in my recent £1k HT thread, several people suggested building a bike for that budget rather than buying one.
Would it be possible to build a nice XC 120mm(ish) hardtail for that amount with say a Pipedream Scion frame or on-one 456 or Sanderson or Piglet??
Any other nice steel frames out there that don’t cost the earth? What sort of spec could you get for that price?
I’ve seen full SLX brake groupset for 450 at Merlin but its the rest of the parts that I’m not at all sure about
any ideas?
thanks

It’s perfectly possible, but you’ll have to be very shrewd. Probably picking up quite a few components 2nd hand to minimise the damage on your wallet. Can certainly be done (I’ve done it myself), but staying under budget and getting a good spec means being patient and waiting for the right components coming up for sale.

Oh, and if you want cheap, full SLX 10spd groupset is 219 euros at actionsports.de and SLX brakeset is £135 from Merlin Cycles. There, I’ve just saved you nearly £100 already!

456 with coil Sektors/Pikes, SLX drivetrain and brakes, and choice s/hand kit is just about doable for 1k

you can buy a complete build 456 for £1099 so I wouldnt bother doing DIY.

or the inbred at £850 and get some upgrades or the whippet for £999.

But i guess they were pointed out in your other thread. Price up what you think you can build one for and compare it to the on one deals.

It is possible to build up a bargain bike when you spot some of the really good deals out there. I built up a great little On-One Scandal for my partner based around a bonkers deal from On-One on a Scandal rolling chassis package (frame, forks, wheels, finising kit, saddle, grips, tyres for £399). The finished bike cost a smidgen over £600 with Recon forks and hydraulic disc brakes and I reckon I paid well under half what I should have at full RRPs but even then it’s tough to compete with big builders and OEM components. At a rough guess I’d say that a comparable current season similarly specced bike would be in the £900 – £950 range, so I probably saved about a third (and again this was with some ridiculous savings); it’s less of a deal again when compared with last season sale bikes (some of which are in the 25% off catagory).

That said, building a bike is great fun and very rewarding and you can spec. it just the way you’d want it; it feels much more personal too.

Merlin are great for deals, particularly groupsets, brakes etc., although some of the european retailers seem to have the really killer deals, and On-One often do some great rolling chassis or frame and fork deals.

For reference, I love my Pipedream Sirius and the Scion (which has the same geometry) looks great too, but that’s £350 out of your budget and there are cheaper frames out there. It can be tough deciding whether to go for a nice, upgradable frame and compromise on kit for a while or do it the other way around.

Have fun if you decide to buld your own.

I did it for £1k with an RRP of well over £2K with the help of those cheap mmbop frames and carefully sourced sale parts and the odd BNWT classified items.
This the first proper mtb Ive owned, partly for the fun of learning how to do it and learn about bikes.

link to cost
I few cost cuts, such as drivetrain, which I think were acceptable cos it permitted buying superior forks and brakes

I”ve got a Dirty Jo Full-Creme with Maxlight rigid forks, Hope hubs, headset and brakes, carbon bars and Ritchey WCS bits, FSA cranks XTR chain, singlespeed with a Surly ring and XTR pedals for under £800.

my build came in under a grand with some second hand bits and stuff i had hanging around. Some classifieds some ebay lots of clearance bargains.

You can end up with some odd mismatched colours though 🙂

best advice I found was to get a £1k Full sus with bits you like and swap the frame out

Thats a good point mike always tempted to do that when it comes to replacing alot of drive train aswell.

To the OP: yes, it should be entirely doable, as long as you’re not averse to mixing and matching bits from the classifieds.

For example, a Carbon 456 I think is £499 at present(?); a set of 2008 Revs s/h can probably be had for about £200; a set of mid-level wheels s/h for about £100, and the rest for £200.

In my own case, I built up a Cotic Soda, as they don’t come as complete builds, so it was a mixture of STW classifieds (forks, wheels, mechs, shifters etc) and new bargains (brakes, cockpit etc). The only issue is that it’s surprising how quickly your budget can slip as you see tastier parts!

cheers guys, all good advice
I’d love a soul but way out of my price range, I could stretch a little further as the sirius/scion looks great

The suggestion of buying a complete bike and stripping the kit off it isn’t a bad idea, but the trick has to be to buy one that has similar dimensions / component sizes to your desired frame.

anyone ever ridden a Focus Black Forest
this looks a silly spec for the cash

Whyte 805 looks good too but prefer Shimano gears. Any thoughts on the 805?

Bit cheeky of them to call it the Black Forest XTR when the only bit of XTR is the rear mech.

Does look pretty well specced though you’re right. Depends if you want a 100mm racey HT or something a bit more trail bikey I suppose.

If you do a build then I can’t recommend the Carbon 456 highly enough – stunning bike. I could help you out with a nice fork and wheels if you went for one of them.

😉

Ive just finished collecting parts for a build. Ive gone for a brand spanking new Ragley BluePig frame. most of the parts are 2nd hand but very good condition. Ive hit £1200, but includes frame, avid elixir brakes, 08 rs revs (air),slx chainset,sram x9 everything else, halo freedom wheels,hope dh stem and even a thomson inline seatpost. managed to get a few tools (first build) tubeless kit with stans milk.

Ive taken a hit on having second hand parts but once you have a little spill or a few weeks riding everything is second hand anyway. BUT as stuff wears out i can hopefully replace with even better bits or id quite happily buy second hand again.

cant wait to build it this wend. and yes first build to be a bit more personal and to learn. PLUS you for tarts like me you can make your own colour scheme 😉 ive gone orange frame,white components and the odd blue hope bit. CANNOT WAIT!