Hi Ian,
To be honest your not going to have a lot of options. General rule of thumb with clydes is if you want a bike for xc is to look at freeride type bikes and if your over 6ft consider a 29er. At your height and weight a freeride 29er would be ideal but as far as i'm aware they don't make any HT's and the choice in FS is limited.
Whats your budget? If you have the cash you could look at the turner sultan, niner WFO, Lenz, Zinn cycles and ventanna all do strong 29er FS frames but you would be looking around the £3000 to £4000 price range. 29er HT wise you could also look at ventanna or a custom frame (dave yates or justin burls are both good) but again a custom 29er HT would set you back £2000 plus. You would also have to check with each manufacturer on recommended weight limits for each frame otherwise they might not warranty it if you have any problems.
If you don't want to spend that sort of cash you'll be pretty much limited to 26" and I think you have hit the nail on the head HT wise with the kona five O. I'm 6'6" and 250lbs and I had a 22" kona hoss and it fitted ok and was plenty strong enough. I haven't ridden the five O but i've seen a few in the LBS and IMO you would fit it and it's as strong as hell. The only problem you might have is with the wheels but your going to get that on pretty much any non custom bike. Just ride them until they die and get a good wheel builder to build you up another bomb proof set. 26" FS just look at any freeride type bike, it will be heavy but anything else you'll break in no time.
I have just got a 29er HT and the fit/ride of a 29er is a lot better than 26". I went down the custom frame route as I have always found you can get a frame big enough seat tube and top tube wise but they always seem to have short head tubes on HT's and to get the bars high enough you have to have a stack of spacers, 25deg stem and high rise bars.
If you do decide to go down the 29er route it might be worth waiting for marzocchi to release their new fork. I think it's 140mm with a thru axle, stronger than the current 29er fork options as you might find the fox and rockshox forks a bit flexy even with the thru axles.
To be honest your not going to have a lot of options. General rule of thumb with clydes is if you want a bike for xc is to look at freeride type bikes and if your over 6ft consider a 29er. At your height and weight a freeride 29er would be ideal but as far as i'm aware they don't make any HT's and the choice in FS is limited.
Whats your budget? If you have the cash you could look at the turner sultan, niner WFO, Lenz, Zinn cycles and ventanna all do strong 29er FS frames but you would be looking around the £3000 to £4000 price range. 29er HT wise you could also look at ventanna or a custom frame (dave yates or justin burls are both good) but again a custom 29er HT would set you back £2000 plus. You would also have to check with each manufacturer on recommended weight limits for each frame otherwise they might not warranty it if you have any problems.
If you don't want to spend that sort of cash you'll be pretty much limited to 26" and I think you have hit the nail on the head HT wise with the kona five O. I'm 6'6" and 250lbs and I had a 22" kona hoss and it fitted ok and was plenty strong enough. I haven't ridden the five O but i've seen a few in the LBS and IMO you would fit it and it's as strong as hell. The only problem you might have is with the wheels but your going to get that on pretty much any non custom bike. Just ride them until they die and get a good wheel builder to build you up another bomb proof set. 26" FS just look at any freeride type bike, it will be heavy but anything else you'll break in no time.
I have just got a 29er HT and the fit/ride of a 29er is a lot better than 26". I went down the custom frame route as I have always found you can get a frame big enough seat tube and top tube wise but they always seem to have short head tubes on HT's and to get the bars high enough you have to have a stack of spacers, 25deg stem and high rise bars.
If you do decide to go down the 29er route it might be worth waiting for marzocchi to release their new fork. I think it's 140mm with a thru axle, stronger than the current 29er fork options as you might find the fox and rockshox forks a bit flexy even with the thru axles.
