How I became quiver curious by building a hardtail mountain bike

In 2019 I bought a Specialized Stumpjumper ST 27.5. It was the cheapest full suspension bike I could find that was modern and completely upgradable. Thru-axles, boost spacing. You could even convert it from a 130mm rear suspension to a 140mm if you swapped out the yoke. As I upgraded parts on the bike, over time I started to amass a pile of old parts. I had a complete bike sitting on my workbench, well almost a complete bike.

The parts bin dillema

What should I do with these parts though? I deemed them not worthy for the Stumpjumper, the brakes didn’t have enough bite for the really steep stuff. The fork not enough travel for big drops. The seat not comfy enough. Maybe I should just sell the parts?

After I had finished turning the Stumpjumper from a do it all trail rig into an enduro focused bomber I had started to notice some drawbacks. I no longer could climb as well as a 160mm fork had significantly slackened out the front. The 2.6 inch tires has put a sizable dent in my speed when cruising flat trails. Long XC rides were a bit more laborious. After narrowing the focus of this bike I now needed another bike to better suit the cross country rides. Lucky for me most of that bike was sitting on my workbench.

The parts I have and the ones I need

So far I had the following parts:

• Specialized 27.5” boost thru-axle front wheel
• Marin 27.5 135mm quick release rear wheel (All that was left of my Rift Zone after it was stolen off my car)
• Specialized Butcher and Grid tires
• Rockshox Recon RL 130mm boost thru-axle fork
• Specialized 760mm handle bars
• Tektro Gemini brake levers, rotors, and calipers
• Specialized grips
• Specialized saddle

I was missing some crucial components though. If I were to make this affordable I would need to source these without breaking the bank. I also didn’t want to over-spec what was essentially a parts bin build.

• Frame with 135mm rear axle spacing and a 1 1/8 – 1 ¼ headtube
• Dropper post
• Stem
• Drivetrain: Crankset, chain, rear derailleur, shifter, cassette, chain
• Headset

Needless to say, these are not trivial parts, nor are they inexpensive.

Drivetrain

At the time Microshift’s Advent X drivetrain had been out for a while and was getting some positive reviews as a budget friendly drivetrain option that offered a 11-48 cassette. I picked this all up at pandemic pricing, so not only was it hard to find in stock but also at full price. $175.96 for the shifter, rear derailleur, cassette, and chain.

Crankset

The only 1x crank I could find available at the time was the Suntour Zeron crankset. It came with a 30t and was pretty heavy and more expensive than Shimano or Sram crank. It didn’t matter though, because one crank in the hand is worth two in the bush. It cost me $71.96 but it did come with a bottom bracket.

Frame

The rear wheel 135mm spacing was limiting my options but also keeping costs down. Most frames available were doing away with the old quick release standard and had moved on to boost and thru-axles. I was able to pick up a Brand-X HT-01 for $143.99. It is a more cross country oriented frame but I was fine with this for a trail/xc build.

Dropper post

I could have really broken the bank on this one. I was lucky enough to pick up a 150mm Brand X ascend dropper post and lever for $122.54.

Headset

I grabbed a cane creek headset for $39.00

Stem

Amazon’d an Uno stem for 17.99.

Total cost of new parts

All in it cost me $571.44. Not a trivial amount for sure, but let’s compare the bike that I got with what I could have gotten for the price.

Comparable hardtail mountain bikes for the money

I don’t have the 2020 pricing for these bikes but I think even at today’s prices, my build is still a better option.

Specialized Rockhopper 29” $650

• 135mm rear dropouts
• 29” wheels
• 2×8 Microshift drivetrain
• 2x crankset
• Mechanical disc brakes
• No dropper post
• 90-100mm coil fork

Trek Marlin 4 $550

• 135mm drop outs
• 100mm qr coil fork
• 29” wheels
• 1x or 2x 7 speed Shimano tourney drivetrain
• No dropper post
• Mechanical disc brakes

I could list more but you get the idea. If I were to buy a complete bike I’d be spending more and getting less. Even at $600 you don’t get much bike for the money. Sure, I could’ve sold the pull-off parts from the Stumpjumper to fund a better spec’d bike, but to get a dropper post and an air fork on a bike you are looking at spending over $1000. I doubt I could’ve turned enough profit on the take-off parts to get as much bike as I did.

Performance

So, we’ve established why I built it, we’ve covered price. How does it ride? The first ride I took it on was an 8-mile loop that covered 7 miles of more cross country oriented uphill and 1 mile of some pretty technical descending. I hit some PRs on the climb and was pretty shook on the descent. It was still fun and very capable but wouldn’t be my first choice for that section of track. Overall, a great bike suited for XC oriented days and could even handle the rough stuff in a pinch. It would be a great loaner for visiting friends to ride as well.

At the end of the day I’d recommend this process for the quiver curious. Also, for those wanting to start building up a bike from scratch. I think for any serious cyclist, having a parts bin is a good insurance plan. Even if you don’t know how to install them yourself. If you break anything you’ll always have a backup. If you decide you don’t like the new setup you can always go back to how it was. Lastly, if you build up enough parts you may just get a new bicycle on the cheap. It’s like your bike multiplying before you eyes, cells dividing until you’re seeing double.

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Hardtail mountain bike components

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Did you build a parts bin bike? Tell me about it in the comments.