Mountain Bike - Hard tail

Vince, try like hell to find a demo day in your area, or find a shop that'll rent out a bike you are interested in. Best thing you can do is ride a few different platforms and see what hits you.
I've had excellent luck with the used market myself, gotten to ride quite a few bikes with very little depreciation. New bikes are almost worse than cars like that.

 

Personally I so agree with SC designer dude on this I kinda don't even want to answer this, but then again I'm just a recreational rider (and a gearhead, but not THAT kind). Sure some 26" frames have enough room to stick a bigger hoop in there maybe with a somewhat skinny tire. But that'll screw up frame geometry and generally is just not worth it. Just ride the damn bike and stop obsessing over this crap.

 

Most of the better forks will accommodate the 27.5s. Rear chainstays/triangle, not so much.

 

Are the pins metal?

 

Also check out Fyxation Mesa-MP pedals, same thing but 3 pins. I think there's a bunch of them sold by different brands with slight variations.

 

I mainly asked so I can hold an intelligent conversation about mountain bikes with my son

My custom 26er that he's building me should be ready this weekend, then it's off to the UP the following week for MTB riding in Copper Harbor with the family. Should be a blast.

 

Lots of awesome deals too with people trying to unload high end 26'ers so they can go out and buy a big wheel.

 

The biggest question is will the front brake be on the right or on the left?

 

good stuff.

so, thanks to you guys, i've been combing CL all morning.

found onea THESE (2011 model) in what appears to be really good shape for $2k ask. i'm gonna go have a look-see.

any comments on this scooter?

vince

 

That's a good question. I don't ride enough to have a preference. I am having it built as a 1x9 because I only want to deal with one shifter. However it turns out it will be light years better than my 15 year old GT.

 

I swapped mine so the front brake is on the correct side. Not sure why the stretchy pants set likes their front brake on the wrong side...

 

All my bikes are right hand front brake. Mtb, cross, road, etc.

 

Scott bikes are rad generally. never ridden that one tho. chances are pretty much anything $6500 new will be an awesome bike for $2000 haha. that's the way to go.

like was said though... there's always amazing deals everywhere for bike shit. my DH frame i just got new, last year's color (which i wanted anyways), no changes at all to the design, $1200 instead of $2500. got some dude who rode his 2014 Fox Float 40 forks 3 times then needed to redo his roof cause of major leaks. they seriously look brand new. $1100 instead of $1700. brakes new were $350 instead of $600. my last fork was like an $800 fork... got a lower version of it new for $250, which you can directly swap the highest model internals into and makes it the exact same for $150... so $800 fork for $400. stuff like that... just gotta scour the web for a while, especially in late fall/early winter. always the best that time of year.

 

oh also with regards to brakes... i keep my rear on the right, front on the left. my reasoning is... riding freeride and/or purposely doing skidzzzzz on regular trail riding, i'm on the rear brake way more. likewise on a roadrace motorbike you're using that same hand in a similar intensity level. keeping it opposite keeps me finessing the front like a clutch lever, and still grabbing a fist full of the rear like i would braking into a turn on a motorbike. i feel like if i switched them, i'll be hamfisting myself over the bars more.

 

Don't be afraid of eBay either. I just got brand new full carbon rims for my road bike for 680.

 

I've bought several frames off Ebay. Forks and wheels too.

 

yea that too. got a 2 year old but new Kuota carbon frame for $600 once instead of like $2200. and 1 year old but new Mavic Cosmic Carbone wheels with the Ti axles for $620 instead of $1400. got a new SRAM Red crank once with no chainrings (which i didn't want anyways) for $80 cause nobody bid.

 

Funky suspension setup, not gonna be able to swap the shock for anything else and not sure about servicing it. Gonna have to learn to push all these buttons and levers to switch from going up to going down. Also reselling it might be difficult, for the same reason - it's an unconventional setup with custom components. Personally I prefer a bike that "just works" without having to push buttons and levers all the time, having to use the dropper seat is as much bike adjustment as I can handle. Good top of the line build otherwise. If you're willing to tinker with it and it fits go for it, but there are probably more conventional options out there for similar or less money that will be easier to deal with.

 

Yea it's messed up but it also messes me up for any demo rides because most brakes now ain't easy to swap sides, gotta pull lines out of master cylinders. I have to rent a shitty cable brake bike every time I go to Maui and want to ride Mamane trail from the top of Haleakala.

 

..also check out local classifieds on Pinkbike.com. Usually same stuff as on CL but much easier to find and often people ask less because they know they will be dealing with a more educated buyer.