Ok, so here one for the serial bike builders/dreamers out there:

spec up a bike suitable for a discipline/niche of your choice, but, and its a big but:

It has to be “singletrack capable”;

by that I mean it has got to be able to handle the usual toe curlingly technical “angry w*nk” of a hill climb and also still stay in one piece for the eagerly anticipated “holymarymotherofgod” rapid descent pay off with rocky drop offs.

The maximum budget is £500.00 and you HAVE to use RETAIL prices and you are NOT allowed to use any “bits you have hanging around” or e(vil)Bay.

your kit list must be shown and it has to feature both SOURCES & PRICES

Extra points awarded for Under Budget, Niche, Unusual, Inspired, Upgradeable, British and the of course the Simplistic.

I may even put up a prize for the best build, but I’m not telling what it is!

get to work, your country needs you!

oh and pictures are encouraged!

Can we forget about postage? It’s £11 for the wheels I was looking at!!

postage can be listed as a separate total.

Damn this is hard, I figured I’d start with the frame and the best I’ve found so far is this:

20″ On One Inbred Single Sp Horiz Dropout Frame £119.99

its also a 20″ shop soiled item, so its not the sort of thing that could be replicated easily so I’m going to forgo it as one of the things I figured this thread could achieve was a template that beginners could loosely follow if they wanted to get into riding with their own respectable custom build on the cheap!

Ooooh can I play? I definitely fall into the serial bike builders/dreamers category . . . in fact I do this all the time . . . but it costs me a fortune 👿

Watch this space . . . in fact if I can get under budget I may go ahead and order all the kit.

feeling a bit flush are we?

brand-x, handsome dog and a few others do half decent hardtails for thess than that. Cant find geometry tables for anythi other than brand-x, which all seem to have the same top tube length so maybe a bit pants.

Dirty Jo semi creme

headset i’m nominating the FSA pig, its not sealed and its not the cheepest, but with a few squirts of grease every year it’ll outlast a king one. £17.99 from CRC

you can get that Dirty Jo without the icky decals from CRC and it’s a brilliant frame. It really is! That would be my starting point too. In fact it was when I did this for real…

I think it’s going to have to have V brakes!

if you use some cheap wheels, rigid forks and singlespeed it i think you could afford to put some hydro brakes on it.

if you can get front sus, gears and hydro brakes now that would be impressive!

woah! beat this for a starting point!

Dialled Bikes – Love/hate

the frame comes on pre-order with a Phil Wood EBB, DB Pablo Esco Bars & Salsa QR seat clamp for £220.00 (delivered) LINK

so that gives me £280.00 to buy forks, headset, chainset, wheels, brakes, seatpost & saddle

its gonna be tight! but it ticks all the boxes for Niche & Upgradeablity!

well heres my offering for a saddle

295g £12 Selle Italia X0 SE

So we can have S/S then? Cool 8)

that dialled frames a flippin bargain! Stil think £280’s a tall order.

I’ve ridden these, they’r not the greatest, but far better than budget forks from a few years back, probably better than mid range forks for a few years back.
SR suntour forks

Brand-X XC hardtail frame from CRC for £99.99
Velocity Triple V/Deore Wheels, with Kenda Blue Groove tyres, from On-One for £97.85 (presumably you get innertubes as well)

I think that link you posted above for the Love/Hate is a little old? This might be a more current pricing… £265 without bars etc 🙁

Shame, cause I was just about to order one inspired by your link! i wonder if they’ll give it to me for £220…

i wanna play but am cofused!!!!! wot we gotta do.

i wanna play but am cofused!!!!! wot we gotta do.

Build a singletrack-capable bike for under £500, or suggest parts.

i am gonna build a ss 29r for ssuk.
and i have to buy from shops yes.

29er’s going to make it more expensive. For cheap-cheap-cheap, you’ve got to go 26er, I think.

Best buy would actually be a complete bike, I’m sure. Four or five years ago, I got a Deore-equipped Inbred for a smidge over £500, and they were dropped to £400 not long after. CRC have some nice-looking bikes for under £500.

Dialled Bikes – Love/hate – £220.00 (Dialled Bikes)
Phil Wood EDD – £0.00
DB P. Esco Bars 25.4mm – £0.00
Salsa QR seat clamp – £0.00

Headset FSA Pig – £16.63 (wiggle)

Salsa CroMoto Rigid Fork – £55.99 (wiggle)

Ritchey Comp MTB V2 Stem – £22.50 (wiggle – 28.6x130x6x25.4)

FSA SL-280 XC Seatpost – £12.99 (chainreaction)

SUB TOTAL : £328.11

Shimano XT M756 on Mavic XC717 Front & Rear – £129.99 (chainreaction)

SUB TOTAL : £458.10

Shit this is difficult!! how am I supposed to sort out the drivetrain, pedals, saddle, grips, brakes, tyres, tubes!

agh! I’m gonna have to change this!!

GT Avalanche

Thanks to some thieving toe rags who knicked my maxlight xc120 and then found I was only covered for £500 despite having xtr kit and Fox talas rlc’s etc on it I had this exact dilemna.
My solution is that Ive just bought a charge duster rigid from wiggle for £350 (reduced from £500) and intend on putting some suntour epicon forks on it for CRC at £130- this leaves me with £20 to either get a bigger lock or to borrow a mentalist rottweiler for when they come back to see what the replacement bike is like!!

agh! so the Dialled offer’s gone?!? oh well, I need to change the build to get it under, which is a shame because I had that Love/Hate with the salsa forks thing going on in my head 😀

All Terrain Cycles/Handsone Dog Talisman frame,150
Chain Reaction Cycles/FSA The Pig H/S,17.99
MERLIN/Rockshox Dart 3 Poplock fork,30.04
EVANS/Shimano SLX front brake..88.08

…and then i got bored being detailed and disciplined.

Merlin wheels set retailing for 80 pounds,

Avid BB7 rear disc brake,40ish

standard deore rear mech and front mech,

14.99 pound seatpost from Langsett Cycles,

Sella Royal Frecia Saddle,24-ish

Deore two piece crankset.60 pounds,

brake levers for v brake level 10?

kona Jack Shit pedals,20-ish?

It seems like it oculd be quite a nice bike though. 🙂

Sorry for geting bored.:-)

i was thinking along the same lines as peteimpreza.

Why are you speccing XT wheels??

What you need is a pair of Deores.

What’s that, nearly £60 saved?

Don’t know why i wrote Level 10?

A v brake lever set for ten pounds is what i ment.

And what about something like this Sintesi frame, complete with headset??

You’re not thinking propply, Nutt.

I reckon it can be done for less than £400, actually, if yer going SS and Rigid.

Wheels and SS-kit from On-One and the rest from CRC should get you a rigid SS for not very much.

peteimpreza – Member

GT Avalanche

Surely buying a complete bikes is cheating though. Reckon it’s gotta be something you’d be prepared to struggle up the said toe curlingly technical “angry w*nk” of a hill climb and be prepared to sit down, shut up and hold on for the eagerly anticipated “holymarymotherofgod” rapid descent pay off with rocky drop offs.

Reckon I’ll go for a 24″ jump bike with big tyres . . . watch this space 😀

i think you should try selling them once you have built them and see who has made the biggest profit

Full sus with disc brakes. £499

MAMADIRT; PUT THE CREDIT CARD DOWN, AND STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD.

Every week, we have to warn her.

What does your doc think about your tiny bike buying obsession?? 😯

My local bike shop have rockhoppers for £499 so why would you spend all this time building one up,,, its a silly game and i don’t understand the rules so I’m not playing [throws toys out of pram] 🙁

frame http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=29514
forks http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Salsa_CroMoto_Rigid_Fork/5360029121/
wheels http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s141p1134
brakes x 2 http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s101p1502
chain http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s111p1118
levers http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=9734
h/set http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=1066
post http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=15690
saddle http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=11215
c/set http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5733
bb http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=17473
tyres x 2 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=36426

bout £450. leaves £50 for tubes and pedals.

Those Viper 29ers used to be cheaper than that 😕

Nonononononono….NO The last time I took part in one of your contests (Ultimate SS) It cost me a small fortune as I’ve only gone ahead and ordered it! Its going to arrive in April. You’re a very bad person MrNutt.

and all mine is chose for durability and strength… 😀

mmm, taking Pop Larkin’s lead, I’m gonna try and build around this:

Kinesis Maxlight XC 2 Frame – £220.21 (wiggle)

Headset FSA Pig – £16.63 (wiggle)

Salsa CroMoto Rigid Fork – £55.99 (wiggle)

FSA XC281 Riser Bars 680mm 25mm Black 31.8mm
FSA OS190 LXC Stem 100mm 6 Deg Black 1.1/8″ 31.8mm
FSA SL 280 Carbon Wrap Seatpost 27.2 350mm Carbon

Selected FSA Package Price – £69.99 (chainreaction)

SUB TOTAL = £362.82

hmmm…..