This commission has taken a very long time to come to fruition because it was for me and clients bikes always took priority. 

The first frames I ever built over 30 years ago when I was 11, were MTB frames. The equipment fitted to them has changed a lot since then but the basic principals of MTB design haven't.

I have been riding a full suspension carbon bike over the last few years but given that we live in Warwickshire it was totally overkill and made all of our local trails really boring.

So I decided to go back to a hardtail. Using some of my old design ideas from my first frames I went with a gusset instead of a chainstay bridge as its stronger for very little extra weight and a good deal easier to clean after mud plugging.

A forward facing seat clamp slot to again keep the mud out is something Ive always done with MTBs along with external cabling for easy maintenance and integrated crud catcher mounts so i don't have to use the little rubber bands.

For the build I went with the very latest 1x12 SLX group and some handbill DTSwiss wheels in 27.5"

The paint scheme is a little ode to the old Yeti FRS frames I lusted after as a kid with our own twist on it.