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

Cheers Matt once again. The only concern I have for the ROS9 is the Biocentric bottom bracket thingy, how well will that last? Will it start creaking? A bit new to know what it’s going to be like after a few months of winter riding. So the N9 is a bit more straight forward I guess with the sliders.

Did you get yours from Charliethebikemonger? Or via a different route? For the ROS9 I believe QuestAdventures in Worthing deal with Niner so will go talk to them.

Thanks for the link, will do a bit of reading.

As the Sync is very similar to my current bike geometry I assume I will settle into to it fairly well but to drop that amount of money and then be disappointed would be a crime!

I am thinking of running 140mm forks on either bike. The guys at Kinesis have confirmed the Sync rides well like this and obviously slakens of the head a bit more although it does raise the BB by 10mm. Would love to get a demo on one but no such luck with that bike. Both the ROS and N9 also say they will run 140mm, what are you running?

@mattjg, thanks, that’s really good feedback. To be honest the material question was a bit of a red herring and the real question was between the styles of bikes, geometry as you say.

Thinking about what you have said I am now edging towards the Niner, or perhaps even a Nimble :) The reason being is my current bike is a short travel full sus, BMC Fourstroke, 100mm rear, 120mm front with 70d head angle, basically a slightly softened XC racer. The Sync seems to be very close to this and I will end up with two bikes very similar. Therefore the ROS9 will offer me something very different. It will be interesting as to which one I would take to Surrey Hills, full sus or HT for downhill fun?

Would agree on the good steel vs poor Ti but as confirmed above, the Kinesis Sync is a very well made Ti frame so I am comparing good with good.

Take the point about the price and the use in winter but I want to be using this year round and not just be a winter slop bike. Beauty of a hardtail is less maintenance during the winter months than my full sus plus I’ll be running 1×10 so again less maintenance. As long as I spec some good headset and BB bearings like Hope it should go through the winter with no worries. I just want to avoid the grind destroying the pivot bearings of my full sus and eating away at my Roval wheel bearings. Again this bike will probably have a set of Hope wheels so it should last and not need stripping post every ride!

Thanks Bol for the offer, much appreciated :)

The Sync seems to be coming out very well for my type and location of riding. Normally I wouldn’t hesitate but it is a huge chunk of cash for a frame so was hoping for some experienced guidance. Many thanks for that :)

Will take another look at the Solaris but every time I talk to an owner the first word they say is heavy! They normally go on to say they like it though.

Took a look at the Fireline but again it’s out of stock. Equally the Parkwood which I think is a Scandel based frame is also out of stock, for the price I would give that one a try.

Credit card might take a bashing :)

Ok, interesting re the slack geo and climbing. Good to hear that I shouldn’t notice too much difference, I was a bit concerned as most of my riding involves as much climbing as possible to try and get better so I wouldn’t want anything that would hinder it.

Trouble is with these frames, there aren’t many shops out there with demos. I’m going to borrow a Kinesis FF29 to get a feel for that but I know it’s not really going to tell me what the Sync is like as the material is very different and the geometry is also different.

I was going to get a Ragley BigWig but the current model is sold out everywhere and the new one is not due in until early 2015. If it’s then late, which most new bikes are, I could be looking spring before I get a second bike up and riding.

I’m very tempted to just get the Sync but the Niner has caught my eye and seems to be a very nice frame with rav reviews. Both are stupid expensive but I have most of the other parts ready and waiting so in reality it’s not going to be a massive build cost.

Ok, thanks Bol.

I’ve sent an email to Kinesis so will wait to see what they have to say about running at 140mm

I have read the frame will take 140mm in reviews but I can only see up to 130mm on the Kinesis web site. Think I will contact them directly to clear it up and make sure I don’t compromise any warrantee.

Bol, you say your Rev’s will go to 140 but haven’t tried it, what do you run them at?

I am assuming I can put spacers in the forks and limit the travel so if it does turn out 140mm is too much, I can limit to 130mm, perhaps?

Got a Raceface 30t n/w and x9 clutch mech on mine and it’s not dropped a chain once yet :) Been running this setup for at least 4 months and covered approx 300 miles of varied trails including a weekend at Afan. Wouldn’t bother with the guide and get a clutch mech would by my suggestion.

Having the same requirement, I’ve come up with the Ragley BigWig. More expensive than the Parkwood but with a slacker geo. Current model is going cheap on CRC as there is a 2015 version with changeable dropouts to support 135 or 142.

I did a fair bit of searching and came up with these two sellers

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201168999969?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&var=500367993033&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121324427589?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&var=420275361363&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I’ve ordered one from the first seller, yet to receive so I can’t confirm.

Quick update on this. Received a light from the first seller listed and no real surprise, as fake as they come. Still it works so I’ll probably keep it and see how I get on.

I did a fair bit of searching and came up with these two sellers

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201168999969?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&var=500367993033&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121324427589?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&var=420275361363&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I’ve ordered one from the first seller, yet to receive so I can’t confirm.