It’s time to decide on a new bike. I’m currently running a 2013 Cotic Soul on 26 wheels and need to decide between a 27.5 or 29er.

I’m considering either a Kinesis Sync, Spesh Epic (Carbon 29) or some other steel frame by a British manufacturer.

Most of my riding is along the South Downs Way. My main concern is if I were to go for a carbon frame, is this likely to be vulnerable to the flinty terrain of the South Downs? I have visions of a big hole appearing in the down tube at some point with a great deal of money wasted……

Budget somewhere between £2,500-3000 and likely to be a self-build.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

kind regards,

Ben

*Or what are you running / any advice appreciated

Stanton Sherpa Ti?

Sherpa is a contender for the Sync. Time to arrange some test rides….

Travers RUSSTi

http://www.traversbikes.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html#!/RUSSTi-27-5+-29er-and-29+-Titanium-frame/p/57891143/category=15761034

Travers Russ Ti,brilliant frame.

You would not be disappointed.

Thanks,

Max

Looks great, Max. Nice build!

a very tempting option indeed….

If it’s XC go for a 29er. I’ve never found much difference between a 26” vs 27.5”. My 29er is faster and  more comfortable. If I was a trail centre addict and I only had one bike It would be a full sus 27.5 but I like long days out in the countryside so the  29er Hardtail gets used most of the time.

dude; flying bits of flint aren’t going to make holes in your rig’s frame

what else is in your quiver? – might help us to keep it all balanced up.  maybe you want to swap out wheelsets with your sled for in-between days ?

I plan on this next bike lasting at least 10 years with regular use.

My only concern was the longevity of the structural integrity of carbon over this time.

I know it depends on a number of factors of how a frame might fatigue so was just interested to see what people tend to go for. The build would be fairly standard, most probably with a 120 fork and Alu rims.

I’m currently doing 650 – 700 miles a year split across road / XC but hoping this will increase to 1000+ as from September as the kids will all finally be in school. 🙌

I was looking for a new MTB (ideally self-build) earlier this spring and ended-up with a Genesis Mantle:

I was previously riding a Transition Scout, although admittedly I have a preference for hardtails.  It’s early days and I’ve only ridden familiar trails so far, but Strava tells me that I’m quicker on pretty much every measure – and, most importantly, it’s heaps of fun.

I was going to fit a dropper post, but haven’t felt the need so far apart from on my local pump track!  In the end, it was competitive cost-wise to sell my old bike in bits and buy this factory build.

I imagined I’d have gone with a steel hardtail with low / slack geometry, bigger forks and wider bars – but I think this bike is better suited to me.  The geo is somewhere between the more up-to-date XC bikes like Cannondale / Trek etc and something like a Solaris.

If I wasn’t so fully “biked up” at the moment, that ^ Genesis would be on my credit card!

I’ve got this, it’s a KTM Myroon Elite and bang in the middle of your budget (for the 2018) model. I’m really impressed by it, having been on a FS XC 29er fro the two years previous.

It’s nice an light (10.4kg as pictured including pedals and cages) and has a good spec, XT/SLX mix, Fox 32 Step Cast forks, tubeless wheels (Mavic 421XC rims on SLX hubs) & tyres. I’ve got a nice set of wheels (DTXR1501’s) to go on when the cassette eventually turns up and i get round to mounting the tyres, those alone should drop about 300g from the bike, maybe more.

My Bird Zero TR self build:130mm Yaris, the frame is quite a good weight, but weight wasn’t primary concern, wanted it to handle some rough stuff, and budget was a chunk below your minimum.