Which hardtail 29er?

Im after a 120mm 29er frame, and have so far narrowed it down to (the obvious) 3 out there – Titus Fireline, Kinesis FF29 and Cotic Solaris. The FF29 is the current front runner but im nowhere near decided. Any experiences of any of these bikes out there from the STW hive? Any other suggestions?

No experience of these frames but in STW style I’m still going to offer an opinion 🙂

What you planning on building it up with? Impression I have is that the FF29 is the most xc of the lot, so if you’re looking to build something light for big days out then I’d go for that. The Fireline the most tail oriented so fat rubber and a dropper. With the Solaris sitting somewhere in the middle. I’d have any one of them!

Pipedream Skookum ?[/url]

Reynolds 853 for £395

Other options….(frame only) Stanton Sherpa, Singular Buzzard, 2 souls quarterhorse, Tansition Transam 29, Ragley Bigwig, On one Parkwood
(Complete bikes) Trek Stache, Kona Honzo, Whyte x29’s

Second hand Scandal V2 or, await the arrival of the new 29er hardtail Parkwood, think it arrives next month.

I test rode the Solaris and FF29 and were both excellent bikes but, at the time and for the money, I couldn’t turn down the Scandal. Put the money saved towards a dropper and nice bits and no regrets.

I’ve just got a Kona Honzo and so far so good! I’ll be breaking it in at BPW tomorrow, so will see how she fairs….

Who makes the Parkwood, never heard of it?

Ignore that last comment, ive found it.

Orange Clockwork (Audi optional).

ditto for scandal v2, nothing better for the money

Actually have a v2 scandal built up as a xc race 29er experiment. It’s a nice enough frame and for 150 quid it was a bit of a no brainer to build into a nice fast sub 23lbs racer. If I wanted a good all round trail bike though I’d probably go for something like a Solaris.

So what do you want to do with it?

Kinesis Maxlight Sync?

I would definitely be thinking Parkwood £200 and based on the Fireline which is highly regarded.

Love my Fireline. Easy to get the front wheel up, slack front end, light, with enough compliance in the frame to take the edge off stuff.

Experience to add in: I’ve ridden a mk-1 scandal for 3 years now and love it, climbs superbly and never lets me down. I did ride a Solaris for a day in the pyrenees on some great descents – it was ace, a good choice. I noticed the slacker head angle on the solaris gave great stability – i was keeping up with my mate on his whyte e-120. That said, i wouldn’t swap it for a scandal as the tighter xc gemoetry is what i want most of the time in the UK.

If you’re after an XL, I’m about to sell an orange Solaris. Email me if you’re interested, or it will be in the classifieds in a couple of weeks. I love it, but have been seduced by a Sync.

I’ve ridden loads of 29er hardtails from the original On-one 29er, Vassago Jabberwocky, 853 Voodoo Bizango, On-one ti, Ragley TD-1, Canfield Yelli Screamy and Nimble 9 V1, Jones diamond, 2Souls Slim Jim, current Voodoo Bizango (built from frame).

Of all of those the ones that stood out were the Nimble 9, Slim Jim and current Bizango (although as a rigid only bike the TD1 was superb) – all run with 120mm forks. They all have shorter chainstays and slacker ha. My current Bizango cost me £105 and I’d happily take it over all the others.