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Hey everyone,

Im looking for a full susser, decent bike which I can buy for ~£250 (max budget).

The only particular thing im looking for is something less than 10 years old that has F&R air suspension with hope disc brakes. The rest such as gears etc. can be standard kit, M510 deore or such.

It is a lot to ask for within such a tight budget, but if anyone has something like that which they are desperate to get rid of, lying around in their garage clear out or such, please post up pictures!

Many thanks, really appreciate it!

Akif

£250 !... Youll be lucky. !. I built up a full suss bike on a budget myself, buying lots of bits from Ebay (Spesh Big Hit frame - £380, Manitou forks - £60) but the overal cost of my bike is still approx £800 - £900. Now you can no doubt get a complete bike for the price you want but it would no doubt be a horrid budget model and as you mention some high end makes such as Hope (who are very pricey), that doesnt seem to be the route you are going down.

If it were me and I had to build the best full suss bike I could for ,£250 then I'd maybe get a cheap frame from Ebay for example for £31 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FULL-SUSPENSI ... 19c78af7e5, buy some decent forks that need some TLC, (i.e strip them down and rebuild) and build the rest from cheapish bits on Ebay or perhaps a brand like Superstar, personally I'd ditch the Hope brakes idea as they are expensive, even 2nd hand.

Another cheap way is to buy very battered looking frame and forks and get them shot blasted and poiwered coating to make them look new again, a place near me in Southend only charged £20 to blast/coat my forks

Good luck

Andy

Thanks for the input Andy, appreciate it. I see what you mean. But I'm not building a downhill rig or anything like that at all. When you mentioned your budget included a bighit frame.

This is a simple XC set-up for the ordinary user, and the only expensive components are the suspension and brakes, which although are pricey, when included with a bike that is relatively old (2003-2006) but reliable, but price is around the £300 region.

Im not expecting XTR kit or carbon fibre, seems stupid to mention it, but I've built quite a few bikes before and found it works out cheaper to just buy a bike and modify it rather than faffing about with building it from scratch because of what you mentioned about the price escalating to £800+.

When I'm finished building the bike, I'll post up and show you what I mean with a budget bike built with decent components, none of that 'FALCON SHOCKWAVE SUPER ALL MOUNTAIN BIKE' crap which lasts one ride before the wheels are buckled and the suspension is shot.

Cheers!

Akif

Akif, it's lovely you're getting into riding but I think you're expecting the impossible for anything other than an argos special or Halfords shiner.

Best of luck....

Lol, getting into riding? Nice assumption .

I've been riding with the people on this website for quite some time, and although I haven't been out with everyone for a few months now.. I have been on my bike since 12 years old. My current set-up already includes mono M4s, XT groupset etc. I know what to expect and for what price, I'm just trying to get the rest of my family into it now. My brother is very eager and am trying to get a decent set-up for him too now. And once I'm done, I'll post up to illustrate what I mean, enough with the demotivation

Pm'ed ya

Cheers Brad.

Job done

One thing I would say - is that a heavy, flexy, retro geo, full susser (which any bike over 7 years will be ) is much more likely to put off someone looking to get into the sport than a much more up to date hardtail. It will also be a bitch to maintain.

All the local terrain can be tackled on a modern geo hardtail without the weight and compilations of an older full susser.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gt-aggressor- ... 3a68b6e8c6
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Specialized-H ... 3cba8abd1d - might go for 250ish

Its just like id rather take en entry level pair of forks from 2011 than a top of the line pair from 2001.

Good luck - Let us know what you come up with and how much it costs

I would consider selling my GT idrive frame with fox float shock but it's XL which means it would suit a rider of about 6 foot.

No worries Greg, I think I've found a decent bike anyway .

Right, so I've got the bike now. Its a Specialized FSR XC Comp 2007, factory kit with some minor upgrades. Picked it up for £250. I don't think there is much else out there that could have bought more for £250 imo and although it doesn't have the hope brakes I 'hoped' for, I'm stoked with this ride!

Fair play Akif that's a pretty good find for 250!

Cheers Jon, I'll see you in epping very soon! =]

I got the same forks- pretty good so far. Nice purchase.