Hello a friend in his 50s is looking for 29er for road riding/bike touring/some light mountain bike riding, he has several operations on his shoulder and hands and has given up road riding and cross. He is coming to the end of his rehab and is allowed to spin/turbo train.

He wants a comfortable bike, 29er wheels as it will allow him to progress as his fitness gets better, target is for next summer to ride from Luchon up perysoude and aspin and then tourmelat over a couple/three days hence the bike touring. He will run suspension forks to help his hand and shoulder, so no Hybrids. Disc brakes are the only option as well. He weighs 15 stone at the moment and in the 25 years I have known him he has remain a stolid 14 stone so no weight restricted frames

So in essence a comfortable light target weight 26lbs or less, what options please.

How much does he want to spend, and for light touring does he want to fit racks?

If no racks then….

https://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3176#tab-reiter2

You could build an one one 29er scandal with some Rock shox Reba’s.
A sensible build will come up under the build weight suggested.
Some hope on stans rims, I have some iron cross on my cx bike theat would work well on my 29er if I wanted to run some thinner ‘road’ tyres.

What Jeffm said. There’s a “show me your scandals” thread from the other day and there’s some properly diverse builds on there from commuters to racers to trail bikes via some off road trekking.

Some of the Cube 29ers come in around that weight and will have normal rack mounts (lacking on the later Scandals).

If he wants to go down the “bikepacking” luggage route with frame bags/seat packs then I would start by looking at a carbon frame from eBay or one of the other sellers.

Salsa El Mariachi?
Though I’ve got what jeffm suggested and it’s great.

The El Mariachi isn’t particularly light (26lbs would be a struggle) – unless, of course, you start with the Ti frame….

There was a salsa selma frame on the classifieds its got a carbon rear end so may be a lighter option

I sold a scandal recently and agree they are a good start, saw the salsa too small for him what are the Chinese carbon like and any recommendations?

evening crowd bump

Canyon al 6.9 comes with rackmounts. The slx frame doesn’t.

A Niner SIR.9 would give him a sub 25lb build, with about the comfiest rear end you’ll get this side of a softail or Jones.