I see lots of comments and reviews where they talk about how sweet the bike is and then mark it down on lack of dropper or Sram #X, #X, #X or Shimano Mbrakes. Why does the kit matter so much?

Some ask on here about a specific couple of bikes and then the feedback from ppl seems likely to say, “I wouldn’t go for that because of the kit, or this bike is better based on a few components” But I wonder what difference a few components make to the overall bike?

How important is kit? Do you want a spec sheet of ticked parts? Or a good frame and be prepare to bolt on some of what you want over time? Some I guess say “I paid 3K so want it all…”

People pay 3k for bikes?!

People buy new bikes?

People have bikes?

Bikes?

Must remember never to ask generalised question for fear of ridicule. 😀

OK, so the bike doesn’t come with a dropper – most people will then buy and fit one so that makes it worse value.
Poor brakes – well that is obvious, no point having a bike that goes well that locks up or bounces out of every corner.
Cheap/Heavy group? Well yeah points off especially if the extra weight makes it feel lethatgic.

I’m looking at some bargain bikes at the moment, most have at least 2 serious weak points from – heavy OEM clunky dropper, poor brakes, entry level boat anchor groupset or shit wheels/hubs.

No matter how good the frame is cover it in crap and it will feel worse.

I get what the OP is saying, I also get the counter.

I generally buy the best frame I can get for the budget irrespective of kit, because then I ‘Trigger’s Broom’ all the good running gear over from my existing one. Dropper post if it fits, fork, I like shimano brakes so almost don’t care what comes on the frame originally, and so on. And end up on a new frame with my own kit, a few compromises maybe which can get changed in time and sell on the rest of the componentry or donate to a local bike project depending on value.

The bit I get is that due to bike co’s purchasing power you can generally get more componentry than you’d get for the indiviidual prices so, a good frame with XT is very good value compared to buying a frame and XT groupset individually. But the reality is that there are usually compromises on off the shelf bikes (wheels and tyres!) so why do they matter so much when they’re swappable anyway.

Flipside – ‘the frame is terrible but the build kit was brilliant’ makes no sense.

I’d much rather have a bike that I know will ride better than one that ticks all the boxes spec wise but comes with a sub-standard frame. There are bad value bikes out there, no doubt about it, but I’m definitely not one to buy purely on perceived value. Entry level hardtails is a great example, I’d much rather have a deore mech with a clutch than an XT without one, but as people seem rigged to believe XT is “better” pretty much every manufacturer will spend more money on the mech for very, very little benefit.

The frame is always going the be top, as has been said above, the bike often ends up as a triggers broom over time and use anyway.

Saying that there are bits of kit on bikes that I’d know I’d want to change immediately such as brakes, so I’d always add that to the cost of a new bike, if Incouldnt get the LBS to swap them out.

The bit I get is that due to bike co’s purchasing power you can generally get more componentry than you’d get for the indiviidual prices so, a good frame with XT is very good value compared to buying a frame and XT groupset individually. But the reality is that there are usually compromises on off the shelf bikes (wheels and tyres!) so why do they matter so much when they’re swappable anyway.

I agree with the theory about value buying a full bike but for some strange reason, it hasn’t worked for me so I only put my bikes together as I don’t find it works out more expensive, if anything it’s a bit cheaper and you’ve hand picked every single part so you don’t end up with a garage full of cheapo OE bars, stems, wheels, tyres etc…

I just spec’d my Bird with the components I wanted (within budget). Got a great riding frame with no crap OEM bits I wanted to swap out. Perfect stem length, choice of (Maxxis) tyres, etc. Best of both worlds, I think so 🙂

Nah, it’s all about the frame and forks. If they are right then everything is good.

And if it’s 25% off because it’s in last years colours, even better.

Wheels are the only thing I mildy GAF about, only because they seem to lag substantially behind frame / fork / group quality at any given price point. Some shocking wheelsets on otherwise great mountain bikes – they must not hold much perception of quality for consumers compared with other bike parts.

Then to fully mediocritise the wheels, companies make sure not to spec a tubeless rim. Meaning they have to be swapped out day one, whereas I’ll generally put up with other stuff until it’s worn out.
Think this is changing now – but it’s been rare to get a decent tubeless wheelset on new bikes over the past ten years IME.

I’m kind of in the camp of if it needs lots of bits swapping when you buy it, its probably the wrong bike.

Prime example was I wanted a 22/36 double when i got my 29er, and at the time they were pretty rare, and expensive to buy as aftermarket parts. Ruled out a lot of bikes and helped make choice of what to buy.

And similarly, with a few contenders on the shortlist, the addition of a dropper as standard spec on my Spectral made it a standout choice.

All that assumes that you’ve read reviews and/or been on test rides to rule out bikes that just aren’t very good – certainly wouldn’t buy a poorly rated frame no matter how much nice stuff was hanging off it.

Depends what you mean by kit I guess. Kit as in must have disc brakes, a dropper, xxxmm forks/travel, then fair enough, tools for the job etc, then after that, wanting Mxxxx kit is just getting the best available for your budget, again fair enough.

3k will definitely not get you ‘it all’, there will be compromises somewhere.

As for ‘as long as the frame is fine, nothing else matters’ remind me what happened to the chap with the SC 5010 fitted with £13 carbon bars?

Mehhhh, spend money on suspension, the rest is mostly just weight saving and car park dick swinging.

XTR, carbon bars and a dropper isn’t going to make you faster than Deore and a fixed post. Top end suspension OTOH IME does make a difference.

Unless it’s a stonking bargain I’d buy a frame only every time and build it myself. I’m quite happy with certain cost cutting measures, already have a lot of good bits on other bikes to swap around and would rather spend the money where I personally notice it than on showroom appealing bits or tryign to spread the money thinly over the whole spec (I’d rather have Pike RC3’s and a deore mech than Yaris and XT.

As for ‘as long as the frame is fine, nothing else matters’ remind me what happened to the chap with the SC 5010 fitted with £13 carbon bars?

Never heard of him, did he die of shame?

Equally I’ve never heard of the guy with the 5010 and the £13 aluminium bars, but I suspect he’s less famous.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/broke-my-chinese-carbon-bars-any-recommendations-for-a-replacement

Not many stock bikes fitted with £13 open source (or fake) carbon bars and first thing you do with a bike that has good frame and fork is strip all the shit off it, sell that and replace with decent kit, that meets your requirements.

if you take tubeless out of the equation, it’s more like 20 years since i’ve seen a whole bike with decent wheels at anything other than eyewatering money.
I reckon most of that is down to the traditional buyer of mid/top end bikes (not the superbike buyer) already had 2 or 3 sets of compatible wheels, so doesn’t want to spend an extra £1000 for top end wheels, which aren’t as good as the wheels sat in the workshop at home.

We got some race bikes a few years ago, basically full XTR equipped, everything at that level, except the wheels, entry level DT swiss race wheels (nearly 2 kilos for the bare wheels!) never even used before being swapped and then sold on by the sponsor.

If i was buying a full bike, I would go for good frame, forks and shock. And making sure it was the right colour 🙂 All the other ‘kit’ would slighlty influence my decision but wouldn’t be a deal breaker.

I haven’t bought a complete bike for about seven years, even then it was an Orange that allowed a few spec changes here and there. I think this is another reason companies such as Bird are doing well, aside from the obvious (great frames/ customer service) they allow component changes to be made, making even more financial sense as no ‘inferior’ parts need to be binned immediately.

I know the components I like and if I’m buying a frame would always build it with those parts. Even is it’s hard to justify in performance terms (XT over SLX or Deore) I’ll still stick with a pretty fixed parts list.

But when I bought a 2nd hand Stache and it was all SRAM/Manitou/Richey kit, I didn’t care enough to change it. It also opened my eyes to how good SRAM transmission is nowadays.

Sometimes tho it’s just vanity. I’ve spent far too much money on my ex-demo Mojo3 replacing perfectly good kit. Still it’s left me enough spares for another bike 😉