My hardtail journey

rigidftw

Retro Guru
I like hardtails. Back in 2012 I had the chance to try a Production Privee Shan, the arguably original euro 26" hardcore hardtail. It belonged to a friend that I visited. Such a beautiful bike and the ride was sublime...
We went to get some drinks late at night, he told me to try to manual, so I did and crashed hard; twisted my knee pretty badly. The night and couple weeks after were ruined, but the Shan was stuck in my mind.

At the time I rode an On One 456 Summer Season, which was nowhere near as nice as the Production Privee.
The On One was my first hardtail that was meant to prioritize fun riding down a hill.

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It was heavy and slow but this kind of bike appealed to me, so I quickly graduated to a Ragley Bagger 288.

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Great bike, but lots of squish up front that I did not feel to be all that necessary.

I had strong opinions, so I ordered a custom frame from Swarf Cycles.
At some point it was voted Sexiest Hardtail of the year over on Pinkbike.

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For aesthetic reasons I wanted the downtube to be bigger. Adrian, the guy behind Swarf Cycles originally recommended the down tube to be the same diameter as the top tube....but what does he know, right?
I played around with different fork travel numbers and ended up screwing up the geometry with a shorter fork and an angle-adjust headset. This, coupled with an overall harshness (big down tubes do not help with this), ruined the experience and I did not like it anymore.

This is how it looked right before I sold it.

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I now was after a bike of similar length, but with a more comfortable ride.
My girlfriend has had a Production Privee Oka for several years. A short-travel hardtail, meant for more tame riding. It also came with the rather special Production Privee seat and chainstays and had a lighter tubeset than the bigger Shan.
I found an Oka in size XL.
The ride of a Production Privee is quite special. The people at PP argue that this special ride comes from their use of specially treated rear stays. This might be possible, but I think most of the vibrations dissipate where the dropouts are bolted to the frame. All frames with bolt-on dropouts ride nicer than frames with welded-on, or in case of the Swarf brazed-on dropouts, IME.

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The ride was much less harsh and for a time I really enjoyed it, but then the doubt kept creeping up again and I decided the 460mm reach was too much for me.
The drivetrain on this was an interesting experiment, though. Short-range 3x1 [24-32-36] with a clutch-assisted chain tensioner.

After that I managed to get my hands on my holy grail. A Production Privee Shan (2018 model). The geometry was already considered out of date in 2018, but it seemed to tick all the boxes for me.
I put it through multiple builds. Singlespeed, light XC, 4X, three different forks and dropper posts, I shortened the seat tube and finally ended up with this.

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But, hurrying down some uneven terrain, I still felt not as confident as I wanted.

Late into the ownership of the Shan a Transition Trans Am crossed my path on kleinanzeigen.de. Cheap and cheerful, dressed up in parts-bin gear, this thing turned out to be a riot. On the right trail this thing instills more confidence than the Shan, despite a 26" rear wheel and even more outdated geometry.

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Back in May this year a guy over in Colorado said he wanted to sell one of his frames. A Stanton Switchback Ti Mk2.
This naturally piqued my interest.
We quickly agreed on a deal that at least for me was almost too good to be true, but everything worked out as planned and I am now the proud owner of said frame.

All the parts from the Shan were transferred.
The Shan's strong point was climbing. Not what I am after on a bike meant to be most fun going in the opposite direction. The bikes weakness were overly tight, steep sections of trail and quick direction changes.

The Switchback is the polar opposite. Its geometry is similar to the Trans Am. It's very short, both in reach and chainstay length. The seat tube is very slack.
Short chainstays, slack seat tube and the slightly higher BB compared to the Shan, make it very easy to pop a wheelie and/or jump.
The bolt-on dropouts and whole Ti-ness of the frame deal with most vibrations coming from the back end.
The moderately slack head tube angle gives confidence in bermed corners on our moderately steep terrain.
The frame itself is very light.
It's safe to say this is the best hardtail I have ever ridden. It even surpasses the somewhat clouded memory of that PP Shan I fell off one night ten or so years ago.

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One thing to note, though: Seated climbing is very unpleasant on any considerable incline....but you cannot have everything. So I'm fine with it.
 
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Mm me like, nice to have photos like that to chronicle the bikes you've owned. I've done something similar myself and ended up on a custom Kingdom Vendetta but I think if a MK2 Switchback Ti in my size came up I might be tempted to chop it in. the latest ones are a bit too long reach for my tastes, but the mk2 are rare as hens teeth it seems, or owners like to keep hold of them.
 
Mm me like, nice to have photos like that to chronicle the bikes you've owned. I've done something similar myself and ended up on a custom Kingdom Vendetta but I think if a MK2 Switchback Ti in my size came up I might be tempted to chop it in. the latest ones are a bit too long reach for my tastes, but the mk2 are rare as hens teeth it seems, or owners like to keep hold of them.
I have not seen Stanton frames come up for sale used much at all, let alone Ti frames.

Got any photos of your bike(s)? Feel free to share them in this thread.
 
Cor, that Swarf looks ahead of it’s time geometry wise! Nice collection although since getting a bike with a steep seat tube the one on your ti would blow my mind!

I dip in and out of hard tails but having got my full suss finally dialled in just right I’ve tried to replicate the geometry with a Pace RC627. Nearly there but went over the top with the tyres so need to swap them for lighter. Just picked up a bargain Cube carbon xc ht too so should be fun comparing them!
 
I like hardtails. Back in 2012 I had the chance to try a Production Privee Shan, the arguably original euro 26" hardcore hardtail.

Seems like quite a bold claim when we had DMR Trailstar, Orange Missile, Planet X Jackflash, DDG Shooter amongst others pre-2000, just in the UK! Post 2000 you had all of the above plus On-One, .243, Revell Bikes, 24 Bicycles, Nicolai, Rotwild, Duncon, Curtis etc... :p
 
Cor, that Swarf looks ahead of it’s time geometry wise! Nice collection although since getting a bike with a steep seat tube the one on your ti would blow my mind!

I dip in and out of hard tails but having got my full suss finally dialled in just right I’ve tried to replicate the geometry with a Pace RC627. Nearly there but went over the top with the tyres so need to swap them for lighter. Just picked up a bargain Cube carbon xc ht too so should be fun comparing them!

It got built in January 2015. HA 65°, SA 75°, 460mm reach, 430mm chainstay, 150mm fork, 305mm BB height, if I remember correctly.

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Please do share your thoughts on the Cube vs. the Pace.
 
Interesting your comments on hardtails with bolt on dropouts being more compliant, guess there might be something in that. I've always wondered if a 12mm bolt through rear was detrimental on a hardtail, think manufacturers only went that way so people can swap wheels etc. Got to be overkill in terms of lateral stiffness surely?
 
Interesting your comments on hardtails with bolt on dropouts being more compliant, guess there might be something in that. I've always wondered if a 12mm bolt through rear was detrimental on a hardtail, think manufacturers only went that way so people can swap wheels etc. Got to be overkill in terms of lateral stiffness surely?
Possibly.
I find installing wheels much easier with through axles, as they tend to come with disc brakes. Installing a disc brake wheel with regular QR dropouts can be quite fiddly.
 

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