[rafab]

Hello all,

First of all, let me please apologize for my lousy English. That said, I would like to ask for some advice.

It's been a long time since last time I rode a bike and I'm looking forward to get back to the tracks. However, this time I would like to buy a 29er bike, steel frame, preferably single speed.

The catch is, I live in Argentina, and by all means you cannot get a steel bike here. They are, well, just non existent. That's why I'm thinking on ordering one to the USA, however, the problem is that customs taxes are HUGE here and the AR$ <> U$S conversion rate is 10:1. That said, I can only afford a bike that cost no more than U$S 1000.

Does it even exist? If so, which one do you suggest? Should I wait for some special season sale? (I'm not that familiar with USA season sales).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks for reading and please let me know if there is anything you would like to know.

 

[Chello]

Kona Unit
Surly Karate Monkey

Both should come to around $1000 as a stock build.

 

[rafab]

Chello, thank you very much for your reply. Much appreciated!

As I'm sure already know, I'm not an expert but both bikes looks really, really good to me! I will take my time to read some reviews and check their specs. Would you suggest one over the other?

Thanks!

 

[rafab]

I would kill for an Explosif frame, but if the frame alone cost U$S 450 it would make impossible to me to gear it up. Unfortunately my budget is U$S 1000 for the entire bike, just because I will have to pay customs over 50% of the bike plus shipping value (that alone is like 3 times the average local monthly income). Many thanks for the suggestions though!

 

[Tan&Green]

I got my bike at REI for just under your price range....I have not seen my bike on their website for a few weeks, but I did see it several weeks ago. It is a steel bike, SRAM components, Shimano brakes and RockShox Gold front shock. It is the Novara Intrepid. Checkout rei.com and see if they have some still in stock.

I was going to throw out the Charge Cooker Hi, but scratch that thought....

 

[Cotharyus]

Check out the Redline Monocog as well, it's right there in your price range.