What I’m looking for at the moment is a rigid mtb with a good steel frame and fork combination and hydraulic disc brakes. I’m not too worried about the spec on consumables (tyres, drivetrain, etc) as I’ll replace them with better gear when they wear out.

All I’ve been able to find so far is the charge cooker rigid and various singlespeed offerings. I haven’t found anything for less than about £600 yet despite the fact that there are many well speced front suspension bike for less than £500.

Whatever happened to the rigid bike?

This is no longer available at CRC, but you might find some around somewhere – Sunn Modular.

rigid is the new niche 🙂

365/2 2/1/12 Sunny Muddy Bridleway by rOcKeTdOgUk, on Flickr

buying frame + forks separately might be your only way to get something decent that you are happy with

despite the fact that there are many well speced front suspension bike for less than £500.

Buy one of those – sell the suspension forks (or keep as spares) and buy some rigid carbon forks from the likes of Exotic…

http://www.carboncycles.cc/?s=0&t=2&c=43&p=196&

The Sunn is pretty much exactly what I’m looking for although it does seem a bit pricey at £900.

If you want gears then simply do as stated above, get a nice bike in the sales, buy some rigid forks and sell the bouncy ones to cover the cost.

The rigid, singlespeed, 29er niche is covered by Genesis, however they seem a little pricey currently.

This feels dangerously close to a “post pics of your rigid mtb” thread, but I’m resisting so far..!

You could also consider 2nd hand. There’s a nice Kona on the classifieds at the moment (nothing to do with me)

?

(edit – almost certainly over the budget i’ve only just noticed!)

Even finding steel forks that aren’t 200 quid carbon, 29er, or Dirt jump forks seems to be a bit of a mission. These are all I’ve found so far:

http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/salsa-cromoto-26-forks-382-p.asp

I actually have an a 1997 Orange P7 with F7 forks that I really like but I was hoping to find something with more up to date geometry.

Seems that solid, simple, and cheap bikes are more difficult to come by these days.

Edit: maybe I just need to stop being a retro-grouch

Have to say, really enjoying rigid again. BUT it is skinny steel toobs and a carbon fork so probably a more forgiving ride than most. Built up from bits not a complete bike by the way so not much help there! Bits from 10 year old bike – free, barely used Pipedream MK1 – £100, new Exotic carbon fork £85 (seems good and hasn’t broken so far) = big grins for not a lot of outlay.

PS We missed your Jelly babies on the Tuesday night ride Pedalhead!

pretty sure i saw some of the older style cromo forks on On One the other day.

edit – yep, black or white on there at the mo: http://on-one.co.uk/i/q/FOOOCR26DO/on_one_cromo_26er_mtb_fork_disc_only

Rigid forks…

http://www.on-one.co.uk/c/q/forks/rigid_forks

Orange forks (scroll down)…
http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/components/

Pipedream also do some, but their website is shite…
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.400557199024.166699.131226129024
http://www.pipedreamcycles.com/index_2010.html

PS We missed your Jelly babies on the Tuesday night ride Pedalhead!

I scoffed them at home instead 😀 . Had to do something to drown my “bad back” sorrows 😥

I ride a rigid bike but like others it is a carbon forked one

I used to use Kona P2’s and they were nice.

These Pipedreams look nice especially at £51 but I hear they can take a long time to deliver as they buy in batches.

Sweet, I feel a day of looking at steel frames and cheap components coming on 🙂

Oh, and I can vouch that Macgyver can ride with the best of ’em even on his “should be shonky but isn’t” cobbled-together rigid bike.

you want a steel frame and fork combo for not much money? why not just get an inbred and be done with it?

Orange fork on offer!…

http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/product/125995.html

Chromoto forks are fine. They keep the front wheel pointing where you want it to and in my experience give a slightly more compliant ride than carbon forks.
There’s also nothing wrong with a 97 P7. ‘Modern’ geometry is more biased towards going faster on the downhill bits which as you’re looking for rigid forks, I suspect is not going to be a major part of your riding.

As stupid as it sounds, On-One steel rigid forks are erm, rigid. VERY rigid. Seem to have absolutely no give in them at all… Wanting to get carbons for mine or bounce ASAP.

There’s also nothing wrong with a 97 P7. ‘Modern’ geometry is more biased towards going faster on the downhill bits which as you’re looking for rigid forks, I suspect is not going to be a major part of your riding.

Actually, I am looking for something that will be a bit more stable at speed. I learned to ride on a rigid bike (including trips to the downhill track in Metabief) so I learned how to sort of skip over rough ground and be very careful about line choice.

It’s something that I seem to have gotten worse at since I started riding full sus/hard tail over the years so I’m thinking that winter will be a good time to get that skill back. I still want to feel stable at speed and go quick through corners though.

I could just put one of the 450mm forks on my current hardtail (dialled alpine) but I run 20mm axles so I don’t want to have to by a new wheel too.

Anyway, that was why I was looking for a complete bike under £500 in the first place.

Edit: oh, and my p7 has a 1″ steerer tube so I can’t even put new forks on that

I firmly believe that reasonably modern 100mm suspension fork adjusted geometry makes riding a rigid bike far more enjoyable and a lot easier.

The more relaxed and higher position at the front generates a lot of confidence on the rough stuff particularly going downhill.

They’re still alive and well – got a rigid custom steel frame and fork on order!

I wouldn’t bother with a package, unless you’re going 29er (Salsa do something good there). Get yourself a nice steel frame first and then source the forks. I found it difficult to get a correct a-c length on an off the peg steel fork – didn’t want carbon, so I ordered a custom fork from Waltworks at around £170. I thought that was good value but undoubtedly someone will say could have got cheaper at on-one or some place similar.

I do most things on my rigid Kona that I can do on my regular hardtail, not sure what that says about me or rigid bikes. I find the rigid very quick on race type singletrack – Big Dog for example – faster than my other bikes, well it feels it anyway! 🙂

Exotic carbon forks are avaliable in a 1″ steerer. I am used to a fs, but just built up a coyote ht4 hardtail with exotic carbons, great fun and kind forget that you have rigid forks and ride steps or a rocky decent. Which is interesting!!! 🙂

On the matter of carbon forks making the ride comfy, I thought that and used to use On-One carbon forks. Then I switched to a pair of Salsa Cro-moto’s and found that they were just as comfy and better at tracking and didn’t flutter under hard braking like the carbon forks.

Exotic carbon forks, Ti frame and some fattish tyres and you won’t miss that suspension at all; this one rides super smooth:

Edit: oh, and my p7 has a 1″ steerer tube so I can’t even put new forks on that

Have you seen these?

http://carboncycles.cc/?s=0&t=2&c=82&

I’m selling a Cannondale BadBoy 😆

As with all things, it’s not the material, it’s what you do with it so i can believe that a well constructed cromoly fork will be more forgiving than a overly constructed carbon. All sorts of stuff gets spowted about flex and damping but how the hell to you quantify it all for comparison? Mind you, tyres and pressure will make a difference too!

Can’t-resist-any-longer…

As Globalti says, it’s surprising just how capable a bike like this is. Obviously it’s not for everyone/every trail, but it’ll do for 99% of my riding. The amount of flex in the Niner carbon forks is slightly unnerving though. Don’t look down when applying a gobfull of front brake!

I’d definitely recommend carbon forks if you are doing anything rough and rocky. I rode like this in the Yorkshire Dales most of last summer and only occasionally wished I had something more GNARRR…..

All this talk makes me want to build my rigid bike back up again *sigh*

/swoon @Pedalheads bike. Perfection, apart from no bar ends and the saddle.

Mine. Hoping for some RC31s or Kingdom carbons (or RC39s 😳 ).

brassneck – Member
/swoon @Pedalheads bike. Perfection, apart from no bar ends and the saddle.

Cheers! It’s only a few rides old but I loves it! Custom design too so quite satisfying to be riding it at last.

I didn’t realise that the Sunn was so expensive, the price on the now defunct CRC page was under £600. The Genesis Fortitude looks great but isn’t cheap.

If I was buying a frame and fork package again I’d seriously be looking at the Singular Hummingbird. If you can live with an eccentric bottom bracket the last few large frames/forks are just £260!!

As it is, I built this:

A Pipedream Sirius with Orange F8 forks.

jp-t853 – Member

I ride a rigid bike but like others it is a carbon forked one

My HJ looks very similar. Small with Exotic carbon forks. Absolute hoot to ride. Get battered following the full sus guys. Worth it though, oh yes.

Man, that is nice. Unfortunately at 5’6″ I might struggle with the sizes 🙂

awwww shucks Pedalhead, you’re too kind. I’ve gone all red in the face now!
😳

see, all you need to do is turn up in the middle of a night ride with a trailer full of beer & the compliments will flow… 😉