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SS Freeride/Do it all bike

8K views 54 replies 22 participants last post by  perttime 
#1 ·
I'll soon be moving into a living situation where I no longer have to pay rent or bills, with all the money I'll be saving I've decided to build or buy my dream bike... What I want is something similar to my old Monocog flight AL but with a steel frame and a little more "jump-able" geo, and lower top tube. Ideally I'd like a rigid bike, but bikes like the NS core (not SS) have been catching my eye. What I want is a rigid SS bike I can ride single track on, but also huck and hop.... would a surly 1x1 or instigator in a smaller size frame fit my need?
 
#2 ·
well... i have a SS transition vagrant...
by far my favorite bike EVER!!!!!! it tops everything!!

slap on a RS domain u-turn and it really does do it all... minimum travel and it climbs anything and loves XC

middle travel setting and it does AM really well

full travel and you have yourself an amazing hardtail freeride bike!!
 
#7 ·
The 26 in. Steel Flights are out there, just check around. Redline stopped making them, but I have seen several ads in mags on clearance, as a frame with build kits at dealer cost. For the geo, stem swap, and hi rise bars, and you have it.
 
#9 ·
stubecontinued said:
I'll soon be moving into a living situation where I no longer have to pay rent or bills, with all the money I'll be saving I've decided to build or buy my dream bike...
ahh-hah; living in the rents basement with a dream bike

TRULY LIVIN THE DREAM!

i am of course kidding unless i hit the nail on the head in which case i am sad for you.
 
#12 ·
ahh-hah; living in the rents basement with a dream bike

TRULY LIVIN THE DREAM
no... becoming the resident innkeeper at the hotel where I work...

The evil Sovereign seems to take a pretty long fork...

I'm thinking maybe a 26" Monocog flight or the Trans AM.... if I can find a 26" flight frameset I'll be a happy man costwise... but the transAm could be sweet.
 
#13 ·
stubecontinued said:
The evil Sovereign seems to take a pretty long fork....
All the suggested frames take pretty long forks.

When I looked at the angles and BB heights, I realised that the Sovereign is one of the few tough HTs that should work with a short fork too. My guesstimate is that it would get pretty standard XC bike geometry with a short fork. The others would have very steep seat tube angles at that point.

(not trying to sell you one, just saying what I think...)
 
#22 ·
Morhine in production? No it isn't. And the Banshee guys don't seem to be planning for a follow up. I am prettty sure there's some new frames still, somewhere on the planet...
 
#23 ·
That Ventana is beautiful.

I guess there's a small number of us that are building similar SS bikes. My Chameleon is about to go under the knife and get a Pike fork, Avid disc brake, new 20mm T/A front wheel, and a beefier rim on the back to make it more huckable. Its been fun as a rigid SS but I'm getting to where I want the shock for those harder landings and need to beef up the rest of the bike to build with my own strength and confidence on it.

So my final word is look into an older Chameleon. You probably dont want anything with an EBB if you're going to be doing drops. A chain tensioner on track ends >>> any EBB or sliding dropouts.
 
#25 ·
stubecontinued said:
so the vagrant and morphine aren't in production?
No.
They have both been discontinued some time ago.

Banshee still has an old website up, listing Morphine and Scirocco, but no new ones will be made. I believe they will make something to replace the Scirocco but Keith, the designer, has said that they will not follow up the Morphine: it is a dinosaur :p
 
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