Mountain bikes, 29ers and/or full suspension

[mtnbkr]

Pacific is Walmart level junk.  Surly is a small company owned by QBP that imports frames from Taiwan.  I own two.  They're good frames (only recently began offering complete bikes).  A bit heavy but bombproof. 

If I were going to buy a complete bike, it would be Giant, Trek/Gary Fisher, Surly, Specialized, or Niner (from the list you provide).  That said, I haven't purchased a complete bike since 1998.  I find it cheaper and easier to build my own from parts.  I typically strip parts from an old bike in my stable and/or use parts I have on hand to get the build going, then buy the other stuff I may need.

In all honesty, you can't go wrong with Giant, Trek/Gary Fisher and Specialized.  They didn't get where they are today by being junk.

Chris

[MillCreek]

There are about five or six manufacturers in Taiwan and the PRC that make about 90% of all the bike frames sold in the West.  Until you start getting up to the custom or titanium bikes, I almost think of them as a commodity: the frames are all roughly the same and the groups/components are the same, depending on the spec level.  They build a frame in Taiwan that wholesales for $ 60 and it sells in the States for $ 200-500, depending on what name sticker is on it.

[Ron]

Any thoughts on Marin?

I can ProDeal their bikes and have been scoping out their 29ers

[sanglant]

one more.

[Ryan in Maine]

Marin is another one that I've known about since I was still biking. I think they're a safe bet.

I'll add Santa Cruz and Surly to my watch list, too.

Not sure how I feel about parting a bike together. No experience doing it. Easy to pick up if you're mechanically able?

[mtnbkr]

one more.

Brew's been around since I was in college in the early 90s, but I would hardly call them mainstream.  Plus, they only offer frames, not complete bikes.

I don't think I've seen one outside of NC and even then they were rare.

Chris

[sanglant]

heh, just adding them because there kids were in my troop. last time i talked to them they were willing to build a complete bike, but that might have changed.

[Iain]

http://www.cycleexif.com/

[mtnbkr]

heh, just adding them because there kids were in my troop. last time i talked to them they were willing to build a complete bike, but that might have changed.

I think most custom builders will build a complete bike if you'll pay and ask nicely, but that isn't their primary product.  Speaking of which, every time I go to Brew's website, I see less and less bicycle content.  How much longer are they going to make bicycles?

Chris

[Tuco]

My six y.o daughter rides an SE mini-ripper on the BMX  track and trails.  It's a decent quality ride, the aluminum frame is beefy and butted, welds aren't pristine, but are uniform and symmetrical.  

Top end components - single speed, of course.

http://www.sebikes.com/Race/MiniRipper.aspx

Of course, we're talking a 45 pound girl, but when she crashes, she gets up and rides while crying.
Spiders and grasshoppers, on the other hand, bring her to a dead, screaming stop.

I'd buy another for a kid, and include them in comparison for my next bike (as if I'll ever get another bike).

eta -  As far as I can tell, SE has the 29" "Big Ripper" s.sp.

[Harold Tuttle]

I used to ride an SE racing OM Flyer back in the 80s

OMf'nG!:
http://www.sebikes.com/Retro/DC-26--Quadangle-Looptail.aspx

[AZRedhawk44]

I've never ridden a 29er, but I used to have a cross-bike that had 700cc wheels/tires.  It was a good commuting bike for a tall guy like me (34" inseam as well) but I tore it to hell on the mountain bike trails in eastern washington near Walla Walla, and college in Tacoma/Seattle did it in finally.  It was a Diamond Back something or other that I got in the early 90's.

I replaced it for a Specialized RockHopper, on which I replaced the front suspension with a Marzocchi Bomber Z3.

That bike rocks.  I still have it.  I did buy the frame a bit small for my geometry because I was heavy into hard/fast singletrack back in college and I could whip the relatively little frame around tight muddy corners almost effortlessly.  I'm now at the point where I want a larger frame geometry for a more comfortable casual ride (with a bit of fun thrown in, too).  AZ doesn't have the mud and tight turns that made the small frame desirable anyways.

I'll probably end up finding a new hard-tail frame and transferring parts over to that, perhaps changing out the brakes for disc technology.  Or a complete new build, salvaging only the excellent Bomber front shock.  I think to go to disc I have to get new hubs, which means a rebuild of both rims, which means I might as well just get new rims... and so on.

I've tried FS bikes in the past.  I hated 'em.  Too much bouncy-ness in the pedal stroke.  I love the front suspension, though.

[mtnbkr]

Az, judging by what you said above, your current bike is OLD.  Don't try to transfer anything.  Bikes have changed a lot in the past few years.   If you liked your Bomber Z3, you'll like more current forks. 

Check out current FS bikes of good quality.  They're not bouncy like the old ones.  Specialized makes some very nice XC and AM FS bikes. 

Chris

[Harold Tuttle]

heres my current project bike in the stand is a Klein Mantra

[brewdude]

Yep, we still make bikes. I teach framebuilding classes and also do regular fab work. I know my bicycle portion of our site is down but we still build customs and completes.

[zxcvbob]

I have a Giant mountain bike that I bought 10 or 15 years ago when I was young enough to think I might actually ride it in the Colorado mountains someday -- my fantasy ride was the Schofield Pass road near Aspen that runs from Marble to Beano Vista. [I mistyped, but then thought it was funny so I left it :)]  That's probably never gonna happen, but I do use the bike to commute to work a couple of times a week.  It's about 5 miles each way in hilly terrain.  Every once in a great while I'll ride it to church (10 miles each way) or on the local bike trails (15-20 miles.)

The bike has wide 26" wheels, and I put different handlebars on that rise up about 4", and I have to put the seat post almost all the way to the top cuz I'm really tall.  There's no springs or shock in the suspension; I think the fat tires are supposed to take care of that.

Are there different tires I could put on to reduce the rolling resistance?  The current tires are knobby, but they do have sort of a center rib; they are reasonably quiet.  I keep about 50 to 55# of air in them.

[Harold Tuttle]

I used to run my urban assault bike with 65 PSI continental Grand Canyons

some of the slicker tires have good performance on the road

these are similar to the old GCs:
http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=45606&page=Continental+Town+&+Country+Wire+Bead+Touring+Tire

http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=92930&page=Continental+Travel+Contact+Wire+Bead+Touring+Tire

[dm1333]

Somebody asked about Breezers in this thread.  He only makes hardtails but I would ride one.

http://www.breezerbikes.com/index.php/component/content/article/35-bike-categories/49-mountain-bikes.html

This link is to his mountain bikes, some of the other bikes are pretty cool too.  I need more money and a bigger garage to hold all of the two wheeled conveyances I would like to buy.

[Harold Tuttle]

Joe Breeze was one of the original Marin County Klunkerz

http://charlie8060.fotopic.net/p25994418.html

[mtnbkr]

Brewdude, thanks for the info.  I didn't know what was going on.  Over the past several years, it seemed you were moving away from bikes and into other areas.  I'm glad to hear you're still going strong in the bike biz.

Harold, my frame has arrived.  I have to pick it up today.  I was at Performance last night and got to check out a complete bike built on the same frame.  I think I'm going to like it.

Chris

[Harold Tuttle]

pron:

[zxcvbob]

I used to run my urban assault bike with 65 PSI continental Grand Canyons

some of the slicker tires have good performance on the road

these are similar to the old GCs:
http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=45606&page=Continental+Town+&+Country+Wire+Bead+Touring+Tire
http://www.cambriabike.com/shopexd.asp?id=92930&page=Continental+Travel+Contact+Wire+Bead+Touring+Tire

Thanks.  I will look for a slick tire for the back wheel that I can run up to 60+ psi.  Will probably leave the front tire alone; I can't think of any reason they have to match.  Most of the weight is on the rear (no pun intended)

BTW, I had an interesting encounter with a pickup truck yesterday.  I had a green light and was halfway thru the intersection when he comes flying up the side street on my right and makes a left turn on the red light without hardly slowing down right into me.  I had to stop hard and jump out of the way to keep from being run over.  Well-dressed guy in his 30's in a nice looking truck, not the a-hole redneck you might expect it from.  Not the first time it's happened, just the closest I've come to getting hit.  I'm seriously thinking about getting a cup of 20mm ball bearings or 1" hex nuts for the frame mounted waterbottle-holder, so I can break a window next time...  Leave 'em something to remember me by.

[Iain]

pron:

[Harold Tuttle]

oh yeah i had monitor nose prints on that Trek last night

it needs rear footpegs so you can bunny hop

[Harold Tuttle]

I like running a big knobby front and a strip in the back

I watched a dude break out a rear window with his U lock one morning in DC when a car turned on top of him