New mountain bike frame buying dilemma

I have been riding for a few years on xc trails as well as the main trails around Cannock chase. I have currently got 26″ bikes but I had the pleasure of riding a whyte 29 c-team on a demo run. I’m convinced I want a 29er and pretty sure I want to build it from the frame. I have been looking at the ragley bigwig and the on one lurcher carbon, any suggestions to help me out on what to buy?

You’ve mentioned two hardtails. But what you really need is a 100mm Tallboy. Preferably a used, alloy, clear coated one in large. Preferably mine, so that after a few drinks I can finally press the buy button on a carbon one. Seriously though, you won’t regret it.

Got a picture of it?

If you liked the Whyte then surely that’s what you should get. Or at least test some others. I don’t think it’s safe to assume that, just because you liked one 29er, you’ll like all 29ers.

The whyte I had a demo on is £3500-4000 that’s outta my price reach, but my style of riding suited the 29er and I just couldn’t see any drawbacks with a 29er

[/quote]Caspian
Have you got a picture of it?

Here you go. I cleaned it especially

Looks ace with the kashima, how much would you sell it for? I am not making an offer I’m just curious

Frame only you mean? Probably 950ish for cash & collection from Winchester, Hants. Where are you anyway? It wouldn’t hurt for you to ride it built up before making a decision.

New: GBP 1,749
http://shop.18bikes.co.uk/products.php?plid=m5b0s425p1769

Or ebay from Poland: GBP 1,250
Item 321095519072

Let me know if you find cheaper. Same goes for carbon as I’m not too keen on paying full whack for new

Do you know of any bikes that would suit me?

Planet-X Dirty Harry
Cotic Solaris
Pace RC129
Niner Air 9
Yeti Big Top
Santa Cruz Highball

Ibis Ripley 🙂

Thanks I have my heart set on a 29er, what frame would be best to build up?

what frame would be best to build up?

any of them. It’s hard to buy a bad bike, the aim is to get a good bike for you.

what’s your budget and what kind of riding do you want to do? if the answer to that is ‘everything’, what kind of riding will you mostly be doing?

Budget is around 2-2.5 thousand (realisticly 2 at most) , the cheapest option appears to be to buy a frame and get good components from last year. I ride a lot of xc so I want a good climbing bike but I enjoy trails and descending. I ride lots at Cannock chase and hanchurch.

+1 for ibis Ripley. Beautiful looking

no a built bike will usually be cheaper (or better, for the same money)

Any 29er hardtail suggestions?

for a built XC HT at £2k, there are gazillions at that or less and you can get a nice bike for that dosh

try more Whytes then trawl the bike shops for the big brands (Spesh Trek Scott Giant)

self build: I like the look of Kinesis FF29 at the moment, and Niner Sir9 or MCR9 is nice too

Thanks I’ll look into what you said

if you ride at Hanchurch, then your local to Goldtec. nip in there and see Kev, he had loads of 29’rs in and can definalty help you out.

here is the web site with the address on

Home

Yet to see any prices but I’d be looking at the new ibis ripley. If its anything like the mini reviews on demo days it’ll make an amazing bike!

I have a bike shop 5 mins from my house, velo-m (www.velo-m.co.uk) some would rather support them. I’m now looking at a ragley bigwig

I thought about this again: you don’t really know what you want, and you want to self build? Whatever you buy won’t be spot on because you don’t know what you want until you start riding.

Buy a cheap second hand frame from here (I’d say a steel hardtail for first go), build it, ride it, and you’ll soon have a better idea of what you really want. Don’t overpay on frame/parts, and they’ll hold most of their value if you decide to turn them over.

People on here will help you if you’re stuck. If you self build you’ll sever the chain with the bike shop: use them when you want to not because you have to. And (eventually … but the journey will be fun) you’ll get just the bike you want.

ripley is priced at about £2650 for frame only..

@op sorry you’ve been riding a while, I’m getting my threads a bit mixed up.

(IMO Ripley = brand new & bleeding edge, let someone else take that pain)

Kinesis FF29 without a doubt, here’s mine.

Build able to this spec for way under £2k

What about this if its the right size;

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-cotic-solaris-full-build-may-split

Thanks for the suggestions I have spoke to the local shop and a bigwig is seeming inevitable

Solaris. . For everything apart from xc racing. .

Hhhhmmmmm