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This was me two years ago. I built a bike around a Salsa El Mariachi from 2014.
No dropper, not modern geometry, old fox fork, but I just love it. It’s perfect.There is a xc trail near me that I often ride and I just go around those jumps that I assume are made for electric fullys. It’s also a great gravel bike.
Budget wise I think you can get a better deal by buying a complete bike. Hardtails with classic geo and no dropper routing can go for cheap because the market has moved on, so you can find great deals on a used Canyon, Trek, Scott etc.
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I need some advice from folks more knowledgeable than me... I've been getting mighty XC curious of late, mostly because I've begun to realise I'm often very under-biked on my CX bike. Fun, but I imagine that it'd be more fun on something a little more suitable.
The thing is, I don't want to drop a load of money on it. So I've been thinking about building something up cheaply as a winter project. I've found a new alloy Cannondale fsi 29er frame going cheap on eBay that both satisfies my budget and my love of noughties/tens Dales. It also looks a bit like the lovely green/white CAAD10 livery that I'm a huge fan of (attached).
My thinking is find a lefty fork, a groupset and wheels from somewhere and build that up. But what does anyone who knows anything about XC bikes think? More hassle than it's worth? I don't love that it's BB30 but is there any other proprietary nonsense I should be aware of?