Hi, looking for a new training frame that doesnt cost the earth! Have seen the triple butted xc frame for £100 and was wondering if anybody has one or what they think of them? Any long termers comments would be much appreciated thanks.

I absolutely loved mine, thought it was a real bargain, its only painted so the finish isnt mega durable, but OK.

I gave it to my mate and he created a monster. (I scrounged him some RS forks and made him take one of the mudgaurds off after I saw this!)

aaaaaargh, my eyes!

I bought the £80 frame to build a 'do-everything' bike for my wife. I was very impressed – seemed well made and attractive (if you like the decals). It felt pretty light to me too. Personally, I think for £100 you can't go wrong. Might want to get another gear hanger for £10 as well though.

oh my god ….. what the f are those forks !!!!!

I bought the wife a brand new Carrera frame of the bay for £45 for the wife bike (lasted 3 weeks and stolen) that had some really nice features on it too, bit heavier than the DJ though… Might be worth a look see if any more are about though..

Ha ha, so you like them forks…

Skyliner, I've got an 18" f-creme complete with deore crankset for sale if you're interested, the crankset is with it because i can't get the chainring side off, probably someone with a little more perseverance will be able to do it. I can send you a picture over the weekend if you're interested………oh, it's in black

i forgot, and it's got a pretty servicable cane creek headset in it as well, say, £120 for the lot, plus p&p

I built my son a Dirty Jo Semi Creme up, I did think it was very good VFM.
He mullered it and it still looks good.

I've had the basic XC7000 frame (don't think it's the triple butted one) from CRC (Brand X – same frame, without the somewhat intersting stickers) and it's superb. There are loads of positive reviews on CRC for them as well. Wife has the shorter jump bike for her regular bike and that's a nice frame too. They appear to have some quite nice looking paint finishes now at CRC – the blue looks good. Sure, it's no boutique make, but it really does cut the mustard for the money.

Mine was set up singlespeed with a tensioner, and it's now in the process of being winter-biked with some rigid forks, mudguards, 3×9 gears and slicks from the parts bin at home.

I don't think you'd go far wrong with it.

Lovin the bike pics Tinsy (especially the 1st one). Its difficult to find many pics on the net. Seems to me this frame is great VFM so far. Didnt realise that the brand x at CRC were the same, but in a kind of funky way prefer the Dirty Jo graphics. Thanks for the offer 'toomanybikes' but def want a new one. Looking to build her rigid with 3×9 so in the hope of it ending up around 24lbs ish without spending too much. I think I'm gonna order one. Now how do I get the credit card out of my Wife's purse!!!!

Skyliner, no problem. You will find they build up quite light, my son, his was the 18" frame, has now got a 20" semi-creme in 3×9, it is surprising light and good looking, the bike that is!!

The before pic is nice, the after pic looks like someone bolted some coffee table legs on 😉

I looked at dirty jos a while bak. Look great value…

skyliner, I had to ditch the forks in the pic, as they were too short and brought a new meaning to the word RIGID, put 440mm RC31's on it and it was lovely.

ps yep its the same as the CRC frame. And yes quite light sub 4lb for 18" not mega light but not bad for the money.

Cheers, looking to put the following on – Bonty Switchblade (100mm corrected) forks, Crossrides, everything Deore (27sp and hydraulics) and FSA finishing kit. I've got to stick to this build cos as you know its very tempting to start adding XT, hope etc etc from the parts bin!! Must stay strong and resist the temptation!

The Semi Creme came up pretty light without trying. The only qwerky thing is that it has disc mounts, but the routing is for cable only not hoses which is obviously a throw back to it's v brake only origins.

Let us know how you get on whatever you buy.

I've just ordered one! Managed to swipe the credit card when the missus was watching loose women or something!! Good shout about the hose guides. I'll post some pics if anyones interested when built and pass on my first impressions! Thanks to all!

The bonty forks will be the right length, post a pic when its built up.