Steel or Titanium?

I’d take a look at Singular too, a Swift or a Buzzard would suit, both sorted steel frames and offer the two geo options you’re considering.

Saying that, in our extended riding group around Brighton there’s a Sync, FF29 and a couple of Solaris’s too; all seem well liked and are quick up and down around Stanmer Woods and the Downs. The Sync looks lovely in the flesh and not as XC-bias as some are suggesting, particularly run with 140mm forks and a dropper post.

My buddy with the ROS 9 has a bunch of Niners inc. an SS A9C, he rides them hard all year, I’ve never heard him complain about the EBBs.

Yeah my N9 came from CTBM but I think Canfield have a new importer now, it was an STW news item a few weeks ago. Some people get them from the German importer too.

I just switched my N9 from 120mm Rebas on Crests to 140mm Revs on Flows, I’m totally sold on the change, it’s a fast, precise, planted, tolerant bike with a bit of forgiveness too. That could be as much down to the stiffer wheels and forks as much as the travel, I don’t know. See a thread I made here a few days ago and the MTBR link for more info.

I think the ‘hardcore’ rep. of long travel HT’s gets over-egged, really they’re just good fun, forgiving, do anything bikes. You don’t have to be some kind of tattooed hucker in a pot helmet to enjoy them. So maybe a slightly lighter bike would get me to the top of the climb a few seconds sooner. Really, who cares.

I didn’t know the Sync was rated for 140mm forks – worth a look too I’d say. My friend who has one runs 120.

I had a Swift, it’s very versatile but I found it a bit dull for trail riding. Good for XC, touring, packing etc, and people do win races on them.

Another friend has a Buzzard, he loves it and it’s outstanding value. He has an issue with it throwing the chain that’s he’s never resolved to his satisfaction. For me it doesn’t have the wow factor of the N9/R9, but that’s me being a bit fickle – it’s a fraction of the price! It also can’t do SS out of the box, R9/N9 can.

Kona Raijin – beautiful (and very capable) ride with a 120 fork. Decent money and made by Lynskey

I could never bring myself to buy another Niner, they’re just not worth it. Not when there’s lots of other stuff out there. Niner gear makes for very pretty internet pics though 🙂

hey isn’t it great having so many brilliant bikes to choose from! 🙂

I’m no riding god, but I certainly don’t find the Sync a handful on descents. At 140 it would slacken off a degree or so too. Having bought bikes which are slacker and then finding they don’t really work for the majority of my riding, I would caution against buying something much slacker than you currently ride, unless you’re going to change your riding too. For wiggly single track where I have most fun, the Sync is amazing.

Sorry to throw another name into the pot ,but have you looked at Kindom bike?
Ti frames with the sort of geo. you want.The Vendetta2 is £999.
They will also customize the angles ect if required.

Oops sorry just seen you dont want 650 wheels so kingdom bike is out.
However another brilliant suggestion would be to look at Travers Bikes.They make loverly looking Ti frames,about £1250 if memory serves.

get enigma steel or ti and spec your own angles, win win thats what I did and have not regretted it. went for steel with slightly slacker head angle and max of 140 fork, run it at 120-130 most of time

If you already have a full bouncer then fuly rigid is a good choice – even less maintainence, more of a contrast with your other bike, and you don’t need suspension for South Downs riding anyway.

A Ti or steel Jones, or a Stooge would fit the bill!

I always enjoy these threads where the OP starts with a choice of 2 and ends with a choice of 10.

I was also going to suggest a Stooge

I know it looks like a rigid, but in real life it isn’t 🙂

Yeah it is! Good at what it’s made for though.

That Kona Raijin looks lovely. Nicer price and a lifetime warranty too.

Steel, and a custom fit. Built up with quality bearings and you’ll always have a no worries bike. Full sus definitely worth keeping as well….

Here’s the mighty @kinesisbikes_uk #sync baking in the sun on yesterday’s ride #MTB #tilushness #titanium by South Downs MTB Skills[/url], on Flickr

Sounds like we ride in exactly the same places, I can confirm the Sync is a great tool for the job! How tall are you? Mine is a medium. if you want to meet up for a ride and have a twiddle on my Sync I’m sure it could be arranged…..

@andyjh – assume you know the small sync is 650b?

I’m no riding god, but I certainly don’t find the Sync a handful on descents. At 140 it would slacken off a degree or so too. Having bought bikes which are slacker and then finding they don’t really work for the majority of my riding, I would caution against buying something much slacker than you currently ride, unless you’re going to change your riding too. For wiggly single track where I have most fun, the Sync is amazing.

This in spades!

Here’s mine after a minor refresh last week…

I’ve owned a huge number of bikes over the last 20 years or so, many have followed whatever the latest fashion has been, some haven’t. I’ve owned LT/burly/overbuilt/slack HT’s before and usually find for my riding, they’re not warranted and/or they’re less fun.

That said though, the Sync isn’t steep compared to some. It’s also remarkably planted and confidence inspiring on descents, more than the numbers would suggest. It’s only about 1/2 a degree steeper than a Cotic Solaris which I very much doubt you’d notice. What you do notice over the Cotic (aside from the hefty premium!) is the bolt through rear axle adding stifness, the 1lb drop in weight, vastly more tyre/mud clearance (despite the stays being 2mm shorter on the Sync it can fit a Hans Dampf in with room to spare) and of course it’s made of Ti! :-p

I knew I’d love the Sync before I rode it, it’s everything I wanted in a HT. If it was ally, or steel I’d still have bought it, the fact it’s Ti is kind of by the by (except for the price, though it is also exceptionally well designed and made compared to just about every other Ti frame I’ve ever seen). If the FF29 had a bolt thru back end, sub 440mm stays, and a touch off the head angle, I’d have bought one happily. That said though, the FF29 is another bike that rides incredibly well in spite of the on paper numbers. Both bikes that really need a good test ride to appreciate I’d say. I’ve lent my Sync to a few people, and everyone has come back raving about it. The one who raves about it the most is the one who can’t see the point in Titanium, rides full sus out of preference, and isn’t totally sold on 29ers. In his words “I don’t know what it is about that bike, but if I could only own one bike, that would be it”… Touche!

For general singletrack riding, I’d struggle to find a better bike to be honest. But it’s also exceptionally capable when the going gets rougher, I’ve ridden mine down some of the old DH tracks at the FoD faster than on a full sus, I spent several days at Glentress on it where it only got slightly fatiguing towards the end not being on a full sus (hardly a fault of the bike, Glentress can be pretty rough in places on the Red/Black routes). It’s also been up and down Snowdon, and been to many trail centres. Not once did I think I was on the wrong bike, which coming from me is saying something!

Anyway… I live nowhere near you otherwise I’d offer you a go on mine. Suggest that if you’re close enough to another willing volunteer, you buy them a couple of pints for their trouble and have a go on one! You won’t regret it.

@andyjh we’re not making it easy for you are we?

Charge Duster. Probably the ‘deadest’ feeling bike of any material that I have ridden.
Charge Skinny Duster. Can’t level that at it. Not too everyones taste, but I thought it was ace.

Think it was a 2011 model. Geometry was spot on for me, but somehow I just couldn’t sense any liveliness at all. If it was the skinny Duster built with Tange Prestige I honestly cannot see how it was so wooden – but there you are.

Hmm that or this…

I do like this game!

Assume steel is now out the picture and we’re talking Ti 🙂

Lovely bike that Sync above!

Arrggghhhh!!! Lol 🙂

Can’t read and digest this all yet as stuck in an all day meeting. Sitting at the back though so I can browse through this all 🙂 so many choices, all good though.

Picking up on a couple of questions, yes I’m aware the Sync is 650b in small but I would need a large being 6ft.

Funny that the price of Niner frames gets mentioned a few times as being stupid high but it seems to be the same as the N9 and other interesting frames, and a lot less than the Sync.

The Singular looked good geo and price wise until I noticed they took 20-30mm off the top tube creating a really short bike with major slack head angle, don’t think that works.

Considering 99% of my riding is South Downs with only two trips to Surrey Hills, two to Stanmer, one to Afan, I do wonder if the Sunc running 140mm forks to slacken it off a tadge would work very well most of the time??

As said, so many choices is great. Will carry on reading above again and probably change my mind again, lol

buy one of each

Funny that the price of Niner frames gets mentioned a few times as being stupid high but it seems to be the same as the N9 and other interesting frames, and a lot less than the Sync.

I think this is partly a Jungle Products reputation thing. Usually seem to change the dollar sign on the MSRP to a pound then add on another 10%. Looks like for the ROS9 it’s too bad though… but still, 900 quid for a cro-mo frame from a pseudo-boutique brand does seem a bit steep.

Funny that the price of Niner frames gets mentioned a few times as being stupid high but it seems to be the same as the N9 and other interesting frames, and a lot less than the Sync.

ROS 9 is bog standard butted chromo and £150 more then the Canfield Nimble 9.

If you are considering these think about a Kona Honzo – same geo and used to be available frame only for about £450. Or get a 2 Souls QH – about £900 but 853 and rides brilliantly.

I pick my custom Curtis 29er up next week. 2 sets bottle bosses, BSA BB, long TT, short ST (low TT for lever clearance plus more seat post for comfort)1″ HT, 27.2mm seat post, standard dropouts and 69.5 head angle all in 853/columbus. ie you get to choose exactly what you want.

I spoke to a custom builder last year, I was looking for a steel Yelli equivalent (which the N9 and R9 virtually are). They couldn’t make the short chainstays which are an essential feature of the geo (presumably because they only have straight tubes to work with) so I stopped at that point – “you get to choose exactly what you want” didn’t apply to me.

As for the costs of the US imported frames, yeah it’s bonkers. But whatever, we’re not getting any younger are we?

FWIW I’d quite like to try a Sync @ 140mm!

Oh, well if we’re getting the gratuitous Sync pics out, here’s mine (with forks at 110 as it turns out):

any excuse, it’s only a matter of time before Takis green SIR9 shows it’s face ..

Hmm that or this…

I do like this game!

Assume steel is now out the picture and we’re talking Ti

Here’s mine – a prancer on the trail…

So bonesetter – if you could keep just one bike, which would it be? 🙂

Hmm, lovely gratuitous bike pics in this thread now 🙂

@mboy, many thanks for that Sync feedback. I would say with that and Jim’s input I am fairly safe going for a Sync with the type of riding and location I ride in. Add in the 140mm fork option to slacken off the angles and it could turn out to be very interesting. @matt, I’ll let you know if I go this way and you can swing a leg over 🙂

That Kona Ti frame looks very nice as well, will do a bit more investigation of that one. Not so sure on the Honza frame though, seems very heavy from everything I’ve read.

Decisions decisions 🙂

@andyjh I’m six foot and on a medium, albeit with a lot of seatpost showing. I do have unfeasibly long legs though.

Ive been watching this thread and the other sync threads because I really want a ti ht but funds only allowed me the ff29 🙁

That ^ Kona however… Don’t think I’ve ever seen a bike as good looking as that!

As Hummerlicious suggests, be careful of sizing. I’m on a large at 6’4″, and it certainly doesn’t feel too small.

Titanium explained Italian style

I’m on a large at 6’4″, and it certainly doesn’t feel too small.

Mine too, certainly wouldn’t want any larger.

I think you can demo kinesiology at rule five bikes Brighton.

Clink – Member
So bonesetter – if you could keep just one bike, which would it be?

The Ti Stooge of course 🙂