Ragley

[graham1975]

Russell, im of the same opinion, i was actualy waiting for the Ragley Troof to come out, but after 6 delays this year and still not in the country i decided to cancel it and went with the 456C and as you say, so glad i did. As i have found out the tiawan frameshop that are making the Ragleys isnt the best as Ragley say and they cocked up so many taimes with the frames and paint that QC keep rejecting them and the next due date for most of the Ragleys June!!! What good is that to anyone, the biking season is nearly over by that time, and who is to say they wont have another delay!!

 

[bivvy]

I just can not understand why they have put a bloody big gusset onj the front when its only a 120mm bike, i can understand why they did on the Bluepig but not a XC bike, seems daft and looks silly IMHO.

To pass the lastest tough CEN, and by some margin. If / when you crash your (I agree nice) carbon 456, you may think some more about it when you look at that nasty crack in the frame.

Don't forget both bikes are designed by the same guy, who said he is learning all the time. E.g. For Ragley he has eliminated the problem that makes the 456 suffer more from chain suck than most (for a given amount of drive chain wear).

Also the pigglet is a little more "hard core" than an average "xc" bike, it's more along the lines of the cotic soul (optimized for 120mm which is still plenty of travel) - yet still giving a compliant ride, more so than the blue pig.

As you must know the Blue pig is a nutter bike, more all mountain than anything. It's easy to compare the piglet to it and think the piglet is a asmall hit machine. I think the name may have been a mistake myself, piglet sounds small. It's certainly not, 120mm is still long travel, would have been used on downhill bikes not so long ago, let's not forget. The standard is being pushed all the time.

 

[bivvy]

I personally like the new-school geometry of the blue pig.

I personally like the new-school geometry of the blue pig. It climbs better than the 456 (steeper seat angle keeping weight forward) and because the effective top tube length is a little longer it's designed to use smaller stems than the 456 which makes it responsive. As long as you do this and fit a smaller stem, amazing how many people don't! I agree with the magazine reviews that it works well in all conditions (on my Blue Pig), the steep seat angle making it climb well. It's also good at low speed, north shore etc, high speeds, steep crazy stuff, steps, technical really steep climbs. It can turn on a dime too which surprised me, great at switch backs. It just does everything well. A great bike if you challenge yourself on challenging terrain.

Downside: it just makes it too easy on normal xc terrain though, and beats you up a little more than less stiff but more springy machines like the cotic soul. Planning on building up another xc bike for the local terrain around where I live, keeping the pig for the peak district.

The pig is at its best when riding with buddies that have long travel full suss machines, where you challenge yourself to beat them on tough terrain, and more often than not, do so.

The slack angle works well on long rides too, it acts as your friend, meaning you don't need to concentrate so much for a given speed, but still have an involved ride, because it's a hardtail. And every nutter bike needs a big tyre, so the ride often is not that bad when running a 235 which it has plenty of room for. Horses for courses.

Other downside: knees hurting a little, perhaps my seat is too far forward over what I was used to. I heard you get used to it, time will tell.

 

[IbocProSX]

My personal experience is on a Ragley Ti and it put a grin on my face that stuck for at least a week, I think it is wonderful. Different league cost wise but if you are looking for a frame to last you ....

The Ragley was my borrowed ride (big thumbs up to my mate who organised this) on a night ride around Stonehaven and it was wet. Now please note I am from Holland, so wet Scottish trails in the dark are, well, challenging. The 18" Ragley was one size down from what I would ride back home and on the night it felt just right. I settled on it right away and even after a short while I was extremely confident to ride it both up and down. It felt as if I could ride it all day up and down and go back for more. Just not very fast though.

Not sure how the Ti compars design wise, mine had a short stem and it handled superb in the circumstances. That said, an experienced local rider in daylight might appreciate a more sharp handling rig.

Enjoy!!

Choices choices

 

[MikeD]

the biking season is nearly over by that time

There's a season?

 

[brocklanders023]

the biking season is nearly over by that time

There's a season?

Think he means the model year is nearly over. Won't be long before 2012 bikes are hitting the shops so Ragley have missed the whole of 2011. Shame really as that's a lot of people who might have thought about getting a Ragley now on another brand.

 

[MikeD]

Except that Ragley doesn't really do model years.

 

[brocklanders023]

Is that because they don't agree with the system or because they can't get their suppliers up to speed? Anyway, I think they do as they showcased their 2011 bikes at the same time as everyone else and run out of 2010 bikes towards the end of the normal bike year. If they didn't follow the norm they'd still produce the old bikes.

 

[MikeD]

The distributor had its roadshow at the same time as everyone else because that's when they all do these things. The actual products were some new/some existing. Old bikes go away, new ones come in, but as far as I can tell it just all happens when they're ready. Or not, as the case may be

 

[brocklanders023]

I know what you mean Mike but I'd have thought they'd still produce the old bikes while waiting for the new ones? My mate's Bluepig had a problem so he was told it would be replaced. They had no 2010's left so said he'd get a 2011. This was over 6 months ago and he's still waiting.

It's hardly good business to have people wanting your bikes but having none to sell them. If it was me I'd buy something else and probably never consider a Ragley again. Question is, if the suppliers Ragley choose to make their bikes fail time and time again to produce the require quality why would a buyer trust the 'acceptable' product they finally knock out?It's a shame as I think they could really suffer from these delays as people have long memories.