Building a long travel hardtail from scratch! Advice please?

Mark909
Mark909 Posts: 456
edited May 2008 in MTB buying advice
Ive been looking for a long travel hardtail for a while. Ive come across the Cove Stiffee FR frame (£579) and its exactly the type of bike im looking for. However I dont have a clue how much it will cost to build it up into a decent "hardcore hardtail". I thinking of some marzocci 55 forks. The rest of the spec doesnt have to be top of the range but im looking for components that ill be able to take a good thrashing. Anyone have any idea how much itll cost to build this frame up into a decent bike?

http://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product_5305.htm

Comments

  • Splasher
    Splasher Posts: 1,528
    edited May 2008
    You need to do this yourself, here's what you need. Pick your parts, price them up and add them up to a total.

    Frame
    Fork
    Wheels
    Brakes
    Chainset (and BB if not a HT2 type)
    Cassette
    Front mech
    Rear mech
    Shifters
    Chain
    Headset
    Bars
    Stem
    Grips
    Seatpost
    Saddle
    Tyres
    Tubes
    Cables

    Look for bargains like the complete XT group on Merlin for £360 including brakes.
    "Internet Forums - an amazing world where outright falsehoods become cyber-facts with a few witty key taps and a carefully placed emoticon."
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    and then add the cost of the tools or the cost of having the frame faced for the fitting of the bb and headset.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    in my experience, it is cheaper to buy a full bike in the first place but you will get alot of satisfaction from your own build and you wont have to make do with lower spec parts.
  • I'm presently contemplating a similar build - I've got my eyes on this:

    http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDeta ... egoryID=11

    Don't know if it's quite what you're after but I've seen some good reviews and at this price it's a bargain.

    JS
  • I've been doing a hardtail build for the last 9 months!! Funds are a bit tight (poor student) so there's been a lot of hunting around for deals and selling stuff on ebay, but I'm finally finished!!

    The starting point was a Kinesis Maxlight frame followed by an LBS deal on a Marzocchi MX Pro fork and and just went on from then.

    There's nothing like the feeling of hitting the trails on a bike that you have built yourself
    My Build is almost complete - I just need some wheels and pedals!