[Closed] Whats difference between Soul and bfe

Bfe is built stronger and stiffer and can take a bigger fork (uses less 853 as well).

Soul is 1 pound lighter and will give a more compliant less harsh ride.

The Soul's more expensive because it has more posh pipework in it, the BFe uses mostly 651 instead of the more expensive, harder to work 853 of the Soul.

Also, the Soul is sprinkled with magic cosmic dust at the factory 😉 I have no objectivity, I love mine to bits. Very capable trailbike with great XC manners, what's not to like?

Those guys have basically covered it. The Soul and BFe are identical geometry, so for a given fork travel they'll handle the same. Obviously the BFe is strong enough for 160mm forks, whereas the new Soul is up to 140mm only. The BFe uses 631 for the top and seat tube, and uses less fancy dropouts and seat QR to drop the price compared to the Soul. It's a little over 1lb heavier than the Soul, much stiffer and more direct, and it's got ISCG05 mounts.

Thanks people, how does a soul ride with 100mm - 110mm, as I like a nice low front end. Any pics of the black or gritstone frames as all I have seen are the orange and blue.

100-110mm is the perfect fork length for a Soul IMHO. I run mine with 85-125mm Talas on it, but 90% of the time those are set at 100mm.

Soul with 100ish forks on it is a singletrack weapon! Black frames for the Soul are same as the black frames from earlier builds, gloss black. We've not had a complete BFe through in gritstone yet, hence the lack of pics, but they're nearly black too, but a satin matt finish. Decals on the gritstone frame will be black scotchlite, so appear black until you shine a light on them, when they go reflective.

Hmmm, Sorry for all the questions. Firstly I'm not having a go I'm just interested. But how can the same geomtry be good for both 100mm and 160mm?

Back to the soul, how strong is it honestly as I find bikes are plenty strong enough, but I realise the BFE is the 'strong' model. Yet the soul blurb leads me to believe it would easily be as strong as a SC chameleon?

So would a soul handle my normal routine of small drops 3 - 4ft max, pump track, 1 - 3 hour blasts plus I would like to do more long XC rides.

thanks

you do know thats cy from cotic talking to you?

A Soul would be fine for that, although if you ride like a mong you could break anything off small drops.

As for the geometry, I guess at 100mmm its good for tight twisty stuff or jumps, but at 160mm it would be more laid back for fast downhills.

I think Cotics are meant to work best with 120mm of travel

you do know thats cy from cotic talking to you?

yep, thats why put

Hmmm, Sorry for all the questions. Firstly I'm not having a go I'm just interested. But how can the same geomtry be good for both 100mm and 160mm?

Have you got a soul joe, what abuse do you put it through?

soul is more of an xc machine, bfe is the tool if your doing drops and jumps. if your wanting to am it stick an adjustable fork on it and you can ride all day. i have ridden both and i like to jump, the bfe was for me. you should look at the orange r8.

Whats an Orange R8, new design? I'll have a look

Probably a bit like a Soul, probably dont ride quite aswell and I think there about £80 more for some reason. Pointless.

I think you'll be alrite on a soul, there was a pic of a chap on here doing about a 5 foot drop on his cotic soda which is a 3lb ti xc machine so i think the soul will be ok.

The Bfe is good but the back end is pretty stiff, the soul is probably a bit comfier if thats what you care about

Think I'm trying to talk myself into it, why oh why was I born into consumerism I already have a nice kona. Less is more.

Thats a fair shout, no point if your kona does what you want

eye aint that the truth. if it aint broke....

cy, you really do need a bigger soul. I know you've done it before and had them sitting around unsold but what about taking deposits and then getting a small batch made up. Even if it cost a wee bit more there are alot of 6'5" guys out there that don't buy in to the ultra compact size of the 19" frame but would love to own such a sweet ride. A 20.5 with a 25" top tube would sell if you promoted right.

The same geometry works across that range because people tend to want different things at different ends of the spectrum. The Soul/Cotic hardtail geometry was designed for minimum 100mm forks as an all round bike that'd climb, handle properly, descend nicely. As you crank up the fork travel the climbing gets compromised, but the descending improves. The BFe was originally designed as a more direct handling Soul. It only evolved into the super long fork thing because a) it was strong enough and b) the test riders started putting super long forks on it and said it was ace. Who was I to argue? The frame was strong enough, so we gave people the option.

Regarding strength, the Soul will be fine for what you're considering. It's a tough frame, it's just that the BFe is REALLY tough. It also has that snappy, super precise ride fee that a lot of people like. It's quite possible to all day one though, you just need to invest is a really nice seatpost. I use a KCNC Scandium post on mine and it's fine for riding around on.

In terms of how low you like your front end, the Soul has quite low stack, so whatever fork you run you'll be able to keep your front end down. I use a 7deg stem and 50mm rise bars on the large to get a good position, whereas at the other end of the spectrum, Paul who works here uses a 0 deg stem and 30mm rise bars on his small.

Orang - I really, really appreciate the strength of your desire to get an XL Soul, and I do feel for you and your long limbed breathren. I've not considered a deposit based run before simply because the last 18 months have been crazy with work on designs for CEN and other things. Maybe once things settle down I'll have a look at it. Probably looking at needing 10 orders, only one colour, 4-5 month lead time as I'll need committed sales before ordering. How does that sound?

But how can the same geomtry be good for both 100mm and 160mm?

Because under full compression both forks will be the same length, and you still need to have a very stable platform underneath you. In fact you [i]especially[/i] need stability then, because you've probably just dropped off a big rock at speed, are pointing down at an alarming angle, and have got another boulder right in front of you that you need to cope with.

Cy, (Sorry to highjack this thread Tails), I would be interested. I am on the verge of putting my money on a P7 but the XL geometry is still a bit short for what I am looking for, only by 15mm or so but that enables a shorter stem. Preferred colour for me would be Matt Black. If you could muster up another 9 orders over the next month I could wait till end of spring before spending my meagre bike budget.

Orang - I've just checked with my agent and the materials are already bought and en route for the next batch of Souls, so this wouldn't happen until 2 batches time, which is going to be mid-late Summer. Sorry.