I want to build a cheap but cheerful 29er XC hardtail to use instead of my gravel bike.
I don’t want anything crazy and the “dated” XC geometry is perfectly fine. So that’s 69-70mm head angle and a 100mm fork. I want a thru axle and two bottle cage mounts. Clearance for 2.35s if possible. 29er only. It would be nice if I could use that ancient piece of technology called the front derailleur. 😀
I looked around and I can either find high end carbon stuff or really low end aluminium frames. I considered the Chiner Ali/Ebay route but I live in Hungary and since the frames come from outside the EU the import taxes would completely kill the price. My budget is around 250 pounds.
Basically something like these two would be perfect:
https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/cube-reaction-hpa-sl-29-side-swing-frame-black-n-blue-692540
https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/cube-reaction-gtc-pro-29-side-swing-frame-grey-n-flashyellow-711752
I’m suspecting these are one time deals and they don’t have my size which should be around 21″. The aluminium frame is available in a 19″ but I think that top tube would be too short.
Any ideas? Should I just look for used frames?