After the tips and advice from other people’s 29er threads I thought I would post my new build quickly for the benefit of others in the future perhaps.

I’ve transferred from my 26″ Giant Anthem, which was a lovely bike but I couldn’t keep up with the bearing maintenance and repair. I wanted to go back to HT for a little less maintenance and thought a 29er would match the character of the Anthem (short travel FS bike). After a week in the lakes and N Wales i’m confident I have made the right choice. It will climb up anything and I feel really comfortable on it, chuffed!

The Scandal is a lovely frame and I think I’ve come up with a decent budget build after getting lucky with a second hand frame from here, a wheelset from Superstar in their clearance (£120) and stripping drivetrain, brakes and controls from the Anthem.

My current build is:

– On-One Scandal 29er V2 frame 19″(L) in Black – FRM D-set headset
– Superstar switch/Stans Crest Wheelset 15mm F/10mm R – Geax Saguaro 2.2″ folding running tubeless
– Rockshox Reba RL 29er 2013 100mm, Tapered steerer, 15mm axle
– 1×10 drivetrain – SLX cranks, E-Thirteen 32T chainring, Superstar chainguide, XT rear mech, shifter and 11-36T cassette
– Shimano M595 brakes 180mm F/160mm R
– Charge spoon saddle, On-One seatpost, Hope QR seatclamp, Superstar 80mm stem, Giant Connect 685mm riser bars and ODI yeti lock-ons.

I haven’t the means to weigh the whole bike, but the sum of its parts comes in at around 24lbs (11kg).

I need to sort the stack height and may swap to some flat bars, the next upgrade will likely be a clutch mech to quieten it down a little.

Looks fab but I’m not digging the white rims.

Wonder if you could get away with a shorter cage rear mech too?

Oh, and sort your lawn out 😉

Not a white rim fan either, but it looks a good bike to me.

Yeah I’m not a massive fan of white rims either but I was a fan of saving £80 and getting some SS wheels as they had stopped selling 29″ crest sets.

It’s a medium cage GS, I hadn’t really thought of a shorter mech, wouldn’t I have to go to a Zee mech? I’d rather stick with XT if I could.

I like the white rims, sort of highlights the black, IYKWIM.

Been hanging my nose over a Scandal frame build for a while, but other things need buying first.

I’m running a similar set up on a 16″ V2 – I really enjoyed it as a singlespeed on 32×18, but found a cassette on the back does help – I was spending a noticeable amount of time twiddling in 32×18, as the bike seems to carry momentum much better. A 34t thick/thin chainring and a Zee FR mech work really well. No chain slap I’ve noticed, no dropped chains so far either. Flat bars are a good idea, if you have the flexibility. My bar position on the Scandal is around half an inch lower than on my old 26″ bikes at least, but it descends just as happily as any 26″ hardtail I’ve owned. Short stem works too – I went 60mm.

Very nice OP, similar set up to my 26er Scandal (Rebas, 1×10 Zee Mech, Superstar Flows wheels though).