Just having a coffee break and going to read that. Page 118 to save you all time flicking through.

Premier subscribers can see a nice little vid of the Sync too, spot on review.

http://singletrackworld.com/magarchive/issue-84/

stop it already

Recently bought a Singular Buzzard

Very happy with it but too early to provide a definitive thumbs up. I found the selection of (in stock, easily accessible and most importantly reasonably priced) slacker 29ers extremely limited. Hence the buzzard was purchased. My initial impression is that it certainly doesn’t feel as slack (and as a result confidence inspiring) as my old cove Stiffee but way more slack than my 29 inbred.

I really wanted Alu as I wanted to save a bit of weight but the OT one I could find was the kona – which for me was difficult to find frame only in stock…

How slack is the sync? Is it slacker than the ff29?

Not much in it according to the Kinesis web site. The FF29 is quoted as having a HA of 71 degrees with a 100mm fork and 70 degrees at 120. The Sync is quoted as being 70.5 degrees but it doesn’t say what the fork length for this measurement is. So it’s either half a degree steeper or half a degree slacker than the FF29 I guess.

Sync is a tad slacker I believe (the tables being for a 120mm fork).

Interesting point in the STW write up of the Sync about people having a nice 29er HT as a do it all and not bothering with a FS, I’m thinking along those lines myself. Many times if I really need an FS I can likely rent one.

I ride my Salsa Selma with a 100mm fork which gives a HA of 71 degrees-ish (the geo table says 72 degrees with 80mm), it’s not a slack bike, I don’t think I’d say the Sync is either. The Selma is spot on for twisty turny rolling trails, as soon as the terrain gets swoopy then my Yelli (68 degrees) comes alive.

But a reasonable pilot could ride either near anywhere.

Funnily enough – I’ve moved to 29er h/t as my one do it all bike. As a result of a young family (I would still prefer to subscribe to n+1 but sadly cannot afford it).

I reckon if you are after a bike that has to do a bit of commuting/perhaps mount a kid seat and still off road then a 29er hardtail is the answer.

I came to the conclusion the sync wasn’t slack enough for me hence I ask… Not that I could have afforded one!

Based on my budget and requirements looks like I might need to save to buy a complete Whyte or be patient and wait for a frame or used Whyte / Stache to appear. I like my 26″ bikes anyway 😉

Lots of the Whyte 5/6/729’s are now regularly popping up on ebay and the classifieds, along with shops now selling the 2013’s at discount (as the 2014’s have appeared early). Good fun bike for the money, the same can probably said of the Stache too.

Buying a 529 in sale for £600 and moving bits on here & fleabay would easiest. However Stache has a 120 fork as standard and the 529 et al only has 100mm