It seems the sky’s the limit when it comes to paying hard-earned cash for a suss frame, but what’s the most you have – or would – drop on a classic hardtail frame? And why?

£1100, 456Ti.

Bought in 2009 and still riding it.

3k was the retail. I got it slightly cheaper. Titanium.

I spent about £2750 on a Kingdom Brigante 650b build.
I really wanted a light Ti trail hardtail and Chris at Kingdom is a lovely chap, so why not.
I’d probably spend up to about £4,000 (if I had that kind of money) if the right bike came along. Canfield Bros Epo or Stooge Ti.

£800 on an original Ti Inbred 11/12 years ago – I still ride it now as my main bike so it was great value for money. The wife didn’t think so at the time though!

I paid £80 for my (26″, steel, second hand) 2011 Sunn Tzar about a year ago, which was a Billy Bargain as far as I’m concerned. I’d pay £300-odd for a new Onza Jackpot (650B) if I could afford to buy all the new standardy bits I’d need to go with it (wheels, forks, BB etc…) but I can’t, so I won’t. Shame, cos it was nice to ride at the NEC.

I just spent £500ish on a Chromag Rootdown. Good quality Taiwanese built steel frame. The Canadian versions built by Chris Dekerf are proper spendy though.

£200 is the most i’ve paid so far, for my current Parkwood frame. Got an Inbred for £100, and £170 for a Rock Lobster 853 on sale in 2005.

Would spend more perhaps but i’ve got a fun, reasonably light and capable frame, so i’m happy.

The Canadian versions built by Chris Dekerf are proper spendy though.

I can believe that.

Come to think of it, I’m not sure where my (previously owned) Brodie Holeshot was built.

Most I’ve paid so far is around £140 I think for my Barry White Inbred.

I’d probably pay up to £500 for something really special that I was going to custom build. Can’t see it ever happening though.

£1,100 for a custom Ti hardtail (one in, one on the way). I guess I might pay slightly more if there was some specific spend option I wanted but that seems to get mist things sorted.

Yeah £500 tops for me too, and it’d have to be damn fine steel or carbon.

Most I’ve actually ever spent was £400 on a c456 IIRC. Bike got nicked but I’m still using the Oury grips it was bundled with on my Patriot, so the memory lives on.

£300 for a ’96 Zaskar LE frameset in 1996. Still got it in the trophy cabinet garage.

£699 for Privee Shan.

It broke…

Depends what it offers really, it’s a value question rather than absolutes. I’d say about £500 for a good TW-made steel frame but it could go a fair bit higher – my TW-made steel Jones F+F was £1200. It’s great VFM imo but only since it does something nothing else does and I appreciate what goes into making something like that.

Carbon or Ti could be a lot more but I’m more likely to go for good steel, for HT MTBs anyway (for my own riding rather than any generalisation).

The most I have spent is £150 ish on a Ragley MmmBop when CRC when flogging them cheap a few years ago. I can’t see myself ever building my own hardtail again unless it was a custom-made frame, in which case I’d pay whatever the market price was…assuming it doesn’t go above 3 figures 🙂

If money was no object however…

£2000.
Based on the colour.
Because I’m a **** idiot…

For production, I think I’m pretty close to my limit with the 2 souls Quarterhorse.

I’d go higher for custom though.

£1500 in 1998 for a Kona Hei Hei which I’m still using as my main bike, so awesome value for money. It had sat in the window of the LBS like the Wayne’s World guitar just waiting for me to get promoted at work (still had to eat a lot of beans for the rest of the month though).

£1000 On-One Ti29er. Still riding it as my main bike, 7 years on.

~£1k on my CoticSoda. It’s 10th birthday is in Jan ’16. It’s been by far the best value frame I’ve bought, both in smiles and miles.

erm, my rigid ti frame cost loads. and i had to do the whole customs thing to get it to the uk. courier needed almost £700 in import duty before handing me the box.

I’m not rich by any stretch of the imagination but this once in a life time purchase thought thats still making me smile… the best thing i ever did.

£1500 in 1998

in 1998??!! 😯

£1500 in 1998

in 1998??!!

No kids, no house, secure job, minimal brain cells (still the best thing I’ve ever bought).

It seems the Ti “Bike for life” hardtail buyers are doing alright in here then 🙂

£100-150 a year seems the average so far.

Scienceofficer – Member
For production, I think I’m pretty close to my limit with the 2 souls Quarterhorse.

This. Paid £600 for a 2nd hand 2Souls QH. Made me question my sanity at the time but the reviews on here (incl the above Scienceofficer – thanks for that!) swayed me. Grrrrreat bike, immensely capable, custom drawn (by frame size) 853 tubing and fairly radical geometry. Love it!

Other than that, paid £395 for a Sanderson Life frame a couple of years ago. Might go higher for Ti, but certainly would go into 4 figures for something custom (being a gangly 6’4″ I sometimes think that I could use something measured for me), but recent bike expenditure, coupled with imminent arrival of funkrodent junior, means that won’t be for some time… 😐

Probably would scrounge the money for whatever PP or Stanton make, but not Ti! So, say £500 new?

£450 I think for a second hand Ti Voodoo D-Jab. It was fun, but the wheels were too small.
When I get a suitable windfall, I’ll be off to see Mr Travers like a shot and spank £1k or so on an Angus.

Heh! I’d like to say sorry about that, but I’m not so I can’t.

Candodavid of this parish is my riding buddy and the owner of that[/I] Curtis 29er. I’d certainly pony up for one of those.

£1327 on an open o-1.1 and it was reduced

I just did the inflation calculation and in 1994 the frame cost 3000 but in todays money thats 5460 … Eeeek.

But then that’s 260 quid a year, I rode it 4 times a week in most of that time, so it cost about 1.25 per ride, bargain.

£275 for my TI 456 on eBay. If I can still get the parts for it in years to come then hopefully it’ll be the last hardtail I buy. I think an aging body might be the thing that stops me riding it.

I’m glad I didn’t pay for my Niner. It’s an awesome bike, but I’ve abused it somewhat (many, many crashes) and it’s looking pretty battered after just 6 months 😯 . If I’d dropped £2000 on the frame I’d be gutted.
If I was paying, I think £1000 would be the limit.

£900 ish for a custom Curtis 10 years ago in spring, probably good value considering how much I rode it for 6 or 7 years, found the order form a few weeks ago and remembered I’d had it built so a 650b rear wheel would fit (paragon drop outs well forward for a 26 and right back for 27.5), really mush get a fork and wheelset and get it built up again.

£699 for Privee Shan.

It broke…

😯

Warranty?

Whatever is was for a brand new Dialled Alpine when they were first released. Lovely bike but I bought the 15.5 rather than 17″. A decision I regretted.

Just spent £150 on an Orange P7 which I’m really excited about.

I think I paid just over £400 for a Cotic BFe quite a few years ago, that was when they used to make about ten a year though. It was the only hardtail I could find with the geometry I wanted. There’s alot more of them about now though.

I’d definitely pay £500 for one of those Chromags; they look great!

2.5k for a custom built ti frame. I don’t think they have made any money out of me though as I am now on my 3rd frame from them under warranty!

Only bought 2 new hardtails frame only.

An 03 Azonic DS Evo £350

13 Chameleon, £349.99, reduced from £600

So yeah, £350

£599 for my s-works m4 HT in April 2000, part funded by an insurance payout on my stolen Rockhopper, still have the frame now, built up with (nice) spares and used for commuting to work and occasionally by MrsMomo if we go out on a nice day.

It was ‘retired’ form my main bike 5 years ago but was my only bike for 10 years and covered 1000s of miles in that time, the only original parts left are the seatpost and x-lite g-force handlebars