Mountain Biking - Bike purchase advice

My son has been riding my hard tail, and I have agreed to buy him a dualy. We have kind of settled on the Specialized Rockhopper Comp FSR, but I am concerned about the fork (Manitou Axel Super 100). Any comments about the bike & the fork would be appreciated.

BTW he is 150 lbs and rides single track XC with only 3' drops, no big drops.

FSR should be just fine for him. Specialized is a good company. The FSR is a good all around bike. It can be built up to handle medium sized drops (3 to 6'), do a bit of DH or can be used a XC race bike. I know of riders that use an FSR for everything.

The fork ;
Manipoo ... I do not care much for them.

Yes you will find some riders that like them and say they work great but from my expieriance, the majority of riders that do any kind of drops or jumping always have problems with the Manipoo forks.

If your son is not too concerned with weight, see if the shop will chang out the fork for a Marzocchi. A DJ2 will work very well for aggressive XC riding and if you would prefer external adjusments you could get the DJ1.

Any of Zoch's forks in my opinion are better then Manitou. Even a RockShox Duke or Psylo would work better.


:beer:

How old is he? Mostly singletrack XC for now, but what about the future?

The FSR is a great all around trailbike, but if his skill continues to develop and he gets more agressive, he may outgrow the bike soon. He may soon want a bike with more travel.

It's quite a conundrum. The FSR will be a good bike for his current style of riding, but if he starts riding agressively, it'll not be "enough" bike. On the other hand, a bike like the Enduro is "too" much bike for now, but will handle anything he could throw at it.

However, if he continues to just ride agressive XC, then that bike will be more than fine for him.

L8R

You are right about the future. He is 14 now, but his first love is ice hockey. MTB is just fun conditioning. The other thought is he only has 3 yrs of high school left, and then who knows if he will continue to ride in college. After college, he can buy his own bike:D

Well i don't know if this helps or not but I out weigh your son by about 100 lbs and dropped that fork like it was a hot potato. It felt flexy as heck when I rode it in the parking lot that told me that I didn't want it on my bike. The shop was nice enough to swqap it out for a Rock Shox Duck XC U-turn for $100. (If you're interested in the rest of the story / specs go HERE (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18024))

Where in S.FL do you guys ride? Markham, Quiet Waters, ...etc.

I'm over in Sarasota, and ride a lot at Alafia, Carter Road, and occasionally Santos, Razorback and Hard Rock (in and around Ocala).

If you guys ever make it up this way, send me a PM and we'll hook up for a ride.

L8R

Oh no not a Stinking Panther Fan!! Noooooo! (half kidding) Any hockey nut is fine in my book. Except for a Dallas fan. (thieving bastards)

Hmm, he could get an older fsr like 2001 or 2000. And if he finds he wants more travel, he can get a BETD upgrade, which makes the travel adjustable 4in-5in-6in, which is nice.
Byron

We are heavy duty Markham Park riders. We live minutes away from Markham, and I can see trees in the park out of my office window right now. I often carry my bike in the inside of my Tahoe and ride during the day (i mean after work!)

I have thought about trying to get the LBS to change out the Manito for a Marzocchi MXcomp ETA. I think there is only $40 difference in the MSRP on these two forks. Does that sound reasonable?

Yeah, but you've got to figure some cost for their labor to do the swapping. If they agree, sure. But remember, they are now stuck with a fork with a cut steerer tube that they may or may not be able to sell. If they're willing to do the swap, go for it, but don't be surprised if they say no.

Although, for a 140 lb kid, the Axel isn't a bad fork. It's a far cry from a Marzocchi Z.1, but it's relatively light duty fork.

You could always swap out the fork in a year or two when he gets more into the sport.

L8R

love that av. h.star! homestarrunner! haha!

strong bad is the best.

later

I'll get you, HeySteve, if its the last thing I do!

Thanks for the advice. We are headed to the LBS this weekend.


Aemon--

Good to know there is at least one homestarrunner fan out there. It's "dot com".

the StrongBad techno email is stinkin great. man, i need to watch it now...

later

Well, I weigh 150 and I hated the Axel when I tried it out..But that could be for several different reasons..If your son likes the bike and doesn't have complaints about the fork, then don't worry about it. But he may notice it feels noodly.

I thought the reverse arch was supposed to make the fork stiffer??? I don't mind plush suspension, but plush and flexy just ain't my kind of poptart.

Originally posted by Raiyn
Oh no not a Stinking Panther Fan!! Noooooo! (half kidding) Any hockey nut is fine in my book. Except for a Dallas fan. (thieving bastards)

I'd say Colorado was every bit as thieving as Dallas :). And Colorado even rubbed salt in the wounds of la belle province by winning the cup the year they left :mad:

Thanks for all the advice. Here is the bike fresh from the shop.

And here is the agony of riding a new bike. He went over the bars within the first 5 min!