I’m looking after a lighter frame after growing tired of my Inbred 29er. Although its been great I want something lighter, as my weight is dropping and my fitness growing I want a bike that will reflect my improved riding and the inbred is jsut too heavy.

I’ve got a budget of £3-400 and was looking at the on-one scandal or the Kinesis FF29.

The on-one is less than half the price of the FF29, is the Kinesis really worth that much more??

Any other recommendations?

Given that a bike weighs say 25lb and a ‘heavy frame’ and a light frame in your budget will make the bike weigh 24lb or 25lb… Is it really worth it ?

I’ve got a FF29, had it for almost a year now and it’s a fantastic bike.

Rides really well, get great reviews and it pretty damn comfortable too.

It’s a proper hoot on single track and can handle descents that you’d put way beyond the limitations of a 100mm forked HT.

Here’s mine in action
[/url] Untitled by steve_b77, on Flickr[/img]

Hi,
Recently bought a Giant XTC 29 frame.Fantastic,nice and light with some bling kit.Mine is weighing 21.4 lb and its an XL.£399 RRP.Does come with headset but might have to factor in price of press fit bb.
Thanx,
Max.

+1 weeksy, I’d get some lighter wheels/tyres & running gear instead (or just keep riding as is & spend the money on pies until you’re lardy again!) 🙂

Scandal and FF29 are fairly similar geometry I think. The FF29 is a lot prettier IMO and a bit more refined (and also can take a 120 fork without invalidating the warranty) but the Scandal seems very popular with those that ride them. It also has swapouts if you want to SS it.

Alternatively, you could save a load of weight by SSing your Inbred and fitting a rigid fork. I have a rigid SS inbred and it’s a surprisingly versatile bike.

A cheap Chinese carbon 29er is another possibility. Cheaper than the FF29 and people seem generally pleased with them.

If the Inbred frame weighs 6lb and the Scandal frame weighs 4lb, that makes his bike 2lb lighter in my book.

Clockwork is another potential…apparently circa 3.6lb and in your price range.

Dirty Harry…slightly more cash but they are very light: <1200g

Scandal 29er is what I’m currently on…great frame, sub-4lb, love the raw finish as well, plus a bit of a bargain imo

…but yeah, wheels/tyres would make a big differece: nice set of Hope/Crest with some light tyres run tubeless available for roughly the money you want to spend on a new frame

Go for the cheaper Scandal and use the saving to get better and lighter wheels. It’s worth it and weight savings on the wheels and tyres will be more noticeable to you than a slightly lighter frame.

as Nuke – what wheels do you currently run? You’ll notice a bigger difference in the feel of the bike than loosing a lb off the frame.

Bit of a curve ball but I’ve just been sent a Velocite Flux 29er AL. Size large confirmed on my scales at 1.6kg. £385 – Ti headset and seat clamp thrown in.

Currently building it up on American classic race wheels, 2.25 Ralphs tubeless, Marzocchi Corsa, XT/SLX/X5 mix and some pretty ordinary finishing kit (Velocite carbon seatpost aside). Only got the crank, chain, and cabling to do but looking like a 24lb build with scope for sub 23lb if you wanted to bolt some carbon and skinnier tyres on it.

Only downside is that wheel size is frame size specific. So XS and S are 26″, medium is a 650b, Large and XL are 29er. Interesting approach, but I suspect I’m going to end up wishing I’d got medium but I didn’t want 650b…

kenesis maxlight sync, based on the FF29 but Ti.

and way over a £400 frame only budget

So is the ff29 at £499 then. Maybe save weight elsewhere then.

No it isn’t.

Oooh a sneaky edit – readily available at well under £499.

readily available at well under £499.

what 2013? Link please.

Shiny bikes & Merlin.

My 16″ scandal V2 came in at 1650gms with dropouts. A snip at £149 plus 30 quid for track ends, but the V2 may well be all sold out by now.

With £400, I’d look to get some nice light wheels (love the Hope Hoops Evo 2 / Crest combo I got for £269), a shiny new pair of good tyres and spend the change on a few other bits that’ll make the difference, like a new bar, stem and grips. Rotating weight first, then contact points, I’d say. You’ll notice those far more than saving a couple of lbs on the frame.

Merlin are £405 but don’t know if thats a 2012 or 2013? Is there a difference?

All good suggestions above plus have you thought about the tomac or salsa mamista? Both easily available under £400 and both about 3.5lbs IIRC

FF29 is £449 at merlin, Winstanley have them for £399.99. Bargain

I’ve was riding my inbred all winter with carbon forks and loved the light responsiveness of the front end, I’m now riding it with some race rebas. Since then i’ve lightened my tyres, gone tubeless, lighter drive train, carbon bars, thomson seatpost etc. it’s as light as I can afford. It’s all about a frame now.

Scandal is good for the money, but love the look and brand of Orange

Velocite looks like an awesome race machine but would rather buy British if I could, having said that i’ll look at the Salsa and Tomac.

So far the Clockwork is top of the list followed by the Scandal. I think the Kinesis is just too much money for what it is, although it is a stunning looking frame.

When you say buy british, you do mean designed and not ‘built’ right?

Yeah designed, not built, couldn’t afford that 🙁

I think it’s going to be the scandal – the swapouts are swaying it for me as it seem more versatile.

Just (finally) finished building up my Scandal 29er – medium frame. Certainly new bike love, but i’m very pleased with it. Feels a lot more capable than the Giant XTC29er I had tried before.

Quick on flowing trails as you’d expect and way more nimble than the Large Cannondale Rush it has replaced, a lot easier to manual…I was surprised by this.

The most challenging bit of trail it has been on so far are the steep chutey switchback berms on the red at Cardinham in Cornwall. It gave me a lot of confidence and grip through those.

I’ve just clicked the button on all the bits for an FF29 build 🙂 I looked at the Scandal and to be honest, would probably have been just as happy with it. But I prefer the sick green to the raw finish and once I’d totalled up all the bits an extra couple of hundred on the frame didn’t seem too much to get it the colour I wanted as well.

I particularly liked the versatility of the FF29. I’m going for more of an XC/trail build; with 120mm Revs, Hope/Arch wheels and a dropper. But it would also work as an XC/Race build with shorter travel or even rigid forks.