Recently I’ve become more interested
in riding off-road or doing some trail exploring.
Buying a new or even used mountain bike seemed cost-prohibitive. I’ve never even been mountain biking, so why
waste the money on a whim? My last bike was $1,250. Despite being worth every penny, it’s not an
amount I plan to spend again in the near future. An old-school mountain bike looked like the
cheapest, most efficient option. Newer “bikepacking”
bikes look totally awesome but also don’t normally take front or rear
racks so easily. I also don’t need monster tires,
even though they look like super fun! Looking
for a next step I contacted my friend Richard of Sacramento.
He's a super bike
guy having rehabbed bikes, built rigs from scratch, and worked at a bike shops
in the Bay area and Seattle. Richard
made a few suggestions from Craigslist and I zeroed in on a white, mid-90s 21” Specialized
Rock Hopper with a rear u-brake listed for $60. That
was a good price for something that might be worth a test-ride. It could clearly take racks and fenders,
making for a nice adventure bike to explore those WA forest roads. A day later I was meeting some dude in the
parking lot of the Issaquah Public Library. I took it for a spin and it seemed fine, maybe a hair small but I'm also unsure about mountain bike sizing. On the phone earlier,
seller-dude told me no rust, but there it was, rust!
Thinking about
building a bike-out had me focusing on the quality of the frame rather than the
components. In this case, the components
worked reasonably well and were free of rust.
The rear tire was warped but could still be ridden. The friction shifting was good, the drive
train looked pretty clean. For $60 this
bike was actually solid but I told him I didn’t want it. While the rust was not structurally damaging it
was pervasive with slightly rusted scratches throughout the frame.
This bike had been maintained but given too much love from getting
banged around!
The seller said to make
an offer so I said $40 if he just wanted to get rid of it. Offer accepted! This gentleman had a nice, newer car with bike
racks on the rear and roof so clearly he didn’t
need the money. I handed him a $50 but he
didn’t have correct change, so we split the difference and called it $45. Thanks, then bike small-talk, goodbye! I reluctantly fixed the bike carrier to the
back of my Mazda wagon wondering if it was a great deal or one more
thing to stuff in the garage. That rust! In the back of my mind I knew that even if I
didn’t want it, I could sell it again for a profit or give it to my brother in
law so he could get to/from work. I
guess as much as people want to get rid of their crap when selling on Craigslist,
impulsive purchases wouldn’t roll in for a selling-rendezvous resistant to buy. So what next Mr. Rock Hopper? Fix-you-up or sell-you-off?
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