Frame - What to buy?

bobbydigital

As a little hobby/earner I like to build mountain bikes, using used frames but recently I have not been able to obtain the frame that I want, Cotic soul 650b, it would have been a keeper.

I feel like I am overlooking some frame manufactures or just not experienced enough in the world of mtb to know what to look for.

I want

27.5 or 29er frame Axle/Maxle rear end Tapered fork headtube (probably hard to find straight 650b/29er anyway) Can be XC HT FS Enduro - Not really into DH bikes or jump bikes. Something that is popular, easy to sale in the long run, Specialized, Trek those kinds of brands

I love steel frames but when it comes to the sales, they seem a bit niche, they don't seem to get the attention of a alu frame for some reason?
I guess some people don't see the value of a nice 853 frame when the alu version is £200 cheaper.

I started to ride about 2/3 years ago and most of my bikes have been steel frames, only Alu frame I rode was an old boardman comp which was a 2009/10 model. So a bit out of the loop.

I always look out for cotic, stanton and ragley but I need to broaden my horizons.

tom_howard

Why can’t you get a cotic? There’s even some reduced on the website?

bobbydigital

The expense of their frames new, I am looking at used frames.

£650 for their 29er frame
£650 for their soul frame

used on ebay the soul 27.5 with axle drop out is probably £200-£250 just waiting for one to pop up, Stanton Sherpa frame would be great but once again these brands have limited results online, cotic only has like 15 results on ebay.

eric_draven

You won't get many hits for them but look at Pace Cycles,similar price point to Cotic,they have always been a small family owned business and have made some lovely bikes,when I come to replace my Cotic Solaris an RC529 is what i will be looking at,their frames are a bit less at £575 new

The Rookie

Cotic soul, on-one Dedar, Orange P7, Genesis Tarn, Sanderson Blitz, any number of Stanton choices. Google is working again if you want to try searching.

bobbydigital

I think you all missed the point #

I am a 853 snob which leaves me with Soul, Solaris and Sherpa I believe, so in the meantime I will build up some generic run of the mill mtbs if possible.

The steel frames are not that great to sale or to make profit on, they are a niche market.
No one is really searching for Genesis or Sanderson, it would be like me buying Kinesis mtb frames, no one will be looking for that so in the long run it's a slow sale unless you do it cheap.

I have been looking at buying frames, anything that's saleable, common but commands a decent price.

Trek, Specialised, Orange, what are the most common MTB brands out there that you can think of?

I have a beautiful switchback that I have yet to sale but the generic boardman and cube bikes I had went pretty quickly even though the frames were not as good and the components not as good.

eric_draven

Bobbydigital wrote:

I think you all missed the point #

I am a 853 snob which leaves me with Soul, Solaris and Sherpa I believe, so in the meantime I will build up some generic run of the mill mtbs if possible.

and either Pace is 853
https://pacecycles.com/pages/rc529
https://pacecycles.com/pages/rc627

as you say these are a bit of a niche market so are not produced in huge mass numbers,coupled with 853 being good quality tubing,I would expect to pay a premium for one of these frames,it took quite a while to find a used Solaris in the right size for me

cycleclinic

Pipedream?

tom_howard

So you want a list of frames you can buy cheap, second hand, then sell them for a profit?

slc123

In my experience most people that make bikes from second hand stuff and try to sell them don't actually do that well. Selling a bike you bought new second hand is different. This is for several reasons I would imagine...

1. No warranty - They don't know how well put together the bike is or how good condition the components are
2. No finance option (I'm making an assumption you aren't offering finance)

To me the effort vs. reward doesn't stack up. Building something so you can ride it and be responsible for the maintenance makes a lot of sense as you will be able to do it much cheaper than buying a new bike if you are happy to shop about and look for bargains.

But I could be wrong... Either way best of luck with it.

bobbydigital

Tom Howard wrote:

So you want a list of frames you can buy cheap, second hand, then sell them for a profit?

Don't have to be cheap frames just decent brands that are saleable. I.E not Apollo, Carrera etc

slc123 wrote:

In my experience most people that make bikes from second hand stuff and try to sell them don't actually do that well. Selling a bike you bought new second hand is different. This is for several reasons I would imagine...

Postage is the problem, if you are willing to post then they go quick, I sold my Stanton switch back after 2/3 advertisement and I think it's a niche bike tbh.

I bought a Stooge mk3 seems extremely niche, a long sale but will be a fun bike to use in the mean time, maybe a keeper, comes with the truss forks.