How easy is it to build a mountain bike??
- Thread starter rojo
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Harryburgundy
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Where are you Rojo......I for one would be happy to help you build up a bike.
with a little knowledge its easy.
It is as expensive as you budget it to be, buy cheaper parts/get bargains means its cheaper, buy top of the line blingy bits and simply must have items then expect to pay through the nose for them.
It can take you a few hours or 15 years depends what parts you want, how long it takes you to find them and how quick you are with a set of alan keys.
To be honest it sounds asthough you could do with going to a LBS (local bike shop) and looking at what is available, what suits you, what you could possibly afford new, or what to look out for second hand.
At the moment your asking us "what frame is best?" best for what, best for descending the side of a volcano being chased by a tribe of pigmys or best for getting to/from the local pub on a sunday afternoon? Your questions are just a little wide of appearing targeted.
Do you really want retro? (silly question, ofcourse you do, every one does
) but seriously I have seen your posts looking at bikes from early 90's full suspension bikes through to modern marins and right back to £1100 worth of titanium kona.
You could do with working out what you want then we may be able to advise more, and the best way to do that is to get out and look at some bikes.
It is as expensive as you budget it to be, buy cheaper parts/get bargains means its cheaper, buy top of the line blingy bits and simply must have items then expect to pay through the nose for them.
It can take you a few hours or 15 years depends what parts you want, how long it takes you to find them and how quick you are with a set of alan keys.
To be honest it sounds asthough you could do with going to a LBS (local bike shop) and looking at what is available, what suits you, what you could possibly afford new, or what to look out for second hand.
At the moment your asking us "what frame is best?" best for what, best for descending the side of a volcano being chased by a tribe of pigmys or best for getting to/from the local pub on a sunday afternoon? Your questions are just a little wide of appearing targeted.
Do you really want retro? (silly question, ofcourse you do, every one does
) but seriously I have seen your posts looking at bikes from early 90's full suspension bikes through to modern marins and right back to £1100 worth of titanium kona.You could do with working out what you want then we may be able to advise more, and the best way to do that is to get out and look at some bikes
.No worries on the questions front, just give us something to work with, pop to your local bike shop and have a look, report back what you like and we may be able to suggest cheaper/older alternatives that fit your budget.
A bike is an odly personal thing, anything blindly recomended may totally not suit you.
I did notice earlier that you said you had a approx 19" kona, well bide your time and you should find such a bike within your budget. A few years back I bagged a Kona explosif (top end steel framed kona) for £100 for the full bike off of ebay, it needed a little work but not much.
Lower-mid range models frequently fall within your budget on the bay, its all about keeping your eye open and your wallet ready.
A bike is an odly personal thing, anything blindly recomended may totally not suit you.
I did notice earlier that you said you had a approx 19" kona, well bide your time and you should find such a bike within your budget. A few years back I bagged a Kona explosif (top end steel framed kona) for £100 for the full bike off of ebay, it needed a little work but not much.
Lower-mid range models frequently fall within your budget on the bay, its all about keeping your eye open and your wallet ready.
JeRkY":3q8oz62o said:
I do like konas i went through loads of bikes when i was younger they kept on breaking cheaper models. Then i spent over £1000 on getting my kona kileaua at that lasted me 10 years then i had to sell it last year because lost job and so on. Something like a kona frame is nice. What would the kona kileaua frame be made off?? another stupid question i know.
Kileaua was steel, one model below the explosif I mentioned, a top frame.
I think the best advice would be to keep an eye on ebay (try using the auction watch function at the top of this page for easy browsing)
Although not that common an occurance it has been known that upper end steel framed konas (complete bikes) have sold for within your budget. even if one needs a bit of work doing to tidy it up it is still often worth it.
you can always tell a steel kona, the tubing is noticably skinnier than the aluminium models. If I were you I would look out for anything from a Lava dome upwards. (check the gallery & archive up top to look at examples of the kona catalogues to work out the order of the range.)
One thing to note would be that in more recent years (2000 onwards???) many of the low-mid (& in some years high) range konas that used to be made in lovely steel were manufactured in aluminium instead. Look at the catalogues, get an idea of the difference in look between steel & alu and an idea of the kona range & then happy hunting.
I think the best advice would be to keep an eye on ebay (try using the auction watch function at the top of this page for easy browsing)
Although not that common an occurance it has been known that upper end steel framed konas (complete bikes) have sold for within your budget. even if one needs a bit of work doing to tidy it up it is still often worth it.
you can always tell a steel kona, the tubing is noticably skinnier than the aluminium models. If I were you I would look out for anything from a Lava dome upwards. (check the gallery & archive up top to look at examples of the kona catalogues to work out the order of the range.)
One thing to note would be that in more recent years (2000 onwards???) many of the low-mid (& in some years high) range konas that used to be made in lovely steel were manufactured in aluminium instead. Look at the catalogues, get an idea of the difference in look between steel & alu and an idea of the kona range & then happy hunting.
