5 Handmade Hardtails From the ENVE Builder Round-Up

 That Sklar is pure beauty!

 The Sklar made me realize the only way to annoy people on road rides further than rigid singlespeed on knobbies with flat pedals, baggies and and a cutoff road jersey is to have a heavily backswept bar....hmmmm

 @AccidentalDishing: Don't forget fixed gear.

 @93EXCivic: sorry I'm crazy, not a maniac.

 If only people applied this principle to everything in life!! Here in the UK and other places which share a temperate enough winter to ride year-round, single speed hardtails are perfect for reducing maintenance when several months of the year involve riding in filth which destroys moving parts. I'm hoping to have one built for next winter - the last couple have been long and grim...

 It's not always hardcore or crazy- some people just ride smoother trails and/ or don't have enough money for a decent FS bike.

 @Insectoid: There's no denying that. Another facet is that nothing hones the skills like a hardtail - the benefit being that you're not going so fast when it all goes sideways...

 Look at esker if you haven't. Hayduke on 29x2.35s is butter smooth xc marathon machine. 4.9 lbs for a medium too

 @AccidentalDishing: haven't heard of them but will check out, thx

 Beautiful bike.

 @SATN-XC That is there new Sendero Titanium frame at $3995.00 welded in Austin, Texas. Yes, Chumba is now welding Titanium.

 @AccidentalDishing: I second the nod to esker. I'm partial to the Japhy though. Best hardtail I've ever owned.

 That's actually the one that caught my attention the most.

 Easy and cheap way to take any (6 bolt) off-the-shelf wheel and make it fixed gear.

You can also keep a singlespeed cog of the same size on the freehub to switch to normal singelspeed when no is looking. That is, if you have a front brake

 @showmethemountains: Don't they have flipflop hubs anymore? Apparently it is not-done anymore, but I've got a flipflop hub on my BMX with an ACS freewheel. Works for me (as I hardly pedal, only on my way to the pumptrack) but yeah, the hub has two side. I only use the side for the smallest freewheel (14t) but the other side is for bigger freewheels (16t and bigger). I thought fixie riders used these hubs to have a freewheel on one side and a fixed sprocket on the other.

 @vinay: Road fixies still use older hubs standards like 120mm, 130mm and I think some even use 110mm bmx spacing. But setting up a mountain bike as a fixie requires you to work around modern hub sizing. I've stuck with an older 135mm frame that provides a lot of options. I have seen a 142mm flip-flop hub from Paul, but I haven't heard of anything for boost frames. The few dedicated singlespeed hubs that exist in boost size are all disc brake hubs. Which is why 6-bolt fixie cog conversions are so handy!

 @showmethemountains: Oh yeah, I wasn't aware of diffferent axle widths. But standards change everywhere. I wanted to replace my BMX front wheel recently. 48 spoke, 14mm male axle. I don't necessarily need 48 spokes but even getting one with a 14mm axle (at least for the front wheel) is quite tough. I just bought something with a 3/8" axle and some adaptors from Profile. So from next week on it will be adaptor on adaptor as the bore in my fork is 16mm .

 Fixie mtb sounds like pure death

 @WalrusRider: I ride a mountain unicycle (Muni) which obviously is fixed gear too. Does that qualify? Not dead yet though.

 He has rebranded Ericksen but worked with Kent for years. Best welder it the business.

 @brucie1: seriously fast as well. Up and down

 you sir are looking for the Chumba Stella then: www.chumbausa.com/stella-titanium-29er-27plus

 Not gonna need it. That seat post is so low You aren’t going to need a slammed post. It’s 30 mm or more shorter than every other bike pictured here.

 Do it! I've gone the cheap route and built a On One Inbred frame with a Salsa fork,some light wheels and 1x10, it's a blast. You can check it out on my photos.

 FWIW, really love my REEB Ti Donkadonk. It’s a fat bike, and fully rigid, but damn it’s a ton of fun to ride. And def not just in snow or sand.

 @nozes: your pictures suck

 @parkisatool: Maybe,but the bike doesn't!

 @nozes: take a proper one for the side and add it to your album

 I've been running oury's for years and have never had this problem.. Been riding for a few weeks in the high 90's without issue. I think they are super comfy, especially if you ride without gloves

 It’s interesting to read that the specific slide-on grip selection is sufficient to “ruin” the craftsmanship of a handmade bicycle.

But I’m biased. I think hardtails are lame and Ourys are the best. I don’t even know why I’m here.

 I've never seen this issue and I've been around bikes with them since the 90's. Could be possible that whatever spray/alcohol solution was used to get them on the bar had some adverse reaction with the rubber compound.

 Hmm, maybe I just had a weird experience then, or the local bike shop had a bad batch. I always used an air compressor to mount slide on grips, so couldn't have been alcohol.

I was just being dramatic with my "ruining" the bike comment after remembering how sticky all my stuff would be after riding them.

 @naisemaj That will set you back $3995.00 frame only, welded in Austin Texas