I'm looking for a 29er hard tail frame that's light (so probably not steel), good for climbing and descending (I live in the lakes so am either going up or down all the time), occasional races, and must have rack mounts on the seat stays for panniers. Oh, and the moon on a stick...
I'm happy to spend up to 500 quid. I'm a total newcomer to 29er hard tails/custom builds and therefore pretty clueless about where to even start looking. Any advice would be appreciated.
Salsa fargo fulfills your requirements
though it is steel
steel can be light, you looked at surly, cotic solaris, on one inbred, cielo? Not sure about rack mounts though.
On One Scandal 29er. The first batch of the "new" ones had rack mounts.
Thanks for the suggestions guys. All the steel options seem pretty heavy to me at 2.5kg or more so it looks like the scandal might be the way to go - that 0.7kg difference buys me a bit of leeway on wheels/tires. Or maybe I just need to recalibrate my brain and stop thinking of 2.5kg as heavy....
Surly Karate Monkey
Cotic Solaris under 5lb, so more like 2.1kg according to Cotic, if that helps.
To be fair, 2.5kg is fairly hefty for a frame. But if you bought a 29er inbred at £140, the £360 you saved will buy you a considerably lighter set of wheels and finishing kit than you might otherwise have bought. Swings and roundabouts and all that.
My old 29er inbred was about 31lb. A right lump to lift yeah, but without sounding cliched, it rode a lot lighter than it was.