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HI all, well i recently fell upon a Diamondback Scree 1.0 Frame in a medium size, its a 27.5 hardtail and i thought what the heck why not build a hardtail trail basher, i am looking at 120mm to 140mm air forks up front and a 1x9 drivetrain (preferably sram) any advice on parts and recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I am on a budget so most of my stuff wheels forks etc will be bought used. Has anyone built up the same bike in a similar guise. i know the Scree doesnt have a great following as it was marketed poorly and equipped with the crappiest forks gears brakes etc ever so not a great start for a bike but maybe the frame in itself could be a good start.
Anyway ideas recommendations
regards
Phil
Not much idea on forks, haven't bought a set myself in years, but that's partly why I posted. I have Manitou's on my (29er) bike and they've been faultless for years, so don't discount Manitou when looking for them. You also don't say budget other than you're on one, but not sure what that means to different people, and whether you're looking for as cheap as poss or £500 forks for £200.
On drivetrain.....with a spec like pref SRAM and pref 1x9 you've narrowed it substantially already, and I'd maybe advise against. 1x10 gives more ratio (your other post says Lancs so assume there is some climbing) and there'll be way more available and also as stuff breaks or wears out easier to get spares, Deore 1x10 with an ebay or amazon 1x10 wide cassette would be my suggestion. Light enough and functional enough to enjoy riding it, cheap enough that you won't cry into your chips if it breaks
Im not sure many 9 speed groups have a clutch mech so if I were you I’d look at 10 speed. I ran a GX10 speed clutch mech with an 11-42 Sunrace cassette a few years back abs that worked ok. Either a Gx / x9/ x7 10 speed shifter will work.
Deore 10 speed is another option as long as you get the newer rear mechs that handles a wide range cassette.
If you’re looking at a budget fork then a Rockshox recon with either gold or black stanchions (avoid silver ones as they corrode easily as steel) is a reasonable option. I used on on a budget build for my nephew recently and it’s decent. Paid £140 ish for it brand new from cRC I think.
The cranks and wheels are difficult to get a bargain on. I don’t know what your frame is but if it’s non boost / 9mm qr and the fork is bolt through 100 or 110 x 15 then you’ll struggle to get matching wheels off the shelf. I bought a Shimano xt rear hub for £35 and a Superstar V6 front hub for £35 and built the wheels up myself using budget Sapim Leader spokes and some Alex Rims from Tredz that were pretty cheap but robust (a little heavy though).
Just to add it’s not worth throwing loads of money at that frame IMO - it’s just a budget alloy frame and I think the whole bike it came on was sub £350. A reasonably decent budget frame is the Brand X hardtail from Chain Reaction - that’s what I started with as a base for my nephew’s bike build recently - £120 delivered it cost and it’s quite a nice thing for the money. Pretty light but robust, modern but not slack geometry (seat tube height on the Large is a bit longer than ideal) - with Recon Gold solo airs, the XT / Superstar / Alex rims wheelset, 11 speed mixture of components (deore mech / slx shifter / Sunrace cassette / Sram NX dub crank), Clark’s M4 brakes etc it came to just under £900 and weighs about 28lbs. He loves it.
OP, I would do some careful maths.
It sounds like you are thinking of changing everything but the frame...?
If that is the case, you may be better and cheaper looking for a complete second hand bike.
I would also say - 10sp gives you more ratios and clutch mech.
Before you spend any money, check that the frame can take tapered forks. There's no point in spending money on straight steerer forks.
Even if it can, you're probably better just buying a decent second-hand bike than trying to buy all the parts and build it up.