I was hoping someone could give some advice on a possible new build. I’m thinking of building up a short travel, light weight, 29er full sus bike for long all day XC rides. I would be looking to strip the HT (29er) and swap the gear over. While the HT is great, its just a bit uncomfortable once I start getting up to the 5-6 hr mark.
The problem I seem to be finding is the availability of frames without getting into silly money. For instance Specialized will only sell me an S-works frame, lower end frames are full build only. Santa Cruz Tallboy…CC version only. Same with Trek. Annoyingly it would seem if you live in Spain or the US they will happily sell you the “lower end” frames.
So, my first question is has anybody come across any frames that would suit what I’m after? Say bellow £2k. So far I’ve found the Transition Smuggler (very tempted) and Orange Gyro/segment (not sure about weight).
Secondly has anyone had any experience of buying bikes/frames abroad? Looking at the Spanish Santa Cruz website it would seem that not only is the availability far better (ie you can buy the lower grade carbon frames) but you’ll also save a vast amount by buying in Spain. Thinking a nice holiday/ bike buying trip might be an option but surely there must be a catch?