The shortest travel and smallest wheel offering in Ragley Bikes’ steel line up, the Piglet still punches above its weight in terms of spec and performance.
Some late summer hardtail action arrived in the form of the bright orange 2022 Ragley Piglet which is short on travel and wheels but has plenty going for it.
Photos by Pete Scullion.
Key features:
- Rockshox Revelation 130mm fork
- Shimano SLX 12-speed drive
- Shimano Deore 4-piston brakes
- Nukeproof Neutron wheels
- Brand X Ascend dropper
- £2,199.99 RRP
- RagleyBikes.com
Geometry
The Piglet is available in Small, Medium, Large and XLarge, with the Medium being tested here.
Reach on the Medium is 435mm combined with a 420mm seat tube. Head angle is 65.5 and seat tube angle is 73 degrees. Chainstays are 425mm on a wheelbase of 1163mm.
It had been a while since I swung a leg over a hardtail, the Pipedream Sirius being the last test bike with no rear shock, and the Ragley Piglet is very much a different beast altogether. A cursory glance at the tyres fitted shows its intended use, the 2.6 Maxxis rubber looking massive in the 130mm Revelation fork.
The Revelation fork showed that getting the tune right on a cheaper fork can and will work well, and while it lacked the finesse of a top tier fork, it handled the chatter and hits well. Similarly, the Shimano SLX drivetrain was flawless throughout. You could spend more money on XT for sure but you’d need to find a really good reason to. The same can be said for the Deore 4-pots, they just work. Yes, they’d have been better with some sintered pads but the organic offerings do a solid job for most trail work you’re going to ask of the Piglet.
As I tuned my brain back into hardtail riding, a few things became apparent as the speed increased. First and foremost was that I might have preferred to ride the size Large. With the seat tube being suitably short, the reach on the Large would have allowed me to let the Piglet run a little more when things got steeper or faster. The Piglet doesn’t feel like one of those bikes that you’d go for a smaller size to be more playful, the geometry not quite working that way for me anyway.
With the 2.6″ rubber fitted, it feels like you should be slinging this about the shop, but in reality, if you’re after a steel slinger you should just go buy a Big Wig for that. Upping the fork would get you into Blue Pig territory far too quickly too.
To me, a bike of this spec should have a faster rear tyre for covering the distance, maybe 2.4″ tyres instead of the 2.6s. The Piglet setup is a few years old now and I feel it’s been left in its own niche by some similar offerings that have made the jump to 29″ wheels.
What do we think?
If you’re after a short travel, steel, 27.5″ hardtail then you could go a fair bit worse than with the Piglet. It’s ready to go out of the box, and it’s proven that time and time again.
That said, it feels like the Piglet needs a refresh. It’s a solid bike without being spectacular. At 5′ 4″ I don’t think I should be pining for a Large.
We love:
- Sorted fork tune
- Solid spec
- Steel is real
Could do better:
- Frame needs geo updates
