After a few health issues last year that led to some weight gain my brother is serious about getting fit. Complete change of diet and lots more exercise. he bought a road bike but got it far far too late so the bad winter weather isn’t encouraging him out on it, but he DOES still want out so has been out lots on his ..err…15+ year old trek (it was nothing special then but ok…but now its totally knackered, even with the occasional use its had in the last 15 years).
So he asked me if i could recommend a basic to semi decent mtb. He wants a hard tail as its a winter hack, roads and paths with a few simple trails. He lives in essex so its flat….without any gnar. I’ve hunted and found 2 or 3 bikes at about £750 which to me seem a bit poor for the cash but i realise its decades since I bought a complete bike, or one of this sort of spec.

with the chatter about ” 26 inch is dead, loads of deals on 26inch stuff” it occurred to me maybe I should look at building from bits. I saw the genesis grapil frame…he wants hard tail. I googled and found a cove hummer new at £350!!! no..no…out of stock cheap shot to entice you in. Then I thouygut…the hive mind is more powerful than google on a focused topic like this, so..has anybody seen a 26 inch mtb hardtail frame that is a good deal? I think, if I spent about £300 on the frame I’d get the bike built for under a grand, easy.
ta

Commencal meta HT. Burly though.

this, or any on one

Clink on here had a Voodoo 29er, I have one I custom built for sub 1k and its ace

As an owner of a Titus(when part of p-x), a Ti456 and a nanolight myself, and given the roadbike bro got was on recommendation, a planet x r58, I had instantly thought of a steel 456 or a plastic one. they don’t seem to be any cheaper than they’ve been, infact, the plastic one has been cheaper than £399 before I’m sure.

Actually you’re right about the c456 I hadn’t noticed the price!
If building a whole new bike why 26?
If I was spending a grand on a hard tail it would be a 29er, parkwood maybe or a Ramin 4 or 5 from Evans. Parkwood frames are £200, you’d easy self build that for under £1000

It doesn’t have to be 26 inch. it could be 650b or 29, bro is 5/11″ and with how he says it will be used any wheel will be fine. Ideally I’m, or he, is lookng to spend less than a grand, more like £750, since he just dropped just over the grand for the r58…my sister in law will only take so much spending on toys here!

Any inbred frames kicking about?
Ride quality for £ plus some second hand bits could see something half decent for that budget even if not especially light.

this
My mate got one of these last summer and we thought £900 was a bargain. £825 is a steal. Next model down is £690 for 2014 or £765 for 2015. Seem like great bikes.

2nd hand frame?
Sure you would be able to get a cheap/decent one on here, have a go on the WTD section.

that pinnacle looks decent docr, cheers! I can get 6% off at evans too, so very much in budget.