I’m trying to build up a decent bike for my partner on the cheap. We’ve blown the bulk of the budget on a Scandal frame/fork/wheelset package reasoning that we can compromise on the rest of the kit which can then be replaced with something better when it wears out and our cash reserves are replenished.

The Woolyhat shop have a complete 2011 Alivio drivetrain for £130. Normally I wouldn’t think about anything less than Deore, but the 2011 Alivio kit is fully 9 speed and seems to be positioning itself at the entry level, serious kit position that Deore used to represent; money saved on the drivetrain can go on the brakes.

Considering that budget Shimano kit still seems to perform alarmingly well does anyone have any thoughts about this or personal experience of the kit? I’d be interested to hear.

At that price it is a steal. And the best bit about it being 9 speed is you can upgrade it easily as it wears out.

for an extra £30 you could get 2011 10 speed SLX gruppo:

http://www.actionsports.de/de/Komponenten/Komplettgruppen/Shimano-SLX-660-10-Komplettgruppe-3×10-fach::28904.html

for £300 you can get a full Deore drivetrain and Deore m595 dics brakes from merlin. My bro bought the inbred rolling chassis like your scandal and put this kit on it, had a ride at the weekend and it was pretty tasty, nice bike for £700, pretty well kitted out.

I know its a bit more but for decent disc brakes you’d be spend £120 upwards

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/MTB++Parts/Transmission++Gears/Groupsets+-+MTB/list.htm