Am leaning towards one to complement the Nicolai Helius AM and to re-learn some forgotten hardtail skills. Would love to see some example builds and hear your thoughts.

would love to be able to show you my Bfe but im still waiting for it to come into the country!
i hope i don't miss another bank holiday weekends riding due to lack of bike

i'd say buy one, they look sweet and the reviews tend to back this up.

don't worry once i get mine pics will be bl**dy everywhere!

what size/colour did you order 4130soul?

This was my Bfe, which I sold and regretted.

I liked it a lot, though I always felt I should've got a small for general hooning. Having said that I did quite a few all day rides and it was a good trail bike.

I've ordered a small frame, haven't decided which colour yet as i haven't seen the gritstone yet

Bright blue here…. again, when I get it I will be posting enough pictures!

I have one of the orange 853 ones. Been riding xc mostly on it recently, but rode dh on it on sunday and went out for a jump sesh last night and its good for all of them.

its a 17.5inch, im 6foot2 so i can get the seat high enough for xc.

Its got 721/719 wheels, dual ply maxxis, 1×9 gears and Marzocchi z1's lowered to 120mm on it at the moment.

geetee – just bought an evil sovereign off Ebay. Awesome bike around the Surrey Hills. Never ridden a BFe so can't really compare, but wonder if you need the slack angles / ability to run 160mm forks around here?
You're welcome to try mine if you like.

well cotic say they will be shipped out to customers by the end of the month, would expect them to have them in the warehouse as we speak on that basis! if they are not in the warehouse i do wonder if they will hit their end of month deadline?

If you put 100mm forks on it then it wouldnt be too slack at all really, probably just about right. 160mm forks would be a complete waste of time, you dont really learn any hardtail skills, you jsut end up riding it like a full sus.

160mm forks would be a complete waste of time

hows that? its designed as a hard hitting long travel HT, ragging, jumping, DH the lot, if you want 100-130 mm go for the Soul.

Dunno, its just the same as a soul but a bit stronger?

Dunno why youd want 160 forks for jumping, 'ragging', dh etc. If your riding some long fast downhills like the alps then it makes sense but apart from that i dont think it does.

Jumps n that are much better with some shorter forks.

If you want a lighter weight trail/xc frame go for the soul.

I've got 160mm on mine. In truth they are u-turn so i use them lower on flat and climbing stuff, but a good big forked hardtail down daft descents is quite a buzz. Don't half make your legs ache though. 🙁

I agree 160 on that is a tad ott but 100mm forks? its not a 4x frame!!

140 I would expect would be the ideal, but the bfe with fox 36 talas, just run a bit more sag… not a waste of time at all! if you want to run short travel forks imho that frame would be wasted, better of going for a soul and save some weight. imho ofc

Depends how you ride I guess.

How about a nice compromise and get some travel adjust forks?

I wouldnt want to get a soul just cos its a bit light weight (its over a lb lighter than my bmx frame). Its nice to know your frame isnt going to crease if you land a jump badly.

How about a nice compromise and get some travel adjust forks?

I did say, fox 36 talas, the clue is in the word Talas!!

wouldnt want to get a soul just cos its a bit light weight (its over a lb lighter than my bmx frame). Its nice to know your frame isnt going to crease if you land a jump badly.

have you read about the soul before? the weight is not an issue, its a very tough bike still capable of taking 140mm forks.

Really the soul is a hard hitter that can be built light if people want, choice for a bfe is if you want to slam downhill, if you dont want to rag DH or freeride the Soul will do everything else, it certainly would not crease as you say! try reading some reviews on the Soul, its a choice for many even pretty big blokes who ride hard.

This post started out so promising, a chance to see some Bfe p*rn

but has now been hijacked by those pesky STW opinions again!

The OP did not ask to be told what to ride, it asked to be shown bikes

so get thos bl**dy pics up n shut yer fekkin moaning

peace!

Im sure the soul is strong, although ive broken a few steel dirt jump frames in the past, which all weighed around 6lbs. Therefore I dont know whether I could trust a 4lbs xc frame. Its probably all a mental thing.

I dont have any pics! you'll have to use your imagination. Sorry.

I'll post mine up when I get home, you will just have to wait 8)

I really want to see those new XS in gritstone.

i wanna see a pic of a bfe with seat slamed down and some lyrics on it,

as for opions i ride everything from 29er ss rigid to 6inch full suss and things in between, and if your riding the right trails big forks rock

bfe with seat slamed down and some lyrics on it

wait and your request will be answered 8)

I think the thing with long travel forks is that on a hardtail you adapt your riding style and "ride the forks/front end" a bit more. On downhill stuff I found myself attacking more and letting the forks work harder than say on my full sus' bikes (where I think a more balanced approach is best).

Because they're stiff, sudden direction changes and those moments when you feel the front going from under you, are handled realy well. I've also owned a soul, which I thought felt lifeless in comparison; not even springy/twangy, call it what you will. In fact, though I loved how it looked, i didn't like how it rode. The Bfe felt far more planted and capable.

Here's mine, a few minutes ago!

Seat usually lower than that, but had a flat 10 mile ride home the other night.

Chunky build – Marz AM1-SL fork (120-160, I find about halfway really sweet), DT Swiss 5.2 wheels, XT groupset, big wide Deity bars, tiny stem. Currently got a Larsen TT on the back with a back-to-front HighRoller on the front.

Rides everything. Climbs OK, but foolishly rode it on an XC TT a few weeks ago (without a big ring, duh!) and got annihilated on the climbs, so maybe not a whippet race bike! With the fork wound down and locked out, it climbs OK but that's not what I bought it for.

Yes, the lawn is a disgrace.

I have both the Soul and the Bfe and I think the Soul is much more 'springy'

I have only rode my Bfe once so the jury is still out, but it felt fine on that one ride, just like a chunkier Soul TBH.

I have to agree about riding the fork more though.

Mine, as it was when I built it a few years ago; Marzocchi 55's that were 'orrible… sold them promptly (once Windwave repaired it) and stuck coil Pikes on it.

If you want something that'll take hooligan riding, go for the BFe; I got mine as a replacement for my first Soul – which broke.

Agree with vortex that the Soul is far more sprightly and lighter on its feet.

My original Soul, which would've been better with lighter kit:

And a couple more of my Bfe:

i wanna see a pic of a bfe with seat slamed down and some lyrics on it,

here you go

with seat up

and with it 'slammed' as you put it and the lyriks at 160mm

That looks so 'right' (first pic, not a big fan of the slammed alternative)

Cy does seem to have a habit of making nice looking frames (they also ride nice as well)

I've had two
medium

small

now got none 🙁

you can always buy another GH

thing is if your goner buy a bike with i60mm forks its goner be going down and i like to see what a bike looks like in d/h mode,i aint talking about a little bit of single track pointing down hill either

i like the way it looks and bet it rides good ,cheers for pics,what size is it and how tall are you

it's a small and i'm a tiny 5'4"