I'm looking to build a single-speed MTB. I've been MTB'ing for donkies years, but never tried the single-speed option.
Mates who I cycle with, have talked me (bullied me) into having a go at the single-speed world and I want to build up a nice cheap rig – just in case I don't take to it.
These Kinesis frames on eBay look almost too good to be true – £79.99 (£95 delivered) – has anyone bought one or have any opinions with respect to them?
It's made of kinesis alloy tubes, but not necessarily by kinesis. (Their own frames usually look a bit more adventurous in terms of tube profiles or hydroforming, and have paint and logos on them). It is not a bad price but neither is it worth lot more than what they are asking for it. You would get the same sort of thing second hand on the classifieds here for half that.
Having said that my brother has an old (kinesis tube sticker on it) merlin malt one which looks almost exactly like that one, cost about as much and its fine; lightish responsive and sensible handling with a 100mm fork. Sentimental value to me too, as it was my first 'proper' bike build. 🙂
looking at the quality of the other parts that the seller has for sale i'd guess at it being of low quality and probably some retro angles that might be a bit funny.
I have looked at that frame on ebay a few times, not sure about the Kinesis bit at all, it looks very similar to the cheap XC frame from CRC or the Dirty Jo frame, that as far as I can tell are one and the same frame too.
I had a Dirty Jo frame I builtup as a SS and it was a great frame, light and responsive and not at all harsh.
Others to look at are the Bee 1 frames at CRC AT £120 or just spend another £80 and your into a On One Scandal & its all ready for SS so you can save the cost of a tensioner… Thats assuming you after a light frame, if you aint bothered about that go for the steel Inbred.
In the end I went for the £95 (delivered!) eBay frame and built my SingleSpeed. I went out on Cannock Chase last night for the 1st time and it rides really well – in fact for the price it's staggering…
It makes me wonder why anyone would spend any more on a Alu frame.
My frame weighs ~1.7kg and the fully built bike weighs in at just over 22lbs. Climbs like a Billy Goat on speed.
The lightness makes technical singletrack exciting (!!) as it's a bit twitchy, but it's all part of the fun – and after all that's what it's all about 😀
OrangeEvo, I know it's in the eye of the beholder but there's something about that bike that makes it fugly. It's probably just the mudguard. I suppose for the price you can't argue.
The thing that makes it look a bit odd (I think) are the tyres – they're super skinny 1.8's with most of the knobs worn off (oo-err). I'll put the 'normal' 2.1's on and I think you'll agree it'll change the aesthetics for the better
On a similar note I bought a cheap but new cross frame £84 from Ebay for training and general riding. The thing ain't pretty but it's does a proper job. I think the welders last job was building Cheiftain tanks, makes my MTB look like a mince machine
Lots of tyre clearance, I wouldn't worry about that. When I took it out on Cannock Chase last week, the amount of mud was biblical and it never clogged against the frame.