Rigid mountain bikes

Stooge, supplied frame & fork (various models available secondhand or get in the queue for a new one) so you'll need to build it yourself or get it built. Fantastic rigid bikes, I have a Mk4 mullet wheels and had a Mk1 650b+. Hannah of STW fame had one and has featured in the mag.

👆👆👆 Yeah but he said no steel.
Ludicrous position imho, but it takes all sorts. 🙂

Most fat / half fat bikes can often take 29er wheels.

👆👆👆 Yeah but he said no steel.

Ludicrous position imho, but it takes all sorts. 🙂

Im asking for a rigid mountain bike so there's obviously something wrong with me 🤣

I just don't get steel. It's heavy, it rusts. It's more expensive and when you have at least 29er x 2.6 inch tyres you can't really feel the frame in my opinion.

You do get some very good steel frame and forks that don't weigh shed loads but there's a premium for that.

I'm happy with aluminium or carbon

@damascus you'll find a lot of bikes built specifically for rigid riding are steel...

Stooge, Surly, Brother are 3 that come to mind.

Why no love for steel? 😉

I just don’t get steel. It’s heavy, it rusts. It’s more expensive and when you have at least 29er x 2.6 inch tyres you can’t really feel the frame in my opinion.

Must admit I feel the same way, chunky tyres have transformed the (previously harsh) ride of two of my bikes...

I like the look of the skinny tubes but have never ridden a steel bike (discounting my late 80s Peugeot Carbolite 10speed)..

There aren't many off the shelf rigid mtb's available as far as I know, and even less that aren't steel

You could look to Olsen bikes? All Ti, rigid available

I don't know the models, but this looks decent if you have some parts laying around:
https://olsenbikes.co.uk/products/swan-titanium-mtb-rolling-chassis

Why no love for steel? 😉

I do a bit of bike packing, I've spent small fortunes updating kit to save 100 grams. I just can't bring myself to add kgs to a frame and fork! When I can't feel the difference in ride quality.

Must admit I feel the same way, chunky tyres have transformed the (previously harsh) ride of two of my bikes…

Glad I've got some support 😁

There aren’t many off the shelf rigid mtb’s available as far as I know, and even less that aren’t steel

Yes, that's what I've found, they are few are far between. Looks like I might just buy the trek 1120 fork and keep the scandal going. Maybe treat it to a new drive train instead.

Next to no off the shelf rigid builds these days. Kona unit perhaps or surly but that’s the steel thing which you don’t want. Not up to date with what models they have but the trek stache could tick boxes perhaps? May need to be second hand.

Tricky if you don’t want steel

Carbon hard tail with a carbon fork (like an Enve or Travers prong)

It’s heavy, it rusts

Heavy - maybe, depends - my El Mariachi is about 26lbs with no effort at all on saving weight, except the carbon fork. Oh and the tyres are decently light, 2.3 Racing Ralphs.

Only certain grades of steel rust though, decent ones don't. As for expensive - I can't say these days but mine wasn't.

I'd maybe reconsider the 2.6" tyre requirement as well. 2.3s are fine for me I'm about 90(ish) kg and it's very rocky here in South Wales, and that's enough to go as fast as is feasible on a rigid bike. I run 23psi in them.

All steel apart from stainless rusts internally unless it has had some kind of dip treatment. I've repaired rotted through Reynolds 853 so the fancy steel won't rust is definitely a myth.

Specialized Chisel allegedly takes a 2.5 tyre and that is about as light and springy as aluminium gets. Frame only and add your own fork, but probably cheaper to get a complete bike and sell the unused sus fork.

Ridley used to do a nice rigid hardtail - Merlin has them and looked quite nice but all sold a while ago.

If steel is out of the question (which is a crying shame in my opinion as a Stooge Mk4 owner), why not go the whole hog and get a Ti Jones? There’s one for sale on LFGSS at the moment that the owner did the GDMBR on…

Can't say I like the look of either the Frontier or the 1120. The Trek is more obviously disgusting, but the Frontier also has something about it I dislike, the geometry at the front vs geometry at the rear, maybe it would look better in the flesh. - not that what i think about them should matter to you! -

I recently realized a 2.6" tyre easily fits inside Exotic CC forks, so have got a Slaughter 27.5 x 2.6" up front, and a Minion SS 27.5 x 2.4" rear. Pumped up the tyres hard so it rips on the road, but need to let a little out to reduce the jarring off road (think I put ~ 40 psi in the front initially!). Frame is a cheap BX HT-01 from CRC and if I remember rightly, 29er Exotic forks to make up for the lack of the recommended 120-140mm sus fork for that frame.

not that what i think about them should matter to you! –

I know exactly what you mean. A rigid frame and fork should look like they belong together rather than an after thought.

I was sure I'd seen mention of Sonder Broken Road with a rigid fork but no pics on their website. It takes 100mm fork as standard though so could be swapped for a rigid one.
Where does titanium fit in the 'not steel' wish list? It is also 3 times the price of the Frontier and the Frontier comes with a fork!

Where does titanium fit in the ‘not steel’ wish list?

There's always room for titanium, preferably raw and unpainted. The only issue with ti is price. Needs to have a good warranty too.

Found an old pic with matchy matchy fork on an image search. A couple of bikes down the article below.
https://www.bikeradar.com/news/sonder-a-new-bike-brand-from-british-outdoors-experts-alpkit/
Certainly looks the business. No idea how it stacks up in geometry to what you are looking for.

The Sonder is the obvious choice. They’ll do any build you want. I wonder if they’d let you supply your own fork.

The only other thing I can come up with is this. But it’s expensive and not really what you want.

Orbea Alma M-Ltd

So as above it’s probably about making a hard tail rigid

But it’s expensive and not really what you want.

Its on sale! Just £6999 😝

https://www.jejamescycles.com/product/2814849/orbea-orbea-alma-m-ltd-mtb-carbon-gold-2022/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxMmhBhDJARIsANFGOSsFSP8odv72iIaW1Qqk1WxStA_BSP3n1c3T9D4pYtmgGF2nhmtBC7YaArfxEALw_wcB

On One Whippet.

First light MTB I've ever owned and realised a very light bike is significantly faster on the hills and acceleration. So much that I choose that over my full sus most the time, simply because it's less work to ride, and much less maintenance. The full sus is only better on decents and very long rides.

Steel is no good if you want lightweight. It might be more comfortable, but that flex will depend on your weight; a very light rider probably won't benefit from a steel frame's characteristics.

I have a Sonder Broken Road and alpkit swapped the fork to a carbon pathfinder fork which can be seen on there site

Might also know one coming up for sale if you are XL...

Might also know one coming up for sale if you are XL…

I'm 6ft3 🙂

I didn't know alpkit sold them separately. That makes a new build n the c2w scheme a possibility. 🤔

£339

https://alpkit.com/products/pathfinder

Looks similar to planet x carbon fork with 3 bolts. They don't advertise it but you can spec it on a build if you email them, £250.

Still hard to beat the trek 1120 fork that has the front rack mounts and is slightly longer at 510 a2c.

https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/frames-forks-c6/rigid-forks-c51/trek-1120-adventure-touring-fork-p20815

I’ve repaired rotted through Reynolds 853 so the fancy steel won’t rust is definitely a myth.

Conversely I have owned lots of steel bikes that haven't rusted (beyond a tiny bit of surface rust) even when the paint's been scratched off, so there must be something happening to make some bikes rust and not others.

I've never kept bikes in a cold damp shed though.

First light MTB I’ve ever owned and realised a very light bike is significantly faster on the hills and acceleration.

Simply not true. A bike weighing 2kg less will in no way be "significantly" faster. A lighter bike (especially tyres) feel a lot nicer to ride and handle to me so it is more important than outright speed but a 2kg difference in weight will make a pretty much unnoticeable difference in overall speed.
I have 10 years of Strava ride data that tells me that...

Titus Silk Road? PX have done them for £999 in the recent past, with Eagle GX.
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They've also done frame only for @ £350, so maybe worth a look...

All steel apart from stainless rusts internally unless it has had some kind of dip treatment. I’ve repaired rotted through Reynolds 853 so the fancy steel won’t rust is definitely a myth.

My shand is some form of fancy steel.  At the dropouts it is unpainted.  No rust at all.  I don't think its true stainless steel but clearly has anti rust properties

I just don’t get steel. It’s heavy, it rusts

I've got a 26 year old Kona that is neither heavy nor rusty 🤷

One 'environmental' issue to throw into the mix is that steel frames require far less energy to manufacture than any other material, alu is next, then Ti, with carbon pretty horrific on this and almost every other measure too. Harmful when disposed of, nasty stuff. Anyone got a link to the research that Trek published?
Confession: I like the way steel rides.

I do a bit of bike packing, I’ve spent small fortunes updating kit to save 100 grams. I just can’t bring myself to add kgs to a frame and fork! When I can’t feel the difference in ride quality.

I see your point about big tyres making the relative harshness of aluminium less of an issue than it used to be, but I think you are overestimating the weight penalty of steel here.

This is the only thing I could find now, but if you take a Niner steel and aluminum gravel bike, then with all else equal the former is only a few hundred grams heavier.

https://www.ninerbikes.com/products/rlt-9-steel/
https://www.ninerbikes.com/products/rlt-9/

The fork has a bigger impact I think, given that carbon forks are close to a kg lighter than a heavy, tapered, thru axle steel fork.

Rust is also pretty easily avoided with something like ED coating. They can be expensive though, no arguing with that.

@highlandman

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/carbon-frames-produce-more-emissions-than-alloy-and-more-key-points-from-treks-sustainability-report.html

I'm not fan of steel. Had a few, and they've never struck me as particularity 'magical'. I borrowed a Kona Explosif for a day on the back of glowing reviews from it's owner and it remains the dullest bike I've ever ridden.

I’m not fan of steel. Had a few, and they’ve never struck me as particularity ‘magical

I've got a Kona and a PP Shan, both steel

Wouldn't have the faintest idea if they ride any nicer than alu though, they are just bikes 🤷🤣

Big enough tyres (true 2.4-2.5) and a good, non XC race type of riding position is what makes rigid MTBs fast imo. The ability to hold speed through having confidence you won't be pinged off too easily. You will be bounced about to some extent, it's just how much the bike will let you cope with before you get to the point where you're backing off or just off.

Non-stainless steel rusts, for sure. Oxidisation. Rust in frames or forks isn't an issue generally and stripping a frameset down now and then and sluicing it through will minimise or eliminate that. A lot of good frames are ED coated internally now.
Rust in a fatigue-focussed area that's likely to pool water is more of a concern, those heavily crimped chainstays some bikes have bother me in that respect.

@luvtoride I think I put a psa on stw about the Titus silk Road when it was around that price. I was really tempted, a ti frame for £350 but there's just something about the frame that doesn't look right to me.

How does it ride? Are you happy with it?

Spa Cycles Rove in ti or 725.
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m11b0s143p4971/SPA-CYCLES-Titanium-Rove-Frameset

If this were available a couple of months ago I would have bought one over the 725 genesis vagabond that I ended up with.

Simply not true. A bike weighing 2kg less will in no way be “significantly” faster. 

Maybe not under laboratory conditions, but in reel world it will feel like it is. I've tried riding heavier bikes and they do nothing for me. It's always a default back to light and lively.

I'd just choose a hardtail you like and whack a rigid fork on it. Seen a few nice ones like that, nukeproof scouts, ragley big al, identiti aka

Simply not true. A bike weighing 2kg less will in no way be “significantly” faster.

Maybe not on a 20 mile Sunday ride but on a bike packing trip where your legs and body are tired, having a 1kg tent vs a 3kg tent will make a big difference to me when cycling/pushing up a big hill.

But as above, I think a lot of weight different is in the forks. A steel bike with a carbon fork will not be 2kg heavier.

stripping a frameset down now and then and sluicing it through will minimise or eliminate that.

Sounds like a lot of effort for something I don't see any benefits from.

But this isn't a thread about steel vs other inferior materials.

Thanks for your input so far. Any more suggestions?

I love both my Pace HTs.

RC627 with 140mm up front, for the lumps and jumps, and ...

RC127 Surly rigid forks, 2.25" tires on 35mm rims, MicroShift AdventX. A great bike for going a long way through the Moors and Dales. Plans of bike packing are forming... T

Not off the shelf but pair a yeti arc frame with a carbon fork? Reckon that'd be a fast grountain bike 😜

Not off the shelf but pair a yeti arc frame with a carbon fork? Reckon that’d be a fast grountain bike 😜

I'm surprised that there aren't a lot of off the shelf options. I guess the rise of gravel bikes has killed off the market.

I guess it's too much to ask for a colour matched front fork unless it's black 😢

What rigid form would be suitable for a 140mm forked big al?

A fat bike with a regular sized set of wheels. I had a Salsa Mukluk carbon with 29x2.4 tyres, was rapid, and very direct, if not especially forgiving but bigger tyres would have solved that.

https://www.vitalmtb.com/community/Tom-Howard,49177/setup,39077

I guess it’s too much to ask for a colour matched front fork unless it’s black 😢

Get it sprayed?

Apologies as slightly OT. TJ - I'm pretty sure your Shand has Paragon Polydrop dropouts and the bits fused to your chainstays / seatstays are stainless steel (they only make them in SS and Ti).

I've no great problem with steel rusting internally. I recently reused a 9 year old rear triangle for my commuter. It looked horrific when I chopped the downtube but cleaned up fine to stick on a new front end (no ed coating, just drain holes and Boeshield).

But the idea that untreated fancy bike steels don't rust is just dreamland - the composition of 853, Ox Plat etc isn't close to being stainless.

Search for a used Indy Fab Ti deluxe; rigid andSS.
Rarer than hen's teeth.
Alternatively, order a new one - bespoke to your dimensions/preferences.
I have a steel deluxe - bought third hand; kept frame and fork; disposed of everything else and rebuilt with new components; stripped back to bare metal; repainted; pro gold for tube interiors; touch up any paint chips or use invisiframe/similar.
Steel can take loads of abuse, is infinitely (?) repairable but benefits from a little more TLC than other frame materials.

What rigid form would be suitable for a 140mm forked big al?

Bird blank forks

@damascus, not sure this has come up yet: do want the option of running single speed without a tensioner?

Slight stealth advert!
I have a Travers Russ titanium frameset for sale soon.
Changing bike to FS.
It's a great bike packing rig and will fit 29 x 2.4 tyres and 27.5 X 3.25 plus tyres.
It is a custom built frameset as it is an XL frame when they only made a large.
It suited me at 6'2" and 34" inside leg.
Cost me £1600 at the time but looking for £850 O.N.O.
Email: singlespeedtothemax1@hotmail.co.uk
for more info and pictures.
Thanks Max.

not sure this has come up yet: do want the option of running single speed without a tensioner?

Years of playing basket ball means my knees can't take single speeding, especially round West Yorkshire hills.

Years of playing basket ball means my knees can’t take single speeding, especially round West Yorkshire hills.

That makes things a lot easier. The easiest thing to do will def be to just look any short-travel hardtail that you like and switch out the forks. I don't know of any rigid-specific frames that aren't steel, although some Ti ones will exist I'm sure.

@tomhoward

A fat bike with a regular sized set of wheels. I had a Salsa Mukluk carbon with 29×2.4 tyres, was rapid, and very direct, if not especially forgiving but bigger tyres would have solved that.

When I was googling rigid mtbs I found a post from you a few years ago when you mentioned this, that's kind of what set me off down this rabbit hole.

Are there any fat bikes that take 110x15 front hubs and 148x12 rear hubs? Or are they all fat hubs for fat bikes? I note yours was "Hubs: Hope Fatsno"

What did your bike weigh with 29x2.4 tyres?

Andrew Major of NSMB and the Meat engines is a fan of rigid bikes and has had a few pretty awesome custom ones made.

They’re pretty out there geometry-wise but he seems to think he’s found the (his) dream numbers.

What about getting a suspension forked bike with modern geo and then just get fork that is made to replicate the A2C of a suspension fork? That would give you a much wide range of options in all types of frame material.

You’d also be able to pick your choice of hub width and allow more modern geometry.

If any of your options seem to have too steep head angles you can always fit an angleset to slacken them out.

Sounds like a lot of effort for something I don’t see any benefits from.

People service suspension at time or financial cost, same thing to me? : )

It's not really necessary, likewise not a bad idea if you like pottering about in the garage and looking after stuff.

Are there any fat bikes that take 110×15 front hubs and 148×12 rear hubs?

Not proper ones. Mine were 15x150 and 12x197mm, which is pretty much standard nowadays I think.

Was around 24lbs, with no real consideration for weight saving, 28lbs with 26x4.8 wheels/tyres. For reference, my current steel 29x2.6 hardtail is 32lbs

I bought a Mark 1 rigid Frontier. The alloy fork is very rigid though. I then bought a Broken road TI and put the 100mm front fork in the Frontier and use thar as my wrecking ball. Cost next to nothing and does what it does.
I then bought a Travers XC Prong and put that in the Brokenroad. It's my go to bike, take it everywhere and ride everything on it.
If cost is prohibitive then I have run the Prong in the Frontier which makes it 100% better but doesn't ride as plush as the Brokenroad. Fork is brilliant in my opinion and will easily take a 2.6.
Someone mentioned the bad look of the Frontier. The MK 2 which has bolt through axles looks horrible. Backend is a dog in my opinion.

Modern bike with the bird rigid forks would give the greatest range of options. Sell the forks whatever you buy comes with and put the money into correct A2C forks like the bird, prongs, etc.

When genesis did the Tarn as a rigid option it came with well regarded carbon forks, may be some kicking around second hand?

These are cheap and apparently replicate 120mm suspension forks https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/FOSEC27V2/selcof-carbon-275-or-29er-fork#FOSEC27V2-MBK

When genesis did the Tarn as a rigid option it came with well regarded carbon forks, may be some kicking around second hand?

This is what I've currently got on my one on scandal. The forks are great!

When I started this thread I was expecting stw to bombard me with links to amazing bikes with colour coded matching rigid forks but that hasn't happened.

So I'm left with buying a mtb and adding carbon forks which is what I've already got. The genesis tarn forks are just missing the 3 bolts for strapping bags to them, other than that, they are perfect.

I have a Mk2 Frontier, currently set up with Sonder carbon forks. I think it rides great, but use it mainly as ‘gravel bike’ and for bikepacking. I had a Broken Road for a while and didn’t think it was worth the ££ over the Frontier.

Best riding rigid bike I’ve ever had was a Mk1 Stooge.

What is wrong with the Scandal and what are you looking to achieve with a new bike?

Not all steel is the same. My 853 frame is 2500g so gives up 500g or less compared to Alu or Ti frames. I got it built with the geo and features I wanted for a fraction of Ti and there are very few nice alu frames around.

Spend a bit more on a high end carbon fork and you will have eaten in to that weight difference by a few 100g compared to a cheapy carbon fork (my Whisky fork is 615g cut).

So I’m left with buying a mtb and adding carbon forks which is what I’ve already got.

What is the problem with that?

I think people are struggling on this tread because it isn't really clear what you want.

"Lightest" option is find a slackish carbon bike and buy a Travers Prong/ ENVE/ etc fork (browse the bikepacking site for a full list of forks with mounting threads).

Something like a BMC Twostroke plus nice rigid fork would be closeish maybe? Personally when looking at light, distance covering bikes I would be looking more "XC" than "Trail"- what is the point of a nice light bike if you have to have a super tall rigid fork and have the bars sky high to preserve geo?

Anyway, I went custom steel to have everything I want, perfect geo and a bling colour for the "cost" of around 500g compared to alu/ Ti I was looking at instead 🙂

Sorry I have no more bike suggestions but:

Maybe not on a 20 mile Sunday ride but on a bike packing trip where your legs and body are tired, having a 1kg tent vs a 3kg tent will make a big difference to me when cycling/pushing up a big hill.

I agree with this, but for the same reasons (and reasons of rolling resistance) there's no way I would be fitting 2.6 inch tyres to such a bike!

I'd view the Frontier as a downgrade, at best a match for what the OP already has. The Trek has interested me in the past, but is a different bike altogether.

Like the OP, having ridden a fair number of steel frames, I prefer a light stuff aluminium frame and currently have a rigid Scandal on the go myself. In his position I'd just replace stuff when it breaks, maybe get a spendy fork if he really needs to chuck some cash about.
[img] [/img]

2.3 to 2.6 is about +200g per tyre for a similar casing? I wouldn't worry about it tbh if the volume suits where/how you ride. Bigger volume tyres can roll more efficiently off-road anyway, I'm more convinced of that from loaded riding.

Want

Nordest do these in titanium too

Whatever the first thing wzzz posted. I want one too. Deets man deets

^ looks like one of Peter Verdone's custom projects.

It is.

Pvd super marine spitfire.

Christ his blog is terrible.

Krampus fork in the classifieds that would be a cheap way to bikepack in your current bike.

Suspension corrected and All the mounts you could want

@damascus, I'd be wary of going down the fatbike route if your knees are an issue. Some knees don't get on with the 100mm wide bottom bracket and wide q-factor. Might not be an issue for yours, but it's another item for the "Hmmm..." column

I have 27.5 2.8 wheels on my Whippet if that helps.

I have 27.5 3/2.8 and 29 2.6/2.4 set ups for my whippet both on fairly cheap and relatively heavy wheels. I'm wondering whether 29/2.8 front and 27.5/2.8 rear might not be the best combination if I'm going to spend some money on a set of wheels. Great bike though and I certainly don't need more than it for what I ride. I happily did the sdw in a day last year with no issues on the 29 wheels but the 27.5's are more fun.

as a lover of all things rigid, big rubbered and singlespeed I have this at the moment, as one of my Ti fleet. also have loads of steel rigids

It has triple cage mounts, will take a 29x3.00 front max 2.6 in the rear loads of space for frame bags and storage doodads. it will be moshing around the Dirty Reiver in a couple of weeks so more than capable and comfy for 200km in a sitting

@zippykona do you have any more photos of your Whippet? There's an orange frame I've got my eye on to do the same thing with...what frame size do you have?

If you must have Alu, other frames worth considering are Santa Cruz Chameleon and Salsa Timberjack Al. Difficult to get hold of either, but both adaptable and bikepacking friendly, but don't think they'd really give you much over the Scandal, other than a few mounts and some branding!

Here you go ifab

Thanks! That looks much cooler in real life than in online/studio photos and there's a cheap frame on eBay...