trail centre orientated? but i could be wrong and would probably consider one now

The SolarisMAX/BFeMAX might be just what you’re after as whilst they’re long/slack they still pedal really nicely as the seat angle is steeper. They also have more cable stops on the downtube than you can shake a bikepacking rack at.

Curtis obvs!

Yes I have owned them and yes they really are all that then some

Curtis am9 or explorer would be amazing but i have spent all my money on parts and my budget does not get anywhere near that now, for a frame

No solaris frames available until December, so no good unfortunately

Sonder signal st? There are a few Tarn frames about still, depends on what size you need

if you are a medium get onto freewheel, tarn ti framesets in the clearance with big discounts

Cheers but they are still £1200, so quite a bit out of budget…good price though

Sherpa is 2.4-2.5″ on 29er rims or 3″ on 27.5 at the rear. But the 2.4″ is with proper bitey tyres on 30mm internal rims leaving room for mud. If you run lower profile 2.6 tyres they would probably fit. They are very helpful over the phone so you could just ring up and ask to be honest.

On One Big Dog?
Cheap – but I love mine.
(STW – recommend what you have…)

Love my Big Dog too. Made in a topline factory. I specced Gomas which measure 2.48 so room for a 2.6 then although I find Gomas very very hard wearing with loads of volume. Not much cop with inner tubes though a doodle to run tubeless. Finally I can see the merits in running a rigid fork though I shoved Z2s on mine for fit and forget.

There are basically bugger all frames in stock anywhere! (In budget and what I want)

The big dog is a decent Looking bike but I’m after something to compliment the fairly swanky (for me) build kit I have sorted out. on ones always feel like a choice to build up a bike out of bits in the shed, at least the inbreds I’ve had were bought with that purpose in mind.

Options so far:
Solaris max
Curtis am9 or am explorer
Brother big bro (none boost though)
Sonder broken road
Ritchey ultra?
And they are all either, out of stock, or I can’t afford them.

Or just wait indefinitely for the nordest and miss out on loads of riding.

It’s so difficult buying anything bike related in these times!

Don’t know if you’ve seen the post on the Nordest FB page, they’ve had paint issues with the finished frames so they have to be repainted, hence the delay.

I’ve just ordered a titanium Nordest frame and the lead time is 12 weeks 🙁 Oh well, it’ll be an xmas present to myself!

Yep, saw that today. It’s not really a dream frame and I ordered it as it was due to delivered within a week or two of order.
So now it looks like an indefinite delay, it’s time for a change of plan.

If I was ordering a dream frame, like the ti one, I’d be more patient but I’m happy switching to something else and getting out riding (if I can find anything else haha)

Yeah all the Titanium frames are made to order, normal lead time is 10 weeks but I checked before ordering – 12 weeks is fine, lets me accumulate the other parts for the build at a nice leisurely pace. I still have my FS bike to ride, could imagine it would be annoying with no bike to ride.

TBH I think any frame you’re looking at a few weeks wait at the moment.

Pace RC529?

Just been looking at the pace, nice bike!
Still have my gravel bike to ride and I’ve been heavily mistreating it without an mtb to take its place on some rides, poor thing

The nordest ti frames look beautiful!

Stooge Mk4 if you can find one

Or the Stooge Mk5 which will be along in a couple of months and likely sell out quickly.

Much better to buy a bike designed for a rigid fork with its own fork, than a frame designed for suspension with a long fork badly imitating a suspension fork.

The sonder signal St is in stock. £449.

Ive been looking for a frame as well, and have found the same thing – no stock anywhere

Every now and again I go to the Triton website and hover over the buy button on the
All-City Electric Queen frameset. Looks ace imo.
Pretty pricey though, but most steel frames seem to be now.

Electric queen has been high in my list for ages and if I could find one in the original, pink/yellow/black I’d buy it straight away, despite the lack of big tyre clearance in 29 mode

Pace

Maybe not perfect, but not a million miles from what you want?

Cheers rich, worth a look👍

That Sonder Signal Steel might do the job?

Yep, I like the signal steel, wish it had more than one set of bottle mounts though
Nice looking, in stock and a good price though! Could be a goer

Every now and again I go to the Triton website

Good luck with them, only shop I’ve ever used with zero communication skills and had to do a credit card chargeback……….

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Bucking the current trend for matte paint is this fine specimen of a single speed Bahookie. Fitted with our carbon fork and a pair of grippy Nobby Nic tyres, ready for the onset of winter. #shandcycles #shandbahookie #handmade #schwalbetires #mountainbiking #singlespeed #offroadcycling

A post shared by Shand Cycles (@shandcycles) on Oct 12, 2020 at 6:39am PDT

phwoarrrr. Definitely not likely to f*** up their in house paint jobs 😉

(although can’t see it being the answer you are looking for…built to order so you’d have to keep waiting!)

From what I’ve seen the Sondar is more a man made singletrack bike with a low BB and very tight back triangle, and heavy, so on general duties a Dog would seem better. ‘course you could pay more for it and feel better. Or buy an 853 Shand Shug which is an upmarket version of the Dog, both firms having similar views on geometry.