Morning all,
Need soome advice – I am looking at building up a 29er for commuting duties and occasional off road jaunts.It’ll be rigid, must have rack mounts and needs to take a large volume tyre (I’m in Norway and over winter spiked tyres are a must, and going on a friends advice the bigger they are the better).
Any other suggestions for frames I should be looking at?
Cheers
Matt

I would be looking for an on one inbred, not something I usually say but this will be a good option for your requirements.

loads to choose from but here a three as a starter for ten:-

Surly Karate Monkey
Salsa Fargo
Singular Swift/Gryphon

etc

Genesis Fortitude seems an obvious suggestion

Cheers guys,
Inbred is high on the list, as is the Karate Monkey. As it’ll get trashed pretty quickly I dont want to spend loads – so as much as I’d love a Swift I just can’t justify the expense. I’ll check out the fortitude.
The only concern I have is how well a steel frame will cope, in the long term, with salted roads and lots of snow. Any aluminium suggestions?

Steel will cope better than Alumininium to be fair. Buy steel, frame saver inside before building up, and just ensure you wash and if you are fussy wax the exterior on a regular basis.

The downfall of any commuting bike is lack of basic maintenance and cleaning. Keep on top of it and it will perform better no matter what the material it is made out of.

Jones Steel diamond frame – has room for a 2.4″ rara in the back and if you have two front wheels you can have a fat front and a 29er front wheel – comes with rack mounts etc. great road handling and one of the best handling rigid mtbs out there.

two options spring to mind.

1) ridgeback dual track quest…if the geometry has not altered too much since my 2008 model (equipped with conti vapor 2.1 29er’s), then it may be possible to swap the front tyre for a panaracer rampage 29er.
i swapped the rear for a jones 1.8, allowing mudguards to be bodged in.
..and a rear rack (topeak disc) fits no problem btw.

2) islabikes beinn 29er. well received in the cycle press and light too (25-26 lb). one chainring only (8 speed).

commuting generally involves fitting mudguards so i was told that with 29ers you bodge the widest sks 26er mudguards into the frame (may require help from a good bike shop).

best of luck!

Singular Swift/Gryphon

no rack mounts on the Swift, Gryphon would be perfect

Just bought a Karate Monkey. It should be here next week. Can’t wait. I’ll let you know what I think after the excitement has worn off a bit.

Genesis Fortitude seems an obvious suggestion

seems to tick all the boxes..

as for Mudguards,

SKS Commuter come in 700 x 53

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=25794

I’ve been going round the same thing too.

Just gone for an Inbred for myself …. complete bargain at £139 at the moment.

Looking forward to a big shiny parcel arriving early next week 😀

Now for the difficult bit …. choosing some tyres ………