AMDxp2000

You tryed to jump the curb and hit it instead......


Yea...he Road my Mesa GS and after looking at the paperwork....It is a 20 inch frame....

Minus the busted seat....and slight bent rim

cootees

Heh... wanna go with me to talk to your uncle today. I'm going to see about going back over there since we missed him yesterday.

Cosmo

Yeah, I'll be glad to go. The main thing you'll notice is that all of the shops carry specific brands, so each brand will offer you a little more or a little less.

Cardinal has Giant, Specialized, and Raleigh. All three have a good range of bikes in all price ranges. East Coasters has Trek, Gary Fisher, Klien, and Lemond. Trek has some lower priced bikes, as does Gary Fisher, but in general their "lower priced bikes" are still $700-800 bikes. But, they do have plenty of used stuff coming in all the time, and they inspect their stuff really well. That may be an option for you. You can get on a little nicer bike for the same amount of money.

Just The Right Gear is a high end shop. They carry Litespeed, Kona, Intense, Surly, Santa Cruz, Cannondale and Foes. Out of all those, I think only Cannondale has a bike under $1000. But, again, he has lots of used bikes too.

The good thing about used bikes is that you aren't paying as much as you would if it was new, and also if you decide to sell it, you aren't going to lose as much because you don't have the big depreciation to take into account.

I also recommend you go over to www.mtbr.com and check out their forum and bike review section. Figure out which bike(s) you are most interested in, and then ask about them and read the reviews on them.

cootees

Excellent, I had been looking for a tire with quality reviews.

Cosmo

I use Kenda Nevegals around here. They work great for everything I ride. Mud, rocks, roots, etc...

AMDxp2000

Sure....515-20ish ok.....done ran all my errands for the day

cootees

Ok, I believe I have found the bike I am looking for. It is a 2002 K2 Competition Hardtail ZED 4.0. I read the reviews for the bike on mtbr.com and it has great reviews but all of the reviews are from 2002. Anyone have thoughts and opinions on k2 bikes?

Cosmo

K2 used to make good bikes. Their new ones are junk, if they even still make them. Luckily about 03-04 is when they started to go downhill. I think they were bought out by another company around then. The frame on that bike is made (I think) by Trek, which is a good sign.

I remember seeing a lot of K2 bikes out there (previously they were called Pro-Flex, then K2 bought them out) and a lot of people liked them. If it fits you correctly, you should be very happy with it.

Now, if I can just find a bike I want to buy...

cootees

Good deal. I'll probably shoot for that one then. It does have some cosmetic damage, i.e. seat is torn up, It needs new handle grips, tires ect... but for the price I think it is feasable. Here is the link to the reviews Link

Here are the specs of the bike. Sadly.. this stuff means very little to me.

Cosmo

Here's my take on it:

Frame: 6001 Aluminum - Good frame material, should last forever if it hasn't been abused. Check for cracks around the head tube and bottom bracket tube.

Fork: Manitou 'Six' Elite - Not bad, but not as adjustable as forks these days. But for someone light like you it should be all you need.

Rims: WTB - WTB makes good stuff. As long as they are trued up, they should be fine.

Hubs: WTB Speed C2 - No problem there

Tires: Geax Roadster 26 x 1.50 - This is the first thing you want to change. Those are not off-road tires. If you are using them on the road, you'll be fine. But if you want to ride trails, you need different ones. Something in the 2 - 2.1" width should be fine

Crankset: Shimano - Good

Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore LX - Good

Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT - Really good. The rear derailleur does the most work, so it's not uncommon for the rear to be a better model than the front. In Shimano, it goes (low to high) Deore-LX-XT-XTR

Shifters: Shimano Deore - If they are still shifting fine, they will be okay. You may want to replace the cables and housings anyways. That's the first thing I do on a used bike. If you don't want to pay a shop to do it, I'll be glad to do it for you. It's easy to do, but tricky if you have never done it.

Brakes: Avid Single Digit 3 - Check the pads to see if there is enough material left. Make sure you can still see the wear lines on the pads. The brakes themselves aren't bad, but don't have a lot of stopping power for heavier riders. But, again, since you are a little skinny guy, no problem.

Bar: K2, I believe - No problem.

Stem: K2 with WTB bolt cap - No problem.

Saddle: WTB SST.X3 - Saddles are a personal thing. You don't want a lot of padding. You want just a little padding. I ride with a split saddle (has a groove down the middle). Some people hate them, some love them. Spend several hours on it and see what you think then.