Steel full sussers?

Curtis were our stand neighbours at Ard Rock. A whole level above the other steel full suss frames I've seen in the flesh. Fillet brazing visible through a smoke clear coat, wow!

If anyone wants to talk me out of, now is the time

Did you have a peek in the Bespoked tent? Some very lovely steel FS bikes in there.

@tomhoward I did. I saw the Coal 84 and Ra .12, was there anything else? Yeah very nice bikes but the pure simplicity of the Curtis along with the fantastic craftsmanship does it for me.

There was the Howler Frameworks Fenrir, but that was 27.5, and isn’t what you’d call the last word in simplicity…

That howler frameworks bike was lovely. I remember bumping into the chap who makes them at BPW earlier in the year and drooling over it then.

Stanton had a bike with a colourised clear coat so you could see the welding, also very lovely.

The Curtis stand was great, but couldn't stay and look too long otherwise I'd get ideas I can't afford.

You probably aren’t going to find any steel frames better crafted than the Curtis and as nice looking as the polished brazing with clear coat over the top.

I can’t get my head around buying a simple single pivot bike with no linkage to alter the curve these days personally. I feel the same about Orange bikes. I get they often have a limited number of big bearings so come bearing change time it’s a bit easier / bit cheaper but I don’t change bearings that often on my Horst link bikes for it to be an issue for me.

If going with that Curtis I’d go for the air shock so you can easily add tokens for ramp up if required. I’m running a coil on a bike with 24% progression and for me a linear spring hasn’t done the job. So I’ve just moved to a progressive one to avoid bottom out whilst still keeping lovely small bump and mid stroke support.

If I were buying a steel full suss bike I think I’d find it hard to look past a Cotic Jeht as a real do it all sort of bike with pretty decent geometry and good back up. Not as beautiful as the fillets in the Curtis though - I’ll give you that.

The Curtis will be a fine choice; I've had a couple of single pivot steel full sussers; a prototype SWD 6 gun... struggling to find pics of my bike after being hacked and banned on Facebook, so here's a similar one:

and a descendence vox:

Both had steel swingarms, which may not be the best for unsprung weight, but more than made up for that with sublime ride quality, providing levels of damping on frequencies that normally elude the abilities of suspension and tyres.

Couple that with supreme tracking (many attribute this to flex, but it's worth remembering steel is 3x stiffer than alu, albeit with thinner tubes) and a very intuitive nature that makes you feel at one with the bike and I daresay you'll be in for a treat

I have a stanton switch9er fs with the carbon rear end and its a fantastic bike, just be prepared to wait for it unless they have sorted their production times out.

If I were buying one now, I would most likely be looking at the Coal 84 as that thing looks stunning, but with unlimited funds the curtis would also be on my list.

I dont think you'd go wrong with any of the bikes mentioned within this thread, try and get a test ride on some and see what you like.
Owners pages on FB for most brands will give you a bit more detail around some of the brands etc.

I can’t get my head around buying a simple single pivot bike with no linkage to alter the curve these days personally

you can do this by the orientation of the shock in the frame.

not that the op mentioned this, but if you want a rising rate speak yo the builder about it. you’d possibly need to find a builder s weed go would do a completely custom frame, including the suspension design. Walt Works, not a british company, will do this for you.

the curtis is a beautiful bike, though.

@LAT Gary from Curtis said they can alter many parts of the frame to suit. Don't know about shock position though. I wouldn't know how to go about specifying a particular location for a specific response curve.

I owned an Enigma HSS Steel last year. It was lovely but sold it on as the close passes from drivers was becoming too much. Lovely bike though, bit not as nice to ride as my old Van Nic!

Damn wrong thread. Was meant for the steel road one. Cocked that up. Ah well.😁

Don’t know about shock position though. I wouldn’t know how to go about specifying a particular location for a specific response curve

absolutely. they may be able to advise (but if they tell you it’s nonsense, don’t blame me for my bad memory/understanding!)