FINALLY!!! I finally understand Boost and Super Boost. Which just saved me from making a huge mistake. I was about to pull the trigger on a 1x12 XT groupset for my 135mm rear dropout width frame. Thank you!
Love to hear it! Going custom does allow you to dial in everything just right for you. That can be worth the extra effort and sometimes the extra costs.
Starting another project myself, a 2023 Propain Tyee whoop whoop! And yip' it's about the same price as building it on your own. Typically the first things to go right away are grips, pedals, seat and maybe handlebars. After a year of dedicated riding the crappy tires and even crappier dropper go too! Poof' go your savings 😂 Build it right for you the first time and just concentrate on keeping the maintenance up 👍
I was so close to purchasing this frame last month. But after seeing how much money I was going to need to just get the bike rideable, even with salvaging the drivetrain, bars and dropper from my old bike (26er hardtail), it still would've taken me another 6 months to come up with it. I needed a full squish for my trip coming up in 4 weeks. This frame is on a killer deal right now and completely worth it. I ended up spending $500 more for a cheap complete bike with a solid frame that I will upgrade over time while being able to ride it. If you have the money, this Evil frame is a steal. Maybe I'll pick it up down the line if they're still available.
Great point! It's definitely a good idea to calculate the costs before diving in. Sometimes it makes sense to build it up and other times it makes sense to start with a complete. Cheers!
I appreciate it I'm buying a frame kit and few of them as well to build a few mtbs I can sell I need a new mtb I work on minimum wage and I have to work within my budget
Thank you for this guide. It is super helpful. I have one question. It seems like today's bikes have super specific suspension for each bike model/brand. How can I get the correctly tuned shock/fork for my build?
Contact a reputable suspension tuner or find the leverage curve graph for your bike and see what is and isn't compatible. If you have a really linear bike, you might not want to go coil unless it's with a progressive spring, if you have a super progressive bike, you might not want to go air... etc. Push is known for only making shocks with tunes that are bike specific, Rockshox just started making a ton of new Vivid's that are bike-specific, Fox made some OEM stuff for Santa Cruz that is bike-specific... you'll just need to provide some tuners what you're looking for specifically and they can adjust accordingly.
The frame alone cost more than my budget permits. This is really for high end spenders not the average rider. In the end you looking a 3k+ easily. For that i buy a complete bike.
