I have a nice 29'er FS trail bike that does evrything pretty well, and a 29'er drop bar franken / gravel bike thingy (Salsa Cutthroat)
so I have no need for a mtb hardtail
but - over the last few years I have built up a parts bin including 140mm 29'er Pike (stanctions a bit discoloured so probabably hard to sell but working fine), a decent wheelset (rear boost), a 1 x 11 drivetrain, bar and stem. So all I'd need is a frame, brakes, dropper... and I'd have a bike I probably wouldn't really have time to use
go on - talk me into / out of it!
It is perfectly fitting to create a "shed bike", even if you never ride the thing. I've done it countless times. My favourite was realising I had everything but a frame, and picked up a scuffed up £80 DMR trailstar frame off of ebay. Nothing matched, the hoses were all held in place with zip ties, but I had endless fun on that thing.
Someone once suggested that because it wasn't in any way precious or pretty or expensive, I allowed myself to properly thrash it. I think they may have been right.
So go on - get yourself a second-hand frame with scratches all over it. Shimano brakes are cheap as you like, and you don't even need a dropper. Build it up - enjoy the project, take pictures of your shoddy, colour-uncoordinated pride and joy and then ride it off a cliff.
EDIT: Found the bugger -
Do it - even if it's just a spare bike/winter hack.
I'm sure you'll be able to find a second hand frame pretty easily or On One are doing a cheap trail 29er imminently i think.
Shed bikes are awesome. Feel it's a right of passage building something out of dubious old or just plain knackered parts. The more mismatched colours the better.
Bird Zero 29. You could also get one of their own brand droppers for it.
go on build it up. I bet you will use it.
Sonder Signal Ti
the Sonder looks lovely, not really a garage bike though!
My only bike is a shed bike!
Go for it Charlie-nowt to loose,if you don't like it sell it on.Maybe build a mud bike for the other 6 months of ....... not this.
Didn't On One have a list of reasonably priced new frame designs in the pipeline?
You lost me at don’t need a hardtail. A decent hardtail is all the bike you’ll ever need. A parts bin special is even better 😀
Haha, I have literally just done this and despite a shed full of tidy bikes, I am having so much fun on my "new" steed, I have been riding it more than any of the others since the build. Bit of a Franken-bike with a 29er frame, 140mm X fusion straight steerer QR forks off my old 26er, 27.5 wheels with 2.6 tyres, an old external dropper, 2x10 xt and SLX brakes. The head angle I measured at 69 which is 1 degree slacker than it was with 29" wheels and 100mm forks. BB is a bit lower but higher than my Scott Spark. And it rides really, really well. I loves it 🙂
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FWIW I was going to sell the frame for £100 as it is so beat up (looks better in the pic than it is), so you should be able to find a cheap frame somewhere if you look long enough.
So that’s about 11 nil in favour. You lot are useless
So my ‘shed’ bike would be a sonder ti or bird with arches on hope, xt shifter / mech, Hope cassette, kinesis carbon bars, pikes, race face next rallye cranks....
I had a set of tyres. And gears and brakes, bars/stem and seat post/saddle, pedals cranks and bb.
Ended up buying a surly karate monkey frameset, and wheels.
Favourite bike i own, but technically a shed bike.
I did that and now ride my HT 90% of the time. It’s an awful lot harder to ride a HT well in my opinion. It really punishes poor technique. But feels extremely rewarding to when you get it right.
Build shed bike. Upgrade shed bike. Build shed bike from parts. Upgrade....
Yeah I had some parts that I stuck on a tatty old 456C frame that a mate gave me. It’s now my go-to bike. Love it.
