NSMB - 2021 - Hardtail Thread

The Bird looks great. Very similar geo numbers to my Moxie V1, but better tyre clearance.

I have room to spare with a 210mm dropper and a 420mm seat tube, but that's dependant on leg length and where the tube bends.

Posted by: Vikb

WHAT A SMOKESHOW!!!!

Looks very nicely crafted. That paint looks good too. I like the bash guard mounts and external cabling....looks really good and stoked to see the build up.

Im with you 100%. Sacrifice on anything you need, but make sure you're 150% stoked on your bikes. Life is too short to spend anytime on anything but exactly what you want.

Posted by: Ddean

WHAT A SMOKESHOW!!!!

Looks very nicely crafted. That paint looks good too. I like the bash guard mounts and external cabling....looks really good and stoked to see the build up.

Im with you 100%. Sacrifice on anything you need, but make sure you're 150% stoked on your bikes. Life is too short to spend anytime on anything but exactly what you want.

Thanks. It is a pretty nice looking frame. It's that two tone colour shifting powdercoat that goes from teal to purple. UK bike companies are really doing great work in the hardtail niche.

Yes it's true. Riding bikes you totally love is worth the effort/hassle/cost to get things right.

Bird is unrated as a brand, they produce some well thought out bikes.

Posted by: velocipedestrian

The Bird looks great. Very similar geo numbers to my Moxie V1, but better tyre clearance.

I have room to spare with a 210mm dropper and a 420mm seat tube, but that's dependant on leg length and where the tube bends.

The V1 Moxie was one of the first of the "modern" geo hardtails to really catch my attention. I had a friend with one and listening to him rave about it and ride so well with it pushed me over the edge to get a hardtail. I'm really glad I did.

When I got the Sirius this fall my first thought was to get a Moxie. I hadn't really paid attention to the rest of the Pipedream lineup. Too bad there is so little time and so many great bikes. ;-)

Posted by: earleb

Bird is unrated as a brand, they produce some well thought out bikes.

Yes. I wasn't really thinking about Bird for a hardtail as I didn't think they made a steel one. The Forge got released for sale in July and they still had frames to sell in Dec so not exactly flying off the shelves, but that doesn't seem to reflect the quality of the frame it's not very well known/marketed. I did some Google searches for reviews and came up with very very little.

Posted by: Vikb

I was starting to feel like having a geared HT was going to be fairly essential for winter riding here as there's just no getting away from the granny grind to make progress in tougher snow conditions. I don't mind pushing my SS bike a bit, but after a certain point I start to wonder why I bother bringing a bike on this hike. ;-)

The two options with my existing fleet were #1 put knobbies on the bikepacking bike or #2 throw some parts on the Cotic BFeMAX frame I still have. I don't own a road bike so my bikepacking rig is my road and my gravel and my touring bike. so having it ready to grab off the hook and handle all that non-tech riding is great and I didn't want to mess with success there. The Cotic was tempting. While I preferred riding my Pipedream Sirius in terms of geo I didn't hate the Cotic and it's still sitting in the garage.

Given my advanced age I decide life was too short to ride a bike I wasn't fully stoked about. So I decide to sell the Cotic and get a new frame. I nearly ordered another Sirius since they were in stock. Thought about a Canfield Yelli Screamy for a minute, but ended up ordering a Bird Forge. Ya I like weird steel frames made by small companies. And Bird actually had frames to sell. Buying a lesser know brand/model has an advantage in that they didn't sell out fast.

Nothing too radical about the geo other than it does have a lowish BB. I have leaned towards higher BB bikes in the past so this is a bit of an experiment. TCV has less slow speed chunk pedaling so I'm hopeful it will be fine and I am curious to see if the cornering is noticeably better than my other bikes.

I'm a fan of flexible frames and the Forge seems to fit that bill based on the tubing, lack of bracing and what limited reviews/customer feedback I can find. I'll get started on the build this week as I hear we got a decent amount of snow on the trails to contend with. As long as my parts bin doesn't let me down on something essential I can't get from a LBS I should have her rolling for the weekend. In the meantime I'll give my SS rig a shot at the snow and see what happens.

For folks that are into the details:

- Product Page: https://www.bird.bike/product/forge-frameset/#configuration

- Geo: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51745104625_bcfd1f1a9d_k.jpg

- Review: https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/mountain-bikes/bird-forge-review/

That's super exciting vic. Looks like a nice frame. You are absolutely tight about gears and snow in comox. There is no way you can get enough traction to ss it. 

I am pretty happy with my current bikes but when I saw that 18Bikes has a pile of donuts for their headbadge, I started reconsidering things. Luckily they don't have stock readily available when I was looking....

Just check out that headbadge!

Not a bad looking bike either

Ha ha Pile of Donuts!  Those are Peak District Millstones!  

Posted by: RAHrider

I am pretty happy with my current bikes but when I saw that 18Bikes has a pile of donuts for their headbadge, I started reconsidering things. Luckily they don't have stock readily available when I was looking....

Just check out that headbadge!

Nice frame and a headbadge that celebrates ancient mile markers telling weary travelers how far it was to the next donut shop is pretty amazing!

Are you still doing the custom Marino rigid frame?

Vik congrats man rhat thing looks awesome. My HT has been apart for months. I am missing it. Need to scrounge up a few parts and get it rolling again.

Posted by: Kenny

Vik congrats man rhat thing looks awesome. My HT has been apart for months. I am missing it. Need to scrounge up a few parts and get it rolling again.

Thanks. What are you missing that would get it rolling? Winter is the ideal time to be riding a hardtail so if you can make it happen that would be sweet.

Vik that frame is beautiful. My 2022 bike project was going to be replacing my aging cyclocross bike but I think I need a hardtail again instead. Here's my last one, an aluminum Honzo. Nothing fancy but it rode well with a 150mm fork and angleset. The Sirrius or maybe Cotic Solaris are most appealing to me right now. I think I want relatively slack and 120mm fork so I can ride it rigid for bikepacking. Might even try singlespeed again.

And just for fun here's what I was riding ~5 years ago (after a 5 year break from mountain biking). Progression from XC dork has been rapid. It's a Salsa frame and Niner carbon fork with the spray bike treatment. I wish I still had this one as a gravel bike minus that terrifying Panaracer front tire.

Posted by: Abies

Vik that frame is beautiful. My 2022 bike project was going to be replacing my aging cyclocross bike but I think I need a hardtail again instead. Here's my last one, an aluminum Honzo. Nothing fancy but it rode well with a 150mm fork and angleset. The Sirrius or maybe Cotic Solaris are most appealing to me right now. I think I want relatively slack and 120mm fork so I can ride it rigid for bikepacking. Might even try singlespeed again.

And just for fun here's what I was riding ~5 years ago (after a 5 year break from mountain biking). Progression from XC dork has been rapid. It's a Salsa frame and Niner carbon fork with the spray bike treatment. I wish I still had this one as a gravel bike minus that terrifying Panaracer front tire.

That Honzo looks like a great bike and ya I agree an older XC MTB would make a sweet gravel bike. I'm using my bikepacking HT as my gravel/GRoad bike these days and it does just fine for social non-competitive rides. Plus it can shred a black diamond trail if one comes my way. I like the versatility and there are so many ALT bars available for long distance comfort.

It's kind of mind blowing thinking about what my old rigid/hardtail MTBs looked like back when they were the only option vs. what I am riding now.

I don't think you can go wrong with either the Sirius or the SolarisMAX. The geo is sufficiently different I'd spend some time noodling about it and deciding what you prefer. Although if you really want to SS I'd skip the Cotic due to the lack of sliders.

Posted by: Vikb

Posted by: Abies

Vik that frame is beautiful. My 2022 bike project was going to be replacing my aging cyclocross bike but I think I need a hardtail again instead. Here's my last one, an aluminum Honzo. Nothing fancy but it rode well with a 150mm fork and angleset. The Sirrius or maybe Cotic Solaris are most appealing to me right now. I think I want relatively slack and 120mm fork so I can ride it rigid for bikepacking. Might even try singlespeed again.

And just for fun here's what I was riding ~5 years ago (after a 5 year break from mountain biking). Progression from XC dork has been rapid. It's a Salsa frame and Niner carbon fork with the spray bike treatment. I wish I still had this one as a gravel bike minus that terrifying Panaracer front tire.

That Honzo looks like a great bike and ya I agree an older XC MTB would make a sweet gravel bike. I'm using my bikepacking HT as my gravel/GRoad bike these days and it does just fine for social non-competitive rides. Plus it can shred a black diamond trail if one comes my way. I like the versatility and there are so many ALT bars available for long distance comfort.

It's kind of mind blowing thinking about what my old rigid/hardtail MTBs looked like back when they were the only option vs. what I am riding now.

I don't think you can go wrong with either the Sirius or the SolarisMAX. The geo is sufficiently different I'd spend some time noodling about it and deciding what you prefer. Although if you really want to SS I'd skip the Cotic due to the lack of sliders.

Yeah I think that Salsa has like a 71 degree HTA? My current trail bike is 65, lol. Those two bikes are pretty different approaches for sure. SS would just be for fun and I don't think I'd be upset if I skip it. I'm also looking at the Nordest Britango which seems well thought out.