Mountain bikes

[avgas]

I always like the Avanti Moto.......but they were like $5000 in 90's money when they existed. Never seen one outside of the 90's.

Anyone owned a Keewee Chromozone? I used to drool over them also.

[T.W.R]

Couple of weeks earlier for the thread and you could have had this cheap

Mostly all new bits & few rebuilt, but all in all solid as without stupidly over priced fragile shiny shit

[Paul in NZ]

That looks flash as mate - Sadly I've just about given up on mountain biking or buying another bike. Its just to hard to get any sense out of anyone... They range from the disinterested to the decidedly shonky

Plus we are flat out busy with other stuff.

[eelracing]

That looks flash as mate - Sadly I've just about given up on mountain biking or buying another bike. Its just to hard to get any sense out of anyone... They range from the disinterested to the decidedly shonky

You sound disillusioned Paul,just get out and ride the fucken thing.

[Paul in NZ]

Oh yup - doing that and loving it in my silly old coot bumbling fashion but its as frustrating as hell knowing I could do a lot more with a bit of a leg up. Fact is i just dont have $10,000 to spend on a bloody bike to get these clowns attention. Most of my budget was blown on some really BAD advice on day 1. I just want an improvement on what I have so I get a little better. I don't care about weight much as its not like I'm racing the thing so I'm thinking smaller frame, better brakes and suspension and go from there. Just some affordable ability - anyway, probably just keep crashing my way to success.... Being 6' and riding an XL frame seems to be a bad combo...

I'll also call my younger bro. Hes a whizz on cycles as in hes just back from world masters road cycling in Italy - he did OK too for a first time on a course that was definately not suited to him...

[nzspokes]

PM me if you want some advise on what you have and what you think you should have. Its my trade.

[T.W.R]

That looks flash as mate - Sadly I've just about given up on mountain biking or buying another bike. Its just to hard to get any sense out of anyone... They range from the disinterested to the decidedly shonky

Plus we are flat out busy with other stuff.

I sort of did the same thing...built that up after years away from cycling, took it for 1 ride and thought nah I'm goin to put myself in hospital with this thing safer option was just to keep away from DH bikes.
Just wished they'd been more abundant back in the mid 80s when I gave road cycling away only took that up because I out grew BMX & the cruiser class (fore runner of mountain bikes) was

That thing was a 07 Specialized BigHit III NOS frame with a mix of AtomLab, Truvativ, & SRAM parts Marzocchi forks etc. Only took a couple of months to gather the bits by selective buying and simple as piss to assemble and a trip down memory lane as it was the 1st trade I learnt or had to learn to keep an obsession paid for
Used to spend stupid money on pushies keeping up with the latest trends at the time.....raced a Vitus with all the Campag, Modolo, Marvic gear even my training bike was a custom built Eddie Bosomworth

[Big Dave]

Mountain schmountain.

http://www.ratrodbikes.com/

[sil3nt]

Oh yup - doing that and loving it in my silly old coot bumbling fashion but its as frustrating as hell knowing I could do a lot more with a bit of a leg up. Fact is i just dont have $10,000 to spend on a bloody bike to get these clowns attention. Most of my budget was blown on some really BAD advice on day 1. I just want an improvement on what I have so I get a little better. I don't care about weight much as its not like I'm racing the thing so I'm thinking smaller frame, better brakes and suspension and go from there. Just some affordable ability - anyway, probably just keep crashing my way to success.... Being 6' and riding an XL frame seems to be a bad combo...

I'll also call my younger bro. Hes a whizz on cycles as in hes just back from world masters road cycling in Italy - he did OK too for a first time on a course that was definately not suited to him...

It is simple really. Tell us your budget and the sort of riding you plan on doing and I am sure everyone in this thread could easily point you in the right direction.

Here are my suggestions for buying new at full price.
If your budget is less than $2000 I wouldn't bother getting a full suspension bike. A decent HT is much better than an average FS bike.

If you can stretch more than $2000 you can get a decent entry level FS XC bike. Will handle everything but large jumps and you can ride all day easily. Something like the brand new Giant Anthem:
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/...3/14824/66144/

If you think you will be doing more downhill than cross country and want something that will handle the rough stuff a little better then you can go with this:
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/...3/14833/66291/

These Giant bikes are brand new and might not be in the country yet. Go to R&RSport if you have one close by as they will stock them. I find they are often be better than specialist bike stores.

If these are way out of your budget then trademe is your best bet. Bike stores often have 1/2 price sales but like you have found they will just try and sell you whatever they have in stock.