I nearly bought one of these instead of my Scout 290. Always loved a steel HT and had a few (plus 2xTI) but never had an alloy one. I have now and so that's that itched scratched 🙂 Mostly tho a complex tripartite swap with a mate means my lad gets a bike in his size and same for his lad. It's way too complicated to explain! Anyway somewhere between a reason and an excuse works for me.
Really like the blue, lightens up a lot in the sunshine. Built is straight off the Scout, Pike Ultimate at 140mm, Ibis 35mm wheels, MM/HD 2.6 tyres both with Rimpact, OneUp post JUST short enough so I can run full 210mm, (very tired) SLX transmission on it's second winter.
Only changes are fitting a Ergon SM saddle like my other bikes and a different bar and stem. Waiting for a 35mm stem and bars with more rise, but they are lost in "Evriland" where parcels roam free 😉
Be interesting to see how it compares to my MK3 solarismax which I preferred on the 120mm fork and the scout which was pretty viceless but that didn't save it from being changed!
Full on "Uglyguard" configuration deployed for this evening. See how we get on. Muddy I expect!
Oh it weighs the same as the scout (to within 30g). Just over 31lbs in old money but I could take 2 of those off running lighter wheels/tyres and just a single insert. Maybe next year when it dries out.
Oh and the XT 2 pots are getting swapped out for Magura MT7s at some point. That point was NOT in my mates cold garage last night!
Looks very nice. Been trying to avoid buying one of those myself.
Me too. I really wanted the SolarisMax to be the 140mm hardtail I was going to keep. It just didn't feel that great with a longer fork, I mean I could have ridden it on the shorter one, but I'm "convinced" based on no evidence whatsoever, 140mm is the sweet spot for a do it all hardtail.
It'll be doing the classic Welsh Gap ride after Xmas. I expect that'll tell me a lot about how do-it-all it really is 🙂
Nice. What size is it? I’m impressed with the weight at 31lb. I’ve a steel 29 hardtail with 140 forks etc and I’m sure it’s something like 33lb- not that it matters.
lovely colour that blue
Looks lovely.
It's a large. I expected it to be heavier than the Alu scout. My old Bardino was more like 33. That was a hefty frame!
I have done almost exactly the same thing! Bought a Scout frame in the sales and built it up, ridden it and it's great.
Then I saw the discounted BFeMAX frames and a couple of photo's to remind me I love steel hardtails and...it's due today!
Nice. How tall are you?
@jfab - excellent. A mate of mine has bought one as well. Although he has chosen the wrong colour 🙂
@6079smithw - 5ft11 in old money. Short legs, long body. The L BFEmax is 15mm longer in reach apparently than my scout but it doesn't feel long on my little test ride. I am running it with a 40mm (soon to be 35mm) stem rather than the 50 on the Scout so that pretty much cancels it out.
It does feel I'm sat a little more over the BB than on the Scout but I'll know more after climbing the first big hill this evening!
@Alex I bought the correct colour (Blue) although there was a single yellow one left in my size which tempted me!
Yeah I thought about that colour as well. Could have pretended it wasn't a new bike 🙂
Could have pretended it wasn’t a new bike
Until you asked your missus to invisiframe it for you 🤣
That's why I went blue, I already have a Flaremax in the same colour so I can just have one built up at a time!
Not for hiding/permission reasons, just so that I don't end up with any horribly clashing components.
💅🏻
I like your style jfab.
@simondbarnes - true enough 🙂 She almost offered. Then left me to do the bits no one can see!
Lovely. My mate has one in Pink. Its ace.
Im on a Jeht which is also lovely.
Cotic do lovely very well.
Looks great!
Me too, just finished building up a medium in smoke, at 5'10" I'm between sizes as hope I've got it right...
No pics yet, hope to ride it tomorrow. Spent ages dithering on colour, too old/slow for pink, not sure about red, liked blue but had one before, so smoke it was. Happy with my choice its a lovely subtle colour.
The build is a mix of old and new- 160mm Fox 36 rhythm, Hunt trailwides with 2.5 DHF and 2.6 Dissector, One up 210 dropper, Advent X 10 speed drive chain, spank vibrocore 30mm risers and 35mm long Cotic stem.
Hoping it will be the n+1 and I can sell the fat bike and Scout275.
didn't you just have a NBD about 2 months ago???
Nice one, sold mine recently, same colour, was a lovely bike, found it really good in pretty much every way.
Schweeet looking ride.
However, I'm not listening about cheap Cotic's on offer.
You might have to send it back though to get those tyre logos lined up with the ones on the rims….😉
It's a lovely bike. Is it too late to seek help for this problem I wonder? I note you seem to have now included your own son in your schemes for new bike buying, this is a new low; even for you. 🙂
I already have my dream bike, but I always look at others and am a little tempted as to how they ride and what they look like.
A little bit like having a wife. Anyway.
Love the look of these, and a nice build you’ve put together. Enjoy.
However, I’m not listening about cheap Cotic’s on offer.
What not even a Cascade?
To answer "how was the bike" question, the best I could come up with was "well the mudguards work well". It was as wet and muddy as I've ridden for a while. Didn't crash, had a good time so I'm taking that as a win 🙂 Defo climbs better than the scout, feels pretty planted, any further observations will have to wait for slightly better conditions!
@confused58 - I used to have M Cotics but went for a large this time. Glad I did, its not that big! At 5ft10 you could defo go M or L
@doris5000 - bought the Scout start of June. It's going to get ridden by someone else, so it's all good.
@nickc - I know, it's a reach even if it's true! And yes, it's far too late 🙂
Oh and that Cascade looks nice.
What not even a Cascade?
Shhhhh.
Going back up in price Matt in early Jan. Definitely a bargain at the moment?
Am I helping a all? I like to think I'm helping 🙂
I have a last gen of the SolarisMAX (in gorgeous Frogatt green, which I bought to replace a dark metal mk2 because it was gorgeous green. Fickle, moi?) and after a recent ride I declared it my best bike eva (™️) and have a first batch SodaMAX so I am firmly in the ‘I have absolutely no need of a new frame’ mould.
But I am seriously seriously tempted for a pink, sorry Magenta, BFe… even though it would mean stashing it in the loft for the foreseeable.
I could have been tempted with a Cascade (despite the ‘lifestyle’ advertising 😜) but I have an underutilised Ti Camino as it is.
Bastards.
I have this vague plan to stick a wider bar on my daughters bike and ride them back to back when it's a bit drier. Her SolarisMax has 2.3 tyres, 120mm for, 150mm dropper etc. Quite a lot lighter, wonder how different they'd feel up and down?
The BFE is definitely springy. That's the one thing I noticed coming off the alloy Scout.
Well I've finally succumbed.
Just ordered myself a Nimbus Sunrise Cascade rolling frameset to build up as a flat bar gravel type thing. I'll be keeping an eye out for any decent Boxing Day sales on components now to build it up.
3 Rides done. All in fairly grim conditions. 100km ridden. Wrote a quick thing but about what it's like, but mostly it's an excuse for how I ended up justifying it 🙂
https://www.pickled-hedgehog.com/bait-and-switch/
I even had to put a venn diagram in there 🙂
Well I've pressed the button on a small in Smoke. I'd been dithering over Christmas, as I have a brand new medium Big Dog that will be the donor bike. The On One was a replacement for my small Solaris Mk 1, stolen in September and despite being cracking value just hasn't lived up to how much I liked it's predecessor. I'm hoping this will be a keeper as I had the Solaris for 7 years.
Any links for the discounted frames?
Any links for the discounted frames?
They're discounted on their website. Be quick though, they are back up to full price tomorrow, apparently.
The BFE Max is a lovely bike. Went for the Silver and Copper.....although I ordered the Yellow but changed my mind after a couple of days.
Although I've had it a year now, I've worried since I got the wrong size.....at 6ft 2in, a XL was a natural choice but it's a big old brute of a bike.
With Alex's response that he got a Large at 5.11, I think I'm OK. But then Confused comes in at 5ft 10 and a Medium. Still think a XL was the right choice.
Hope you all enjoy the bike.
The L does not feel big. Reach should be longer than the scout, but shorter stem/steeper seat angle means it doesn’t feel like it.
Still working out bar height etc. Great I got the 210mm dropper in tho.
XL would have been too big for me tho.
