Any reason not to buy a used Vodoo Bizango as a cheap bikepacking bike?

A friend had one. Was a pretty decent bike for the money. The fork was a pretty poor suntour but everything else was ok.

I have a Bizango bought on C2W. It's fine for most things though the Suntour fork is not great especially at small constant chatter. Might as well be rigid! It does work but generally only on bigger hits. It's survived Lakes trips, trail centres and even the commute to work 😂 Other than the awful stock wheels/hubs which got swapped for Hunt XC wide, my biggest bug-bear with it is it only has 1 set of bottle bosses. I've considered upgrading the fork just not sure if it's worth it, however, with some of the nuts PSA deals that folks keep posting on here I may take the plunge.

Edit: if the used one is in good nick, and is cheap enough why not!

A mate had one until it fell off his roof rack and got squashed by an artic, then bought another one and rode it to death.

The frame is good. The fork is not. The wheels are meh.

You used to be able to get them for a steal on eBay, bought on impulse from Halfords, ridden up one hill then never used again.

As above. No reason not to at all. I picked up a cheap 2nd frame (in the lurid lime) and built up ss with rigid forks and spare wheels. Have also run it geared and with suspension forks. Does everything admirably.

Mine has upper and lower rack mounts, but guess models may vary. Haven't toured on it, but done plenty of long rides and works well. Definitely great value.

The Boardman Pro 29er hardtail might be worth a look too. I think that had rack mounts and was a really nice, light bike with Reba fork, 11sp GX and Guide brakes.

I'll check the Boardman thanks, I was looking at newer models but they don't have tappered heatube unfortunately.

Thanks for all the replies, I kind of assumed the wheels would be the first thing to go, I'll just ride them until they need to be replaced.

IIRC some of the older Bizangos had different axles at either end of the bike, one bolt thru and one q/r, which might make finding replacement wheels a bit more tricky.

The Boardman Pro 29er hardtail might be worth a look too

I had one of these for a couple of years (sold it to a lad at work who still uses it).

Great bike for very little money. Nothing overly special or crap bits-wise but it licked on nicely for trail/XC type duties. Would happily get another one if the need and opportunity realigned once more.

I've got one. The 2016 model with bright yellow paint job (I got mine powder coated to a more subtle colour). It would be fine for bike packing.

That model year has full rack mounts on the seat stays so no P-clips needed. It also has two sets of bottle bosses inside the front triangle. Later ones don't have these.

Wheels are made of cheese - mine went years ago. I laced up some better rims and spokes to the same hubs and they're still going after thousands of miles.

You can fit a 29 x 2.4 at most on the rear due to clearance, so you can have a bit of comfort and volume.

The Suntour air fork isn't that bad - it's not high end by any means, but is fine for the bikes geometry and typical riding. I've still got the air fork but I run mine rigid these days.

IIRC some of the older Bizangos had different axles at either end of the bike

Still the same on the 2022 model. I think the 'pro' version has bolt-thru front and rear, but mine is bolt thru front and 9mm QR rear

Axles aren't really a problem if you look for wheels that can be converted, similar issue on my Ramin (try finding QR 29" wheels these days) so I picked up a set of Pro2's on Stans ZTR.

My sister rode from Canada to Mexico on one a few years back. An orange one, with Suntour forks and basic SRAM gears. just had a few punctures and it's still going! Think after various BC discounts back in 2017, it was about £450!

I've had a 2022 Bizango for about 16 months. Ridden around 5500 miles on it, but no bikepacking. Happy with it. Comments on the Suntour fork above are fair. Rear hub failed after about a year. Boost QR axle in a weird size (141mm?) which only seems to be available from Bontrager.

Seems like the 2023 model has proper 148mm boost rear hub...I'll try to get that version, then.

Only thing putting me off would be the weird boost QR 141mm rear axle. I've got a Bokor, basically same frame but with a standard boost bolt through rear end. The only thing on it standard is the frame and front wheel as things have been upgraded as they broke.

Mine also had a weird SRAM BB standard (Powerspline), so when the BB went I replaced the crankset for XT as there were only SRAM powerspline BB's which were expensive. Don't know if the Bizango is the same.

Boost QR axle in a weird size (141mm?) which only seems to be available from Bontrager.

Or just stick some QR caps on any Hope boost hub.

Mine's standard QR 100mm front, 135mm rear. If you're bike packing/touring I assumed older standards safer as any old bike shop should have something that will fit,. especially overseas.

That assumption could be about 15yrs out of date now though!

I bought a lightly used 2016 version for my first foray into mtb for peanuts. I bikepacked both the trans cambrian way and the SDW on it so I guess the answer to the OP is yes. I think it killed the fork so I rigidified it with an ican fork. I retensioned the spokes and the wheels were fine until the freewheel started playing up after 2 or 3 years.

Frame geo seemed spot on, mud clearance not so much.