So, I bought my bike a couple of years ago at Performance. It was in the market for a good XC/All mountain bike and came across this bike that was marked down. I was pretty new to mountain bike jargon, but I new enough to look for certain things. I started inspecting the bike and it seemed nice. I soon noticed that the hubs, front and rear drs, crankset, shifters hyd disc brakes where all Shimano XT. I also noticed that it had a Recon Race front fork and some nicer looking Easton bars and stem. The next thing I noticed was the price $1399, which seemed pretty decent with all the nice components. The manager told me that this bike was built from a better bike that had frame damage during shipping and they needed to get rid of it. When it was all said and done I only paid 1000 bucks out the door for the bike.
I rode it several times and was pretty impressed, but now that I have learned a lot more I have some concerns.
I am seeing bikes with a lot of cracked frames. Is this really common and should I be concerned every time I hit a bump?
As far as I can tell the Recon Race only came in 100mm and according to information on the net this bike was setup for 140mm suspension. If this is true how bad is this throwing off my geometry and should I be looking for a new fork?
Lastly, will this frame handle the abuse of a 220lb rider on rough terrain or should I take all my nice parts and put them on a better bike? I really like the bike but I dont want to tear it up. I would rather make a light duty/back up bike out of it than just break it.
I rode it several times and was pretty impressed, but now that I have learned a lot more I have some concerns.
I am seeing bikes with a lot of cracked frames. Is this really common and should I be concerned every time I hit a bump?
As far as I can tell the Recon Race only came in 100mm and according to information on the net this bike was setup for 140mm suspension. If this is true how bad is this throwing off my geometry and should I be looking for a new fork?
Lastly, will this frame handle the abuse of a 220lb rider on rough terrain or should I take all my nice parts and put them on a better bike? I really like the bike but I dont want to tear it up. I would rather make a light duty/back up bike out of it than just break it.