Show off your Mountain Bike!!!

wow, thats a huge price difference

 

Find a good shop and stick with them, or a good salesman. I bought my wife a Safire Comp (retail was $2700 or 2750, dont recall which), last summer.

I had gone in to look at a Myka Elite ($2200 retail), which they had at $2000.

I had them weigh the bikes on the scale, to determine if I could lose the extra weight for a couple hundred bucks.

I then asked him if they could offer a discount on the Safire they had marked at $2299. He came back with an additional 10% off, and I bought it on the spot. I was pretty surprised to get a current year model bike, in the middle of summer, for ~25% off retail.

But they were apparently a volume dealer, and they have a lot more wiggle room on the $2k + bikes than on the under $1k bikes.

I did pay full retail for my Pitch Pro (from a different shop), but I had some special circumstances in play...

 

Both my local bikes shops are not volume dealers at all so they refuse to even take $1.00 off the listed price.

I walked in with cash in hand to drop on a bike ($500 Giant) and the guy said there was nothing he could do...
Granted he is the least friendly person that works there..

I searched Clist and got a much better bike, used, for a great price.
When it comes time to get a new bike I will probably buy from the Richardson bike mart.

 

I am generally a fan of a lightly used bikes, or building my own. But I hear good thing about Richardson bike mart.

 

nothin special, trek 820

 

Yea let me know I work for Kingdom Trails so I'll be here!

 

We have a good amount I live in East Burke which has the burke mountain bike park which is a smaller park but has some kick ass trails. Then Highland bike park is only a hour and a half away. Plus Killington, Sugarbush, Sunday River, and Whiteface all with in 3 hours or so.

 

If anyone needs parts or anything, PricePoint is having a big sale right now
http://www.pricepoint.com/promos/bigsale_2012/main.htm?offer=EMB04EM1

 

The advantage supposed to be better rolling over obstacles, and as was mentioned, it is a little slower on turns. I love my Stumpy 29'er. I would have waited one more year to see how the industry was going to embrace 29'ers, but it was 2 grand off at the bike show. Needless to say, I think they're here to stay.

One thing is not all 29'ers are equal, some just stretch the bike, and you feel really high up when you first ride. The other way, like my Stumpy, is they position the rider more in between the wheels. It almost feels like you're riding your riding you big brothers bike. I found that once you are used to it, it doesn't feel much different than a 26'er.

 

Another pic from last week's Austin area trip.......this bitch is pretty fuckin plush for a 4" travel 1995 bike, especially since it's still rollin on the Alps 4 rear shock and only a RS Tora up front. Handled things just fine.

 

What do you do for the Kingdom trails, paying job or volunteer?

 

Hey, where's that picture taken? I lived in Austin for 20 years, much of it in Georgetown. Lake Georgetown has a good (but short) trail around it, kinda hard on sidewalls though.

 

This was about 6 miles into the Goodwater Trail on the south side of Lake Georgetown. We started at Cedar Breaks Park and went west on the south side of the lake. The trail is open all the way around the lake now and is about 30 mile loop. The south side is scattered swisscheese boulders everywhere and is called the hiking trail for a good reason. That shit is crazy to try and pick good lines thru. People hiking were telling us good luck and now I know why. Didn't crash any but was very tense riding even on the downhills due to the large scattered loose stuff everywhere. We only went to the crossover spot where you cross the San Gabriel river and went back the same way just for good torture, lol. 11 miles in and 11 miles back, felt like 50 tho. Next time we go we'll start on the north side where those trails have been open to bikes for longer time. Have a feeling it'll be a bit more enjoyable ride on that side. My buddy lives by Lago Vista at Lake Travis so this is about 30 min from his house. We also rode Pace Bend Park the next day. That place is fun. Good trails there but access fee is a bit high - 10.00 a vehicle but 2 of us so 5.00 each...not much more than anywhere else. As far as the tires...WTB Velociraptors and they held up much better than the fire xc pros on my other bikes do. I generally loose knobs off the fire XCs up there but the WTBs came home unscathed. I stopped and had to pull a 2" mesquite thorn out of my rt forearm at one point after a long downhill where I brushed a bush. Didn't even notice it til I saw blood running down my arm towards my gloves. Had the chest mount gopro running so I even got the extraction on video. Other than that it was only about 6 near death experiences and broke my chain on a climb the 2nd day. Just took 2 links out with the chain tool and kept riding. Nobody had flats or really crashed so all in all, great shit. There were numerous small water crossings from the rain earlier in the week before we got there and shit was very green for that region and wildflowers were in full bloom. Cool trip. Pace Bend truck/bike poser pic leaving after ride......

 

I don't think they're going anywhere either. But I do believe the water will be muddied at some point with other choices. I also believe that geometry will get better in the next couple of years as well (making the differences less significant).

 

I am a payed trail crew leader for the mountain trails

 

^ Sweet gig
Pls let me know if y'all are ever hiring...
I've been volunteering building trials for the past 15 yrs or so.

 

I thought that looked familiar! Thanks for the trail report, and send me a link to the GoPro video if you post it somewhere. The south side was not open to bikes when I lived there a couple years ago, but they were supposedly getting close. The north side was only a few miles from my house. Once you got a few miles in it mellowed out to flat and got boring, but to be honest, the north side is pretty rough as well. Some really cool technical areas, good skills required to clear it all.

Pace Bend was too far for me, but when you go to Austin again you MUST do what the old locals call City Park. It is near Emma Long park and is also used by motorcyle trials riders, but not heavily. It is crazy technical and intense, but with some good flowing parts mixed in to allow your balls to drop again. 20 years ago I rode it on a fully-rigid (because they didn't make suspension forks, much less FS bikes), and for the life of me I can't remember how I did it. Again, watch out for those cedar and mesquite branches, and wear eye protection.

For some smooth stuff, Walnut Creek Park on the north end of Austin proper has an incredible amount of fun singletrack for a small park, with a pump/jump track hidden on the north side where they can't bulldoze it. I had a 26" dirt jumper I would take there on Sunday mornings and work on skills. Cool kids there, didn't give a 40+ year old guy a hard time for goofing around on their jumps.

Ah, thanks for the memories, but the trails here in MO are awesome as well, just no pump/jump tracks nearby. Check out my cheesy YouTube GoPro videos, just search for MrTenBeers.

 

that ain't fair........

 

Well, this is pretty depressing.

Had a minor tip over in the garage. Busted the release cable at the push button. Have to say, it was no epic crash or even a epic fall off a rack. Just slow tip over.

If I'd been out riding, it wouldn't be the end of the world but I have to say, that my expectations were that the thing would be able to take a bit of normal, day to day abuse.

How much will it cost to fix? No idea but it's a shitty design if it breaks in a minor tip over.

 

Sorry to hear...that sux