Oh, and one more thing you may want to do if you decide you want to stick with mountain biking - go get a copy of this book - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ance&n=3375251

That is the best mountain bike maintenance book on the market. It tells you everything you need to know in easy to understand terms.

 

excellent. Thanks for all the help Chad. I believe this is the bike that I am going to try to get. The tires will be the first thing to change... They look pretty worn out as is. Is there a preference in tubed over tubeless? I am guessing for offroad a tubed tire may be easier to work with incase of a blowout.

So, after I get it I will be getting new tires and changing the cables, possibly brakes or doing a disc conversion(some people have said it is fairly simple and inexspensive to do on this bike)... definately get your help on that the cables the first time... after that I should be all set to do it on my own the next time. Are cables bought bike specific or are they universal? The same thing with the forks.. if I later wanted to upgrade those are they application specific or universal?

 

Excellent, I may go ahead and order a copy.

 

Tubed is the way to go. Tubeless works well if you have tubless rims. The adaptors for regular rims don't work well. Most everyone I know still rides tubed tires. The main advantage of tubeless is the weight.

Dics are nice, but it depends on the bike. Your bike must have disc mounts (on the frame and the fork) to run them. Around 2002 is when discs started getting popular, so I don't know if yours has disc mounts or not. I can look at it and tell you, but I'm not familiar with that particular bike. You also need disc hubs. Some are disc-compatible, but most aren't unless the bike came with discs. If you can't use discs, you can just upgrade to some XT or XTR V-Brakes and be fine.

Cables are pretty much universal. Just be sure you get shifter cables, not brake cables. Cables are cheap, so get good ones like Shimano XT or XTR.

 

Just browsing ebay.. and saw another bike shop in forest called "Blackwater Bike Shop" Have you ever been up there? It may be too close to lyncburg for your interest though. Here is the link to the ebay auction. Blackwater Bike Shop

and the link to their website. http://www.blackwaterbikeshop.com/

 

I have heard of it, but I don't know much about it.

The problem with cheap full suspension bikes is that they often make cuts in other areas to sell the bike cheaper. The shock is a no-name. The components are bottom of the line.

If it were me, I'd still go with that K2 you were looking at. Rear suspension is nice, but you get what you pay for.

 

Oh yeah, I am still going to go with the k2. I believe a hardtail would best suit my needs for now anyways. I was just curious if you had ever been to that shop before.

 

I have never been there. I haven't heard anything good or bad about them. But, the best way to find out is to just go in and talk to them. Steve at Just The Right Gear is probably the best bike shop owner I've ever met. He treats you the same whether you are buying a $2 tube or a $5000 bike. There are a few shops that I've been into that don't want to talk to you unless you are ready to spend a lot of cash with them right then.

 

Did you ever get your bike?

I'm in the process of building my bike right now. Should have it done by the end of the month (provided everything I just ordered is in stock)...

 

Should be able to make the purchase this week... maybe tomorrow. (Thank god I get three paydays this month.) On a side note I have been pretty busy around the house setting up the new aquariums and trying to sell some of my old ones. So things have been hectic.