Sick released the Grim Ripper in this months drop.

Essentially a steel Gnarcasist. Various reviews trickling in about that which sound interesting.

The medium is v slack, long and has a steep ST. It’s essentially a more extreme Geometron Argon for £500. Weight estimated at 2.7kg. So also reasonable.

I’m tempted to pick one up and see why it’s like.. back end is the same length as my current bike so flicking it around should be just as easy, but will the long front make it difficult to manual? Might be a bit too planted.

Either that, or go for the new Cotic SolarisMAX (out in 6 weeks) or the Santa Cruz Chameleon. Very different bikes mind.

I’m sure it’ll polarise opinion on here (Sick always do), but any comments before I give it a shot?

I like that. Well, I hate everything about the graphics. But still

Hand made in Peru?

That’s a new one?

Is that a Marino bikes (Peru) frame for more money in a different guise from someone else?

I follow Sick as I find their stuff interesting but it appears to me that they design their frames by sitting down in a pub, writing down some numbers over a beer and then getting a few made which are sold in their batch drop or whatever they call it. On the whole there’s no testing done (bar the original gnarcassist from what I can tell) to see if it actually rides well so its a bit of a shot in the dark. I may of course be doing them a massive injustice here and if so I stand corrected.

That aside from experience of long reach bikes I don’t expect you’ll find it overly hard to manual, I think the stays have a bigger impact on that than the reach. My guess would be that it will feel a bit wandery and lethargic on more benign trails unless you’re going full bore flat out. Good on steep rough stuff as you’ll get confidence from having the front so far ahead of you. You’ve also got to be a weight the front style of rider otherwise the front end will feel vague in corners, particularly flatter ones.

Fwiw the new Chameleon is an ace do everything bike.

Their design process does look a bit like that, but actually it’s a bunch of guys who are highly skilled at 3d modelling and manufacturing who can make decisions very quickly and move through to production using proven techniques very fast.

No presentations to the board of directors and sign off from three departments.

Really refreshing.

I’d love a shot, as said, graphics are ‘a bit Ellsworth’…

Interesting and good to get some insight.

Not my cup of tea, but kudos for a a genuinely amusing bike name.

Either that, or go for the new Cotic SolarisMAX (out in 6 weeks)

Say what now, how did I miss that? Anything known yet?

Looks interesting but would definitely need a test ride first with that head angle, in combo with the long chainstays it might be very ponderous and not sure how well the forks will work on flatter stuff. I would like a nice cheap light steel hardtail in giant- friendly proportions though. I wonder if the angles are based on real world test riding or trying to appease forum geometry whores, who will be along shortly to say it’s too short and steep.

Bigjim, pretty much my thoughts.
On paper there’s some extreme figures, but when I think of my current bike some of the changes are what I’m looking for (I think..). As you say, the problem is getting a test ride. I’ve asked before and it seems it’s not possible. The geometry for Grim Ripper is proven though, as it’s the exact same as the Gnarcassist.

Shackleton, Cotic aren’t stocking anymore current SolarisMax. I asked Cy and confirmed was 6 weeks out.

Any news on the Solaris Max?

About 6 weeks.

Also, seems Sick have seen the thread, so to add a bit more info/context to the brand/bike;

I follow Sick as I find their stuff interesting but it appears to me that they design their frames by sitting down in a pub, writing down some numbers over a beer and then getting a few made which are sold in their batch drop or whatever they call it. On the whole there’s no testing done (bar the original gnarcassist from what I can tell) to see if it actually rides well so its a bit of a shot in the dark. I may of course be doing them a massive injustice here and if so I stand corrected.

<li class=”_ezgzd”>sickbicycles<span title=”Edited”>Hello forum user. I know you follow us so I’m going to answer some questions off the STW forum before the same 5 blokes jump on me for answering it. 😂 I can totally understand why people think we throw a few numbers together and see how it goes, especially since the bike scene does stay pretty fixated on certain attributes being desirable ones. They have been used as a strong consumer selling point the marketing and budget of the big companies is pretty fierce . Stepping out of that is risky, it really is. Whilst a few early adopters will jump on. The majority, won’t. This makes it hard for a startup to make a profit. You are actively encouraged to play it safe. First and foremost we are a rider owned brand. We have 6 riders we sponsor, that seems generous but really they are our defacto R&D department. In terms of prototyping, man, that could not be further off, I feel if anything we do far too much, mainly because it’s the best bit of the job (20% of turnover last year went on r&d, not profit!). We love testing prototypes. There is way more than just the Gnarcissist. I have a workshop desk covered in bits and pieces.
And I thought we were pretty good covering it here too, I like to think we all share in the brands journey. In terms of things just getting released. Well they are planned months in advance, we need quite a bit of testing and safety testing, to just make a bike is reckless and not a great long term business strategy. Broken bikes and dead riders hurt sales. So why wouldn’t you hear about them? Press junkets, we can’t afford to build up lots of complete bikes and take a bunch of journos around and buy them some ales to get a bit of press. So we do the r&d we make the bike. You buy it or you don’t buy it. Luckily, a lot of people do! But also we are here we are open ask!</span>

Dibs when you sell it

‘Is that a Marino bikes (Peru) frame for more money in a different guise from someone else?’

Yeah they put on their Insta page last week that they have been getting Marino bikes/frames in Peru to manufacture some of their frames.

I still find it amazing when guys like Sick produce great value frames for the cost. Considering established brands such as Cotic/PACE and others are all in similar price brackets , and yet these guys  http://trillioncycles.com/prime/  seem to take the weewee with their pricing.

Trillion are made in the UK, which is hard to compare to Sick’s Taiwanese machines. But Sick’s UK bikes are probably comparable.

Looks like a great bike, shame about the leather biker Nazi font lol

Buy that or just steal the geo (or customize your own would be the gentlemans approach…) and buy directly from Marino for less money. I have a custom Marino myself, cost me $430 with headset, rear axle, seat clamp and shipping included (then another $100 with import fees). I’d buy another one from him without hesitation.

I don’t know much about Sick but I’d rather support the maker when it’s possible rather than the dudebros of instagram.

They produce a product fairly similar to Cotic but are polar opposites in the development for product – just listened to SI’s podcast where he talks about long term testing and refinement before sale – SICKs bikes won’t be unsafe as they use builders that know their stuff but they do seem to lack direction at the moment flitting from frame to frame and ditching designs all over the shop when realities seem to hit home (glued cnc aluminium swingarm etc) regarding potential costs of the actual requirement for the product to go through a realistic development cycle.

Brant – I’m not sure where you get the info from but the ‘front men’ have almost zero applicable engineering experience, they get a guy to do drawings / 3D work for them, thats fine though, a business needs people to cover roles and they do the job of marketing and branding well.

I would buy a hardtail, I wouldn’t buy a fs though – pre selling a full TI frame when they don’t even have a sample isn’t a great idea.

im sure they will calm down, reduce that ultra complicated list of frames to a realistic range and crack on with things when they realise it’s the simple / niche stuff people want from them.

Oh, and the usual screendump from this forum is up on Sicks instagram now – you guys are ‘famous’…..

I’ve never seen one in the flesh but the member who got one of the gear box bikes posted a few pics and it looked far nicer than it did on their site.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”> As for this one.. Must be a fairly limited market fir a hard tail with that head angle, but I’m sure it’ll appeal to some folks. </span>

Interesting input from brant also..

I really like their stuff, their attitude to Bike design, and their use of social media. It’s an incredibly accessible company. The Have Blue F/S is a stunning bit of kit.

They are really open about trying stuff building concept bikes and that leaves them open to some critisim but I really like seeing what they are doing, It’s far from a back of a fag packet design process. There are a good load of bikes out there already and none coming up as broken or faulty. I hope they keep doing stuff the way they are, it makes their life harder ( as they take flak) but it’s great to see how it’s being thought about and done.

I’d 100% buy one.

Don’t understand the hate they got on here.

ooh they’re watching us

this might be the first bike that stw has not labelled “not as progressive as I’d like to see”

Looks really good that.

Shame more builders don’t use a 44/56 HT though .  Allows all the slackset options to mess around with angles.

Don’t understand the hate they got on here.

There was a thread a while back, one of the sick guys was ranting on about something and just generally being a bellend. I can’t even remember what it was about, but I do remember thinking ‘those guys are never, ever getting any of my money’.

nope, never. Not even if it had less weird geometry.

That said: I am happily not the target market, who presumably don’t care about the behaviour of a company they buy stuff from.

You are wrong dude! They just looked at a Kingdom Vendetta frame and grabbed a tracing paper, after the stick they got from the first HT they released which was pig ugly! Since then, much better but pretty much the same as Kingdom…in fact it’s like they live in the shadows of that brand!? Might as well move to Denmark as well!?

The geometry for Grim Ripper is proven though, as it’s the exact same as the Gnarcassist.

The Grim Ripper has a shorter wheel base than my Gnarcissist but the rest of the Geo is similar. If you look at the range it looks massive but is only 5 frames really in different materials (Ti, 853 & 4130) and Pinion versions.

Really like the stuff coming from Sick bikes ATM, their frames look like they would be heaps of fun.

The graphics aren’t my taste, but pfft, who cares about that shit.

that’d be perfect for the professional vacuum-er, they should sponsor me

I’m a hardtail fan, I’m wondering what jumps and drops are like on a head angle of 62? Not just the sick frame, but the BTR frame as well is similar I think. It must put a lot more stress on the headtube and forks landing a drop to flat? Or is it not that much different to a bike with a more conventional 66 degree HA?

I’m a hardtail fan, I’m wondering what jumps and drops are like on a head angle of 62?

A huck to flat could be interesting!

it’s a bunch of guys who are highly skilled at 3d modelling and manufacturing who can make decisions very quickly and move through to production using proven techniques very fast.

The website says “Handmade in Peru”. What do they use, Inca metalworking techniques?

“Superstu:

Don’t understand the hate they got on here.”

They’re pure fannies and seemed to glory in being pure fannies. Doesn’t mean the bike’s not great though.

They’re pure fannies and seemed to glory in being pure fannies.

I like fannies, probably explains why I like the Sick boys too.

“I’m a hardtail fan, I’m wondering what jumps and drops are like on a head angle of 62? Not just the sick frame, but the BTR frame as well is similar I think. It must put a lot more stress on the headtube and forks landing a drop to flat? Or is it not that much different to a bike with a more conventional 66 degree HA?”

About 15% more leverage with the slacker bike when landing to flat.

**waits for that’s fella from sick to come on and chuck a massive tantrum (again)**

Bike looks interesting though

Na, Jordan and Tim are too busy designing their new cruiser 😛

So that’s why I have a drawing of a bike on my head!

The website says “Handmade in Peru”. What do they use, Inca metalworking techniques?

No Just a guy who anyone can go and buy from , it seems they try to hook up with lots of people to make their stuff for them and its “Cred” bro, made in the UK was big till it wasn’t then copying lots of other stuff and blowing hot air seems to have the 10 year olds hitting the like button

The joke is that they have a massive online following but technically make pretty poorly finished stuff that people still want to buy.

A huck to flat could be interesting!

Is there actual proof of any of their products being safe to ride despite them banging on about testing?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfQHyN8BVYF/?hl=en 

The above looks like the rear end would fold on landing.