I’ve been offered a Mondraker Dune frame for a very good price. It’s only a couple of years old. The shock needs a service but other than that it’s fine. I’m having a bit of bother finding a half decent review of it though. Has anyone got any real world experience of them?

Iv got one, it’s a nice frame, light and well balanced suspension works very welll. Don’t think I’d buy again though- bearings a bit light weight, shock shaft in the firing line, and iv seen better build quality.

Did work well in the alps though. But I reckon there’s better stuff out there.

Yes I’ve owned a couple.

I like them a lot. Great suspension and geometry. Lightweight and mildly flexy, so the qr rear ones need a 10mm bolt through axle.

Reports of short bearing life but I must have been lucky.

Riding wise, short TT and long wheelbase. Supple suspension even under braking. Sucks up bumps rather than popping off them. Balanced and stable in air though.

Anything you wanna know?

Interesting to see the rear is significantly beefier on the 2014 ones.

If they have stiffness closer to the summum then they could be bloody awesome.

Sounds good so far.

What forks did you run on yours chakaping? I’ll be stripping my hardtail to build it up which has some old ’06 Marzocchi 66’s on it. The riding I do is pretty varied from quick blasts round trail centres to full day rides out so I need something that can go up as well as it goes down.

Agree, 10mm axle makes a massive difference. Night and day, couldn’t believe difference compared to qr

Got a 55rc3 ti on mine.

Matches the supple rear great.

Where are you in the north? Might be able to give you a demo if you’re a medium.

Thanks for the offer I’m in sunderland. Chances are at 6ft and some change I’ll be needing a large which is what I’ve been offered.

The 10mm axle upgrade shouldn’t be a bother either as I’ve got superstar switch hubs.

I love mine, had it since March and only ridden one of my other bikes once since.

Running a 10mm back axle as others have said here and recently put a pair of X-fusion Slants on the front to lighten it up a bit (had coil Lyrik R’s on it before), dropping over a pound off the weight.

Found the stem it came with was a bit short but soon replaced that.

Not had any trouble with the bearings either.

TBH the only original thing left on it is the frame & rear shock.

One thing to be aware of – if you need a new front mech don’t buy an SRAM one – they don’t fit on the direct mount, as the pivots are spaced too far apart to fit arouund the base of the seattube.

Shimano are fine though.

Chances are at 6ft and some change I’ll be needing a large which is what I’ve been offered.

Without a doubt, the TT is a bit short on them.

This makes it not the best bike for long days out covering lots of miles btw, not enough room to stretch out and breathe. I once took it on a group ride with a more XC-slanted crowd, won’t be doing that again.

One other thing to mention, mine pedalled like utter pap uphill, until I had the medium volume spacer added to the rear shock (2012 RP23 HV). Now it rides great and offers much more support all the time.

Drop me a line if you need a front mech, might be one in the spares box as I remember ending up with three when I was building mine.

I’ll bear the shock upgrade in mind if I get it. Shock needs a service anyway so can be done then. Thanks for the offer of the mech as well. Quick question though, what size is seatpost do they take? Current models take a 31.6 but I can’t find much for earlier ones. Could be a deal breaker as I have a Lev which is 31.6 and don’t want to fork out more for another dropper.

A mate may have thrown a rather large spanner in the works as well, he’s offered me his 2011 Spesh Enduro frame with what seems like everything but forks for not much more than the Dune would cost all in.

Always 31.6mm seatpost.

How cheap is cheap for the dune frame? They don’t fetch that high a price with the qr rear.

Cheap is £300 plus the however much a Fox shock service is (never had a full suss so have no idea).

Enduro would be £600 but it would leave me with loads of spare stuff which is always nice.

Good price for the dune but I’d also be leaning toward the spesh.

Always fancied one of them.

Check the alignment of the back end carefully have come across a few that are twisted. (more than you would expect anyway) generally older frames of about the age the OP is refering to

Update on this. The frame is actually a warranty replacement he had so it’s a Dune RR frame, he used the QR rear triangle on it but he also has a new unused 135×12 bolt through rear triangle as well to throw in along with a Hope headset and front mech.

Should be getting it tomorrow. Would have liked to have gone for the Enduro but it’s too far out of budget.