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Accepting some compromise can people suggest a frame that is the ideal jack of all trades, specifically:
Commuting- daily
BMX tracks- weekly
Skate parks- weekly in the winter
General mtb riding- quarterly
XC racing- never!
DH/ Enduro racing- once a year
I'd like changeable drop outs for SS
26/650 compatibility?
Geo to suit 120mm of good travel
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LOL
If you get something that is "nice" for a couple of those it would be crap for others. Whats the budget?
Trail HT that you can commute on.
BMX
Hire an Enduro bike for a day
Dialled PA. 16 or 14" depending on your size.
26" only though.
DMR are releasing a mew trailstar which might be a winner. or even an old trailstar with swopout dropouts.
this is a wind-up
How far do you commute? And how much are you willing to accept a compromise for this?
How much are you willing to have to 'tweak' it for another task, however defined
Budget is modest but willing to invest in quality i.e. £500 for a frame
Commute is 6miles and happy to compromise on this area; commute offers lots of options for smiles: stairs, offroad bits etc.
As for tweaking having 2 wheel sets would be ok.
Whens the new trailstar out?
Mk 2 or Mk3 Santa Cruz Chameleon.
Job done.
I have two bikes, an MTB and a BMX, that I use for everything. just swap tyres for communting
Santa Cruz Chameleon.Job done.
This! You could even take it XC racing!
45660b?
456evo? (carbon?)
Plenty of hardcore hardtails will do exactly what you want. Just find some forks that can be wound right down, I used to ride BMX tracks on my trailstar and it was best with the forks locked down to 30mm.
Infact, if BMX tracks and skateparks are the main uses, Have a look at old Atomlab trailpimps and G.I. frames on ebay, they'll only just take a 2.1" tyre which comprimises DH, but if that's only a few times a year it'll be fine. That and a pair of Pikes spaced down to 100mm.
Stanton Sherpa
I think it's 26"/650b brothers are more relevant given the overall brief. I'd be tempted to suggest a Slackline or Switchback with some dual position RCT3 Pikes to give you lots of travel/compression adaptability.
Dartmoor Hornet/Primal, Bfe or 456\4560b gets my vote.
All pretty cheap so can get a second set of wheels\tyres to commute on.
Personally have a 456 for pretty much the same purpose and does the job admirably.
Was about to suggest Dartmoor Hornet, and two sets of wheels
time for a fat bike 🙂
I have a frame/bike for sale which does all of those things pretty well
I have been using it with different wheels to work offroad/commute/ etc:
Mountain Cycle Rumble:
lazy link to Ad [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/mountain-cycle-rumble-26-650-29er-gears-or-ss-versatile-tough-hardtail-frame-3 ]here[/url]
Dirt jump/commute/MTB/skatepark/650b/26"/SS/geared/you name it.
If it's a hardtail the correct answer is an Evil Sovereign. They really were designed with all of this in mind- I took mine to the skate park, took it up massive mountains, down DH tracks, did Sleepless in the Saddle on it. If you ran it with a set of travel adjust forks it would genuinely do everything. The logo on the top tube used to be a building and a tree for this reason.
Current one is 650b, but if you got hold of a set of the older style dropouts with two axle slots you can even stick in 24" wheels with only a move of the brake mount for the BMX track. Singlespeedable too.
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Geo for travel is suited to a 140-150mm fork.
Headtube is 1-1/8th however... but i have two different forks which would fit.
Awesome though it is, I'd be bloomin difficult at a BMX track as anything other than a novelty.time for a fat bike
Surely the £500 budget would buy a low/mid priced BMX and a 456 frame?
You need 3 bikes..
A cx / road bike for commute and light xc
160mm FS bike for trails, enduro, light dh
Horizontal drop out play ht for bmx and park
I agree with munrobiker.
Cheers everyone, the Sovereign looks like a prime candidate.
Other bikes I'd seen are the NS Surge or Identiti AKA
I've used my BFe for bikepacking trips, commuting and trail centres - currently has a 120mm fork float and it does it all well.
mlbaker- everyone that rode my old Sovereign bought one. Except those who couldn't afford one, who bought Surges.
munrobiker- why did Evil stop making!? I'll have to start searching ebay...
They still make the Sov. Can't understand why they make it difficult to see on their website.
This is their photo from Oct last year:
Whether Silverfish bring them in is another question. They aren't on their website.
Santa Cruz Chameleon is probably as close as you'll get.
It's light but can still handle long and short forks and has the dropout versatility.
+1 for a Chameleon.
Pretty much the ultimate do it all frame, most of the 'hardcore' hardtails suggested will be a bit on the slack side for bmx/park stuff