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To make the head angle ~61°? 🤣
My Big Al is that good as it should be, something makes me think they knew what they were doing with the geometry 😂😉
Won't a -2 angleset on a Marley just bring it in line with the Mmmbop head angle?
I'm running a +2 angleset on my Mmmbop
Most of the reasons above. But chiefly, it's what I had lying around and I didn't have a spare 29er rear!
Yes, brings it closer to the Big Al, but there weren't any left, and the TT was too long for me on those for the reach I want
Marley is rated for a 150 fork, and I like a slack HA.
and the TT was too long for me on those for the reach I want
I was surprised with the Big Al - I generally like a short reach, due to long legs/short torso, but the quite big BB drop means the saddle is level with the bars (normally I have to go higher) and the extra 20-30mm reach over what I'm used to seems to work. The s/t angle is also steeper than I'm used to, so that helps too. But that's just me comparing to previous bikes
@GeForceJunky thanks for the bolt sizes and the link. I'll get some ordered. 👍
I missed one person off my postage list so need to make at least one more hanger. Send me a PM if you're still looking for one as I'll make a couple more.
Just back from catching up with F&F in the UK where I picked up the hangers.
They are gert lush! Thank you very much, appreciate your skill and dedication. The bike's rider looked at me funny getting all excited at them. Ho hum.
Thank you!
I have 4x hangers and 4x non-driveside dropouts left after I had to make another small batch due to missing one order, happy to split if anyone who didn't get a matching non-driveside still wants one.

Oooh, yes please!
How much are the hangers please?
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Another great fun ride round Loweswater today. Gosh this bike makes me smile. 😊
That's a lovely pic L, thanks for sharing!
I really love that green. Glad you are enjoying the bike.
Kramer I’d smile too if that was a local ride.
@jkomo me too, unfortunately it's not, I'm just up in the Lakes for a week.
Very much enjoying my Frankenmarley on local trails
However, the glorious paint is, in fact, shit. I've never owned a bike that chipped so easily. And I've owned a bloody Transition.
However, the glorious paint is, in fact, shit. I’ve never owned a bike that chipped so easily. And I’ve owned a bloody Transition.
My Blue Pig (bought a year prior to the blow-out prices) has a few small patches where the lacquer has flaked, but the rest of the paintwork seems solid 🤷♂️
Best paint ever is on my old Surly Krampus. It's got plenty of battle scars but still cleans up reet nice.
I’ve almost finished building up one of two green Marley 290 frames I have and I agree on the fragile paint - I’ve got a chip on one chainstay and big scratch on the other just from the (careful) build process. Once it hits by the muck, I don’t have much hope for it at all.
Let’s face it though, bikes like this are meant to have patina.
I'm a clumsy builder and ride some fairly rocky stuff. Not a mark on the white Big Al
Do any of you lovely fellow ragley owners perhaps happen to have laying around in your parts box/garage, a broken/bent/snapped ragley hanger (2019-current) that they don't need?
Single speed conversion is underway, and intend to modify one to remove the redundant actual hanger part..but I'm not keen on chopping up a perfectly fine/new one and would rather do it to a trashed one.
Happy to cover postage of course.
Resurrecting this rather than a new thread, as cheap frames are back on the Ebay shop!
Does anyone know the approx weight of the Mbop 275 frames?
I don't really know the weight, but it didnt feel heavy to me.
They are lovely frames, the rear triangle is surprisingly supple for an alu HT.
The super-slack geo demands attention whilst riding, but if you do keep weight on the front, there’s not much that fazes it.
Don't know but you might want to extrapolate. My Big Al frame in L with all the trimmings is 2390g.
Does anyone happen to know what size bolts are used to hold the rear hangers on a Ragley Big Al?
Went for a ride today and noticed some creaking from the back, after checking a few things the rear wheel was moving in the hangar and the little bolts holding the hanger had worked themselves loose. They appeared to have locktite on but they weren't very tight, the bolts appear to be made of cheese as one of them almost rounded off just loosing it, need to get a couple of spares I think!
Timely thread.
I had the exact same thing on my Mmmbop. The bolts on the alloy frames are M5, 8mm countersunk with 3mm hex head. They are, indeed, made of cheese. I've ordered some stainless steel ones to replace them. I would have preferred them to be 4mm hex head as the larger key size would probably resist rounding a little better.
I believe the steel frames take 10mm bolts rather than 8mm. That also seems daft given the relative hardness of the frame material.
The non-driveside assembly team at Ragley seem to have heard of loctite, but the driveside assembly team seems not to have. 🙂
Daft, really - they expect you to put headset cups in, but don't trust you with six little bolts.
I could be wrong, but I think if you read this thread front to back, there's a link to aftermarket bolts.
Could have been somewhere else I saw it though. I bought some anyway.
Had heard about the loose bolts pre building mine so nipped them up (the originals). They definitely are soft - kinda wondering if this is to make them sacrificial to save the frame threads and hanger?
I think sacrificial bolts are a bridge too far for Ragley, TBH.
I guess you could argue they are sacrificial to your Allen keys as the grade of material in the bolt head would struggle to round a candle...
We'll see how the replacements do - just lightly nipping up the originals with a nicely cut, sharp and hard Allen key bit from a proper torque wrench set has nearly buggered the heads of a couple. And that is literally just snugging them and hoping the loctite does the job.
First ride / shake down, finally.
Nothing has fallen off so always a bonus.
The Ragley Big Al is one comfy yet super quick bike that is going to prove super versatile I think.
Those 36s turn in very well indeed.
XT/SLX 12 is quite superb.
200mm dropper really nice and slammed.
TRP 4-pot surprisingly good for the money.
Wicked Will 2.6F and Nobby Nic 2.4R a weird combo that is actually proving really good so far.
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A bit good, aren't they?
So comfy and capable - almost easy to forget you're riding a HT at times
^^ exactly. Living on the South Downs it makes the need for FS relatively limited. So much so that I have sold the Izzo.
I am really glad I went for L at 6ft. XL would have pushed things a little too far. And reduced the dropper travel.
How are you getting on with yours?
How are you getting on with yours?
Loving it. Need to try and get out on it this weekend, not had a ride on it for a few weeks. At 5'11 with long legs, large seems to suit me perfectly too with a 200/210(?) dropper - not slammed though 😬. As you say the trp brakes are decent. The weak point on mine I think though is the Lyrik Selects. I have three tokens in and still seem to blow through the travel. Other than that, all good
That's disappointing about the Lyrik. Are they recent? Or could it because they are recent? Oil level ?
As you can see I don't know much about forks but I had old Lyrics and they were brilliant.
TBF I am really impressed with the cheapo 36 Rythm and the old Grip damper so perhaps that says more about my inability to push forks 😂
Most of the time you’re paying for more adjustment rather than outright performance with forks and shocks.
These were the recent CRC discounted Lyriks
Had an old set on my ebike and they were fine. Probably just need to do a bit more tweaking
FWIW I copped a set of the CRC Lyrik Ultimates when they bottomed out at £340.
I sent them to J-Tech to have the travel reduced and their custom tune/settings as it was very little more to do at the same time.
I've not had Lyrik's before, but I've got Pikes on my other hardtail and had other RS forks. Usually I find the recommend settings on the Trailhead app, plus very little compression damping suits me. When the Lyriks came back with suggested 85psi (compared to 91 on TH), HSC on about half way and the LSC on about 2/3 of the way, it seemed really odd.
Honestly not sure how much J-Tech's optimisation of the internals affects this, but they're working beautifully, strange settings and all. Best I've ever ridden.
Got some stainless steel 12mm total length, countersunk, M5 bolts with 3mm hex heads - 20 for £5.69 off Amazon.
Absolutely fine - snugged down nicely with a dab of blue loctite. No iffy feeling of potential rounding in the head at all.
👍
@fwnderextender do you have a link? Or want to sell a set?
Hope the link works.
The guy from BETD was keen to point out (very politely) that they sell them as separates too. Link below. BETD did hood work when all those Ragley frames were bought and then people (like me) thought "oh, what about spate hangers?" 🙂
https://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk/product/derailleur-hanger-screws-bolts/
Typed a longish follow-up as top link didn't work. Got a 502 error and lost it all. Not typing that lot out again.
"12mm countersunk M5 screws" in Amazon is your friend - RC Screw Shop.
Took the big boy out yesterday. Gets better and better every time I ride it 😊
Lyriks seemed ok weirdly

Nice image! Wide angle. I like it
Thing is, despite weight and geo, it climbs really well too.
Although it's my first 29 HT so perhaps I just perceive the wheel size effect primarily.
@TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR what's going on with the sky? Where's the rain?
Sun came out properly for a while after the pic. Alas, this was yesterday. Today, the rain - it returns and it's making up for its non appearance yesterday
“That is the perfect bike for round here” - one of the Marshalls at the Hamsterley Forest enduro this weekend. 🙂
^^ that sounds about right.
Meanwhile after dropping the Camelback last year I have now dropped the hip bag and I am totally unicumbered. It's very nice to ride bagless.
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It's home made but I can make one for you for £169.99 delivered.
Or you buy a cheap Evoc replica from Merlin.
https://www.merlincycles.com/evoc-multi-frame-pack-281129.html
Fitted a 2.6 at the back of the Big Al which is officially rated up to 2.5, although the Rekon is not an aggressive tyre.
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But still plenty of clearance so I reckon, pardon the pun, even a less shallow tread 2.6 would be fine.
As above ^ clearance in the frames is much more generous than they state. I've got a 2.6 WTB Trailstar (and they have big side knobs) on a 40mm rim in the back of my Blue Pig. I reckon a 2.8 would fit fine too.
Yes I was thinking that about a 2.8. Probably not needed depending on rider's weight but nice to have that option on a hardtail!