My son wants to build up a bike for general use.. his budget is limited. so looking at a Steel Frame or cheap alu, (Ie scandal if it was in stock)

i have been out of touch with developments, so any recommendations would be good. probably looking to spend £200 on the frame.

Cheers
Mark

Kinesis xc cheapish but goood quality said by local riders.

Also maybe even steel? tough as hell and good ride? bargain priced.

On one-there I say it?!

Any of the On-One 456 variations?

Merlin team tig sl sounds like a whole lotta frame for the money, assuming you want an XC frame.. really light.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=product&productId=694

I got my other half a Merlin Malt. Surprisingly light for the price.

Dirty Jo – semi creme – cornish thingy

google it

I have first hand of the Dirty Jo’s bloody great frames, I had an f creme triple butted one, still under a £100 I believe. Under 4lb for a medium.

Just built a Malt 1 up for mates lad too, your right on those, very good too.

Still rekon if you can stretch to £210 you wont go wrong with the team tig sl at 3.25lbs its an amazingly light start to a bike build.

Kinesis XC2 (and XC120) are very light for the money

Do you have any more info on what the bike will be used for, what are the extremes of his riding, jumps/drops, rockiness, lots of road, XC racing? and what parts?
eg Fork model/travel?

If he’s building form scratch its likely to be much cheaper to buy complete