Pipedream Release New Sirius Hardtail

 I won't say much, but do some homework on the Pipedream tubing. Reynolds is just a brand name my friend. A good brand, but just a brand. The tubing used here is not inferior in any definition of the word. Cheers.

 @SmithCreekCycle: You clearly don't know much about tubing sets or building bikes.

 @SmithCreekCycle: There's not many suppliers globally making super thin wall, triple butted tubing from hard steels with lengths and profiles suited to making mountain bike frames. If you're not buying from Reynolds it's almost certainly to save money and it will likely be at detriment to weight and ride quality.

This frame does look super nicely finished though and at £649 you can't complain.

 On a hardtail there's no rear shock to sag, so once the bike is weighted and the fork has 25-30% sag the seat angle will be much steeper than this listed angle

 If it’s measured with seat level with top head tube, it’s going to be quite slack

 @tom666: I would agree with this. same reason we are developing HT soooo slack to account for rear shock sag

 @tom666: 30 percent sag on a 120 fork will steepen the seat angle roughly 1.5-2 degrees.

 Donald is that you ?

Seriously i tried to buy a Canadian or UK made steelframe this summer. Turns out its not that easy: a friend is a chromag dealer and asked for the price of a surface ( i wanted that bad) -1.700 € to my door. I asked a couple of british framebuilders, some did not reply at all some asked for 1.700€ and only swarf would have built it fr 1.400€ if i remember correctly. (I did not ask stanton because the geo was not right for me). Finally i abandoned the dream and bought a pipedream moxie for 649 €, great quality great people to deal with. Its heavy but the boutique frames only weight 100-200g less so whatever.

 @optimumnotmaximum: Stanton has UK made frames for 999 pounds.

 @optimumnotmaximum: BTR used to be quite cheap but they were hardly making money whilst working their ass off. It wasn't sustainable for them at all so they gradually increased their price to what they need to keep going, to get a proper workshop etc. And rightly so. Even with the higher price their bikes are in high demand so why not? There are different ways to look at the money it costs. Some gauge it against the kind of tech that goes into it and obviously that is never going to win it against a full suspension frame (of which even the "affordable" ones aren't necessarily cheaper than a custom steel frame). I just gauge it against how much I plan to use it. For me, it is the only mountainbike I ride and I ride it a lot. My previous frame was a DMR Switchback and even that one I kept for ten years so no reason to assume I'm going to keep this one any shorter or use it any less. As for custom/local, it only has value if it has value to you. So that's up to you to decide and I'll never argue. At the very basics, you just need a frame to just go out and have a blast. On One could serve anyone quite well, Cotic if you have a little bit more money. Back in the days I worked in a shop where we built custom steel bikes for people (titanium got outsourced to Litespeed). People got to choose geometry, color, logo, everything. I loved how they could be stoked, how it was a process instead of just a single transaction. So yeah back then I thought, someday I want that too. And indeed I did love the process, discussing geometry, color etc even though it was all over the e-mail in my case. But yeah, that's it. If you can see yourself like that then it may be worth a thought. If not and you're perfectly happy with any stock offering then of course, get that. One British custom builder that strikes me with (relatively) affordable custom frames would be Curtis. They've been around since forever and their bikes may appear more utilitarian than for instance those from Portus Cycles or Project XII (which definitely are more frivolous with little decorations and touches), they should be pretty good yet cheaper than the other options you mentioned. Even with custom geometry.

 @elmaar: as i said, Stanton geo was not what i was looking for ( sherpa seattube in L too long; 47 cm is max foe me); the more aggressive one ( i forgot the name ) has a too slack seatangle for my liking.

 @vinay: I can relate to that, but as most people I planned it as my n+1 bike to hang my still good 29er parts and an old X01 on, I also was not sure if i would like a 29er hardtail. With 29ers it has always been a love /hate relationship for me -and still is. As i love the speed they bring but somehow cant figure out how to throw them around. There seems to be so much stability until suddenly there isnt. Anyways -i wanted to spend about 1.200€ max but as i saw the curtis I was even willing to pay more. Unfortunally Curtis were the ones which did not answer my orderingmail (or the following ones ). So far i am happy with my moxie and ride it a lot, unlike my other bikes i tend to ride it on tamer terrain as intended, though. For me it works best with cc-ish tires and a 60mm stem. I rode it with dd tires and short stem, but in this configuaration it feels close to my enduro on the climbs and less fun on gnarly descends. There is only one enduropart i will never swap out, the vittoria airliner, its just amazing how this dampens the ride of a hardtail (even compared to cushcore i had previously). With that you get away running Vittoria Mezcals with 1.5 bars in the rear without worries. Sorry for the offtopic in the last lines but i really want to spread the word amongst hardtail riders, it does what all of us seek: it creates a compliant hardtail.

 @optimumnotmaximum: Yeah, I get what you're saying. I've actually got a 2007 Cannondale Prophet (140mm travel fully) and even though I rode the 2008 Megavalanche on it, I actually never got as comfortable on it as I was on my hardtail. So even though I still have it for my girlfriend or people who come over and want to ride with me, I don't actually ride it myself. I sometimes do find myself looking over newer full suspension frames and I do realize that these sure allow for more speed at times (though I also found myself maintaining my speed with subtle unconscious pumping whilst full suspension riders kept spinning pedals). But then I always realize, getting another bike won't allow me to ride more. Available time is the limitation, not available bikes. So you'd just end up sharing time between more bikes. Increase in grins would be marginal. For me, where I ride and for my riding style (nearly always explosive and standing), my hardtail is perfect. I ride with 26" wheels, 120mm travel fork. From what I understand (and which is hotly debated) is that smaller wheels interact more with the terrain. Which means they get "stuck" easier if you ride passive (or if the terrain is just too rough to account for everything) yet they allow you to generate more speed out of the terrain if you really work for it. So for me 26" is fine. I would probably get in trouble at the upper section of the Megavalanche below the snow line (though in recent videos it appeared more groomed than I recall it was back in the days) but below 2km or so (Alpe d'Huez is at 1800m) I think I'd be fine on my hardtail, even there. That said, I live in The Netherlands and ride mostly here or in neighbouring countries. If I find something I am having trouble with, I should be honest and blame it on my skill and fitness, not on the bike. Which is good news as skill and fitness are cheap .

As for tires, I currently ride with Nobby Nic 26x2.35 in the rear and Conti Trail King 26x2.4 in the front (on 29mm inner width rims front and rear). I noticed that someone with 27.5x2.2 tires have an outer diameter that's nearly the same as what I have, so so much for the wheel size debate . This is the first time I went tubeless(ish) and my idea was that if I'd have my cake I'd rather eat it too. If low tire pressures are an advantage then tire roll/burp, pinch flats and rim damage are not what should hold me back. So I went with Schwalbe/Syntace ProCore right away. I run about 5.5bar in the tubes, 0.9bar in the front tire and between 1.1 and 1.2bar in the rear tire. Only think I initially hated about ProCore was that annoying valve (that was complex and made for an expensive tube with a valve that was impossible to clean out once clogged). So I'm using a regular (1" wide) inner tube and a Pepi valve for the tire. The valve holes are four spokes apart though in my case (Syntace W35 rims) these were already pre-drilled for this very purpose. So yeah I don't think I would ever ride "pure tubeless". If you're going to bother with the mess, you need to be able to drop the pressure as low as you want without worries about burping or damage.

 @vinay: i ride quite aggressively and pump a lot. with 29er wheels my timing feels often off. i ( or now my wife) also own a commencal meta cromo with 26 wheels (and Nobby Nic 2.35 ) which is a blast to ride and pump on smooth trails but a pain to ride in the rough. I also own a 27.5 endurobike with Magic mary ultrasoft tires coil etc. It absolutely rips on everything steep and you feel like a god drifting and smashing-but on my local trails it is slow and you dont want to climb anything else than a fireroad. And then there is the moxie which flys uphill on flat bits and even on flatter rough sections but i cant realy pump,corner or jump with it as my timing, like i said, feels off.

Procore is good but it was no option for me as my 29er rims are carbon lightbicycle ones. Btw the Vittoria airliner is made by Deaneasy

 @optimumnotmaximum: just order a custom Marino. Amazing quality and great value. Just need to be patient. My last one took 5 months. Hope my current order is faster with less Covid issues in Peru right now.

 @52Jeff: I tried this a couple of years ago, it was a nightmare, after 6 months i cancelled. To marinos defence, it was the time he built the sick frames...