Advice on a 150mm full sus build.

Rod Edwards

I want to build a 140/150mm full suspension bike. The vast majority of parts I'll be buying will probably be second-hand. My top budget will be about 850 + or - 10%. I've already got an SLX groupset (minus the brakes and chain) which has taken up £150 of my budget. I'm more of a roady so I don't know a huge amount about wheels, rear shocks, brakes and frames at my budget. Could anyone give me any advice about good components worth getting? Like a true roady, the lighter they are, the better Thanks.

The Northern Monkey

Well what 140-150mm travel suspension frame do you WANT?

I see no point i building a bike without deciding what type of bike you want.. we talking long travel xc? All rounder? super slack playbike?

Why 140-150mm travel?
What forks are you looking at?

You'll be looking at everything 2nd hand unless you fid a bargain, but the general rule of thumb is the more travel you want the more stuff costs.

I'm not sure I could build a 150mm travel full suss for £850 and be happy with it (but thats just me).

Rod Edwards

Looking around at commencal meta 5.5's. But that's just an idea. Basically Rockshox sectors seem my only option for forks. Something aimed more at downhill than xc would be best. I've figured out that it should be possible to get something like a 2009 frame with an slx groupset, and sektor forks on my budget. But ye, it would all have to be second hand realistically, but I always think second hand is the best value for money by far.

ej2320

Seriously low budget, I'd say £1500 + for that sort of bike

I think you'll be better of getting an aggressive hardtail such as the Orange crush

Rod Edwards

I've figured it out and I think it can be done I've tried the crush, nice bike. I think perhaps you're not considering that I'll be buying pretty much everything second hand.

rockmonkeysc

1500 is about right for using nearly all second hand parts if you want a quality build. Some parts such as mech, cassette and chain rings arent worth buying used. A good frame is going to cost £400+.
There is a good reason why used Meta frames are cheaper, they are a touch fragile.

Rod Edwards

Well to be fair, I have just bought an SLX groupset that has seen much less than 100 miles for £150 I do agree with you on the frame though, I'll have to pray for a bargain there.

styxd

Don't listen to these lot, you can do it for your budget fairly easily I'd imagine, you'll just have to bide your time and wait for a few bargains.

I'd avoid the old Meta frames though, they had issues with cracking.

Forks: Rock Shox pikes can be had for around £100, or if you want 150mm then older marzocchis are cheap.
Wheels: Hope Hubs with Mavic rims (719) should be about £100 -150
Brakes: Shimano Deore/SLX should be about £50
Frame: Whatever has gone out of fashion and is now being sold cheap. Cannondale Prophet would be my choice, usually cheap 2nd hand.
Rest of money on cheap bars/stem/seatpost/tyres/cables/pedals etc.

rockmonkeysc

You wont get decent Pikes for less than £150. They are still really popular. I sold mine recently for closer to £200

ej2320

styxd wrote:

Don't listen to these lot, you can do it for your budget fairly easily I'd imagine, you'll just have to bide your time and wait for a few bargains.

I'd avoid the old Meta frames though, they had issues with cracking.

Forks: Rock Shox pikes can be had for around £100, or if you want 150mm then older marzocchis are cheap.
Wheels: Hope Hubs with Mavic rims (719) should be about £100 -150
Brakes: Shimano Deore/SLX should be about £50
Frame: Whatever has gone out of fashion and is now being sold cheap. Cannondale Prophet would be my choice, usually cheap 2nd hand.
Rest of money on cheap bars/stem/seatpost/tyres/cables/pedals etc.

We aren't saying you can't build a bike for £850 but he seems really keen to get into mountain biking and I think he'll be much happier in the long run paying a bit more for a quality build

ej2320

Rod Edwards wrote:

Well to be fair, I have just bought an SLX groupset that has seen much less than 100 miles for £150 I do agree with you on the frame though, I'll have to pray for a bargain there.

You can get the parts on the cheap, even though it's only done 100 miles you should still service it.

The most important part of the bike is the frame, if you buy it too cheaply there's probably a good reason why it's so cheap, see if you can get a Titus El Guapo second hand. They sell at £850 brand new from on one.

Also like you said you want to save weight, the heaviest part is the frame. If you buy a cheap frame there's a chance it will be rather heavy. The titus isn't the lightest but its good quality and I suspect it has a low resale value

ej2320

Dunno what size you are but this sort of thing would be in your budget

http://m.pinkbike.com/buysell/1391035/

Rod Edwards

I've been doing mountain biking for 4-5 years haha I regularly do red and black runs on a 100m hardtail. The reason I want to build the bike is to make things faster and more enjoyable Thanks for the faith styxd I agree with you completely on the frames. Not so keen on Giant's though sorry. Would you say that it's worth getting SLX brakes over deore for the money? (any savings I could make on parts could be put into the frame). Thanks for the advice so far.

styxd

Depends which generation Deore and SLX brakes you're looking at. New Deores are apparentyl very good, older ones are still fine though.

Rod Edwards

well probs last gen. Are there any other good frames that you reckon I could get for my budget second hand?

poah

Rod Edwards wrote:

Would you say that it's worth getting SLX brakes over deore for the money? (any savings I could make on parts could be put into the frame). Thanks for the advice so far.

have used both deore M596 and SLX M675 brakes and there is pretty much nothing between them in terms of power, feel modulation. The SLX lever have a no tools reach adjustment and the caliper can take ICE-TECH pads however the newer deore M615 calipers can. is a no tool reach adjustment worth £25

rockmonkeysc

Giants frames may not be the prettiest but they ride extremely well and pedal better than any other full sus I have ridden. They are also solid (with the exception of the Reign X) and Giant have been known to warranty second hand frames.
The Specialized Stumpjumper is also a pretty good Ride and a safe used buy.

Rod Edwards

Deore it is then. I'll bear that in mind, not to keen on specializeds either, aesthetically they usually just don't look great to me. Do you know any good rear shocks? I keep on seeing Fox RP2's on the majority of frames I'm looking at.

rockmonkeysc

RP23 is a very good shock.
Do you want a frame to look at or ride? If you are on a tight budget surely performance should take priority over aesthetics?

jairaj

I know you said you don't like Giant and Spec frames but is this purely for aesthetic reasons? If so I think you might be limiting your choices too much with your lowish budget too.

I'd look at the popular brands as they usually sell lots of volume so you are more likely to find these on the second hand market.

Something like a Giant Reign (x), Specialized Pitch or Spec FSR, Trek Remedy etc...

on the Braking front I've compared the new and old deore brakes against new and old SLX and XT and they work pretty much the same. All you do is lighter weight and slightly slicker action the braking action is almost the same.

Rod Edwards

Obviously how it rides matters most but yeah I would like a bike that's pleasing to the eye. Beggars can't be choosers though. Deore brakes sound good to me then.

The Northern Monkey

You should probably choose a bike as a benchmark.
Decathlon do a great 120mm full sus bike for £800 and the spec is hard (impossible) to beat for the price.
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-91 ... nformation

If you can't beat something like that spec wise when building to a budget then I don't see the point... save for longer and buy a suitable bike from the off.
There is nothing to stop you riding the nuts off your current bike while you save.

I've built and bought many bikes before, a self build will 9 times out of 10 come out more expensive if you want a reasonable spec.

poah

The Northern Monkey wrote:

I've built and bought many bikes before, a self build will 9 times out of 10 come out more expensive if you want a reasonable spec.

and be over budget lol

wormishere

For the frame maybe try and go a bit old school. Try looking for a Sintesi Bazooka - it was a World Cup winning downhill frame with an adjustable 4-6 inches of travel. One sold on eBay last week for £40. Seriously. These have excellent reviews online and having owned one they were seriously brilliant. Give some of the old school Konas a go too like the Stinky or the Stinky deluxe.

Some of the old school forks are great value too. Marzocchi Z1s or Junior T's were brilliant and can still be picked up cheap.

Hope Mono Minis can be picked up for next to nothing too. Great brakes and easily serviced.

I think the crux lies in the fact that you could build an epic ride for £850 but it won't win any beauty competitions at the trail centre. It will however be bloody well built and fast as fury. Recycle all the way!

rockmonkeysc

wormishere wrote:

For the frame maybe try and go a bit old school. Try looking for a Sintesi Bazooka - it was a World Cup winning downhill frame with an adjustable 4-6 inches of travel. One sold on eBay last week for £40. Seriously. These have excellent reviews online and having owned one they were seriously brilliant. Give some of the old school Konas a go too like the Stinky or the Stinky deluxe.

Some of the old school forks are great value too. Marzocchi Z1s or Junior T's were brilliant and can still be picked up cheap.

Hope Mono Minis can be picked up for next to nothing too. Great brakes and easily serviced.

I think the crux lies in the fact that you could build an epic ride for £850 but it won't win any beauty competitions at the trail centre. It will however be bloody well built and fast as fury. Recycle all the way!

Some of that kit is cheap because it's bloody aweful. Stinky's weigh a ton and ride like crap. Certainly no good if you ever want to ride up a hill.
Hope Mono's weren't great when new and worse now, not worth it when you can get new Deores for £70 a pair.
Junior T's are just crap, why would you want a dual crown that flexes that badly?

wormishere

RockmonkeySC wrote:

wormishere wrote:

For the frame maybe try and go a bit old school. Try looking for a Sintesi Bazooka - it was a World Cup winning downhill frame with an adjustable 4-6 inches of travel. One sold on eBay last week for £40. Seriously. These have excellent reviews online and having owned one they were seriously brilliant. Give some of the old school Konas a go too like the Stinky or the Stinky deluxe.

Some of the old school forks are great value too. Marzocchi Z1s or Junior T's were brilliant and can still be picked up cheap.

Hope Mono Minis can be picked up for next to nothing too. Great brakes and easily serviced.

I think the crux lies in the fact that you could build an epic ride for £850 but it won't win any beauty competitions at the trail centre. It will however be bloody well built and fast as fury. Recycle all the way!

Some of that kit is cheap because it's bloody aweful. Stinky's weigh a ton and ride like crap. Certainly no good if you ever want to ride up a hill.
Hope Mono's weren't great when new and worse now, not worth it when you can get new Deores for £70 a pair.
Junior T's are just crap, why would you want a dual crown that flexes that badly?

Fair play regarding the disks but what are his other options when it comes to buying 150mm frame and fork On a mega budget. Junior T's are a great pair of forks - considering they can be picked up for around £100 'bit of flex' is a minor drawback.

Stinkys do weigh a ton but as he said it was more DH orientated I'm not sure it matters how it goes up - I got one round Betws easily enough. And again, they can be picked up for £150 how much can you argue.

Rod Edwards

I'm certain that I can build a bike better than that Rock Rider for 850. Basically this is a break down of how I think/hope/want to spend the money :
Forks - £200 (brand new sektors are sold at 260)
Frame - preferably around £300 but I'm sure i'll have to spend something more like £400 based on your suggestions and a few weeks of looking around on pinkbike etc.
Groupset - Already bought it for £150 basically, last gen SLX with very very low mileage on it.
Wheels - Something around £150 there.
Parts - I can pick up brand new On-one stems that I've used on other bikes for £10 and i'll look around for similarly priced bars and other finishing kit.
Brakes - I'll probably get deores from the advice you guys have given.
What do you reckon?
By the way, I already use a lovely retro 1998 hardtail that i've specced up a little, as well as a 120mm full susser which isn't too dissimilar to that Rockrider, but a little more expensive.

punkatron1

have a look at Superstar components for your wheels. I picked up a pair of their AM wheels for £109. Have been really good and still going strong.

Rod Edwards

Just took at look at them, seem to have good reviews, I'll keep that in mind Do you have an opinion on something like this from On-one? http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/WPRYSUXF1/r ... 1_wheelset Haven't heard of that brand but it's heavily discounted.

jairaj

Seems good for a XC / trail wheel set but don't you want to do more DH kinda stuff too? Unless you are a light and smooth rider I would want to look for something more durable.

Rod Edwards

Well I'd probably use it on holiday for 3 weeks of black and red uplift runs. In Britain, I'd be using at trail centres like cwmcarn, FOD, Afan Argoed etc. The more durable, the better, what is a ball park weight for a more downhill aimed set of wheels? So I can get a rough idea of what is more likely to be bombproof or XC.