Hi I’m looking to build a hardtail mountain bike but don’t know what frame to buy. I have a budget of £250 any ideas ?

What sort of riding do or will you do?

Will be riding through the woods and a bit of on road

A bit more info would help advise you better.

Can you describe your normal trails a bit better? Do they steep technical sections, have large jumps and drops? Or is it smooth, undulating single track where you rarely get the wheels off the ground.

Would you prefer the frame to be biased towards climbing, descending or equal?

Are you bothered about weight?

Erm well I’m only just starting riding again to be honest. Would prefer the frame to be equal and not bothered about weight.

I have a lovely medium Giant XTC carbon frame that would do you nicely. It would come in well under your budget, also. I’m 5’10 and it fits me perfectly.

I’m 6’1 so might be a bit small. Was looking at the on one 456

At £2 over budget, For an all-rounder I’d have one of these:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ragley-piglet-2-hardtail-frame-2014/rp-prod90795
I had it’s big brother, the Blue Pig and it was an awesome bike 🙂

Saw that earlier but I don’t like the colours haha I’m hard to please

+1 for the Piglet. It’s makes a great bike suitable for all types of riding. The frame also has some nice features which put some similar yet more expensive offerings to shame.
The colours aren’t for everyone but IMO the colour is a lot better in the flesh, they have a sort of metalic look not easily picked out in photos ….

Here’s my horrendous creation…

charge duster skinny on ebay new for ~ 160 quid

Nowt wrong with the on one. Get that.

I’ve got a 456 SS frame kicking about actually if your interested only 16″ though. BB and headset fitted.

domderbyshire

I have a lovely medium Giant XTC carbon frame that would do you nicely. It would come in well under your budget, also. I’m 5’10 and it fits me perfectly.

E-mail sent.

Out of the On One frames I would recommend the Scandal or if they have a sale on the Whippet would fit your budget. Nice light frames with equal balance towards going up or down a hill.

The 456 in steel or carbon flavour, while a nice frame are just a bit too much of a blunt weapon to recommend to someone just starting out. They’re great when you’re really hooning it but anything less and they just feel a little cumbersome and a bit stiff.

If you find the older Kenisis frames xc120, I think the newer 130 goes for £350 so a bit above your budget.

Or how about a second hand Cotic Soul.

Theres prob a few more but those are the ones that come to mind.

At 6’1″ maybe a 29er? Or do you have all the bits already?

Ye have been looking at the cotic souls and really tempted to adjust my budget. And no I haven’t got any parts yet

A large soul worked for me at 6′. Somehow the extra weight from steel doesn’t matter.

@calproc – a lot of us on here are big fans of steel hardtails, they ride nicely and if I’m honest there’s a bit of nostalgia too. I bought a Cotic BFe as its a bit cheaper than a Soul, I also have a Dialled bikes Prince Albert waiting to be built up. I am also a fan of the Transition brand and they do a nice hardtail frame too (in Aluminium). Spending a bit extra on the frame is worthwhile to get what you want but beware the frame is a relatively small part of total bike cost.

Good luck

I’m in the market for a hardtail frame at the moment as I focus more on local trails and fitness and the soul seems to be the one to go for.

Unfortunately they’re few and far between, especially locally so as I can take a look first.

@jambalaya ye I really like the look of the trans am, so I might invest in 1 of them

45650b?

Or I’ve a brand new never ridden Chumba HX1 in the shed I’d sell under budget with a new Hope headset. Broke my arm twice last year so never built it up!

Trans-Am is an odd one, it’s got quite steep angles compared to say a 456.

I have a medium Mark 3 Soul frame for sale. Was bought in December 2013 and built up.Ridden once. Its Orange and obviously mint.
It comes with a Hope pick and mix Headset, (£75) I would be keen to sell to someone on here.
I also have a new Fox Float RLC 120mm for the above, tapered steerer with 15mm maxle.
Let me know if of interest.
Richard

456 would do he job. You can run it with a variety of fork lengths that tranform the intended use/riding style. 100mm for a more XC focussed bike, or 150mm for a more hardcore hardtail type of thing. If you want the best of both worlds, a dual position fork would give you 2 different bikes geometry wise, but I guarentee as you get back into it you’d rarely drop the forks from their longest setting.

All the suggestions thus far are good though, Scandal, Soul, 456, Piglet/Pig would all do you well.

I would suggest that you go fo a secondhand bike first though, until you decide exactly what sort of riding floats your boat. No point spending a wad on new frame/parts as you’ll likely want a better/different bike a few months down the line.

I bought an XC bike when I got back into riding, and within a year had bought a much slacker hardcore hardtail, I then moved on to a 150mm full suss, but I still ride all 3 from time to time.

Dialled Bikes ‘Prince Albert’ rider over here *waves*

@tricky dicky how much do you want for your soul frame?