I have £2k

I have the WW bug but limited knowledge.

My attempts at road build garnered numerous illmatched ebay 'bargains' that I am now selling at a loss.

I want to build (well present a box of bits to my bike guy) a decent lightweight hardtail for tearing round reasonably well surfaced bridleways, lanes and non technical single track. I want front suspension, discs and would like to get to no more than 20lb. I'm 6' - ideally a large or 18/19" I think. I think I'd manage it easier on a 26".

Does anyone want to treat this as a challenge and produce a build list or should I just get on my butt and spend hours perusing this site and make some costly mistakes?

A good starting point if you are on a tighter budget would be an On-One frame if you want to buy new. They are really cheap for what you get and the Whippet is pretty light. Think they are down from £500 to £300 just now. A good start point at 1300g but it's not the lightest. They are also selling a bundle with the frame and a set of Rock Shox Reba RL forks for £750 which is a good price assuming you are looking for 100ml travel!

From there you would have £1250 left. Say £300-400 on some handbuild wheels with Stans Alpine rims on some light ish hubs at around 1400g that should leave you a good amount for the groupset and finishing kit. Merlin are doing a full XT groupset including brakes for £545 just now! They have also got some really good offers on forks, where it would be cheaper to buy the Whippet frame from On-One, then the forks from Merlin. With careful choices on the rest of it 20 pounds should be achievable!

This is all assuming that you were wanting to buy new lol.

http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes ... tml?b=2548
49 pounds over budget will net you full XO, Rockshox SID RLT, DT swiss 1700 and ritchey gear on a full carbon frame.

The only way to get better value is to buy used, which you didn't have good experiences with, or if you wanted to build the bike yourself - but you've said you want to give it to your LBS to build.

The only downside to the canyon is you won't fit a nice set of handbuilt custom wheels in. But, everything else is damn fine.

After some longer rides I've re evaluated and blown the budget for more weight but greater useablility for me.

Salsa A La Carte Ti (big discount)
Rockshok SIDS 100mm
Pro2/Crest/DT comp
XTR 10sp triple group (ouch)
Hope Race X2 160/140mm floating rotors
USE sumo
KCNC scandium stem
Easton 90XC bars
KC headset and bb
Irate wife
Various pathetic justification strategies are being employed mainly along the lines of 1 decent road bike, 1 decent MTB etc.

I have sent you a PM.

With 2 grand to burn which is obviously a lot of money but in WW world not huge, I personally think that you're much better off buying some rich kids nearly new play thing rather than having to outlay or upgrade all new parts. As with cars, you never get back the money you pay out to upgrade when it comes to selling which is the buyers advantage.

Building up from scratch and new will not get you exactly what you want I wouldn't have thought, a little bit of ingenuity and second hand would be a much better bet.

If it's ultimate lightness then obviously carbon frame is your most important componant, I'd look at Whyte 19c, 20c, Rocky Mountain Vertex or Scott Scales but that's just my personal prefs.

With some ingenuity and patience you could easily get below 20lbs and quite a bit lighter for £2,000.

I've taken a budget Weenie approach for my bike after very nearly opting for the £2,000 route myself, I've dropped 2lbs off my bike for very little outlay or effort.
I'm posting a detailed listing shortly.

Another bonus of second hand is that if you're not happy with the part or it's not quite what you wanted then it's straight back on ebay or Pinkbike for what your original outlay was.

Good luck, it'll be interesting to see what you end up going with

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Bike: 2012 Boardman HT Pro MTB - 21.949lbs / 9.956kg (for now...)