NSMB - 2023 - Hardtails Leaning Against Stuff Thread

Snowy rides here these days. Great excuse to ride the mellower trails in town

Nice Doctahawk!  Is that the Z1 Air or Coil?  How do you likey?

Coil. I love it. 

It’s a great fork, supportive and supple.

Posted by: fartymarty

Posted by: mrbrett

Posted by: a.funks

Are 220/200 rotors silly on a hardtail? 

I don't think they're silly anywhere.

Swapability makes sense.  I run my brake hoses long on the HT so they can flip to the FS if needed.  When changing wheels I typically change rotors as well - at least until the point were i'm running Curas on both bikes.  But to answer the question 220/200 makes sense - you can never have too much brake.

I'm running 203s on my drop bar Stooge. It looks kinda funny, but it stops real good. Can't complain.

As you can see from the below pic, my eldest as grown "a little" since we built up his Sonder 2 years ago...

We are now in the market for a new hardtail frame, with a budget of around £650.

He is now 5ft8 and is blessed with long body and long arms but short legs like his dad so longer reach shorter seat tube bikes are ideal but it does limit the choice somewhat.  Having had him ride my 470 reach Banshee Prime around a bit and my friends 460 reach Bird Aether9, a 460+ reach and 420 seat tube would be ideal.

Obvious choice is a Cotic BFeMax and they get a lot of love, rightly so.  Other options considered...

Intrigued by the Marin El Roy, slightly cheaper option at £595 inc headset - the regular is a massive 480 reach but might be a bit too much bike for local trails but great fun when we head somewhere bigger/steeper.

Chromag Rootdown but they are hard to get hold of in the UK now, and I'd like to avoid a pressfit BB to be honest.

Pipedream Moxie - out of stock and over budget.

Nukeproof Scout 29 - his "little" brother has one and they are shorter reach for a given length of seat tube.

Ragley BigAl/BigWig - they are also shorter reach for a given length of seat tube.

Another Sonder Signal ST - ditto.

Banshee Paradox - over budget (though possibly not with the loyalty discount) but they aren't quite long enough in Reach in a medium and the seat tube is too long in the large.

Stif Squatch - looks good but not quite as good as the Cotic, and more £.

Bird Zero29 - ditto.

Stanton Switch9er - also ditto.

Pace RC529 - no mediums in stock.

Posted by: pedalhound

Posted by: heathen

Been a bit of wild time for my hardtails lately.

Chromag Wideangle is a child hauling duty with a rigid fork.

Hey Heathen, what fork are you running on the WA? I am thinking about turning my Rootdown into something a little different and one idea is to pop a rigid fork on there but finding one that has the proper A2C is not easy...lol. So far I am just tossing this idea around in my head...we shall see...lol.

Kona Project 2 rigid. Came off the 2022 single speed frame. Sweet fork has maxle.

Posted by: heathen

The funniest part is he is so stoked to get in and ride he burns out and falls a sleep sometimes.

This reminds me of my kid when he was younger, he used to pass out in the iBert and also when he got older in the Macride as well. Things leaning on hardtails is a nice twist in this thread

^ OH! That's how you do it!

When I have had one of my kids fall asleep on the Macride I have ended up riding home with one arm around them and one on the bars. A jacket-pillow on the bars makes so much more sense than risking it all just to let them sleep a bit longer. Those one handed off balance rides home were fairly sketchy.

One particular time, we had just shuttled up and as the van was disappearing down the road and we were getting ready to ride down when my son started into "I'm getting kinda tired. I will need a snack after this run" and by turn 3 he was out cold. No cell reception, so I had to just limp down one armed. Even the emergency hit of Smarties wasn't waking him up.

We don't push it for one more run with a tired kid now. Would do on a pathway with a jacket pillow. Or just make camp for a 20 min snooze?

Posted by: UFO

Posted by: heathen

The funniest part is he is so stoked to get in and ride he burns out and falls a sleep sometimes.

This reminds me of my kid when he was younger, he used to pass out in the iBert and also when he got older in the Macride as well. Things leaning on hardtails is a nice twist in this thread

Thanks for sharing. The jacket idea is awesome. I can't wait til Morrissey is old enough for the Mac Ride

Dan,

Put a Solaris Max on the list.  I'm loving mine.

m

Posted by: mrbrett

Those one handed off balance rides home were fairly sketchy.

110% this. 

Plus because the kid isn't really exerting I found they would complain about getting cold in any riding under about 20*

Heathen, the Macride was good for our kids from ages 2-5.5. Obviously at age 2 it's mellow riding only since the kid doesn't have the upper body strength to really absorb impacts on the bar, don't want them to lose the grip and face/chest plant. But way more engaging and rewarding riding experience, and much easier than the bow legged pedaling with the iBert. At age 4-5 I'd let my kids help me rear brake in controlled situations

Posted by: UFO

Posted by: mrbrett

Those one handed off balance rides home were fairly sketchy.

110% this. 

Plus because the kid isn't really exerting I found they would complain about getting cold in any riding under about 20*

Heathen, the Macride was good for our kids from ages 2-5.5. Obviously at age 2 it's mellow riding only since the kid doesn't have the upper body strength to really absorb impacts on the bar, don't want them to lose the grip and face/chest plant. But way more engaging and rewarding riding experience, and much easier than the bow legged pedaling with the iBert. At age 4-5 I'd let my kids help me rear brake in controlled situations

My son's only 15mo, so I have a bit yet. Can't wait to share trails with him.

Careful folks.  It isn't long until they get to an age where they just drop their dad and don't even bother waiting.  :(  ;)

Posted by: BC_Nuggets

Careful folks.  It isn't long until they get to an age where they just drop their dad and don't even bother waiting.  :(  ;)

That's the plan. My wife's goal is to get him ready for Crankworx 2040. Then retire off his winnings. LoL.