After a donor bike to build onto a cotic soul, out of the thousands of bikes out there does anyone know one with a really good spec for around £1000 rrp, ctw scheme deal you see! ideally around xt fox float type spec.
im wondering if brands i never look at like ridgeback db etc have better specs than others. cand be FS, HT whateever as frame will be sold on

Be hard to beat this

Boardman, not seen better spec'd for the price.

EDIT: Doh! Too slow.

Yep, seen em, gutted though, fork is too short, im after something around 130mm, rest of the spec is a blinder though, for the money

CRC had some random brand a while back that had an excellent spec. for the price (comparable to the Boardman but a little more 'hardcore'). Can't remember what it was called though. There was a thread about them here and how they seemed to be excellent donor bikes.

Boardman….you can always sell the fork?

you do know Reba's can be extended up to 115/120mm?
Doubt that last 10/15mm would be a huge loss.

Two of our MM team are on C2W funded Boardman Pro's, very light excellent spec for the money, frame doesn't look bad, I think you'd be very hard pushed to beat it for "off the peg" desirability and function…

warpcow=this one
worth it just for the bits
small only though

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=41724

An under the radar Halfords bike that looks like good VFM

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_512527_langId_-1_categoryId_229915

this is good stuff, id seen the boardman but not the gt or genius, they are all very good spec, im thinking the gt would have the greater resale value for the frame

The CRC link is spectacular value. The fork alone is nearly worth that.

if your after parts, its always worth a look on the classified, loads of second hand hardly used parts going on there. thats where pretty much all the parts for my new build are from

Orange Crush worth considering too

http://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.php?product_id=1402&category_id=81

i thought that
nice frame+the genius bits=posh bike
id ask how long the steerer is though if its off a small frame and your on a medium/large frame

Having picked up that Boardman and been stunned at just how light it is I reckon the frame must have some resale value, you could make a proper racing snake, silly light machine based around one I reckon…

GT? Meh; lesser spec (still not bad though), longer (but cheaper) fork…
The frame will almost certainly weigh more, both are “Halfords bikes” so the stigma that goes with that will affect both resale values…

The spec of that Genius is amazing!!!

Good point re steerer – although they usually leave a stack of spacers in, and I always have my stem down on the headset.

How did i miss the orange crush, that looks like the mofo for me!
shame its sram though! need to look into it as im a thumb shifter man and would want to swap shifters over.

I did exactly the same thing with my last c2w bike – already had nice frame + forks so got a custom build and pulled the parts off.

I got a Merlin Malt 1 then custom-spec'd it up to £998 – might be worth looking at if you're picky about spec, but that Genius looks like great value for the parts on it.

Merlin link: http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/custom-mountain-bikes/merlin-mountain-bikes/merlin-malt-11.html

The genius cant be beaten surely for what your after…

or just not bother with your cotic frame buy the crush and ride it as is… It great..

In fact I would ay pretty much the same about the GT, nothing against Cotic, there lovely, but the GT will cut the mustard too..

The sram x7 shifters are thumb shifters. Have to shift both ways with your thumb.

Boardman all the way.

by thumb shifters i mean old skool top of the handlebar jobs!!!
never used sram so dont know how compatable they are with shimano (already got some shifters i would like to use)

You've got 9 speed thumbshifters that you're going to put on?

Buy for the fork, its the most expensive item.

Just don't forget that until you pay off the C2W bike and buy it from your emplyer you aren't allowed to sell it, etc. as it isn't yours and if your emplyer or the Inland Revenue check then it would be theft!!!

The other one is the Cube Ltd, though the boardman edges it.