On-one Scandal 18″ frame weighing in at 1600 grams roughly and some carbon exotic rigid forks weighing in at around 700 grams. Is it going to be possible to achieve sub 12kg including the rest of the kit? If so, what wheels and groupset, on a budget.

if you want a cheap 12kg build it would make a superb single speed

Won’t present much challenge tbh, just need to avoid excessively heavy stuff. My rigid cost me, IIRC, £600 all in and was a little over 10kg with its lighter tyres on, around 10.5kg with everyday trail tyres.

I’d hope so. My 26″ wheel FS bike was lighter than that out the box.

On-one Scandal 18″ frame weighing in at 1600 grams roughly and some carbon exotic rigid forks weighing in at around 700 grams

The biggest areas to save weight on a bike are the frame, the forks, the wheels and the tyres. You’re already starting off with a light frame and a very light fork, so as long as you don’t buy super heavy wheels and tyres, even if you stick Deore and budget bars/stem/seatpost on it, I’d be surprised if it was over 12kg.

Mtbfix, go buy a full sus out the box sub 12kg for 750 quid or there abouts lol.

I think I’m going to use deore as I can probably save more weight on good wheels then groupset. Even if I did get a better groupset it’d only be slx. I’ve got a budget of about £50 each for seatpost , stem and bars so I can probably get those 3 in under 700g.

Any suggestions on a wheelset for about £150?

I’ve got a budget of about £50 each for seatpost , stem and bars so I can probably get those 3 in under 700g.

Halve that, spend the money elsewhere… Buy bits 2nd hand too. Decent bars will cost you about £20 2nd hand, decent light stems can be had for about £15 even new (ebay or Merlin cycles), Seatpost is the one area I’d maybe spend a bit more on a 2nd hand Thomson myself but then I like them cos they’re strong.

SLX is worth the upgrade over Deore, in function alone if not a massive weight saving, though it is lighter obviously.

Any suggestions on a wheelset for about £150?

26″ or 29er?

I’m going to assume the former for the moment, but go custom… Sun Ringle EQ23’s for £15 each on CRC right now at 410g per rim, get them built onto something like Superstar Switch EVO hubs (about £100 a pair) and you’ll have a light, servicable set of wheels. Factory wheelsets at that price will be heavier, and inferior in just about every way.

Saddles can be another area where weight can be lost. Though don’t save weight here at the expense of comfort.

12kg for a fully rigid bike with light ally frame and carbon forks really isn’t taxing though, even on a small budget.

Go singlespeed . It will be properly light. You’ll love it

my scandal 29er is around 10kg.

SS, on-one rigid forks. slx crank. salsa bar. hope mavic wheels. deore/xt brakes. on one saddle. mud x tyres

go 1×9. work out where weight can be saved cheaply. (grips tyres) you need a spreadsheet.

Decent bars will cost you about £20 2nd hand,

Yep great idea…, second hand consumables? 🙄

Buy new on things that will be ‘strained’ or wear out.

Yeah, but hands up everyone here who’s worn out a handlebar.

My 29er Inbred was 26lb, with Maxle Rebas, 1×10 SLX, Deore crank, TN719’s on XT / Pro2, Thomson stem, post & RF carbon bar. Met a chap on the Chase on same build you’ve specced but posh SS & WI cranks & Eno hubs & having compared it to mine I wouldn’t doubt his 21lb claim.

Go 1 x 10. XT cassette is good chunk lighter than SLX. Don’t even consider a Deore cassette. Deore cranks are only tiny bit heavier than XT. Tyres…Smallblock8’s are very light. Shouldn’t have any trouble going under 25, even 24lb to be honest.

Go 1 x 10

Bradley has only started riding recently, if anything would put him off MTBing its losing his granny-ring…

Decent bars will cost you about £20 2nd hand,

Yep great idea…, second hand consumables?

Buy new on things that will be ‘strained’ or wear out.

LOL

I don’t mean buy someone else’s 5 year old, crashed to buggery bars. I mean buy some bars off someone in the classifieds on here, that’s fitted new bars to a bike they didn’t like the shape of the old bars on, or similar. I’ve bought 2 sets of Sunline V1’s in the past 12 months, a good bar by anyone’s standards, that were only about 6 rides old, for not much more than £20 each time.

XT cassette is good chunk lighter than SLX

Maybe with 9spd, but not so much 10spd. The only difference (and I’ve weighed them!) is the ally lockring on XT Vs steel on SLX. There was about 15 grammes in it iirc. It wasn’t worth the effort at least, put it that way…

Spend any money you save elsewhere on decent tyres, they will not only save weight but also enhance the riding experience much more than a bling bar/stem/seatpost etc.

Wheelset: hope wheelset from the classifieds, mine (hope pro 2 and dt 4.2s) only cost £140 with less than 100 miles.
Groupset: slx groupset from action sports de which is £208, there might be a voucher code available somewhere as i got mine for £180.
Brakes-Shimano deore new type from rosebike/action sports/bike components de etc. £61 from rosebike with facebook voucher.
Finishing kit: cheap stuff off the classifieds.

Bradley has only started riding recently, if anything would put him off MTBing its losing his granny-ring…

I’d have thought riding a rigid bike would do that…

Nowt wrong with 2nd hand bars either necessarily.

Thanks gaberin, I just cycled to my LBS on the road bike and they suggested a hope wheelset, found some brand new for £250 which isn’t bad with rotors included.
I think i’ll piece together the groupset over a period of time, cant really afford £200 in one hit, same with the wheelset if possible.

njee – I ride a road bike so the rigidness of a rigid MTB somewhat appeals, and the lightness :p

My rigid Handjob is 22lb – 10kg with 3×9, disc brakes and middling components.

Your 12kg target should be easily achieved.

How hard to you expect to ride it? Specialized’s Roval Controls are fairly constantly cheap on Ebay, used… They’re decently strong for what they are but they’re still lightweight wheels, not for constant hard use. Might fit the bill though.

I’d just build a light bike with front suspension if i were you, you need more skill to ride big stuff on a rigid.
12kg isn’t that light, i bought a cube a few yrs ago for £600 new which weighed 12.3kg. Having suspension makes it more fun, you can throw yourself at anything even with out the skill.

I have a hardtail ATM which I have decided to keep and use this rigid as a long-term goal sort of thing. I don’t do that much riding that I feel warrants suspension. I can manage most of my local stuff on a rigid.

To be fair, I live in Oxford and ride a rigid steel frame and exotic carbon forks and for local stuff its’s ace. I bought the forks as a stop gap when I bust springs in my bouncy forks but ended up leaving the rigids on there. Think is’s about 24 pounds using a mix of 11 year old XT/LX and Deore drivetrain

Nice Macgyver. The stuff that’s local to Oxford isn’t taxing enough to warrant a hardtail really, and I can imagine is alot more fun at a faster pace 😀

I’ve weighed up the rest of the kit needed to finish the bike without tyres and a set of brakes, what i’m looking at buying and fitting comes in at just under 8kg so sub 12 is easily achievable for me 🙂