Back in the 2000s, riders would often buy a mountain bike frame and build it up with their choice of parts.
That way, you dodged the outdated cockpit kit and cheap tyres that came on most complete bikes, could fit components better suited to your style of riding (in the UK, often a single chainring) and, if you were canny with your purchases, might even save a little money.
But then manufacturers caught up and started fitting wider bars, shorter stems, better rubber and 1x drivetrains, so that most new bikes were pretty sorted.
Add to that the rise of online ‘direct-sale’ brands, which brought prices down, and suddenly ‘self-builds’ didn’t make so much sense. Or at least, not from a financial standpoint.
Is that still the case, though, or with all the turmoil in the bike industry and the price of bikes soaring, could self-builds make a comeback?
And, money aside, are there other benefits to this approach? I decided to put a bike together ourselves with a budget of £3,500 to find out…
The Spec
Frame: RAAW Jibb – £1,493
Shock: Fox Float X - Inc. with frame
Fork: Manitou Mattoc Expert – £700
Brakes: Magura MT5 Pro Set – £259.99
Wheels: Hunt Trail Wide – £479
Front tyre: Specialized Butcher T9 Grid Trail 29x2.3in – £45
Rear tyre: Specialized Eliminator T7 Grid Trail 29x2.3in – £37.50
Drivetrain: Shimano Deore M6100 w/ SLX M7100 cranks and XT M8100 shifter – £422.89
Headset: Cane Creek Hellbender – Inc. with frame
Stem: e*thirteen Base 35, 40mm – £49.95
Bar: e*thirteen Base 35, 35mm rise – £35.95
Grips: DMR Deathgrips – £23
Saddle: DMR OiOi – £40
Seatpost: OneUp V2, 240mm – £199.99
Dropper lever: Brand-X Ascend – £24.99
Seat clamp: RAAW - Inc. with frame
Total cost: £3,845.50
1. The budget
The first step was deciding how much to spend. My aim wasn’t to create a ridiculously cheap bike, but one that offered decent performance on a reasonable budget, so I looked at the top-spec alloy bikes from the big brands and used these as my benchmark.
Pairing an aluminium frame with mid-range kit, these generally cost between £3,500 and £4,000, with the exception of a few outliers, so an upper limit of £4,000 seemed sensible – aligning well with our Trail Bike of the Year test.
I broke this down into roughly £1,800 for the frame and shock, £800 for the fork, £450 for the wheels and tyres, £400 for the drivetrain, £250 for the brakes and £300 for the cockpit kit.
This was going to be tough.
“Hang on a minute,” I hear you say. “This was supposed to be a £3,500 bike.”
You’re right, but I'm talking a £4,000 budget at full recommended retail price, which is what we always go by (unless permanently discounted), because online deals fluctuate so much.
If you were to build this bike, you could easily lop off £500 by shopping around.
2. The frame
Many modern frame-only options are carbon fibre, but I wanted to stick with more affordable and durable aluminium alloy – not least because of the £1,800 price limit.
Other criteria included an XL size option, modern geometry, 29in wheels and up to 150mm of suspension travel.
That left me with a handful of options, including four designed in the UK.
I discounted the Privateer 141 because the new version wasn’t available yet (it is now, for £1,889), crossed the Nukeproof Reactor 290 Alloy (£1,899.99) off my list due to the brand’s uncertain future and realised the XL Bird Aether 9’s (from £1,513) chainstays were too short for my preferences.
Sorely tempted by the Saracen Ariel 30 X (£1,500), in the end, I decided to go for something a little more exotic.
RAAW’s Jibb would have previously exceeded my budget, but because the German brand has been working on a second-generation bike, it has reduced the price.
My frame worked out at a bargain £1,493 complete with top-spec Fox Float X Factory shock and Cane Creek headset.
Buying from Europe has its drawbacks, though – shipping is an additional £22, and I was charged £12.80 in customs duty and £131.42 in import VAT.
The Jibb looks spot-on for UK riding, built from tough 6066-T6 alloy and designed around a 150mm fork and 135mm of rear-wheel travel. It has massive bearings, ample tyre clearance and – importantly for a self-build – a screw-in bottom bracket and external cable routing.
It’s not super-light, with the XL frame weighing 4.46kg (with shock, axle, brake mount and seat collar), but it is solidly made.
3. The fork
With such a great shock, I needed a fork that would provide a good balance, with a solid chassis, controlled damping and meaningful adjustment.
RockShox and Fox’s best suspension forks were way over budget, and many of their mid-range options are for bike brands only.
My budget left me with two options at the stouter end of the ‘trail’ spectrum – the Fox-owned Marzocchi Z1 (£799) and the RockShox Lyrik Select (£813), both with relatively basic damping.
(There’s the Yari RC, too, but that has the ancient Motion Control damper.)
So, I spread the net, looking at the SR Suntour DUROLUX36 (from £600), X-Fusion McQueen (£650) and DVO Diamond D2 (£699.95), among others, before settling on the Manitou Mattoc Expert (£700).
I’ll admit, I was taken by the retro graphics, but the brand has done well in our tests. While the 34mm stanchions are on the skinny side, Manitou claims it’s still suitable for 'light enduro', due in part to its reverse arch.
The mid-range Expert model uses an open-bath rather than sealed-cartridge damper and forgoes the ‘Infinite Rate Tune’ spring of the top model.
There’s no external high-speed damping adjustment, but you do get a low-speed compression dial, plus the usual rebound adjuster.
4. The wheels
Wheel choice was easy – Hunt’s Trail Wide V2s are well-priced (£479/pair) and well-regarded, with a 30mm internal width, a higher spoke count at the rear and a decent all-in weight of 1,800g. Rubber was a more difficult decision.
It’s hard to go wrong with Maxxis or Schwalbe, but their top-spec tyres will set you back more than £70 each.
It’s a similar story with Continental and WTB. Newcomers-to-MTB, Pirelli and Goodyear, have some slightly cheaper options, as does VEE (although it currently lacks a UK distributor).
It’s Specialized that arguably offers the best performance-to-price ratio, though, so I opted for a 2.4in Butcher in the T9 compound up-front, paired with a 2.3in Eliminator T7, both in the GRID Trail casing. Total price, £82.50!
5. The brakes
Shimano has several good sub-£300 options (Deore, ZEE, MT520), but these are common on complete bikes, as are SRAM’s Level brakes, and I fancied something different.
UK brand Clarks is the king when it comes to pure affordability, but I felt the frame warranted something more refined.
Enter Magura with the MT5 Pro Set – two four-piston calipers, two one-finger levers and two rotors (203 and 180mm) for £259.99. You can’t argue with that.
I coughed up for a set of Shimano I-Spec adaptors, too, so I could integrate the levers with the shifter and dropper remote and keep the cockpit nice and tidy.
6. The drivetrain
I wanted to stick with a single brand for my drivetrain. This came down to a choice between Shimano and SRAM, with the former winning out.
Deore M6100 may not be fancy, but it’s hard to discern any reduction in smoothness compared to pricier offerings.
On complete bikes, brands will often upgrade the rear derailleur for extra shop-floor appeal.
On the trails, though, that makes little sense – why spend more on the bit that’s most likely to get clouted on a rock?
I decided to stick with a Deore derailleur, cassette, chain and BB (£209.96), but fit a pricier Deore XT M8100 shifter (£59.99), for its improved feel and extra shifting options, along with 150g lighter SLX M7100 cranks (£152.98 complete with chainring).
7. The cockpit
If you’ve been adding up as we go along, you’ll know there’s less than £400 of budget left.
A carbon fibre handlebar was out of the question, so I opted for a 35mm-rise, 800mm-wide alloy bar and neat 40mm stem from e*thirteen’s top-value Base range.
DMR’s DeathGrips and OiOi saddle are old favourites, as is OneUp’s V2 dropper post (handily reduced, following the release of the V3 post) – and I’d finally found a bike with a short enough seat tube to run the 240mm version. I went with a Brand-X lever to stay within budget.
The build
With all the parts assembled, it was time for the build. It went well, with the only hiccup being a quick search for a different brake adaptor.
I was particularly impressed by RAAW’s neat cable clamps, and left plenty of spacers under the stem so I can experiment with bar height.
Then it was time for the finishing touches – some MBUK stickers, gold lock-on collars (the bike was looking a bit monochrome) and a Mint Sauce headset cap.
The finished build is a beauty, and will turn more heads on the trail than a similarly priced bike from one of the big brands.
With the frame not being particularly light and the use of lower-budget drivetrain and cockpit parts, it’s not easy on the scales, at 15.5kg (sans pedals). But then, it’s no skinny downcountry rig, it’s an aggressive trail bike built to take a hammering.
I just tipped over my adjusted £4,000 budget – once cables, etc, and customs charges were added, I’d spent £4,028.72.
But that’s at full/discounted RRP. A quick look on Google suggests you could get the exact same build for £3,420.91 if you shopped around. Chances are you already have a few bits in the shed/garage that could be put to use, too.
Fit a lower-priced dropper and wheels, and pick a frame from a UK brand, and you could easily get the cost under £3,000.
Yes, you could get a complete bike for less, by trawling the sales or buying direct, but would it have so much character? Also, how many parts would you have to swap?
While there’s no competing with the Whyte T-160 RS that won Bike of the Year in 2024, our build compares well to bikes from the big mainstream brands.
The £3,700 Trek Fuel EX 8 Gen 6 gets a posher Shimano XT drivetrain, but with heavier Deore cranks, along with a lower-spec Fox Float X Performance shock, a Fox Rhythm 36 fork, tyres from in-house brand Bontrager and a TranzX post.
Meanwhile, the Specialized Stumpjumper EVO Comp Alloy comes in cheaper, at £3,200, but has a lowest-tier Fox Float X Performance shock and 34 Rhythm fork, base-level SRAM NX Eagle and own-brand finishing kit.
Perhaps the closest comparison is to Marin’s £3,775 Rift Zone 29 XR.
£4,000 MTB build ride impressions
Good looks and value for money are irrelevant if a bike doesn’t ride well, so I was keen to get out on the Jibb in the Forest of Dean.
After adjusting the RAAW’s controls, reducing the seatpost travel to 220mm to get the right saddle height (an easy five-minute job), fitting some Crankbrothers Mallet pedals and doing a rough suspension setup, it was time to get pedalling. First up, the Verderers climb.
The bike felt comfortable from the off, its 74.5-degree effective seat tube angle providing a comfortable position over the BB, with weight balanced between the wheels, and the rear suspension not bobbing too much, yet still absorbing small roots and stones.
The Jibb has size-specific chainstays, to maintain a similar front-to-rear balance for riders of all sizes. These are a lengthy 450mm on the XL, but this didn’t hold us back through the hairpins.
The bike’s heft didn’t seem to be an issue, either, aided by the relatively light wheels. In fact, I set a storming initial pace – although it didn't last, due to my lack of fitness.
Downhill, the long stays came into their own, making the RAAW remarkably stable for a 135mm bike, in combination with the four-bar rear suspension and reasonable 495mm reach and 65.5-degree head angle.
The Magura brakes worked well, the Specialized tyres gripped nicely and the cockpit felt good. I was soon railing the turns with confidence.
In fact, the bike was working as a cohesive package, the only issue being the fork seemed a little soft, even with an extra 20psi added.
The bike also felt strangely long, considering its middling on-paper figures.
I took the Jibb back to the workshop, and soon worked out what the issue was.
The Mattoc was sucking down into its negative travel by 20mm, lowering the front end of the bike, increasing the effective reach and creating a more forward weight distribution, which was why the recommended pressure felt too soft.
Re-inflating the air spring with the fork held off the ground sorted the issue, and, after testing the improved setup on the hills of South Wales, I had few complaints.
The RAAW is perfect for me, with its pedalling-friendly rear travel, size-specific stays, spacious but not excessively long frame, big-drop post, wide bar and powerful brakes.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it would be right for you. Perhaps you’d like more bounce, tackier tyres, a lighter all-in weight or a splash of colour… The beauty of self-builds is you can fit exactly what you want.
Not only that, but there’s something special about a bike you’ve put together yourself, not just taken out of a box, both in terms of how it looks, how you feel about it and, potentially, how it rides.
£4,000 MTB build initial verdict
I was dreading the climbs, but I needn’t have worried – the RAAW rides lighter than the scales would suggest, and puts you in a really efficient position over the pedals, with not a lot of bob.
Yes, I ended up a sweaty mess, but that’s because I’ve grown too used to riding an eMTB. The Shimano gears shift really well, too.
Downhill, there are no nasty surprises – the Spesh tyres grip, the Magura brakes feel good, and the Manitou fork and Fox shock soak up the bumps without wallowing into their travel.
This all means you can focus on having fun, which is easy on this bike, thanks to its great geometry and balance (I love the long chainstays).
The ride is lively but stable, and even on the very first descent, I had the confidence to do a little bar tweak – pretty much unheard-of behaviour from me, let alone on a new bike.
I then went on to properly smash the berms on Launchpad. Now that I’m getting full travel from the fork, there’ll be no stopping me and the Jibb-CW.
A big thanks to all who helped me put this great little build together.
