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Another vote for Calibre bikes, only this time it’s the wife’s Triple B (upgraded Bossnut) and my Line 29.
We’d both sold our good bikes (her top end Capra and my Orange Alpine) when we were about to have twins as we felt they’d just sit there unused for 1-2 years, but early in lockdown we though we might actually need to get out and ride (for our sanity) and everything was just starting to run out.
She has since sold hers as she wants an ebike but I’m loving my Line 29, it was about £700 new a few years ago and so far all I’ve done is fit some trusty Minion DHFs, my preferred Renthal bar and stem, Burgtec pedals and the 125 dropper is now 200mm to take full advantage of the super short seat tube. It’s great fun, I thought I’d hate the RS Recons and heavy wheels, but they all manage fine for Dartmoor, Haldon and the trail centres I’ve been riding over the last few years.
@Tomzesty, I would recommend one in an instant as there’s no stupid geometry ‘quirks’ and it’s survived being thrashed under my 100kg self.
I was gutted when I found a worrying seat tube crack on my dayglow orange Saracen Pylon 8's frame, a bargain end of season buy from Rutland's eBay store in 2008.
Massive tyre clearance, hydraulic brakes and Alfine 8 drivetrain. Great short distance commuter.
I bought a Scandal 29er frame and Exotic carbon rigid forks second hand off two different people on here in 2011 for £175 and £65 respectively to build a winter bike. It's been ridden through every Scottish winter since and I still love it. Just passed 13,000km logged on Strava this week (and I wasn't on Strava the first couple of years I had it). It's been through many (many) components right enough, but the chassis keeps going.
I refer to it as my old armchair - it just feels right when I sit on it.
For me it is an old Singular Peregrine, bought 8 years ago, when it had already done a fair few miles, supposed to be a cheap "Pub" bike. But something about the skinny steel ride over gravel, i run it singlespeed and over the years it has gained decent TRP brakes, Brooks B17 and Chris King hubs, but frame is well battered, but it is still the one that gets pulled out of garage most, despite owning a lovely geared ti gravel bike too..i've done over 20,000 miles on it since i bought it
Only road bike is a well-loved Bombtrack Needle singlespeed, and again, i like the steel frame and i can just pull from garage without fuss
Depends what you mean by cheap?
I had a 2016 Specialized Diverge Elite DSW cost £1300 cheap Tiagra 10 speed & pig ugly. But it was so comfy. I traded it in for a Specialized carbon Roubaix but that thing was so uncomfortable and I always regretted trading the Diverge in for it.
I also loved my On-One Inbred frames, cheap as chips but great fun both SS and geared.
Bought a Planet X Jack Flash 29 frame for £79, built it up with a bargain set of Superstar wheels when they were clearing them out and the bits from my broken full sus Marin and it’s one of the most fun, versatile bike I’ve owned. Didn’t even bother with the faff of internal routing - just zip tied the cables to the outside!
My Voodoo Hoodoo, bought it as a damaged stock bike for £275 from Halfords (via an old work colleague) and it's been amazing. Was an absolute godsend during the first lockdown as it made the local riding fun and kept the wear off my other bikes. Had it 5 years now and it's had a few hand-me-down upgrades from other bikes so it now has a Factory Spec (but no Kashima) Fox 32 fork, a Superstar bolt-thru front wheel, a Raceface Turbine crank, a Brand X dropper, some Hand Dampf soft compound tyres from a PSA on here and a Rental Fatbar Carbon!
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That's the most recent picture I have of it, pre a few of the upgrades.
Keep on thinking about selling it but it costs me nothing to keep running and is always fun to ride pretty much anywhere. It's even done a day at Windhill where it was amazing on the jumps!
Bought this off a friend for 50 quid. Don't use it as much as I should, given we've got Bolehills, Charnock, and Hillsborough pump tracks here in Sheffield.
It is fun when I do get to play on it.
Another vote for the Calibre Dune here. Although it is that heavily modified that it slowly morphed into a highly specced Canyon Dude. It was the gateway to fat bikes though and I still love riding it.
I've kept my Dune completely original except I changed the bars, stem, grips, brakes, complete drivetrain, tyres, dropper post, pedals, bottom bracket, tubeless conversion and saddle.
Apart from that it's 100% original. 😅👍
I am also a fan of the humble Pinnacle Lithium.
I bought a well used example in lockdown for riding to the shops , and gentle bimbling duties .
I renewed the BB , put new wheels and tyres on it , a rear rack and have used it ever since.
It’s my most used bike.
I have actually used it for longer rides too,on gravel routes and it once even did a few laps of the pump track.
It had a functional Shimano Altus drivetrain, the cheapest Shimano hydraulic disc brakes ,etc but seems to ride so much better than the sun if it’s parts.
As the drivetrain needs replaced I’m planning g on giving it some upgrades.
I love my Brand X hardtail. Frame was about £90 on a CRC offer, wheels £100 from superstar and I have 2x10 XT on it which I love the feel of and just works. I probably ride this bike more than my full suspension bike.
Almost a bookend to the OP's post, a 2nd hand Specialized Singlecross. Was about £300 i think and in perfect nick (still is). Used as a winter bike / bridleway basher. Fits me perfectly and the fact it always ran 38mm tyres when my road bikes were 25mm always made it feel so comfy. Am looking at selling it though as I ride another cheap SS bike more these days & should really clear some things out (but feel sentimentally attached to it!)
I was also going to say my Dune, but then remembered this
Coyote Dual. Originally bought for about £150 I think and built up with heavy/cheap parts so it could be chucked about and crashed at Chicksands. DMR trailstar replaced it so it became my London commuter. I used to go 'stair hunting' on it, it was so much fun especially racin off the line from the lights. Pretty quick until I ran out of gear.
Gave it away when I stopped working in London.
When I worked in a bike shop, someone wanted to part ex a steel stumpjumper, but the seatpost was seized and we didn’t want to take it. The customer didn’t want it back either so we agreed on a helmet in exchange. I paid trade price for the helmet….. so it was cheap! There was no guarantee we would get the post out, but we managed it. It was turned in to single speed, bargain! Then the slippery slope started….. resprayed, carbon forks etc. this is the pic if it rebuilt with gears before I sold it and moved on to a Bontrager OR. Stumpjumper are always good, the steel ones are fabulous!
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I've had nothing but bargains for the last 30 odd years most notable have been Konas both HT and full bounce, a 456, and a couple of trailstars.
In more recent years I've gotten my hands on a Crashed Merida carbon road frame and DIY repaired it (still going strong), a "wizards sleeve edition" London road (still going strong), a £50 commencal supernormal frame (still going strong), a very cheap stumpjumper frame (still going strong), and most recently a Norco threshold frame for buttons to setup as a CX race bike for next winter and a dirt cheap Ridgeback road bike frameset that serves winter road/commuting duties...
I don't currently own any bikes worth anything like a grand, most have been well under £500 to build up. And although the 'fleet' are all a bit dated there's lots of choice just for little old me when I wander in the Garage.
If £600 counts...a barely used Radon Sage; alu frame, carbon fork, full Sram force 22 groupset with rim brakes, lightweight and silent wheelset.
Wheelset isn't tubeless so a good squirt of Stan's into the tubes and swapped tyres to Conti 4 seasons.
It's great!
My old (2009?) Genesis Day One was a fantastic bike, I used to commute on it and used it for local easier off road (gravel?). I just have put 10,000+ miles on that bike. Only sold it as I was sick of fiddling with v brakes. Would love a disc one. I think the whole bike was £500. Was featured in Singletrack. https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/fresh-goods-28/
My current bargain had been my Stooges (Mark 2), bought as a frame and fork in 2016, I think it was about £600. Built using all the old parts in the garage, the only thing I didn't have was a seatpost clamp, cost me another £15 and it was good to go. It has morphed over time and has had a few newer parts added. I can't see me ever selling it as it's so versatile and fun to ride.
How much is a bargain? My Hello Dave was £1700 in 2021 and rides great at the steep stuff that I'd never have had the bottle to ride before. Most Enduro type bikes cost at least double that.
Well, I suppose cheap and bargains are all relative, but £1700 for a hardtail isn't cheap to me personally! Your stooge sounds great, I'm always keeping an eye out for steel 29ers second hand - it is 1 of many on my ebay watch list!
£400 DMR Trailstar LT, was my only bike for a while, currently dismantled but will be back. It's done everything and is a complete hoot, still got the Rev 426 U Turns it came with.
Bought a P7 for £300 last year, still not sure how I feel about it. Not sure if it's the Alfine but it just feels dead which goes against everyone else's opinion. Still prefer the £150 Dew it was supposed to replace (but is still hanging around).
Carrera Fury 98.
Bought off the brother in law for £200, according to the bike computer he'd done 12 miles before getting a puncture and storing it in the celler for 2 years.
First proper MTB, with deore and rockshox (Judy xc elastomers but still..).
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£300 On-One Inbred SS about 15 years ago – one of the original horizontal dropout, rim brake only frames
2006 version here still all stock except for tyres and chain! Nearly killed me on Somerton combe last year when the rigid forks and unbrakeable speed had me otb, smashing my helmet.
It,s interesting that the most mentioned make so far in this thread is the now regularly ridiculed make. I give you On One. Yes I had a few starting with the white inbred, sadly not 853 but still a great fun bike which took me around Mont Blanc 20 years ago. Then the 456 ti and then the ti version of the Parkwood. Looking back I prefer the steel bike and my current hardtail is a steel Surly Wednesday.
2015 bizango. The yellow one.
£500 new. Great deal.
Over time it got a dropper, Reba, 1x drive train and some deore brakes. Rode it hard for 7 years. Preferring it to my full suss that cost loads loads more.
Great bike. Very capable. Sold it for a big trail which is also fantastic but a significantly price. Though the OEM spec reflects that.
It,s interesting that the most mentioned make so far in this thread is the now regularly ridiculed make. I give you On One
Thought it was part of the STW forum entry rules a few years that you had to own and On One
Can't believe there's another mention of Saracen Zen's on this thread! Picked one up for £50 from eBay in the search for a steel hardtail many many years ago, stuck bits on it from my parts bike. Ended up buying a Manitou 140mm fork for it but almost everything else was spares, it had one white wheel and one black for a lot of it's life! Rode it every weekend, raced it, used it for absolutely everything leaving more expensive bikes in the flat.
It's currently sat with a set of very fast rolling tyres on it for a laugh around pump tracks, just need to do something about the drivetrain as it won't stop jumping despite new jockey wheels.