Mountain Biking - Looking for an urban assault hardtail

I'm currently looking for a hardtail that can take the abuses of jumping, ledges, stairs and the like. possibly acommodate a 2.2-2.6 tire and front and rear discs. any help is appreciated, as my bike was stolen yesterday.

www.unrealcycles.com

Check these guys out.

[url=http://cortinacycles.com/[/url]

:beer:

i am looking for the same thing right now. specialized has the p series which seems to fit the bill. also look into norco, balfa and kona. all of them carry hardtails that you could use for urban assaultage.

P.2 (http://www.specialized.com/SBCBkModel.jsp?san=03P2&bl=mountain&JServSessionIdroot=4a55sz5imy.j27001) and the Kona Roast (http://www.konaworld.com/2k4bikes/2k4_roast.cfm) are popular choices. Next year's Roast comes with a DJ instead of the dumb EXR. You might also consider the GT Moto (http://productcatalog.gtmountainbikes.com/catalog/index.php?id=60). Its a surprisingly good value.

i wonder if they will swap out the exr on the p2. that's one of the reason i haven't been looking so serious at some bikes since they have that fork and i read it isn't up to par for freeriding.

Anyone knows how much an Evil Imperial frame costs?

Sinister Bikes, Evil, .243, Goatbike,....etc.

Unreal Cycles has a lot, you could also check out www.webcyclery.com and www.speedgoat.com for some of their hardtail selection.

L8R

Originally posted by Chuvak
Anyone knows how much an Evil Imperial frame costs?

A lot :)

I think they run 700ish?

Look at the Banshee Morphine

www.bansheebikes.com

Also keep in mind when it comes to kona they are changing the sizing of the bikes to be more dj specific. They are quite a bit smaller than 2002's and slacker still. They will not make for good all round riding bike (except for urban). Just something to think about. If you are looking for an all round bike that can handle urban check out the new Hoss series. :)

Originally posted by BAC5.2
A lot :)

I think they run 700ish?

Look at the Banshee Morphine

www.bansheebikes.com

And from my understanding they have really good customer service! Good crash replacement too! To me that sells a bike!

would the geometry of the cove stiffee be to slack to handle freeriding/urban and trails? it seems like its less slack than others and would let me do whatever the hell i wanted to with it and still not be a fully xc only bike.

Stinky,

The Stiffee is built for it, a good all round geometry. The 2002 Kona Out OF Bounds series has a similar geometry.

Any other good all round hardtail frames or bikes you can recommend? Links would be great.

P series is good for a bit of everything. For ht's I am becoming a boutique bike fan. I love the look of a unique ht so I would say www.243bikes.com would be a top bike for me. Any bike in www.unrealcycles.com is also up there to. I trust ben when he says a bike is tough :)

i test rode a p2 the other day and really liked it. there are a few things i didn't like though. the frame looks like it doesn't have tons of clearance in the back if you want to run huge tires. i've heard the marzocchi exr it comes with isn't really meant to be used for freeriding either and the lever/shifters is just a pet peeve. i think i am going to build up a cove stiffee even though its more $$$ and over my budget, but it would be everything i want and half the fun seems to be building a bike up.

any suggestions on getting a proper fitting frame via mail order since i don't have any cove local dealers? i'm thinking the 15" would be best since i'm 5'5" and i believe my oooooollllddddd xc bike is a 16" frame. i ride a 51cm for road though.

Write cove and ask them. Maybe send them a couple of measurements with your inseam and height etc...They should be able to help you size something.

Oh and the road size frame is not a good way to buy a mtb especially the stiffee...the bike will feel small and it should. Road bikes fit very large in comparison to mtb's so a 54cm road bike means virtually nothing in this realm of mtbikes :)

ahhhh. thanks for the tips. well hopefully i will follow through on this new plan and get it built up in a few months. just gotta wait for our team order to go out at school so i can get deeply discounted parts and save me some $$$$. then it will be time to post BIKE PORN!