$2,800 Budget - What would you do?

[WindRiverHiker]

I'm looking for recommendations for a good build. I'm a novice with parts and components, but I have a buddy that has agreed to help with the build. Here are my constraints/requirements:

1- $2,800
2- Full suspension 29er
3- I'm an upper-intermediate rider
4- I'm 6 feet tall and 210 lbs (hoping to get that down to 185 and stay there)
5- I live close to great trails in Utah. As there's a lot of elevation here, it will have to climb like a mt. goat (lockouts) and be able to switch to descend on the fly (dropper).

With that, I'll be very interested to hear your suggestions.

Thanks!

[samroy92]

Are you looking for an XC style low travel or more All mountain oriented? I would say with that budget pick up some carbon wheels ~800, carbon frame ~800, all-new sram NX eagle ~375, decent fork ~500, decent shock ~250, okay brakes ~125, and then all the other knick knacks. That already totals to about ~$2850. To stay under budget you don't have to get the carbon wheelset, but its nice.

Brands to be looking at for frames: Hongfu bikes, workswell, ICAN, Dengfu, xmcarbonspeed.cn
Brands to be looking at for wheelset: lightbicycle, farsports, yoeleo

The main thing im struggling with in building 2 of these bikes, 1 HT and 1 FS, is the damn shipping time. Some people get them shipped in a few weeks. It's been 30+ days and I still haven't got a tracking number, so you know, its relative.

[WindRiverHiker]

Excellent advice, just what I was looking for. Thanks!

[MTB2223]

For wheels you can also go to xmcarbonspeed.cn .

I dealed with Peter from xmcarbonspeed.cn and I got my frame and wheels within a week (5 days for the frame) after placing the order. But don't forget the shipment costs. It's about 95 USD for only the frame and aagain for the wheelset. And maybe you gets customs tax. For me it was about 60 EUR for the frame and the same for the wheelset.

[charlesrg]

I'm 6'3" and 195lbs. The last 3 years I broke one chinese frame a year and got no warranty back. If I was you I would get a brand new frame from an online special like the Yti ASR for $1500 and build on that.
This last frame I'm trying to get warranty but I get no reply from the seller. Chinese frame would cost very close to $1000 when you calculate that you have to buy the shock and pay the paypal fees.  For $1500 you get a brand frame reputation and warranty. I think it's worth.

[carbonazza]

I would get a brand new frame from an online special like the Yti ASR for $1500 and build on that.

Will you go that route? The frame looks very nice.

[samroy92]

I do agree that if you can find a decent "last year model" carbon frame from big names like Yeti, norco, Orbea, intense for a big discount you should do it. The problem is I am a medium, which is the most common, and usually they dont have any stock. Also you will be hard pressed to find a good discount. $1500 for a yeti asr is a good deal, $1200 for an intense spider is a good deal. But this isn't always the case, and those frames retail for 2000-3500 anyway. I would easily spend an additional 400-600 bucks for a frame that I can drive down the freeway to warranty... But you have to be lucky to find one.

[charlesrg]

Not really lucky, just patient. CompetitiveCyclist/Backcountry have specials on YETI. Also most of the bike shops I called have bikes with 20% discount that includes 2018 models.
I'm going to take a Brand Frame as I didn't expect to have a third break. I already ordered a Yeti from Competitive Cyclist and I'm also considering an Intense.

[adbl]

It is a very tough question to answer. Yes, Competitive Cyclist does have specials on Yeti frames but mostly XC frames. I was thinking about getting an ASR-c but they are out of my size. Not sure you would want a short travel frame giving where you live.

As far as reliability goes, i'm on my second Chiner frame and haven't broken any of them. Granted i'm not racing but i'm pretty hard on my M06. Not sure what's going on with charlesrg but he seems to be breaking frames left and right    This weekend i'm taking my M06 to some lift serviced trails and am going to ride hard and jump a bit too. We'll see how it makes it through.

As far as price goes i'm into my M06 build for $2850.00 and that's with all new parts. I'm running Shimano XTR rear gear with Raceface carbon crank and cockpit. X-Fusion Slide fork with X-Fusion shock. I had both pieces custom tailored for me and my bike for maybe $100.00. I bought a carbon set of rims from Yishun and absolutely love them!!! 27mm inside width perfect for 2.35 Maxxis Forecasters.

So, you can build what you want for your price point you just need to make sure you get a frame that's good for your riding environment and shop around a bit for parts. Personally i wouldn't be afraid of a Chiner frames. Like I said before, i'm not sure what's going on with charlesrg and why he is breaking frames. We'll have to see if his seller ponies up and honors his warranty. My buddy is a huge Cannondale fan and he has cracked one road frame and broken two mtb frames, none of them from crashing. Carbon is carbon, it's always subject to breaking. Riding a name brand frame doesn't guarantee it won't fail.  I guess the question is can you get replacement under warranty if it does? That why i feel it's important to be choosy who you buy your Chiner frame from. I only purchase from sellers i know and have have researched their responsiveness to those that have had issues.

[OXIVECARBON]

hope hub  dt compettion spoke  carbon rim   can keep about  800usd  ,where are you?

[charlesrg]

It is a very tough question to answer. Yes, Competitive Cyclist does have specials on Yeti frames but mostly XC frames. I was thinking about getting an ASR-c but they are out of my size. Not sure you would want a short travel frame giving where you live.

As far as reliability goes, i'm on my second Chiner frame and haven't broken any of them. Granted i'm not racing but i'm pretty hard on my M06. Not sure what's going on with charlesrg but he seems to be breaking frames left and right    This weekend i'm taking my M06 to some lift serviced trails and am going to ride hard and jump a bit too. We'll see how it makes it through.

As far as price goes i'm into my M06 build for $2850.00 and that's with all new parts. I'm running Shimano XTR rear gear with Raceface carbon crank and cockpit. X-Fusion Slide fork with X-Fusion shock. I had both pieces custom tailored for me and my bike for maybe $100.00. I bought a carbon set of rims from Yishun and absolutely love them!!! 27mm inside width perfect for 2.35 Maxxis Forecasters.

So, you can build what you want for your price point you just need to make sure you get a frame that's good for your riding environment and shop around a bit for parts. Personally i wouldn't be afraid of a Chiner frames. Like I said before, i'm not sure what's going on with charlesrg and why he is breaking frames. We'll have to see if his seller ponies up and honors his warranty. My buddy is a huge Cannondale fan and he has cracked one road frame and broken two mtb frames, none of them from crashing. Carbon is carbon, it's always subject to breaking. Riding a name brand frame doesn't guarantee it won't fail.  I guess the question is can you get replacement under warranty if it does? That why i feel it's important to be choosy who you buy your Chiner frame from. I only purchase from sellers i know and have have researched their responsiveness to those that have had issues.

I agree all frames can break and I've seen many brand frames broken at the end of races. However the response from a chinese manufacturer will never beat walking to an authorized shop and asking for warranty.
Breaking is about how much you weight and how hard you ride. 195lbs racing cat 2 here, almost cat1. Like your cannondale friend, he is probably happy as they replace whatever brakes under warranty.

What I'm trying to put is that there is not such a huge price difference from chiners vs US brands. Frame + paypal + shipping + shocks and you are already at $1000. For $1500 I can get a Yeti. I would definitely go with the YETI.
For $2999  you can get a 2018 scott spark rc 930 with warranty and built for you.  Or a bmc agonist 02 for the same price.
The problem is when you look at MSRP if you want to compare Chiner to MSRP than chiner wins, so just learn to wait and not buy MSRP because your Chiner frame will take 45 days to arrive anyway.

[carbonazza]

...For $1500 I can get a Yeti...

I looked for it quite hard, but couldn't really find any below $3,000

[charlesrg]

I just posted what I could get by calling a few local bike shops and asking for what they have in special. This depends on the time of the year.

[adbl]

Also XC frames with 100mm of travel are becoming less popular so 1-2 year old XC frames are discounted quite a bit.

[charlesrg]

Also XC frames with 100mm of travel are becoming less popular so 1-2 year old XC frames are discounted quite a bit.

Not sure about that, most of the XC Racers are on 100mm bikes and most brands have that as the default XC bike.

By the way, just saw this: https://intensecycles.com/collections/2017-bikes/outlet?page=3