[Closed] New XC Race Frame - thoughts

Budget?

All below 900g:
Trek Superfly SL
Scott Scale
Cannondale Flash

Heavier, but still light, and nice:
Spesh S-Works
Giant XTC

Cheap alternative:
Chinese carbon

Currently considering an XTR equipped Highball Carbon.

Circa 5k I would think.

Dirty harry?

Niner Air 9 Carbon?

Yeti ARCc worth a look.

Pivot LES would fit the bill nicely.

my Specialized Stumpjumper Expert Carbon 29'er hardtail frame is 1.18kg (I weighed it before rebuilding the bike)

you can pick a complete 2014 bike up around £2000 with the same frameset

F29er Triton cycles... http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/mountain-bikes-c1/29ers-c14/cannondale-f29-carbon-2-mountain-bike-2013-p1245

big saving and better spec than 2014 model - lefty fork is very nice indeed

Thanks for that I will have a browse at these now.

Niner does not appeal. I rode one last time round before buying the cruz and it was not as nice.

That niner air 9 RDO does look good. Though for the frame Stif seem to have changed the dollar sign to a pound and then ADDED another couple of hundred quid!

mrblobby - Member
That niner air 9 RDO does look good. Though for the frame Stif seem to have changed the dollar sign to a pound and then ADDED another couple of hundred quid!

POSTED 1 MINUTE AGO # REPORT-POST

The Niner prices seem to have gone from just expensive to ridiculously expensive this year. It's put me right off getting an Air 9 Carbon 🙁

Er, Open O-1.0? I have one and it's great. Haven't weighed it yet... can't be bothered... but it's supposed to be a fraction over 9kg.

bollocks, no one buys an Open and doesn't weight it

Not bollocks... honest. Have weighed bikes before when I've either serviced or built them up. We have a young son and another on the way so bike time is strictly for riding (wherever possible). So when I say I can't be bothered, it's not entirely true. Anyway, it's light.

Er, Open O-1.0? I have one and it's great. Haven't weighed it yet... can't be bothered... but it's supposed to be a fraction over 9kg.

I'd expect lighter than that, very nice looking frames those Opens!

scott scale is a safe bet...prob not get much better.

Whyte 29 C Team? Slacker HA and very long TT. I'm thinking of one myself.

scott scale is a safe bet...prob not get much better.

Why not? Everything that's been recommended is a good bike.

because it probably got more XC race pedigree than any of the above.

I'd imagine most 29er XC race bikes will be good (all probably very similar in frame weights, geo, stifness etc...

make a list and search around for best deal / componants.

Bollocks. That's all.

Seftons analysis seems about right to me, not sure why its bollocks.

Whyte 29 C Team? Slacker HA and very long TT. I'm thinking of one myself.

Just about to start my Whyte 29-C build, according to the workshop scales the frame weighs 1.2kg

I have a KTM myroon. It's very very nice to ride.

[url= http://www.ktm-bikes.at/bikes/hardtail.html?action=bike_details&bike_id=114&cHash=30232a4c6615179b95d729b751304867 ]http://www.ktm-bikes.at/bikes/hardtail.html?action=bike_details&bike_id=114&cHash=30232a4c6615179b95d729b751304867[/url]

because it probably got more XC race pedigree than any of the above.

Except for the Trek....obviously 😉

....happy now

Except for the Trek....obviously

....happy now

Haha, not what I was getting at at all. They're all excellent bikes, don't think you can say any one is 'the best'. The 29er Scale doesn't have anything like the race pedigree of the 650b one anyway 😉

[url= http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/pro-bike-jared-graves-29er-xc-race-bike-39587/ ]Yeti ARCc[/url]

Loving mine and seems rather fast and easy to ride

I bought a 2014 Trek Superfly 9.6, then sold the wheels and groupset. Moved my XT single ring setup across and bought some carbon wheels.

Really impressed with it so far. Not as light as a Superfly SL, but I think spending the saving on the wheels was a good move.

I don't know the in's and out's of the geometry, but I have no problem lifting the front end and it feels very stable on the downs.

I know it's a bit of a cliché, but I have been riding and racing a Trek top fuel for the last 4 years and was really surprised how easy the transition was to the Superfly hardtail.

That's what I did/thought ^^

Are you me?

[img] [/img]

Separated at birth 🙂

When I was looking for a bike that fits the OPs description I looked at

Cannondale F-29, Scott Scale, GT Zaskar...

I left the shop with a Rocky Mountain Vertex...

You're going to have to spend time riding them to see which works, and look at spec, and not get hung up on looks... the Vertex look lovely, handles amazingly and is more manouverable than my old 26" Zaskar.

I'm not you, I'm me

[img] [/img]

That f29 that Sefton linked is amazing value! I payed more than that for the carbon3.
Absolutely love the bike.

That f29 that Sefton linked is amazing value! I payed more than that for the carbon3.
Absolutely love the bike.

Yep I got one in Dec (and it was 3.5k at a lot of other retailers)

had to peel off the crappy stans no tube graphics off the wheels though.

all carbon, bars, crank, post, 0X (might put 0X gripshift on)

the fork is soooo good too

was surprised with Avid brakes (never had Avid before)..they are great so far.

not been raced yet though.

also just to put a spanner in the works - how about a budget frame (ebay - dirty harry) and spend big on wheels/fork etc?

Could do a lot worse - you're not going to get any of the 900g frames without blowing a good chunk of the budget, but you'll save more weight and probably have nicer bits by building on a cheap frame.

I guess it depends on whether the OP wants boutiquey brands for his £5k. Reckon some light Chinese carbon wheels, x11 group, a raid on the xcracer store, and maybe a Trek or a Scott frame would be well under 5k and weight weenie enough for most.

Would be easy to blow that budget on some Enve wheels, or a Santa Cruz or Niner frame, and have to put the weight back on with cheaper components.

Reckon some light Chinese carbon wheels, x11 group, a raid on the xcracer store, and maybe a Trek or a Scott frame would be well under 5k and weight weenie enough for most.

That's my Superfly, and it's 19.2lbs all in, so not too bad. The basic frame is £1000, they don't sell the SL variant aftermarket strangely.

As the OP was thinking of a Highball though I suspect Trek/China may not cut it!

Well I have narrowed it down.

Highball still in the mix with the addition of the Yeti. I'd spent so long away from MTBs i had not realised they offered a carbon 29er.

Thanks for all the input.

Both are a lot of cash to drop on a frame when there are arguably better, lighter, cheaper frames out there... but that Yeti is lovely 🙂 That build that Graves rode looks doable for £5k other than the prototype wheels. Photos when done please!

Both are a lot of cash to drop on a frame when there are arguably better, lighter, cheaper frames out there... but that Yeti is lovely

Lovely... but £1.6-1.8K lovely??? 😯

Almost harder to try and buy a frame with that money in some ways! At that price Yeti or SC wouldn't exactly cut it for me... not sure what I would go for but those pennies open up a hell of a lot of options!

Perfect example of why people are attracted to boutique frames innit - just because of the name. Nothing wrong with that, but you'll get lighter/stiffer/stronger (as is your want) for less money if you're less fussed about what it says on the down tube! Particularly on something like a carbon hardtail!

Goes back to the age old STW discussion of are Yeti/ SC still considered boutique? As you say though Nick, nothing wrong with paying the money because you like the name, but if I had that money I'd probably want a "better" name.

No idea what a "better" name on the downtube is though! I guess a "better" name would mean something a little less common as there aren't many truely boutique CF MTB frame builders out there

Orbea Alma for something a bit different?
Look 986 for something quirky?
BMC TE01 for pure gorgeousness?
Colnago C29 for no sensible reason at all
Storck Rebel beacuse you are brave enough to try your luck with Poshbikes service?
Intense Hard Eddie because it looks alright

Easy to criticise SC and Yeti as not really "boutique" enough to justify that money (sorry!) but I wouldn't know what to go for in that price bracket and feel I hadn't wasted money 😕 I do rather like BMC frames lately though 😀 Despite being sold by Evans 😳

Storck Rebel beacuse you are brave enough to try your luck with Poshbikes service?

😆

I must say [url= http://www.bikerumor.com/2014/04/03/niner-drops-air-9-rdo-carbon-frame-retail-prices/ ]this[/url] article on Niner caught my eye yesterday, the green is lovely, but as said on the last page the UK pricing is a joke, and they don't float the OP's boat.

Easy to criticise SC and Yeti as not really "boutique" enough to justify that money (sorry!) but I wouldn't know what to go for in that price bracket and feel I hadn't wasted money

Agreed. I'd want something in that sub-900g bracket - Open, Trek, Cannondale, Scott. But AFAIK apart from the Open you'd have to get a complete bike and sell the bits to get a frame even within that price bracket. BMC a bit quirky for my liking.

Agreed. I'd want something in that sub-900g bracket - Open, Trek, Cannondale, Scott. But AFAIK apart from the Open you'd have to get a complete bike and sell the bits to get a frame even within that price bracket. BMC a bit quirky for my liking.

If I were worried about the name then SC/ Yeti/ Trek/ Cannondale/ Scott/ Spesh carry about as much kudos for me as a well made Chinese frame which can easily be £300-400 and ~1100g 😀

Open is the only really vaguely "boutique" and decent overall and different CF 29er MTB frame for the money that springs to mind

Highball still in the mix with the addition of the Yeti. I'd spent so long away from MTBs i had not realised they offered a carbon 29er.

Any more thoughts on the frame choice bigman? Of the two the Yeti looks nicer and is the name I'd rather be seen riding 😀 This is following someone genuinely interested in my bike because he thought it was a Saracen and had heard good things about them and partially from non stop heckling from other riders during races along the lines of "another SC... are they giving them away" 😀 Have you considered Open?