Got a Curtis FR frame made a few years back (still got it), and have had no problems with it at all, if I was to order another I would get the head tube angle slackened off a bit rather than the 'recommended 71deg', for the money there are plenty of good frames on the market for half the price (Cotic, Dialled, etc.) unless you want the option of custom geometry?

My old Orange pertex jacket (the one coverd in little orange logos) and a pair of Nike poobar spd shoes, both still in good condition.

Been to Morzine numerous times and sierra nevada 7 times with Switch backs and love the place and riding, much prefer it to morzine/les gets, night life around Bubion isnt as good as morzine/les gets but the trails more than make up for that.

Can totally recommend swithbacks for a cracking weeks riding.

Have always had good service from Snowcard, quick and easy website.

Brilliant, that did make me laugh, not seen that before

Middle aged – yes
Middle class – yes
English – yes
XC jey boy – yes
Ride SS – yes
Dull job – yes

Ive finally found somewhere where I belong 😀

Got a pair of the 318 versions on my Rocky Mountain Switch 2, very plush. Got a 'basic' 180mm set without the motion control for £75 if anybody wants them, in very good condition with only a bit of cable rub on the crown.

Got a set of coil (426) Pikes on my new Soul and they are very nice if a bit heavy, change my forks on the Soul depending on where I am riding (Lakes, etc = Pikes and local riding (south east) Fox F120's). Have owned similar forks such as 2009 Revs, Fox float 32 & Vanila 32, Marz AMSL's and the Pikes are spot on, fit and forget if the standard spring rate suits. Second set of coil Pikes I have owned as I stupidly sold a pair to a mate and realised that their replacement wasnt as good.

As you say **** all to set up and go wrong unlike some air forks, IMO a very reliable cheapish fork built to last, a classic.

Any of the Halifax adverts and anything with bloody meerkats in

Got a set of Fox F120's and a 9mm DT swiss ratchet type qr with 9mm Hope pro 2 adaptors, was looking at getting a new set of lowers but a little bit pricey so went with the above, although its not as solid as a proper bolt thru system but its a lot better than a standard qr set up, 9mm hope adaptors are about £16 and the DT 9mm QR is quite expensive at £35 although superstar components?? do a cheaper version I think?

There was a post on here about ten months ago regarding the above.

+1 for the Porlock/Minehead area, also like Pembrokeshire, stunning coastal scenery/walks

Never done the Switch backs DH thing but have been out to Bubion for the XC/AM 6 times with Switch-backs and love it, cant get enough of the place, Mike, Isobel, Robin, Lucky, etc are such good hosts and guides although Luckies driving is a bit nerve wrecking, booking a week of DHing in Malaga with Switch-backs in November and cant bloody wait, it looks so good.

Had a Trance X0 which came with F120's replaced with 140mm Revs with Maxle which made the bike so much better IMO, do it.

Back row right hand side, she does it for me 😆

Plenty of decent riding (single track) around brighton, etc to match that on the north downs you just need to find it.

Mcinnes, for your size/weight I would think the BFE would be spot on, I considered a BFE but went for the new soul instead (only weigh 12.5). I also ride Stanmer, north downs and the odd trip to wales, lakes, g.tress, etc and a BFE with a decent set of forks (Lyrics, 36's) and a good set of 200mm disks would be a superb all rounder for the type of terrain you ride.

A view of Chanctonbury Hill and the South Downs Way out of my office window, the rest is sh1t.

Got some 180mm domains in pretty good nick, they are the basic versions (302??) and would be looking for about £75 plus postage if your interested? Steerer length is pretty long 200mm +.

+1 eldridge

Curtis FR with 140mm is perfect, Ive got a Curtis FR and anything over 140mm puts the front end and standover a little too high. I am running mine with some coil Pikes and its spot on (head angle static measures about 68.5 deg – so about 70 deg with sag), have run the frame with lots of different forks over the last 3 and a bit years (marz 66sl's, Fox vans, Pikes, Revs) and the 140mm Pikes/Revs were best.

If it were me I would get a set of 2010 Thors or 2010 Revs for the Curtis and leave the 5spot alone, is what I am looking at getting for my new Soul but not sure about reliability of the Thors?

Just built my new Soul up with U turn coil Pikes and it is superb, keep it a 140mm all the time, have thought about getting some Revs or Thors to lighten it up a bit but for the time being the Pikes seem to be spot on (just a bit heavy) for my riding.

This is my first Cotic and always liked the look of them and my other hardtail bikes are a Curtis FR a Dekerf Team SL (now sold) and a Inbred slot drop out, must say the build quality and ride of the Soul is easily as good as the Curtis and Dekerf (which are both superb) at a fraction of the cost, seriously thinking of replacing the On One with a Cotic Simple whilst they are still available?

Anybody got any views/comments on the Simple?

Had a few run ins with a guy when we were putting in T.0 who was putting logs and branches across the trail as we were building it and the same on XP when we carried out some maintenance a while back. The same happened with XP when it was first built, every week there was intentional debris across the trail which went on for a month or so and then stopped (they may have got bored?). Its nothing new and can understand the "locals" getting a bit cheesed off TBH as the place gets a bit swamped at the weekends.

Does make riding at night a bit more fun/chalenging though?.

No names, but when missus asks me to move bike/s or enquires "are those new shiny bits on your bike????" she referes to them as thus:

Big bike (Rocky Mountain Switch 2)
Green bike (On One SS)
Blue Bike (Curtis FR)
New Bike (Cotic Soul)
Skinny Bike (Bianchi)
Gold bike (Kona Dew Delux)

Which is fine by me as I can just about remember my kids names let alone naming my bikes.

That GT Zaskar LE in the picture looks like the one I traded in with Vince for my first Dekerf Team SL, same cranks, forks, stem, bars, etc.
Brings back some memories, traded quite a bit with Vince over the years.

Woody – Vince @ Recycle, now theres a name from the past!

Sadly dont own one anymore, owned two Dekerf Team SL's (853) a few years back and have always regretted getting rid of them, very nice frames, fantastic singletrack/xc bike, have been looking at getting another but went for a Soul instead and to be honest theres not a lot of difference in quality (ride and build) comparing the two, but if cash is not a problem I would go for the Dekerf.

Custom Curtis FR with 150mm U turn revs and pro2's/Stans flow would be my choice.

Had 140mm Fox van 32 originally on my Curtis FR and was nice but prefer RS forks to Fox, got a set of Pikes on now. Gary recommends head angle at 71 deg and mine is 68 deg with Pikes set at 140mm (no sag) so with sag would be about 70 deg? Looking at getting another built up in the next month or so and would get the head angle a bit slacker. saying that with the current forks/head angle its a fantastic "do it all" bike just wish it was a bit lighter.

Stayed in brela about an hours drive south of Split, stunning place, really good value holiday, beach one side and mountains the other. Best holiday me and the family have had (without the bike) and would love to go back out again.

Think there are a couple of guys on here who ride on the Purbecks? (to the west of Bournemouth), loads of very nice country side round that way (Kimmeridge, Swanage, etc) for long XC hacks, you could always take up surfing as there are some very nice (natural) reef breaks. Seem to remember a DH place around Blandford??

Op – I thought long and hard about whether to get the BFe or Soul to replace my Curtis (like you my head said BFe and heart said Soul) and spoke to Paul @ Cotic regarding both frames and my riding preferences and in the end plumped for the Soul, the more I thought about the BFe and where I ride the less I wanted it. Glad I went for the Soul over the BFe, the Soul isnt a skinny, light XC machine like my DeKerf and looks like it can take a bit of punishment not as much as the BFe but more than enough for general riding with a set of U Turn Pikes or similar.

Go for the Soul.

Switch-backs for sure, been in April and it was very good, nice weather, cool enough during the day but a little chilly in the evenings, trails have always been dry apart from the odd bit of rain and after 6 times there the trails are still awesome. Mike can cater for the type of riding you want to do (uplifts or long climbs, etc. but loads of quality dry and dusty singletrack). As much challenging terrain as you want.

Samurai is nice and looked at getting one a few months ago but was quoted about £900 which I thought a bit steep, Cotic BFe at £370 sounds a bargin compared.

The guys an absolute c@ck, been with switchbacks 6 times and hes always having a pop and trying to stitch Mike up, he had a pop at one of the young guides a few years ago whilst we were driving in the uplift, lucky he didnt get a face full of fist, hes a f@cking unhinged loser and it amazes me that people still go out and stay with him.

Matta, was that out with switch-backs last Sept as someone also had the same problem on a RM?

Curtis?

Looked at the Chromag Samurai but was about £950ish, is very nice though.
Chain Reaction had some Chromag frames in their sale.

Got a marine blue Curtis FR which I had made in sept 06, with Pikes, hope 2/DT5.1, RF post/stem, Hone cranks, Hope M4s, etc, good frame but would like the head angle to be a bit slacker (69 deg with Pikes and no sag so roughly 70-71 deg with sag). Gary wouldnt fit ISCG mounts when I asked for them. Looking at getting another in the next month or so, spoke to Gary before xmas and the FR frame is going to be a lot more common soon as hes just finishing a batch for Chainreactioncycles.

Custom Curtis, a little bit more than the Chromag Stylus (CRC have the Stylus going for under £500 at the moment in a large size) but worth it. Have looked at the Chromag Samurai but frame is about £900, nice frames but a lot of cash.

+1 for the Transition Transam, nice looking frame with good angles, from memory I think they work out about £450 – 500 imported direct from Transition.

+1 for Switchbacks, 7 times and still keep going, as GavinB says you have a choice of XC or DH, Mike does short weekend breaks.

Oldfart, Thats exactly what I did, I had a 05 Hummer and transfered all the dims, etc. over to the Curtis (without the chainsuck problems). DO IT.

Got a Curtis FR, had it built Sept 06, still going strong, build quality is very good as is paint. Thinking about ordering another in Jan, slightly smaller than the current 18" version (prob 17") and will defo change the head angle from 71 deg to 69 deg.

Has got Pikes on now shorter stem and proper pedals, great bike for blating around on. Be prepared for a bit of a wait if Gary is busy, mine took 16+ weeks, worth waiting for though.

Bumhands, what head angle did you have on your original FR (raw version) and whats the angle on the new black one (if you dont mind me asking

I would go with the Pikes, have owned 09 Dual Air revs, Van 32s and now on second set of Pikes, all good forks but 426 Pikes seem to be fit and forget.