A Really Good Hardtail Mountain Bike

[jyl]

If you wanted to get a top-notch hardtail, lightweight mountain bicycle today, what would you do?

I'm not interested in the quasi-motorcycles that weigh 35+ pounds. More thinking about an old-school diamond frame - can be any material, but it should look like a bicycle, not a bridge truss. Concessions to the 21st century would be a suspension fork and, maybe, disc brakes. Has to be on the right side of 25 lbs and ideally closer to 20 lbs than 25.

Seems my choices are:

1. A current manufacturer. Please, any suggestions?

2. An older top-end bicycle. Something that I couldn't have afforded whenever it was new.

3. A semi-custom or custom-built frame, built up.

Thoughts on the pros and cons?

Basically, I'm just getting back into bicycling, feel kind of like Rip Van Winkle - went to sleep in 1994, wake up in 2006, and hmm things have changed. I still have my old mountain bike, and sticking with it is an option, but I want to see what the alternatives are.

[Paul K]

I have a Trek. Not sure which model (not at home rigt now) but it's available with discs. I did a bunch of research, asked a lot of questions of a lot of people, Trek was the consensus.

Good luck!

Paul.

[nostatic]

Budget?

Still my favorite:



http://www.moots.com/bicycle.php?ID=8

[turbo6bar]

Ti frame from eBay and a nice lightweight fork of your choice.

[rouxroux]

Waiting for Smitty (K9handler) to chime in on this one....Smitty?

[techweenie]

If you're a fan of esthetics:

Mrazek Boh FX

http://mrazek.com/index2.html

[einreb]

Originally posted by rouxroux
Waiting for Smitty (K9handler) to chime in on this one....Smitty?

Smitty only rides if its downhill AND there is a tailwind.

I'm a fan of smaller builders...

http://www.dekerf.com/

http://www.soulcraftbikes.com/

[cantdrv55]

Check out Bicycling magazine. They review road, mtn and cruise bikes all the time. Or, go to www.bikeforums.net and ask around. Great BBS, sorta like Pelican for bikes.

[Dave L]

Klein Attitude would be my recomendation. aluminum, stiff but light.

[jyl]

Originally posted by nostatic
Budget?

Up to $3,000, say.

[nostatic]

for the frame or the whole bike? A good Ti hardtail frame will be close to $2K. For a hardtail I'd go either steel or Ti. I despise aluminum for anything except full suspension. And I'm not a fan of full suspension, so I guess I really don't like Al

I agree with the small builders. Soulcraft are some of the guys that used to be with Ross Shafer at Salsa before he sold the brand name to QBP. There are tons of great steel frames from small builders. For the money, I think Curtlo is one of the best (www.curtlo.com). Doug does great work. But Sycip, Steelman, Titus, IF, etc...there are too many to list. I would say figure out how much you want to spend on a frame, figure out a material, and whether you want/need to go custom.

If you decide to go mail order, talk with these guys:

http://www.speedgoat.com

I've known Chris and Beth since they started back 10 years ago or so. They are awesome.

[creaturecat]

here is what appears to be - a deal - in your neighbourhood!
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/bik/187581982.html

[einreb]

Originally posted by jyl
Up to $3,000, say.

That should get you a decent frame.

Whats the budget for the rest of the bike (fork, components, wheels, etc.)?

[jyl]

Originally posted by einreb
That should get you a decent frame.

Whats the budget for the rest of the bike (fork, components, wheels, etc.)?

Hadn't thought about the components, wheels, etc - I guess I'd be willng to spend a sum "proportional" to the frame.

[bob tilton]

I freakin' love my Titanium GT Xizang (cheap non-indie bike). I have also owned a GT Zaskar (super stiff) and a Specialized Stumpjumper M2 (metal matrix frame). The Zaskar will beat you up. The M2 is a great bike but cockpit kinduv tight. The Xizang is awesome.

[nostatic]

$2600 will get you a Moots YBBeat softail Ti frame. There is no reason to spend more than that. And if you want a hardtail, you should seriously consider going with a small steel builder. that should be $1K-1.5K for the frame. As for the build kit, I've been out of the loop for awhile but the conventonal wisdom is that Shimano Deore LX is great bang for the buck, XT saves a bit of weight and has more status. As for discs, I think it depends where you ride. Here in SoCal where it is usually dry, I don't see the need. A V-brake is wonderfully simple and stops great. If you ride in a lot of muck I think disc brakes give an advantage, but you have to ask yourself if you really will ride in those conditions.

The biggest variable is whether stock geometry will work of if you need custom, and what fork you want to run. I can't help you at all on that front, as I'm switching from a very old Judy with Englund air cartridges to a rigid front fork on my Moots. I'm going old school...I'd go single speed as well but my knees and hips would never tolerate it.

[einreb]

Originally posted by jyl
Hadn't thought about the components, wheels, etc - I guess I'd be willng to spend a sum "proportional" to the frame.

i was keeeeeding.

You pay that kind of coin for a bike and its more about the 'art' than the functionality. Nothing wrong with that.

[Brother]

I got a sweet Giant for 400 bucks. A few other accessories including gloves, helmet and camelback pushed the whole buy over $500. If thats the coin you are spending, everything is pretty much the same.

[jyl]

Originally posted by nostatic
$2600 will get you a Moots YBBeat softail Ti frame. There is no reason to spend more than that. And if you want a hardtail, you should seriously consider going with a small steel builder. that should be $1K-1.5K for the frame. As for the build kit, I've been out of the loop for awhile but the conventonal wisdom is that Shimano Deore LX is great bang for the buck, XT saves a bit of weight and has more status. As for discs, I think it depends where you ride. Here in SoCal where it is usually dry, I don't see the need. A V-brake is wonderfully simple and stops great. If you ride in a lot of muck I think disc brakes give an advantage, but you have to ask yourself if you really will ride in those conditions.

The biggest variable is whether stock geometry will work of if you need custom, and what fork you want to run. I can't help you at all on that front, as I'm switching from a very old Judy with Englund air cartridges to a rigid front fork on my Moots. I'm going old school...I'd go single speed as well but my knees and hips would never tolerate it.

I'm not hard to fit. My old mountain bike has a 17" seat tube, sloping top tube, appx 22.5" horizontally from seat tube to head tube, and I think 71 deg head tube (a bit slacker 'cuz I added a sprung fork sometime in the '90s). I'd like an extra 0.5" reach but this basically works OK.

I'm not likely to get that much of a better steel hardtail. So, after thinking about it, I should look into something like a Ti, if I'm going to do this.

That Moots is interesting. Nice clean look and I guess it's pretty light.

[Racerbvd]

How about a Porsche Bike "S"

I know, but still kinda cool