[HardtailHack]

I am looking at a Ragley Blue Pig mainly because I am poor, do any monkeys own one or have any knowledge on their build quality? I know the earlier ones cracked at the seat tube but the main thing that concerns me is that the designer was the man from On-One and thought the Ragley may come from the same frame builder and On-One's QC is non existent.


I was also looking at the NS surge but I don't think the new version is coming to Australia, the Kona Explosif is only available as a built bike, Ramones Cromo frame isn't available here and the Charge distributor stopped bringing frames in.


If anyone else has suggestions for cheap low slack steel hardtails feel free to post them up, not really keen on 29ers.

 

[HAB]

I had one. Rear triangle was horribly misaligned, but they were good about getting it sorted.

 

[HardtailHack]

Hmmm, I did read that in 2011 they changed manufacturers but if yours is after that that's a bit of a worry.

Trying to get a Commencal Ramones from Commencal France, it is the ideal cheap frame for me as it is super low and looks a bit more solid than the Ragley. Found my 456s had too much lateral flex for my liking, however I'd imagine having BB drop instead of raise would make it more tolerable.

Was going to get the Pig a couple of days ago but the 10% extra code won't work so I'm hunting for hopefully better alternatives.

 

[Paulyd]

I'm personally looking at the Piglet, but wondering if I should just wait a little longer and spend my money on a Cotic Soul/BFe. Other choices don't seem to fit what i'm looking for.

 

[HardtailHack]

Yeah I ended up saving a bit longer and, I am trying to buy a 2Souls but they have stopped replying to my emails, not sure what's going on but if they take too much longer I'll get a Chromag.

 

[julincaiyi]

This is an important question.

 

[HardtailHack]

This is an important question.

Damn straight!

 

[herbman]

I have a evo2 456 on the way, am keen to see how cheap it is? It was super cheap to my door.

The production privee would be my frame of choice if I had the $$$

 

[MrMentallo]

I just finished a blue pig build and I'm loving it. No fuss assembly, nothing was wrong with the frame and it rides like a beast. Climbs well, descends even better and the slack geometry is stable as hell. It's almost like having a short travel FS in the rear and 150mm up front. I'm doing things on this bike that most hardtails wouldn't take. Build quality isn't an issue at all. I picked this one over a 456 for the fact that it has a 44mm headtube for more choices on a fork and for the replaceable derailleur hanger. I won't have a frame that is trashed for want of a $15 part.

 

[Sandwich]

man, I like some of the on-one stuff, but brant has to fix the trainwreck that is his idea of geometry for an aggressive hardtail. I keep eyeballing some of his frames (fireline ti, big pig, 45650b, etc.) and they all have super short reach values, even if the top tube is long. I don't want to buy a 21" frame just to get a reach value over 16", and 16.1" at that.

Right now the cheap winner on HT frames is kona, but you have to go 650b (explosif) or honzo. Both are around $500. Long front centers, great reach values, 44mm headtubes. ****s dialed yo. If you don't want to believe it, maybe throw 26ers on the splosif and scrape your bb on the ground. it's only like 0.5".

 

[Paulyd]

Is there anything out there 44mm ht, 26 wheels, adjustable stays? Piglet seems closest to what im looking for overall, besides the adjustable stay.

 

[HardtailHack]

man, I like some of the on-one stuff, but brant has to fix the trainwreck that is his idea of geometry for an aggressive hardtail. I keep eyeballing some of his frames (fireline ti, big pig, 45650b, etc.) and they all have super short reach values, even if the top tube is long. I don't want to buy a 21" frame just to get a reach value over 16", and 16.1" at that.

Right now the cheap winner on HT frames is kona, but you have to go 650b (explosif) or honzo. Both are around $500. Long front centers, great reach values, 44mm headtubes. ****s dialed yo. If you don't want to believe it, maybe throw 26ers on the splosif and scrape your bb on the ground. it's only like 0.5".

I should have the 2Souls in a week or so, you are bang on about the On-Ones though, I had a 16" and looked at an 18" but they are pretty much just a longer ST and my legs hit the bars when climbing on that.

2Souls is bang on, they aren't cheap but they have a much better DO design than the Kona Paragon knockoffs, they run different tube spec on the two different frame sizes, snake stays (should)flex in the middle not at the top like the On-One, frame is electro plated(sp?) before PC so it doesn't rust out, custom colours are no charge, warranty isn't void if you fit an angleset.

I will be running big bagged 26"(will go to 27") tyres for now and the AC on my Totem is down to 505mm so I am thinking of adding a -2deg Works headset if it rides a bit too much like an XC bike. With probably around 40mm BB drop it may be fairly stable at speed with a fairly steep HA, will try it first and order bits later.

MrMentallo, nice to hear your frame is good, on paper the BP looks good on paper but I am glad the CRC code didn't work when I tried ordering one as I know I would have regretted not spending a bit more and getting exactly what I wanted.

 

[MrMentallo]

MrMentallo, nice to hear your frame is good, on paper the BP looks good on paper but I am glad the CRC code didn't work when I tried ordering one as I know I would have regretted not spending a bit more and getting exactly what I wanted.

The bitch is that Ragley isn't making any more Blue Pigs. Apparently the batch I got was the last they are going to make. You can still get one but it has to be a small or an extra large.

The sizing on it is a bit small. I ordered the 16" and it rides like a larger small if that makes any sense. I don't mind it as I prefer smaller bikes for the flickability. That was a large part of my reasoning to go with a 26" versus getting an on one 45650. I run a wide riser bar rotated out a little and a 70mm stem vs a 40 or 50 mm. So no cockpit reach issues. I switched up to 750mm cranks from 700mm to take care of any leg reach issues for pedaling efficiency.

A few months after I finished the initial build to get it out on the trails, I haven't noticed any of the problems I have read about. I weigh around 200 lbs and haven't noticed any creaking from the seat or headtube or lateral flex from the rear triangle. The front end lifts a little on steep climbs, but that's a general slack headangle issue and not a manufacturer issue. It shipped with an extra derailleur hanger which was ace. It also had nice cable guides and flat headed hex nuts to mount them. They hold 3 cables which is good for front derailleur, rear brake and a dropper post. I don't need the front derailleur line, but it was a nice touch.

The thing is a heavy beast for a hardtail, but that's to be understood if you are buying a burly, steel slack hardtail.

 

[ZoRo]

Any pics of your 2souls? They look like an evolutive version of the Evil Sov. Looks like a killer bike.

 

[HardtailHack]

Nah, DHL Germany sucks compared to their US wing, 150 Oooroze for the world's slowest postage, damn inefficient Germans

 

[HardtailHack]

Just noticed that Transition has a 27.5" Trans-AM, with an angleset it would be a wicked do it all steed and they have the reach I was looking for, shame I didn't see it earlier.

https://www.transitionbikes.com/2014/Bikes_TransAM275.cfm?Token={ts_2014-04-13_05:29:35}-cad9b5a786b81321-8A5898DB-9F65-20F8-386812E07FDBE11E

 

[HardtailHack]

Double poste.

 

[HardtailHack]

Frame arrived today, sadly my shiny new cranks are still in the post so I had to run some Sram loaners for the weekend.

10-15mm more reach would have been nice but it's close enough, sits nice and low so I don't think I'll bother gong to 27.5mm. Still needs an EC lower cup, cranks and the correct rear mech, I didn't realise they didn't have the ratio switch thingy and 11-32 is too big a spread for it.

Apologies for the lack of bokeh, I could paintbrush some balls on it I guess.

 

[Sandwich]

Notice. I dig the perple

 

[dump]

Frame arrived today, sadly my shiny new cranks are still in the post so I had to run some Sram loaners for the weekend.

10-15mm more reach would have been nice but it's close enough, sits nice and low so I don't think I'll bother gong to 27.5mm. Still needs an EC lower cup, cranks and the correct rear mech, I didn't realise they didn't have the ratio switch thingy and 11-32 is too big a spread for it.

Apologies for the lack of bokeh, I could paintbrush some balls on it I guess.

That looks nice... beefy too. Congrats.

 

[HardtailHack]

Thanks gents, I like it, BUT, and it's a big one!
The back end is too wide for big feet, as soon as I start to head down my heel decides to rest on the chainstay which means I have to go to a shorter and higher Q factor crank or some crazy Tioga pedals with the outboard bearing. This sucks as most of the fun of an aggressive hardtail is punching through tight rocky bits that DH bikes struggle to clear, wide cranks suck for this and for your knees on big rides.

Other than that I can hold a line a lot better than my On-One would allow me to do, the back end is stiffer than the On-One but still has some vertical compliance. 31.6 posts suck on hardtails so a fancy flexy Syntace post and/or a dropper post will be added when I stop being very very poor.

I am surprised at how well the Totem works with the steepish HA, the fork is almost dead but with the AVY cart and the facing of the damper mount has it working much better than my 888 ever has. The hydraulic bottom out ring just touches the damper at full bump but before refacing the damper fixing point they hit pretty hard.

I also killed the rear mech, DH Zee + sliding dropouts + 11-32 ratio= bent mech, oops. For what it's worth it worked fine running it 8 speed but took some measuring and cutting to get right, now I get to do it again, yay.

 

[HardtailHack]

Okay sooooo, Profile Elite cranks are not for a BB92 bottom bracket, turns out a 6" spindle is too short. I have fit them and to do it you need about 10mm of spacers, a modified BB shell to clear the spacers, machine 3mm from the spider and machine 3mm from the cone spacer thing on the other side and you have a stupidly stiff crank with a normalish Q factor.

At the moment I'm just running a Renthal ring and it doesn't seem to need a guide.