Anyone got any thoughts on what's a decent trail/am/fr hardtail frame?
Unfortunately most of those terms are marketing departments ways to sell bikes to people, as if you think about what they mean you'd never find a bike that covers all the bases.
The main questions you need to be asking yourself are.
1. What sort of body-shape do you have and how much do you weigh?
2. Where do you ride, what do you ride and why do you ride it?
3. Do you want the suppleness of a good steel frame or the rigidity of aluminium?
4. How much travel will my suspension forks 'need' to have?
5. What's my total budget for frame and parts?
I was looking at the Kinesis Pha5e, but it appears to be discontinued now and the Cove Stiffee is a bit on the pricey side, so looking for other options........
The Pha5e is/was a great frame but I never got on with it. Nicely made, nicely finished, rode well but came up so small it felt cramped. And I'm not a fan of using layback seatposts or longer stems to lengthen the cockpit.
The SC Chameleon is a lovely frame, but it will knacker your back. It's so unforgiving. The Cove Stiffee would be my pick of the aluminium 'hardcore hardtail' bunch as it's got a bit of flex and it's a lovely frame, and while it's expensive new you can usually pick a second-hand one up for around £200 or so.
Then there's the Cotic Soul (too expensive); Dialled Bike's Prince Albert (perhaps not hardcore enough) or Alpine (probably
too hardcore); On-One's Scandal (perhaps a little lightweight for your needs) or 456 (great all-rounder and cheap); Cove's Handjob (practically perfect in every way, but I'm biased); Mythic's Scirocco (see comments on SC Chameleon) or Viento (Handjob's a better bike); Pace's RC305 (oh-so nice but oh-so expensive); and plenty of other one-off frames from various manufacturers.
Not really the ideal commuter under most conditions...
) and hoping it appears today.
