2009 HiFi Pro - Help Me Decide

[DaBigBR]

Gary Fisher Hifi Pro 29"

This bike is listed on the local Craigslist. I believe the seller will accept $650 for it. It is a 2009 Hifi Pro frame/shock that was a replacement for the seller's Sugar 293 with a defective frame. Front shock and brakes appear to be from the Sugar. Seller replaced rear derailleur with what looks like a SRAM X3. It needs a new rear rim, but if I was buying, I would probably just be having a new set built on the existing hubs. That makes the total investment likely around $1k.

I have some concerns:

1) 2008/9 HiFis are known to have a higher than average failure rate on the frames, particularly at the rear triangle. The non-transferrable warranty makes this a major concern.

2) It's a mutt, and some of the parts (brakes and rear derailleur) are not of the same quality as a straight factory 2009 Hifi would have been.

3) Is it even worth the $1k invested (or even the $800 it would take to buy it and just have a new rear rim built) on the market? We don't see a lot of full suspension rides pop up on the used market around here, and one of my big motivators for buying is to have a bike I can loan to friends to get them interested, and potentially sell off to somebody (for very little or no profit) if they wanted in cheap.

What say you?

[dlennard]

I am getting ready to list my wife's 2009 HiFi which she had for a year for 1,150. Her bike has x9 rear derailleur, x7 shifters, race face crank, elixir cr brakes, easton xc tubeless wheels, bontrager rl bars and seat post size small weighing 26lbs with pedals.
I am not trying to sell you her bike just pointing out it would be a better buy with newer and better components. I think you would need to get a better deal with the bike you are looking at or could find a better buy. My friends wife had the same bike as my wife's and sold it last year for 1200. Both bikes have had no problems with the frames.