Much as I love my Pitch for the sort of big hill riding I hardly ever seem to get the chance to do, it feels too heavy and just too much for the sort of riding I can do locally. I've just bought an mmmbop frame to replace it, and am hoping that it will be a better compromise. Has anyone else made a similar move, and if so, was it a good one?

I've also been kind of thinking that if I really get on with the mmmbop and it rides well on the tight, twisty, flatish singletrack we've got plenty of round here, I might trade it and my ti xc bike for a ragley ti. Am I being foolish? Noone would accuse me of being the most skillful or subtle of riders – would I be able to make it work for me?

tight, twisty, flatish singletrack we've got plenty of round here

doesn't sound like you have much need for a full suss.

Keep the pitch for t'alps and buy a steel one and do slx and pikeys.

that way you got an xc racer for the summer, a playey one, and a squidger

I like what you're saying bigrich, but another bike will significantly add to the risk of divorce. The choice of mmmbop over pig came down to a great second hand deal of here from Mr Ton (and the fact I'm a bit of a sucker for a light frame)

So you're going to buy a super light frame from the infamous man mountain of Single Track World?

Where is 'here' by the way?

Looks like 'here' is Norfolk, in which case I can see why the Pitch might not be the best bike.

Yep would have to agree with that.

Yeh, I think that the pitch was wishful thinking really, but I do want to be a bit more adventurous whenever I get the chance.

ride what you want not what you need 🙂

I've got a 16" steel 456 to compliment my Blur4x.

Just swap the bits over and 'park' the Pitch frame, you may need it one day.

A riding buddy broke his FS (Meta before anyone asks…) just before Xmas, and so took his HT to Afan – he found it a wee bit uncomfortable – and is now looking at another FS.

Just swap the bits over and 'park' the Pitch frame, you may need it one day.

Thats what I've done. The 456 is parked at the mo with a headset in situ. If you sold the Pitch frame now- or if you sold it in a year you'd lose say £100? I'd even consider powdercoating the Pitch ready for Summer- as you'll have that itch again.

I think you could be right about parking the pitch. I guess my hope had been that I could do most things I can do on the pitch on the mmmbop, but it might be a bit hard on the spine after a few days in Wales.

If you park the Pitch you will end up with 3 whole bikes by the end of the year.

If its a large frame you should transfer the components to the mmmbop and sell the frame to me! 😀

balfa how tall are you? You know the Pitches size up very long, especially in the larger sizes? Unless you are a literal giant the medium might be better.

6'4 so pretty sure I need a large. Unfortunately they seem rather rare in large.

Balfa, it is a large (i'm 6ft4 too and it fits me a treat). It might already have a home to go to, but if not, and I can't make keeping it stack up, I'll give you a shout. It's a 2009 Comp with a very recent high volume rp2.

I did exactly the same, swapping the bits of my old Giant Trance which I had burlyfied.

The Mmmbop was great round Cwmcarn the other day. Don't know if it was the wider bars/shorter stem or just the new bike thing was giving me extra confidence, but I really didn't notice not having rear suspension (maybe a day in the Peak would change my mind).

I was going to keep the Trance frame for a trip to the Alps but I don't see much point any more.

I've done similar, done a frame swap out – out with an 08 Heckler, in with a 456 On one for the reasons you outline.

Good move….for me anyways 🙄

How big is your 'big hill' riding?

Would you not be better off trading both in and going for something like a Zesty, Orange5, Stumpjumper, Fuel EX……which would be fine for singletrack & for pointing fairly quickly downhill?

Or would these not be any good for some of the more gravity oriented riding you do?

You're probably right stumpy. In fact I started off with a stumpy fsr, which I am still getting round to selling. Problem was it just wasn't enough fun on my local singletrack – hense swapping it for a ti hardtail. Not sure I want to ride fs every day any more. Would be the sensible choice though.