Building or buying?

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flag benslingsby
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:09 Quote
Hello,
I am currently riding a bottom of the range specialized hardtail mountain bike and want to upgrade from this. I would love to own a fully fledged and kitted-out full suspension bike but I have a budget of around £800-£900 and want it to be as cheap as possible to be honest. With this money, I want to get the best bang for my buck as they say. Do I try to build a full suspension bike using second hand parts? or is this overly complicated and time consuming trying to find matching bits. Also, will this end up costing too much? Will I actually be able to pick up a good and relatively new full-suspension mountain bike for this money. Or do I need to come back to the real world and settle for a hardtail - although for the money I would obviously be able to hopefully get a higher range bike.
I hope you can provide help and advice.
Many thanks
Ben Slingsby
flag cmcrawfo
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:14 Quote
building is almost always more expensive than buying complete.

also consider, a high end used part isnt necessarily better than a low end new part.With few exceptions, I would almost always favour the new low-end part.
flag benslingsby
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:19 Quote
cmcrawfo wrote:
building is almost always more expensive than buying complete.

also consider, a high end used part isnt necessarily better than a low end new part.With few exceptions, I would almost always favour the new low-end part.

So you would recommend buying a second hand, complete bike?
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:21 Quote
Building new can be cheaper, if you shop around. Building used almost certainly will be more expensive. With that budget I would look at some of the more value oriented brands from places like Decathlon and Halfords.. in all honesty a used Fox 36 fork isn't much less than your budget for the entire bike. Or you could buy a nice used carbon hardtail from a few years ago, maybe a 26 inch hardtail like say an older Scott Scale or something like thar. I would say at that price range the full sus market isn't worth looking at.
flag cmcrawfo
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:23 Quote
benslingsby wrote:
cmcrawfo wrote:
building is almost always more expensive than buying complete.

also consider, a high end used part isnt necessarily better than a low end new part.With few exceptions, I would almost always favour the new low-end part.

So you would recommend buying a second hand, complete bike?

I dont know what your local used bike market is like, but ya, thats the most effective way to get into to a dual suspension bike on a budget.

Its important to keep some cash in reserve to adress issues on used bikes and replace consumable parts. Its also helpful to have someone with good mechanical knowledge look over the bike before you buy it, so you dont inherit any issues.
flag benslingsby
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:25 Quote
Danzzz88 wrote:
Building new can be cheaper, if you shop around. Building used almost certainly will be more expensive. With that budget I would look at some of the more value oriented brands from places like Decathlon and Halfords.. in all honesty a used Fox 36 fork isn't much less than your budget for the entire bike. Or you could buy a nice used carbon hardtail from a few years ago, maybe a 26 inch hardtail like say an older Scott Scale or something like thar. I would say at that price range the full sus market isn't worth looking at.
Thanks for your help Smile
flag benslingsby
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:28 Quote
Danzzz88 wrote:
Building new can be cheaper, if you shop around. Building used almost certainly will be more expensive. With that budget I would look at some of the more value oriented brands from places like Decathlon and Halfords.. in all honesty a used Fox 36 fork isn't much less than your budget for the entire bike. Or you could buy a nice used carbon hardtail from a few years ago, maybe a 26 inch hardtail like say an older Scott Scale or something like thar. I would say at that price range the full sus market isn't worth looking at.
When you say shopping around do you mean some cheap parts from china on amazon?
flag cmcrawfo
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:41 Quote
Danzzz88 wrote:
Building new can be cheaper, if you shop around. Building used almost certainly will be more expensive. With that budget I would look at some of the more value oriented brands from places like Decathlon and Halfords.. in all honesty a used Fox 36 fork isn't much less than your budget for the entire bike. Or you could buy a nice used carbon hardtail from a few years ago, maybe a 26 inch hardtail like say an older Scott Scale or something like thar. I would say at that price range the full sus market isn't worth looking at.

I have never in my life found it to be cheaper to build new than buy new. I challenge you to find any brand new bike and then try and build the same one for less. I am going to go as far as to say its actually impossible.
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:41 Quote
benslingsby wrote:
Danzzz88 wrote:
Building new can be cheaper, if you shop around. Building used almost certainly will be more expensive. With that budget I would look at some of the more value oriented brands from places like Decathlon and Halfords.. in all honesty a used Fox 36 fork isn't much less than your budget for the entire bike. Or you could buy a nice used carbon hardtail from a few years ago, maybe a 26 inch hardtail like say an older Scott Scale or something like thar. I would say at that price range the full sus market isn't worth looking at.
When you say shopping around do you mean some cheap parts from china on amazon?

No I mean just deals or lower prices on parts, usually high end parts or last years models ect. At the more budget end of the spectrum it won't be more cost effective to build a bike up with new parts.

The thing us you could build up most if the bike like say a chinese carbon frame, some chesp wheels ect, but any decent fork worth it's salt is usually a goid chunk if money even used you are looking at least around £400 for a half decent used fork. If you were spending say £1500 it would open up a few more avenues for you.
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:44 Quote
cmcrawfo wrote:
Danzzz88 wrote:
Building new can be cheaper, if you shop around. Building used almost certainly will be more expensive. With that budget I would look at some of the more value oriented brands from places like Decathlon and Halfords.. in all honesty a used Fox 36 fork isn't much less than your budget for the entire bike. Or you could buy a nice used carbon hardtail from a few years ago, maybe a 26 inch hardtail like say an older Scott Scale or something like thar. I would say at that price range the full sus market isn't worth looking at.

I have never in my life found it to be cheaper to build new than buy new. I challenge you to find any brand new bike and then try and build the same one for less. I am going to go as far as to say its actually impossible.

I built a Yeti SB6 with Onyx hubs, xx1 eagle ect ecf ect for less than £7k...arguably better spec than the Richie rude edition at over £10k. I got the frame for 2.5k new from the main supplier here in the UK and I shopped around to find the other parts the cheapest I could find.
flag cmcrawfo
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:45 Quote
Danzzz88 wrote:
benslingsby wrote:
Danzzz88 wrote:
Building new can be cheaper, if you shop around. Building used almost certainly will be more expensive. With that budget I would look at some of the more value oriented brands from places like Decathlon and Halfords.. in all honesty a used Fox 36 fork isn't much less than your budget for the entire bike. Or you could buy a nice used carbon hardtail from a few years ago, maybe a 26 inch hardtail like say an older Scott Scale or something like thar. I would say at that price range the full sus market isn't worth looking at.
When you say shopping around do you mean some cheap parts from china on amazon?

No I mean just deals or lower prices on parts, usually high end parts or last years models ect. At the more budget end of the spectrum it won't be more cost effective to build a bike up with new parts.

The thing us you could build up most if the bike like say a chinese carbon frame, some chesp wheels ect, but any decent fork worth it's salt is usually a goid chunk if money even used you are looking at least around £400 for a half decent used fork. If you were spending say £1500 it would open up a few more avenues for you.

but then you are not getting the same quality, its apples and oranges. Why not just buy a complete off brand Chinese bike? its going to be cheaper than buying all the parts for it.
flag cmcrawfo
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:46 Quote
Danzzz88 wrote:
cmcrawfo wrote:
Danzzz88 wrote:
Building new can be cheaper, if you shop around. Building used almost certainly will be more expensive. With that budget I would look at some of the more value oriented brands from places like Decathlon and Halfords.. in all honesty a used Fox 36 fork isn't much less than your budget for the entire bike. Or you could buy a nice used carbon hardtail from a few years ago, maybe a 26 inch hardtail like say an older Scott Scale or something like thar. I would say at that price range the full sus market isn't worth looking at.

I have never in my life found it to be cheaper to build new than buy new. I challenge you to find any brand new bike and then try and build the same one for less. I am going to go as far as to say its actually impossible.

I built a Yeti SB6 with Onyx hubs, xx1 eagle ect ecf ect for less than £7k...arguably better spec than the Richie rude edition at over £10k. I got the frame for 2.5k new from the main supplier here in the UK and I shopped around to find the other parts the cheapest I could find.

and you built it to the exact same spec as Rudes 10k bike?
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:48 Quote
I'm not saying it's cost effective at the budget end, which is exactly what I told the OP. But at the high to ultra high end it is almost certainly cheaper. Most brands add on an extra £2k just mkve up one grade in drivetrain and go ftom performance elite to Kashima... The difference in actual cost between thrm parts it nothing like that amount. Anyway lets keep on topic and try help the OP out.
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:51 Quote
cmcrawfo wrote:
Danzzz88 wrote:
cmcrawfo wrote:


I have never in my life found it to be cheaper to build new than buy new. I challenge you to find any brand new bike and then try and build the same one for less. I am going to go as far as to say its actually impossible.

I built a Yeti SB6 with Onyx hubs, xx1 eagle ect ecf ect for less than £7k...arguably better spec than the Richie rude edition at over £10k. I got the frame for 2.5k new from the main supplier here in the UK and I shopped around to find the other parts the cheapest I could find.

and you built it to the exact same spec as Rudes 10k bike?

My spec was higher than the Rude spec... Hope brakes more expensive than XTR, Eagle XX1 drivetrain was more expensive than XTR 11 speed. Onyx hubs way more expensive than the stock wheels ect ect so yes it was better dpec at least when comparing individual parts cost and it still cost me way less money.

Just like my brand new PUSH Elevensix I paid £720.. people are paying that for a Fox X2
flag benslingsby
Posted: Jul 1, 2020 at 16:51 Quote
Danzzz88 wrote:
I'm not saying it's cost effective at the budget end, which is exactly what I told the OP. But at the high to ultra high end it is almost certainly cheaper. Most brands add on an extra £2k just mkve up one grade in drivetrain and go ftom performance elite to Kashima... The difference in actual cost between thrm parts it nothing like that amount. Anyway lets keep on topic and try help the OP out.
Thanks aha
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