Looking for rigid 29ers for a robust commuter.

Kona Unit, but a fair bit more expensive.

Big brother and Nordest do nice rigid 29’s, surly too. Genesis longtitude (not sure if they sell complete or frame only). Genesis Tarn second hand (they’ve stopped doing them with rigid front fork).

Flat barred escapade as a left field option (not technically a mountain bike I know).

Frontier is a great value package so not sure you’ll get much to compete with that.

quite like my On-One Bootzipper. Wasnt exactly what i was after as i ended up needing new wheels cause of fffffflippin Boost hub spacing, but when i picked mine up it was sub £300 frame and fork, and you cant argue with that

It used to be the Pinnacle Ramin, especially when they sold off the frames retained for warranty swaps.

Looks to have disappeared though….

what about something at burly end of the gravel bike spectrum?

I just picked up a saracen Levarg flat bar ex deisplay. has all the right parts for fairly cheap.
my only criticism is the wheels must be machined from billet steel or something…
HTat’s 650b from factory but can run 700

Really like my rigid longitude. Old school specs so qr both ends and non boost, straight steerer etc. Rides lovely on the 650b+ tyres. Looking for some second hand 29er wheels for it for summer use on the campervan rack as a do it all cruiser. I’d buy one again easily. Got a really good deal on mine new from a bike shop on eBay a few yrs ago.

Stooge.

Buy a secondhand 29er XC bike and fit a rigid fork?
Just a thought.

Hardtail and rigid fork is what lots have done, including me. In fact I had two rigid bikes at one point, Salsa El Mariachi with a Fargo fork and Solaris with a Travers Prong fork. Still have the latter

Surly Bridge Club sounds like it might tick the boxes required. Not ridden one but seems to be marketed as tough road and rough track tourer for 700c or 650b tyres of various widths.

Whatever is comfortable to ride and you’d like to ride is probably a more cryptic but also correct answer as you want a bike that you want to ride every day rather than saying actually this or that isn’t right so I’ll just take the car. Fairy lights and streamers are great if it makes you happy and want to ride (sort of joking but doll carrier changed the want to ride for a 7 year old so why not?)

Breezer Thunder

https://bikepacking.com/news/breezer-thunder/

€1332 https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/breezer-thunder-rigid-1018124

Konda Unit is a good shout, I have a Pipedream A.L.I.C.E which would tick those boxes too.

Am I missing something by saying just buy the frontier? Or is there something you don’t like about it?

I bought the frameset that I am building up for a commuter as it has mudguard mounts and boost spacing so I can swap parts between it and my MTB if need be and meant I could upgrade the MTB and hand parts down to it.

Calibre Stitch?

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15905565/calibre-stitch-urban-bike-15905565/?istCompanyId=c2ec8a5d-93c1-4850-a97a-f4d89d7c99c8&istFeedId=2755fba0-7dfe-46a9-bfd0-09b37aed8b93&istItemId=wapipipwr&istBid=t&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0fr_BRDaARIsAABw4Eviizif1cqvAcNoIQGhh52seDACmYqPNHVCSGgW5qVaWeiTa0D_9DYaAqzbEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I was looking for a friends son.

Thanks for all the posts, they have gone with a Whyte Hybrid from the LBS 🙂