Grad present to myself - which Chromag?

Hey gents,

I'm looking at getting a hardtail to sit next to my Nomad Carbon as a little college graduation present to myself. I have a signing bonus that I can use to buy it, and I should be able to hang some pretty nice parts on it as long as I don't go too crazy. I've dreamt about owning a Chromag since the beginning of high school, and I think its time to act - the question is, do I want a Surface, Samurai or TRL?

I live in Seattle and ride a lot of, well, everything. I've been riding for over 12 years now and though I may be racing enduro a bit, I have a lot more fun pedaling way out into the woods and enjoying the natural features. I'll be tooling around on slalom tracks a bit and maybe hitting some smaller, smoother jump lines, but definitely nothing too crazy. My main intention for this bike is to have a reasonably light bike that I can take into the backcountry and just tool around on without feeling held back from hitting jumps and drops where I see 'em. Keep in mind, I have my coil sprung Nomad for the bigger stuff, but I'm looking for a hardtail to get back to my roots and make things both simple and interesting again.

Given that little description, do you have any advice as to which frame I should buy? The weight difference between the TRL and Samurai is supposedly around half a pound now, and though I haven't ridden the Surface I was pretty impressed by my dad's Banshee Paradox. At this point I'm leaning towards the 26ers just because of the stouter wheels and quicker handling, but if anyone could shed some light on the Surface too that would be great.

Cheers.

http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=149446

Thing is, I'm 6'1 so a large is necessary…

If youre buying a hardtail, don't waste your time with a 26. I love my 26, but I'd love it more if it was a 29…The only reason I have it is because cheap.

A good 29, such as Chromags, will handle just as well as a 26 hardtail..

If youre buying a hardtail, don't waste your time with a 26. I love my 26, but I'd love it more if it was a 29…The only reason I have it is because cheap.

A good 29, such as Chromags, will handle just as well as a 26 hardtail..

Couldn't have said it any better.

Depending on how big your bonus is, I'd get a Surface no doubt, if not, Rootdown is the next best thing, fully kitted with Chromag bits.

Someone may be able to clarify for me;
Rootdown vs. Surface, differences? Just stumbled upon the root-down, upon lusting after/trying to figure out how I'm going to get another bike.

I'll be tooling around on slalom tracks a bit and maybe hitting some smaller, smoother jump lines, but definitely nothing too crazy. My main intention for this bike is to have a reasonably light bike that I can take into the backcountry and just tool around on without feeling held back from hitting jumps and drops where I see 'em. Keep in mind, I have my coil sprung Nomad for the bigger stuff, but I'm looking for a hardtail to get back to my roots and make things both simple and interesting again.

based on this i'm going to go against the popular wisdom in this thread and suggest a samurai. i have one i've been riding off and on for the past 8 years - recently decommissioned in favour of a similarly flavoured 29er. technically the big wheel bike does everything better: it's faster, more comfortable, has better traction, etc. but if (as you say) you are looking for a bike that you can use for a) smooth jump lines, b) slalom and c) making things simple and interesting, then you want a classic 26" wheeled ht in my opinion. you mentioned "tooling around" in the woods a few times in your post and a 26" hard tail is the bike to do that on off road. i'm having a lot of fun on my 29er but already kind of looking forward to suffering on my samurai late next fall :coo:

Someone may be able to clarify for me;
Rootdown vs. Surface, differences?

same geo and such, but the rootdown is made overseas of heavier tubing and in preset colours while the surface is more or less made to order and built by a living legend here in the cov

why not a stylus? heck this is from their description on their site; "The Stylus geometry is tuned to excel when trail riding, dirt jumping and just playing around"

sounds about right? people i've talked to with one love it

If youre buying a hardtail, don't waste your time with a 26. I love my 26, but I'd love it more if it was a 29…The only reason I have it is because cheap.

A good 29, such as Chromags, will handle just as well as a 26 hardtail..

A 29er will suck for pump tracks and jumps.

A 29er will suck for pump tracks and jumps.

Clearly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upM6JhS_TPc

Clearly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upM6JhS_TPc

I'm not saying you can't dirt jump on a 29er. Just that it will be a lot more enjoyable on a 26er.

You can even dirt jump with a Karpiel Apocalypse. @2:20
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/244580/

A 29er will suck for pump tracks and jumps.

No it won't. A real 26 jump bike and pump track bike will suck on trails more than a 29er will suck on pump and jump because a proper sized jump bike is like a shitty BMX.

No it won't. A real 26 jump bike and pump track bike will suck on trails more than a 29er will suck on pump and jump because a proper sized jump bike is like a shitty BMX.

Then buy 27.5?

A real 26 jump bike and pump track bike will suck on trails more than a 29er will suck on pump and jump

and a 26" am hardtail will split the difference nicely :)

Then buy 27.5?

but yeah if you are getting a handbuilt chromag frame and building it from scratch this might be the best all-round option