Hardtail 29ers with sliding drop-outs

Does it need to be sliding dropouts rather than EBB?

Pivot Les. Very expensive but I absolutely love mine!

Pipedream Sirius. It's slack. But is designed for 120mm

Sonder broken road

Kona Unit

On one huntsman

cheers all, any kind of SS setup outside a chain device considered

Pipedream Moxie

SC Chameleon

Singular Pegasus (EBB)

Singular Swift (later this year, EBB)

Pace RC529

Specialized Fuse

“Pipedream Moxie”

The Moxie is amazing but it’s 140-170mm travel and about as non-XC as geometry can be! 😉 Doesn’t stop me enjoying it as an XC singlespeed though (no racing!)

The Sirius is 100-130mm travel and if you’re willing to try more modern geometry then I’d highly recommend it based on my Moxie experience.

I missed the bit about XC Geo ;o)

Can probably forget about the Pace too then.

Second hand or new? Budget?

If secondhand, there's loads of options

New, not so much, but you could add:

Brother Cycles Big Bro

Shand Bahookie

Surly KM

Also, various things from Olsen bikes

Kona unit can be set up SS or 1x with the right dropout, or can be bought as Unit-X with hanger already installed, both slidey

Salsa El Mariachi if you can find one, geo might be a bit old skool compared with modern offerings.

edit - oh and the Timberjack

Curtis do one

Old on-one scandal with the horizontal drop outs.

Mines 2012. Built up SS with carbon rigid forks and comes in under 10kg.

+1 for the Sirius. I thought I wanted a Moxie, but had a spin on a friend’s Sirius (with a 130 fork on it) and preferred it for most day to day trail centre, XC, and general ragging around duties. But could easily be built up light for bike packing or XC. I also thought it ‘felt’ really nice compared to a lot of hardtails that are less forgiving.

Trek Stache - 120mm fork - not sure if its true XC but I use mine as a quick bike with rigid fork and love it. 1x or ss

There's one in the Classified's

Of then list up there, I've owned and singlespeeded the Singular Hummingbird, On-One Scandal mk2, Stache and Fuse.

Singular was just the most lovely bike and I only swapped out because of the wheel size. EBB was fine.
Scandal was agricultural but rode very nicely. Track ends were / are low tech and work well with a chain tug.

Stache was great; shorter in reach and steeper in head angle than the Fuse and my FS, but an absolute hooligan to ride - so much fun. The sliding dropout arrangement was set and forget, but bear in mind you'll need a socket or spanner to adjust. My main gripe was seatpost insertion because I'm short - but the carbon version has more drop IIRC. Massive tyre clearance - I ran 2.4s and it's designed for 3.0s. Super short chainstay makes for much fun.

Fuse is longer (at the front - rear is 430, maybe shorter - can't remember)and slacker and that's no bad thing. It's not as zesty as the Stache on steep stuff, but I'm running the wrong offset forks. Who knows? Dropouts are simple and just work, lots of clearance for up to 2.6. For my height and riding style, 430mm chainstays seem to work, but equally I loved the Scandal at 445. I have a second hand 2020 Fuse Expert in brushed and clear coat finish, and it's (subjectively) a very good looking frame. The only thing I'd change is the seatpost bottle bosses, which mean I can't put a longer dropper in. But that's a super minor issue as 160 seems fine.

thanks - i have many tabs open to ponder!

does the Scandal still have sliding drop outs? hard to tell from the pics

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/FTOOSC29V3/on-one-scandal-29er-mtb-frame

@craa22uk pretty sure they don’t. Look at the photo of the green frame and looks like a standard axle and hanger. As @bentudder says above it was a mk2 with track dropouts like this one.

I’m a big fan of Singular bikes too. The EBB is a bit of a pain but they’re just lovely frames to own and ride.

I've never had an issue with EBBs on Singulars and I have a few! Sam used a Phil Wood on the steel frames and Bushnell on the ti Pegasus.

The Pegasus is lovely, I run mine with 120mm SIDs and singlespeed. My wife seems to have pinched by Swift....

nice setup @<span class="bbp-author-name">tuboflard  - esp like the shotgunned ribena bottles </span>
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edit – oh and the Timberjack

I missed this - Inbred's right. If I was starting from scratch today, I'd buy one of these frames. It was on my original list years back ahead of the Chameleon and Stache but even Charlie (who was the Bikemonger at the time) couldn't get them into the UK. They are well-thought-out (See seatpost bottle bosses) and just really nice looking frames.

As someone who stayed with steeper head angles for a while, I'd say don't be too put off by slack angles; it's still just as fun on the zippy stuff but you have a bit more room for maneuver when things get accidentally gnarly.

A Ritchey P29er, the original red, white and blue one if you can find one, fairly rare now.

Not my bike @craa22uk, just found it on the World Wide Web as an example.

@john_l you’re probably right, in fairness the EBB on my Rooster has been ok, just a bit more faffy to get chain tension when the chain stretches and it’s seized a couple of times too (probably down to me not looking after it). But I still ride the Rooster more than all my other bikes, it’s just such a fun bike to ride.

It was on my original list years back ahead of the Chameleon and Stache but even Charlie (who was the Bikemonger at the time) couldn’t get them into the UK.

it wasn't just me then!? 😀

dawley will do you a 29er with paragon slideys  https://www.dawleybikes.com/product-page/eponym

Older Voodoo Bizango, the black or yellow frame model, have sliding dropouts and are exceedingly cheap. XC geo and 120mm fork.