Having spent far too much on my full suss bike, having got back into mountain biking recently, am finding myself considering a hardtail and my ancient fully rigid Trek 970 doesn’t count. In looking, I’m perusing the 29ers, despite not having ridden them, since they seem to offer something very different to the bouncy one.

But how much could I get one for? Not overly keen on spending new prices, so could get one in a sale I suppose, but wondered if people had bought frames etc in the sales and made one up? Not really got much on the Trek that I can move across (v brakes, original transmission, etc) so all would have to be bought either new or via classifieds. What would I have to budget, or is it about the same to go to the Canyon site?……

You can pick a 2nd hand haro Mary up for about £250 or spend thousands, same as any other type of bike. Buy a decent frame with proven geo, people like on ones never ridden one myself, and buy some half decent wheels do the rest on a shoe string. 😀

You do know 29ers just like 26ers come in different flavours don’t you?
Might help if you were a bit more specific.

@singlespeedstu – longer days in the saddle cross-country on real terrain, plus the odd dash around the local trail centres. Got bad lower back so won’t be jumping and dropping major stuff on it; mooching along greens and fc tracks with the family – general purpose; not racing…..

WEll you could buy my bargain tastic 29″ tyres from over there >>>> to start you off 😉

you can get a new GT Peace for £350

I don’t think a heavy cheap nasty bike is the best way to buy a 29er, my mates have ridden and still own kona 29 units, they rate them highly look at those maybe probably buy a frame cheap enough. Try and raise the cash for some half decent wheels.

he said cheap – cheap more often than not does not mean good….

will look into the Kona ones. Seems the modern geometry is more sorted – guess one answer is to cost up separate kit from Rose, CRC etc. and maybe an on-one frame…..

If you’ve got a bad back & want it for longer days in the saddle then I’d start with a steel frame which you should be able to pick up for £200-£300 off of the classifieds.

Wheels again a fairly decent set of lighter wheels 2nd hand can be had for about £200.

Forks depends on what you’re after but a set of Manitou Minutes (light & good enough) are about £300 – £350 on CRC IIRC. You might get a cheap set of old Rebas for £150 – £200 if you are willing to wait.

The rest can be had easliy enough from the classifieds but I’d budget about £250 to cover is.

I guess you’re looking at between £800 – £1100 for the full build, possibly cheaper if you get lucky.

Of course once you’ve got it built up you can recoup your cash by selling the bouncy bike which will just be gathering dust in the shed 😆

Last years Surly Karate Monkey frames’s should be around £300 – good place to start?

thanks bigsi, though the fs will stay 🙂 far too nice and so much fun.

about £1k was what I’d guessed it would cost to make up. Makes the £1250 from Canyon seem good value (as ever).

don’t need it, but no bikes =n+1 and all that…..

Quest Adventure are doing Niner EMD for £349 – have a look on their latest email thingy;

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs038/1101538339199/archive/1109335106735.html

I just built an on-one Inbred up and it’s superb. Can’t talk highly enough of the on-one guys as well. Got a rockshox reba rl 29er for £250 and they are still selling them! I also some nice Stan’s tubeless rims on Hope 2 Evo hubs all built up from Justridingalong.com for £285 which was also excellent. All in I reckon it was about £1100 and that was with moving my old chainset over and handlebars. I feel it was well worth it though as for XC it’s just so much more mobile compared to the meta 5.5 FS I have, both uphill but also in flowing singletrack. Not quite as forgiving on drops obviously but much more forgiving than a 26er of the same spec.

On one inbred 29er looks like a great bike. Was reviewed in last months W.M.B. Cost £1000 and you get a very good spec with it.

GT Peace is old now, the geometry is out of date.
Best examples are the On One Inbred or Charge Cooker… both about £1k and both get good reviews.

The Canyon is good spec and good looking but you do have to send it back to Zie German’s if you get a problem.

Jim

GT Peace is old now, the geometry is out of date.

really? I love mine. not that differant to the Inbred 29er or the Scandal 29er I had before.

Doesn’t have to be silly expensive, I’ve a Scandal frame at £299 new with 120mm Reba with tapered steerer and 20mm maxle again for £299 both from On One,, wheels were off the classifieds, Hope hubs and DT Swiss rims for £150, rest came from previous bike, couldn’t recommend it highly enough, fantastic bike

No slight on the Peace, its still a great bike IMO…

I just built an on-one Inbred up and it’s superb

Just done this myself with a set of reba’s up front. Rides suberb, V pleased with it. It did cost way over my original budget, I think the only remaining components off my 26er doner bike are chainset and saddle….well worth it tho 😉

, I’ve a Scandal frame at £299 new with 120mm Reba with tapered steerer and 20mm maxle again for £299 both from On One,

I did similar, cheaper fork (suntour raidon 100mm w/maxle), new wheelset. Wouldnt have gone over a grand if I transferred the other stuff over from my trusty old little-wheeler.

I’ve been looking for a rigid SS 29er and have come to the conclusion that buying s/h will be my best option for a cheap but good set up. The Kona Unit & Genesis Fortitude look awesome value for money. I really want an one one though, feel like I should own one at some point during my life!

@Fenred [It did cost way over my original budget, I think the only remaining components off my 26er doner bike are chainset and saddle….well worth it tho

This also happened to me! One thing to look at when shifting things over is that the seat-tube and clamp are the same size and that the headset is the right size. Costs can quickly mount if your old frame and the new one don’t match. On the other hand it means you get a mostly new bike 🙂