sub £1200 FS Frame.

Gilesw2010

Hi all.

Basically, I'm looking at buying a full suspension frame capable of taking 140mm forks and my budget is £1200. I'm really keen on the Cove Hustler which is on sale at Chainreaction but if anyone has any other options feel free to suggest!! The only other thing is I want to be the frame already fitted with the rear shock, to save more expense.

Thanks in advance!

warpcow

Let me be the first to recommend my own bike:

Santa Cruz Heckler

but... if I was buying new for £1200 today, I'd take a long look at this (although it might be a little sweeter with 150mm forks):

http://www.freeborn.co.uk/devinci-2011-dixon-frameset-1

supersonic

I'd be buying a whole bike for that - then sell off the parts you don't need. Frame only is usually pretty poor value.

For trail/AM riding I'd look at Giant Trance:

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... 1b0s1p3504

Takes a 140mm fork easily (many do this), getting the whole bike for the price of the frame! And is a good frame. Shock is ok, but plenty of cash left to upgrade. Frame weight is 6.1lbs in medium.

Beatmaker

There are great deals on the Titus FTM frame from On One at the moment. The FTM is designed around a 140mm fork. Both the carbon and aluminium version are well south of your budget.

Aluminium FTM at £699 http://on-one.co.uk/i/q/FRTITFTMALURS-L-GRN-RSM/titus_ftm_aluminium_frame_and_monarch_shock___large___green___rockshox_monarch_rt3

Carbon FTM at £899 http://on-one.co.uk/i/q/FRTITFTMCARRS-L-BLK-RSM/titus_ftm_carbon_frame_and_monarch_shock___large___black___rockshox_monarch_rt3

I guess it depends on the intended use, but the FTM comes with a decent rear shock, is versatile in terms of build and usage and has a proper four bar rear end.

lawman

warpcow wrote:

Let me be the first to recommend my own bike:

Santa Cruz Heckler

but... if I was buying new for £1200 today, I'd take a long look at this (although it might be a little sweeter with 150mm forks):

http://www.freeborn.co.uk/devinci-2011-dixon-frameset-1

this!! the dixon is a fantastic bike, and very, very tempting at that price, great geometry, bb is abit high imo, but it is a sweet frame, especially at that price.

supersonic

Dunno, seems a lot to me!

rockmonkeysc

Supersonic makes a good point. Trance is a really excellent frame but if you can get a complete bike for about the same price as a frame only you will be left with lots of spare parts to sell & get some of your money back.

Beatmaker

If the Trance had a decent aircan I'd agree, but it doesn't. You'll soon end up wanting to spend a couple of hundred quid on a more competent unit.

supersonic

True, but even then the whole lot is still cheaper than some of these frame only options: and there is no doubt the Trance is a superbly capable frame, at a really good weight.

lawman

I've never been a fan of the trance, 140mm forks sort the geo, but the bars too high, and like most giants the tubes are made of tin cans...

buying a full bike and selling the spares might get your money back a bit, but if it needs a new shock and the hassle of selling the entire bike, which might not even sell for decent money, let alone the hassle of actually selling the stuff anyway, the benefits soon become pretty worthless imo. if you have the time and patience to do so, then by all means do it, otherwise, why bother buying a bike just to strip it down and sell half the components...

supersonic

Bars are too high? Fit lower ones!

I'd say the benefits of saving several hundred pounds if you sell the bits are well worth it, and even if you don't sell them, you are still getting arguably a better (or just as good as) frame than anything listed here. (though the Titus are good value frame only). Plus you might actually keep a few bits headset, seatpost, front mech - bits you know will fit.

Frame only in the UK is a rip off at the minute for most full sussers, we are been taken to the cleaners.

lawman

supersonic wrote:

Bars are too high? Fit lower ones!

I'd say the benefits of saving several hundred pounds if you sell the bits are well worth it, and even if you don't sell them, you are still getting arguably a better (or just as good as) frame than anything listed here. (though the Titus are good value frame only). Plus you might actually keep a few bits headset, seatpost, front mech - bits you know will fit.

Frame only in the UK is a rip off at the minute for most full sussers, we are been taken to the cleaners.

very long headtube I've found, even with low rise bars it still too high imo, leaves very little room to move them round too, as you'll run them on top of the headset with no spacers... (or atleast I would, and its normally picked up on in reviews).

I agree frame only deals are a rip off in the uk, but I think thats true of whole bikes in particular, I could spend a weeks riding in the states, buy an sb66c and it would still be cheaper than just buying the bike here for example... my point is, if you have £1200 to spend on a frame, you're gonna want some decent kit on it. on the trance linked too above, I'd say very little of the kit would be desired on a higher end build, so the whole groupset, forks, shock and finishing kit kit would probably go, thats a helluva lot of kit to just sell for the sake of an eventually small saving.

supersonic

I guess we just have different ways of thinking lol, for some is worth it if you have the time as you can make significant savings. I think the X3 would be a better bet though for the selling:

http://www.ashcycles.com/site/giant-trance-x3-2011

Or just buy this:

http://www.ashcycles.com/site/giant-tra ... 51bba6b400

1mancity2

I agree with Supersonic, buy a Trance sell the bits upgrade with the money made and you will have a fantastic bike.