What's the most you have – or would – ever spend on a hardtail frame?

£495 for a pace rc127 and the same for the RC129’s it’s enough of a bike for me. Spent £949 on my Niner RLT frame for cross, hardly ridden it this year. I spend what ever I need to get what I would like, no hard and fast rules.

I’ve never built a hardtail frame on it’s own, but as a one bike type, there’s a point that comes up fairly soon where you start to think I could get a decent full suss for the same money.

At the moment that point is about £350 on a frame only, I’d love a switchback, but you’re looking at a total (new parts) build of about £1500, which would get you a decent trance or canyon, and that would always be in the back of my mind. Especially in the summer when the trails are dry and bumpy.

About £1800 for a Merlin XLM in 1993 oh and there was a Seven Axiom about £2000 in 2003 but that’s a road bike so does it count?? 😉

£1500 for a Cannondale that is still going strongish. If I had the money one of the new carbon ones with a Lefty would be in my man-cave like a shot.

Max was £1300 for a Cannondale F3000SL, which was half price ex demo.

spent about £600 on a ti hardtail frame before.

generally I dont’ buy bew bikes though.

Latest frame (Chromag Rootdown) is my most expensive hardtail to date at just under £500ish quid.

I think I would happily spend double maybe more that for either the candian built Chromag Surface or something similar with Geo tweaks and custom finish.

£400 on my 2003 S-Works M5 HT from CRC, reduced from £700. I’d always hankered after one and that was too much to resist. Still have it, the handling is almost telepathic.

Would definitely go well into 4 figures for something I really wanted, not found it yet though.

I think I paid £475 for my Ragley Ti, on ebay. Bargain tbh, never regretted that for a second. I’d wasted a load of time and money buying and selling and building less good frames. Just took a while to find one. The feller had a best offer on the ad, I didn’t even bother- SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY 😆

£350 for a brand new FF29 frame last year. Plus the thick end of £2K in bits to build it into a light & strong MTB orienteering race bike.

£0.7k (less painful if we shift the decimal point). 🙂

SIR.9
Many have come & gone, but the that’s a keeper.

Now rocking plus tyres.

SIR.9+ if you like.

Untitled by pten2106[/url], on Flickr

£900 for a nearly near Pronghorn 29er HT. Although MTB’s are incredible value compared to top end road bikes (£6K frame and forks in this months “Cyclist” magazine).

2.2k back in 06 on a dekerf TI implant. Worst money I spent finish was beyond poor had to get the seat tube reemed out due to poor finish and the bottom bracket was finished of down to 63mm. Once sorted rode great but very tarnished purchase by the end could wait to sell it on.

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

No need to apologise (not that you were going to anyway 😉 ), it’s a great bike and a great buying decision. Certainly scratched my n+1 itch for the foreseeable..

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

I hate to think how much moneys worth of broken Ti frames i’ve had. 😐

I won’t be going down that route again any time soon.

well both of my ti frames are still being ridden, but I’ve never believed in cheap ti

but I’ve never believed in cheap ti

Yep them Merlin’s and Blacksheeps I’m talking about sure are cheap. 🙄

Could it be that.

my ti frames are still being ridden minced

😉

andylaightscat – Member

I’ve never believed in cheap ti

Mine’s a lynskey. And that’s a bit worrying. But when it cracks, I’ll get enigma to weld it back together.

I can’t quite remember the price exactly, but I treated myself to a 20th Anniversary Marin Team Titanium frame back in 2007 as a wedding/30th birthday present. It was somewhere around £1,500. It’s been and still is a fantastic bike *touches wood!*

It was around £1100.

£1200 for a Ti frame to fit 26″ wheels about a year ago.

I’ve never built a hardtail frame on it’s own, but as a one bike type, there’s a point that comes up fairly soon where you start to think I could get a decent full suss for the same money.

Yeah, that’s sort of where I’m going with this. Where does one outweigh the other? Or is it irrelevant?

I suppose what started this was looking at road bike frames, and how it seems very easy to splurge £1500 on a steel road frame, and a lot more on something carbon. I was wondering whether we have a similar thing here on this side of the fence / dry stone wall / treeline / mountain pass etc. etc.

£0.7k (less painful if we shift the decimal point).

😆

£1200 for my Ti Stooge …..money well spent

If I had the money, which I don’t, Id happily buy a Pivot LES

£895 for an Airbourne Lucky Strike ti frame.
It snapped, I got a warranty replacement & promptly sold it for much less.

@PJ I suppose it depends on why you’re buying a hardtail, for me it’s the price first, simplicity second HT ride feel a distant third. For others you could build a stinking light HT race bike for £2k, a full suss would be a lot more and maybe not as efficient (maybe)

With road bikes, there’s only really two different things you’re looking for, race bikes and not race bikes, the more you pay the lighter/better features you get there’s not really the full suss/HT argument to have with yourself.

£700 in 1998 on an Airborne Lucky Strike. Spent another £85 on it in 2006, having a disc mount welded on. Running at £46 per annum (so far) for a comfy but strong ti frame; happy boy. :-). They can bury it beside me when I die.

Cove Hummer in 2007, local shop gave me it for £1200 rrp was £1400, still ride it almost everyday, starting to feel dated now, everything seems to have changed standards and specs.

Just bought a Privee Shan 27.5 – £729

Previous to that, C456 – £399

I paid £120 for a Tange Prestige fillet brazed framed full bike in 1995 (2nd hand). Now, there’s Triggers brush & there’s my bike. The only 2 original tubes on it are the right hand side seat & chainstay. Probably cost me £300 since I 1st got it, including all paintwork.
Still got it.

Mk 8 by jimmyg352[/url], on Flickr

Don’t think I could spend more than maybe £600 on a new HT frame.

There is no limit for me as i have decided i will never bother with a do it all bouncer. Ill get a proper, proper DH bike one day. With that in mind i’d have a Canadian built Chromag. I’d go on holiday to measure it up, that kind of thing.

Thousands.

You are all responsible for adding another one hundred pound rose tinted mark-up to old-skool steel frames, shame on you all.

I’d pay four grand coz I was dropped on my head many times when I was a wean and love the feel of my bones being liquidised on rocky descents! Long chainstays, steep head angles, canti brakes, rigid forks and bar ends all the way man.

I bought a Wicked! Fat Chance in 1994 when I was 16. From memory it was about £850 and I was paying it off by working in the LBS from whence it came. Sadly (?!) it closed down a few months later and I’d only ‘paid’ back about £350s worth..

I wish Marin’s new steel HT came in frame only – it looks lovely!

£150 is the most I’ve ever spent.

You’re kind of an idiot if you’ve ever spent more than £300 on a hardtail frame.

I’ve just bought a £2200 hardtail… and adding enough upgrades to call it £2.5k when I’m done.

Spent £400 on a frame only previously.

£699 for a Bontrager Race OR back in ’97. Then another £399 for the modified crown Rockshox Judy’s. Still using the frame so money well spent 🙂
I’m still not so sure about the forks though. They were ebayed for about £40 years ago…

Most ?
– was probably £1100 on a ‘discounted’ Scott Scale Premium frame – was meant to be £1700 apparently.
’tis a thing of beauty though. Matt black carbon.

You’re kind of an idiot if you’ve ever spent more than £300 on a hardtail frame.

£300? You could buy a car for that.

599. Pp shan. Mmmm best hardtail i have ridden.

I’ve bought new from Ragley and On-One so around the £200-350 mark so far.

But having spent all year so far on a HT while I slooooowly gather bits for my Trance build its reminded me that I don’t actually need FS even on uplift days and local/grass roots DH racing.
I like the lack of maintenance and the abuse it takes in its stride, just buy a decent fork and you’re done.

So, I would happily now pay for something exotic like a PP Shan (£600) or go the custom route with Curtis (£1000)….mental to some perhaps but I think paying several thousand for a poorly set up FS that need tokens, bands, corset air sleeves etc after the initial purchase is bonkers and the manufacturers must be laughing all the way to the bank.