I’m getting a bit closer to buying a mountain bike. It’ll be used on longer rides, and maybe some bike-packing, in the North of Scotland – probably around Aviemore initially, and on rides I’ve heard about such as Ryvoan Bothy, and the Burma Road. Hopefully I’ll eventually work up to riding some sections of the HT550, including the bits on the West Highland Way between Tyndrum and Ft. Augustus.

I’ll probably go for a singlespeed – mainly because of the reduced faff.

Around the £500-£700 mark there are a few options:
Kona Unit
Cannondale Trail SS
Swobo Mutineer
There’s also the Charge Cooker, but I ruled that out because of some comments I’d read…

If I add gears into the mix, there’s the Pinnacle Raimin, and then adding front suspension flags up the Voodoo Bizango.

However, I’m still tempted by the SS.

Is there an easy choice from that lot? I was initially thinking of the Cannondale because it’ll be pretty light, and maybe comfy-ish with the shaped stays and forks. However, the Unit has now caught my attention – I’ve not seen one, but the purple looks to be okay, and it has sliding drop-outs and BB7 brakes which might work better than those on the Cannondale.

Over time I’d upgrade a few components – probably look at fitting Jones Loop bars if possible (not sure if they’d work with ‘standard’ ie non-Jones geometry) and a carbon fork.

I’m also curious about any benefits in spending a bit more…

It seems that I’d then get into the realm of framesets such as:

Stooge
Singular Swift

Then there’s the off-the peg Salsa El Mariachi SS (overpriced?) and a Surly or two – including the Krampus. However, I’m not sure I’d commit to spending that much unless the cheaper bikes have obvious flaws.

Anyway, I’m just looking for experiences/opinions.

Thanks!

I’ve an El-mariachi, I wouldn’t say it was too badly over priced, but can you even get them in the UK anymore? Money’s in the right places, great frame, very user friendly dropouts, stans rims, decent brakes.

I’ve also had a swift, very similar ride, not as stiff (a good and a bad thing).

The Cannondale will be least comfortable with that huge alloy fork.

From that list it’d be the Kona, not ridden one but I still want one!

Yes, the Kona has been growing on me. I think it might be a good option – not too expensive, but it should be a decent ride with upgrade potential.

I read that the Cannondale’s forks are actually comfier than you would expect.

I have a Kona Jake The Snake with those P-series forks, and I always think they’re a bit heavy and dead. However the Unit’s might be of different construction. As I say, I’d be open to splashing out on a decent carbon fork if I liked the bike.

Not sure how an El Mariachi qualifies as over priced (no irony intended as I genuinely don’t know enough about the other bikes) but I can say it a great ride & fast. My only criticism of it would be its heavy but I upgraded to a carbon fork and made a massive difference.

Charlie The Bikemonger has the Salsa El Mariachi SS listed, but the 2015 model is £1500.

I’ve got a rigid scandal that I love – it was SS, I’ve now added gears due to problems with my knees

my mate has a cannondale SS and I must admit, it’s a very nice bike. Brakes are a bit crappy but it’s a nicer bike than the scandal, more *purposeful* for want of as better word

having said that he used his pinnacle ramin one for the HT550

I’m still riding my 9 year old Unit…it’s like trigger broom 😆
The Cannondale fork is VERY stiff and cuts down choice on replacing it as it’s longer than a standard rigid fork.
There is a 2014 unit on the classifieds now….

The bizango has been bike of the year and can be run geared or SS.

You seem to be listing bikes from 600 to 1600 with and without gears and preferably in a nice colour.

Any of them will be fine, all of them will be missing something that one of the others has.

Oh and the charge is a very popular choice, presumably one person has had a problem with it and shouted, in which case all bikes are rubbish.

Got a lovely On One Inbred 29er (18″) in the nice coffee colour with black salsa Cromato forks, handbuilt Hope hubs on Crest rims, Jones loop bars, SLX chainset, oval chain ring, variety of SS cogs (Surly) etc nearly new. Great bike but I’m not really using it. The frame can run gears too. Just built up late last year and ridden a handful of times. Email in profile if interested and I’ll do some pics.

Have a look for a P7 with sliding dropouts… I can switch from SS to geared without changing frames.

I have the cannondale with a set of Jones Loops on it. I love it as an alternative to my other mountain bike which is a full suspension 26″. I know it’s not the question you’re asking but as an only bike I’d definitely get a bike with suspension forks. On certain trails, mostly where horses have been in the wet, and it’s subsequently dried up, you get shaken to bits, gets boring very quickly.

The magura brakes on it are excellent, better than my XT’s. You can put the hanger from the geared trail hardtail on it and run it with gears, mine is currently set up 1×10 with an expander cog. The forks will take a massive front tyre, pretty sure you could run it 29+ which I’d like to try one day. At the moment I have a Chunky Monkey 2.4″ at 18psi. The wheels are great quality.

The 2015 model is on sale in Evans at the moment, I love mine, the EBB does creak a bit but I haven’t greased it for a while.

I nearly brought a Unit, had an older 26″ version and it was brilliant and comfy, especially with a carbon post and some Pace RC31’s.

Managed to pick up an El Mariachi frame, which I’m building up at the mo, it’s mostly going to be Singlespeed. Building up an Alfine8 to give a swap in/out geared option.

Price wise the Unit look’s hard to beat and comfy over longer rides.

i had a ’13 unit and loved it. managed to shop around and got it for £650 iirc. frame has clearance for bigger 29er tyres as well. the only thing that i didn’t like was the ‘mud shelf’ created by the chain stays behind the bb shell but other than that a great fun bike to hammer.

i sold it after a year as it was always second in my ‘which bike today competition’ against the 10 speed jones but i still do miss it…

I’ve a SS Scandal 29er (large) with Crest wheels – I’ve just resigned myself to the need to sell it due to lack of use if you are in any way interested?

It was great on the South Downs hills, but around here (Northamptonshire) it doesn’t make so much sense.

I’ve got a 2015 Kona Unit, it rides really nicely. I usually run Reba’s up front but do swap back to the rigid forks now and again.

Not really ridden it much this year to be honest, should really take it for a ride or move it on…

I loved my 2012 Kona Unit. Had the nice top end dedaccia SAT 14.5 steel. Bought it used off here for £380 with On One Carbon rigid forks.

Since it was stolen I’ve ridden a 26er Genesis ioid SS. The geometry is very similar, the bouncy front forks help my wrists on longer rides and the steering is a little faster.

If you want a 29er SS, you really can’t go wrong with the Unit. It was my first proper MTB.

You have a good but varied list their. Unless your strong as a ox consider a bike that will do gears and SS. With a rigid I would want space for big tyres. Second hand would probably get you a better bike around your budget. The new Trek stache 5 is not out yet, over budget but well worth a look. 650B + bikes coming out may suit. Good luck with your search and let us know what you get.

Looking at your likely choices of riding, maybe consider a lighter bike because there will be some hike-a-bike involved.

From personal experience the Singular Swift is an excellent bike, and you can run it geared if you wish.

For lightness it is hard to beat a Scandal – it’s the lightest non carbon frame I’ve weighed and they handle nicely rigid with the On-One carbon fork, but you can’t buy new any more.

Consider buying a quality singlespeed secondhand within your new bike price range. There’s bugger all to go wrong with them (it can all be fixed cheaply), and you will lose less on resale.

Go speak to David at Bothy Bikes in Aviemore – he’ll see you right as he’s a) into big wheels and SS and b) a right nice chap.

[blatentplug]cough[/blatentplug]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/uN9GM5]Pekka’s Bahookie rigid singlespeed[/url] by Shand, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/rAuHLi]Colin’s Bahookie singlespeed[/url] by Shand, on Flickr

Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Yes, I know David at Bothy Bikes, and would like to buy from him if possible. I haven’t been down there for ages, but he kept advising me to buy a Jones, and I have to agree that it did feel like it was made for me. However, I’m not a mountain biker..yet…), and I’m scared off by how much it would cost, even for the cheapest build.

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions. I’ll look into them.

Those two Shands look superb. I must say that I haven’t liked some aspects of Shands I’ve seen in other photos, but everything really gels on those two.