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I've been relentlessly researching what my next bike will be and its stressing the hell out of me. Insomnia has taken hold and I find myself waking up 3 hours before I should thinking about bikes.
Here is the problem:
After endless searching I was set on a Kona Honzo 29er frame. Ruled out the Yelli Screamy and the Nimble 9. Seems the Kona is the best for the price. £475 frame only. Then I started to watch people on youtube riding RAGLELS and though that looks fun! Maybe I should get one of those.
Then I saw the Cotic Soul and thought that sounds sweet but pricey at £500 and its 26". I'm currently on Evil Sovereign. Looks nice but heavy but people say its awesome.
Finally I was going to get an inbred then a scandal then an inbred then a scandal. Its driving me insane.
My style of riding is single speed, attack the shit out of anything I see. If a track is all straight I'll purposely go out of my way make it more fun. I'm erratic i guess. I look for the more fun stuff as opposed to just riding along and I like to jump and bunny hop over things even if they are not in my way. I love hammering down hills when I come across them. I stand up a lot being single speed and dont mind pushing when things get tough uphill. I believe everyone should push at least once an hour and stretch out their muscles in different ways. Mix it up.
Please help me before my wife decides enough is enough and smashes me over the head with an axe.
Should I get the Honzo or should I get a RAGLEY or something else. The V2 scandal looks nice and is dirt cheap. Gunna be running ss hub if that helps.
If you liked the look of the soul how about taking a look at the new Simple. New version is a 29er and is a SS frame.
[url= http://www.cotic.co.uk/product/simple ]http://www.cotic.co.uk/product/simple[/url]
I never factored the simple in. Looked at it but dont know why I wouldn't choose this over the Honzo. Will this be as good for am/xc as the honzo do you think?
I like my Honzo a lot but it's a heavy beast. My XL (20L) frame was 7lbs when i weighed it before i built it up.
I think it's expensive for what it is but then so are all of its competitors from what i could tell. On One will no doubt come out with something similar for less money at some stage but i've seen nothing yet.
Singular have the Buzzard which should be due at some stage soon?
The Honzo is definitely more fun when pointed downwards and handles pretty well, despite it's weight (mines c. 30lbs fully built up with 1x10). The dropouts are also neat given that you want to run it SS.
Singular have the Buzzard which should be due at some stage soon?
Sadly not as soon as I'd hoped - you guys need to buy some Ospreys first...
Have you considered a [url= http://www.singularcycles.com/shop/index.php/frames/singular-swift.html ]Singular Swift[/url]? Readily singlespeed friendly and an agile and fun riding bike by most reckoning. £440 for frame and fork, I can knock £50 off if you don't want the rigid fork.
I'd go for a Yelli as it teh awsumest.
[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6191/6109230694_60a4d558a8.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/stu-b/6109230694/ ]2011_0902cyb0042[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/stu-b/ ]singlespeedstu[/url], on Flickr
The Yelli is 750 quid. Steel should be smoother and im planning some all day epics. Would 26 ragley with really fat tyres be just as smooth for hammering.
hang on,
£500 for the kona honzo is fine?
£500 for the cotic soul is too much?
listen to nixie, he is wise.
Just to add to the confusion 😀
[url] http://www.2soulscycles.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72&Itemid=138&lang=en [/url]
[img] 
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(sorry for poor quality pic)
The cotic simple looks cracking but then again so does the Honzo. Whats the max tyre size on the simple anyone?
My heart says Honzo but the fun factor is pointing towards a Blue Pig and plain economics are poiting towards an on-one scandal v2 at a silly price of £210. Only thing is the max fork length of 100mm.
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2Souls looks good but small tyre clearance. There is this recurring theme of getting massive tubeless 26" tyres and pigging it up. I want fun god damn it. Let me have the most fun regardless of wheel size. What frame can give me speed and sprite with hammer down the clifside enjoyment. Am I being unrealistically overboard with my demands? Help me before I throw this machina in a rage. I'll end up like that German kid playing cod with adhd! Youtube it. Best thing you'll see for a while guaranteed.
Agreed the 2souls only takes a 2.25/2.3 in the rear, but it is so much fun. Not light but slack at the fnt and nice short chainstays. Very similar to the Honzo, but shorter ett and more standover (and 853).
Is my quest for an am/xc 29er futile. Any owners with 26" wheels care to comment upon the ride of say a Ragley bluepig on the downs vs a Honzo or similar. I want chuckable and compliance.
Weight may be less of a concern considering i'm going to be running single speed. Weight savings of cables, shifters, front mech, cassette and chainrings plus chain guides is possibly in the region of at least a kg. Maybe wrong.
I wanna get air and wheelie and whip the living daylights out of the build when I have to but also want a bike capable of chewing up the miles for all day epics. I also want to go like a freak downhill.
Cotic simple. How does one of those ride? Not many reviews to formulate a solid enough opinion as of yet. I also remember Chalie the bike monger saying something about a niner being the most fun 29er he has ever ridden but then again I dont know his riding style.
It sounds to me like you need to ride some of the newer more trail-orientated 29ers (Honzo, Slim-Jim, Yelli Screamy, Nimble 9, Transition Transam 29 etc) and form your own opinion.
Charliethebikemonger has a Nimble 9 demo; you must be able to get a Honzo demo somewhere?
The Niner hardtails are more xc - not what you are really after.
Isn't the Cotic Solaris the 29" equivalent to their Soul, it takes up to a 120mm fork and weighs 4.9lb for a medium according to Cotic for £499.
I was following a similar thought train to you. I already have a 26" singlespeed so ended up getting a Solaris and running it 1x9. It's like a ss only you can sit down more on the climbs. If you can put up with the horizontal dropouts on the simple (I couldn't) rhen you could do worse than that if you insist on ss.
The answer is Simple. Loads lighter than the Kona, handles 120mm forks, nicely built and excellent geometry. Will have very good resale too if you ever fancy a change.
Problem is you need to spend £££ to get a decent 29er fork. If I was you, I'd get a 456 carbon frame for £299 and spend the balance on a peachy fork like a Lyrik 😀
Finally decided. Going 26". I just dont think i'll be able to rag a 29er around and have the same amount of fun as a 26er. Thanks for the help.
I just dont think i'll be able to rag a 29er around and have the same amount of fun as a 26er.
Wrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrong.
If you buy one of these you'll have MORE fun 😀
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[/img](first ride out tonight....funny as ****)
Seems like ever f***er has got one these days, might have to sell mine. Not niche enough anymore. Wouldn't be so bad if I could actually get out and ride the darn thing
Don't forget the TransAM 29, pretty short cs, and singlespeed ready
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/6868083964_8cb9847e7d_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/47638700@N06/6868083964/ ]Untitled[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/47638700@N06/ ]jerrypc69[/url], on Flickr
You need one of these....
You liking your Yelli then Rorschach?
How about a Pace RC325.5? Up to a 150mm fork, anti-chainsuck system, adjustable dropouts for singlespeed, a quite slack head angle of 68 degrees and a rather light 4.6lb frame weight. Not forgetting they're british too! What's not too like?
Aye ssstu it's making me grin like an idiot! Can't beleive it's taken 6 months to get it going! Waiting on a DOSS and some P35's. Gears and boing are taking a bit of getting used to :0).It's some sort of bizarre JCB/Go cart hybrid!
I knew you'd love it.
They really do encourage stupid behaviour.
Like jumping a 22ft table top? 8)
Has no one told you you can't jump a 29er? 😆
I say 'jump',the wheels exploded on take off and the resulting blast wave propelled me over the gap.....it's best we don't talk about the landing.
I know how you are feeling, trust me..
I often buy and sell frames, a endless search for the ultimate.
I now ride a gt peace 26" , its fine i can xc and jump it, but i looks like a big horse.
I want a frame that you can sit and spin and still be able to jump, a low slung frame like the ragley troof, but im not into that much travel..
🙂