New England B.S. Thread

Thanks, I absolutely love riding it. It’s a brawler, seems to be taking the abuse well.

Canyon is having some good deals right now

 

While the Austin area is getting over built, it still doesn't take all that long to go from urban to rural. In some areas 15 minutes takes you out of the city into ranch and farm land.

Personally, I would prefer the suburban/rural border, but my wife wants suburbs with quick access to urban aras.

A few years ago my son commented that my ideal place would be where I could walk out my back door and shoot off the deck. He's not far wrong.

 

I saw that! They only sell complete bikes though. I kinda want to build one

 

I can appreciate that. I built 2 so far, spend the money on components that are important to me without having to buy s fully built high end bike. Takes quite a few specialty tools though.

 

Yea, I totally agree. I was thinking nice entry to mid but less expensive stuff. Like a Marzocchi fork, Deore components and Bontrager wheels etc.

 

Rob, I know you want to build, and I totally get that.
But, like all of you, I break my stones for my money.
I ended up with a Salsa Timberjack. 27.5+ for this 9ne, but, easy to change to 29er like my FullSquish, etc. Can't build it for what I paid.
And, for the typical trails around me, a hardball isn't my primary.
My old F/S is the next replacement/major overhaul, but, that is a different discussion.
For the money, I'd look at the builds, find your starting point, and build UP, and sell off what I didn't want.
Again, I get it, but, mine has been a solid beater, and all over done is go through pedals, grips, chains, etc(wear items). And I totally love the slacker geo vs my Fuel EX

^^^^^ this....

We still have spots in Corpus as of now... but, I think people don't get how big that state is.
I10 from the Louisiana border to New Mexico is 880miles.
I've had to explain to people, I'm 7-8hours South of Dallas, and 4ish south of Houston, 2-2.5hours SxSE of San Antonio.....

 

Until you've driven in the state it's difficult to understand how big it is.

On a good day DFW to Austin os about 4 hours on I35. Problem is south of Waco there aren't all that many good days.

Of course one can always stop at Buc ees for coffee and a Kolachie.

 

My brother is a Mazda guy, he's all the time on about the reliability. Has really been good for him during lean times especially.

He has a couple nitpicks with the factory head unit but that's it. All he's ever has to deal with are wear items and one time years ago a wiper motor after ~150k on the one he had at the time. That one (a 3 IIRC) blew a head gasket at ~325k, and he could have had it repaired easily enough, but after being clobbered 3-4 times over the years while parked and bad bodywork rusting to shit inside the panels (salt state) he scrapped it and got an off-lease CX5, which he loves to death and drives all over hell.

 

Thanks. She's supposed to go for a test drive on a CX5 today, it is hasn't been sold.

 

Here's the thing with mid-entry level components. If you go through with the build, don't limit your search to them. You can still find great deals on the high end components for the same or even less than what Marzocchi advertises their Z1 for. For example, when I built the Stumpjumper, I found a brand new Fox 36 Factory Kashima for $600 shipped through Jenson. I did it again with the Meta, I found a new old stock Lyrik Ultimate for $600. For me, that's where I wanted to spend my money, I wanted the best suspension I could get. For the drive-train, I'm a Shimano fan, so both the Meta and the Stumpy are running the same drivetrain. I have a mix of SLX and XT components. The price difference between Deore and SLX is minimal but the weight savings in that first jump is significant. After SLX, you're counting grams and things get expensive in a hurry. My point is, it's worth doing the cost analysis on the components rather than just limiting yourself to low-mid componentry blindly. For wheels, if you know what you're looking for, Pinkbike can be a great place to start. I picked up a set of Industry Nine Torch hubs wrapped with e*Thirteen allow hoops for $400 locally.

I generally agree, but I'm not a fan of how the full builds spec out. I want the best suspension I can get, I want the top end damper. With full builds, generally the only way to get that is you get top end everything which will come with XO1, XX1 or XTR drivetrain components, high engagement hubs with nice rims, high end brakes, etc. For me, I'm fine with lower level components elsewhere on the bike, but that's tough to find on a full build. You definitely do miss out on the full bike buying power, but if you're patient, you can get pretty close in price to a low-mid level full build with a custom build spending money on the components that are important to you (ignoring the specialty tools and time required to make all that happen).

 

Yeah I had a mazda 3 with the 2.5L engine. Loved that little thing. Had plenty of get up and go, no turbos, I got 23/27 for MPG, so it wasn't a "gas sipper" but that thing was fun to drive. Never should have traded it in (although it was hit in the rear, and one of the bolts for the serp belt tensioner was ...less than completely there, so, it had some potential for work to be done if I kept it around).

One thing to watch out for is the rear strut mounts snapped. Our roads didn't help it, but over time they weaken. Super easy fix and super cheap part, took me maybe 15 minutes in the dark/cold to replace it. But apparently it's a relatively common problem.

Otherwise toyota reliability without the toyota tax. They're great. Plus, no luxury brand, so they're competing with toyota AND lexus (et. al.) with their one lineup, so they have some gizmos and gadgets you wouldn't see Toyota roll out with, but reserve for their Lexus lineups.

Sister has a CX...5? Maybe it's a CX3, but I think it's the CX5 - about a rav4 size, my bro-in-law (her husband) had a 2017 (?) 3 that he traded in for the crossover. I don't like the newer 3's rear, it's way too sloped for a hatchback.



verses what I had in the 2012



I like that more squared-off, less-sloping look/function (like the VW golfs) compared to the newer ones. The newer civic is even worse.



WTF even is that...

 

Valid points from both of you. I'm kinda in the same boat as Mike as I don't really care for a lot of the stock builds. Not really a great big deal about some components but things like cockpit and touch and feel are critical to me.
You got some great deals Mike! Trust me I'd definitely be on the lookout for deals like that.
Honestly I just wanted to get a frame for now and start piecing it together over this coming winter.

 

I just came into possession of a Kona Big Honzo through Jenson out the door and to me for $1300 - it is all low end components, but I figure I'm going to beat the piss out of them and upgrade when they break. The fork is going to get a premature upgrade ASAP - the Rockshox Recon Silver 35 is horrid at best. If I stuck to mellow trails (think West Hill Dam) it would be just fine as is, however I know what I am going to put it through. I looked at running a frame up build but to me it made more sense to buy it whole so I can both ride now as well as not play the analysis paralysis while sourcing parts.

Luckily because I have a problem, I have spare parts I could immediately use in the basement. I put on a set of 29" wheels and have a decent cassette to run. The brakes surprisingly are just fine for being entry level shimano dual pistons. I am sure in long decents I will get some brake fade, but that just means I need to go faster

 

The big Honzo is a nice bike. A bit to much than I'm looking for though. I have extra parts as I kept upgrading my and my wife's Fuels. The parts I take off keep getting passed on to my son's bike too as they are slightly better than his (that reminds me I need to put my original seat on one of their bikes).
I think what I want is an aggressive XC bike. Slacker than what I grew up but nothing like what they push today. I want something that is perfect for WHD but keep the full suspension for stuff more aggressive stuff like Vietnam.

 

Somebody tell me it's a terrible idea to put my ear end up on jack stands and run it to 40 mph to possibly recreate and diagnose the sound I've got lol

 

Have you tried mounting a cheap Amazon Go-Pro knock off under the truck and taking a video of various locations to see if you can find the noise that way?

 

Mazda had a plan to launch a luxury brand, but I think financial issues caused them to scrap it.

It also just occurred to me that a close friend is on his third Miata over about the past 15 years. He bought them all used and other than one issue with bad threads in one of the spark plug holes, they have all been trouble free.

I think my daughter will be fine with a CX5 if she can find one at a decent price. Her credit union has pre approved her for the loan.

 

Nope lol but I think it's definitely worth the investment considering how many times it could have helped me by now lol

 

Yeah... don't do that... Or, if you do, please have someone on standby record it so when it goes terribly wrong, it'll at least be on video!

 

I would give it a try with the imitation go pro first. There is no guarantee that you will be able to duplicate the noise with the truck off the ground and the suspension not having a load on it and it will be much safer. Plus if your problem is actually with the front part of the truck then your test will not help. I know, the noise is in the back, unless it isn't. I chased a problem noise once in my 94 Mazda B4000. Tried everything. I could swear the noise was coming from the back end of the truck. The shop recommended replacing the transfer case to solve the problem. Nope, that didn't work so I was out a large sum of money for that repair. Turns out the noise was the front wheel bearing.