Mountain Biking - Help deciding on a bike...

**edit** A little investigatory journalism has discovered it to be a haro escape. Any more input based upon this fact?

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y52/accordionfolder/102_0066.jpg

I've been scrounging for a while and have found this local to me. I've been eyeballing the jack 1 and other equivilant bikes for some time now. I was just curious how you guys think this will stack up against them. I really don't know that much about mountain bikes, just that I enjoy thrashing around pavement/dirt technical courses.

Here's the description:

I have a flat black custom dirt jumper for sale. It has rarely been driven. It has a Marzoochi Bomber Air Fork 100mm travel. New Truativ 31.8 Bars and Stem on it. It has been converted to a single speed, but comes with shimano shifters and derailleurs to convert it back. Has Bontrager wheels, Odyssey Platform Pedals, Bellair SDG saddle, and shimano crank. This bike has been stripped and painted flat black, since the pictures were taken it has been touched up from any scratches it had around the rear hanger. Extra parts are included and pictured below. People who know bikes will know what a deal their getting on this bike.

and some accesories coming with it.

http://images.craigslist.org/01010301040401161020080223481496df7179082aad00b029.jpg

The guy selling it is not sure what frame it is either. So if someone could help id that too, that would be great.

Thanks for your help in advanced.

Andy

Maybe it's one of those hot ones.

Be careful.

That was a thought I had.

Hahaha, alright guys, stay on subject. I'm 99% sure it's not been stolen, but thanks for looking out for me. Any thoughts on the frame or components, I'm completely clueless when it comes to mt bike components

I figured I should elaborate my a previous post. It's posted in several public forums that any bicyclists would frequent. So I'm not too worried about the validity of the bicycle itself. If anything looks fishy though I will drop the deal.

Again thanks for the concern though.

Looks like a sweet bike, But I can't tell the frame, maybe some of these Hard core bike guys could tell.

I'm confused. The guy selling it says that people who know bikes will understand what a deal they are getting, yet he doesn't know what the frame is?

Lemme rephrase, I emailed him about the frame, he has an idea of what brand it is, but because when he bought it, it was already prepped for painting, it had no defining symbols.... That's why I'm asking you guys. :)

how much is it?? looks pretty cool. go look at it if it is close enough. a little common sense should tell you if it looks abused or not. try to look at the welds for cracks and the fork legs for scratches.

seriously, if it is not that much money, i wouldn't over analyze it.

The frame is off of a haro escape. Did all the models use the same frame. They have an 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3; so I was just curious if they were all similar. Funny what you happen upon while browsing through the gallery in the mt bike section ;)

What is the asking price?

The wheels and fork aren't up for dirt jumping by any stretch of the imagination. It looks like the seller is trying to get rid of some old parts by attaching them to a somewhat new frame.

Still, not a bad bike for XC use if the price is right.

I have an older escape. That thing will snap in half if dirt jumped.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/carriecarruthers/costarica/photos/IMG_0234.jpg

The old haro escape.


That one?

I've read some reviews on the newer haro's 8.1, and 8.2 (I believe the 8.3 had a different frame, but I'm not positive); where the only complaints where the components.

Any more input?

Thats almost EXACTLY the one I have. Bit too much flex in the rear triangle for my tastes. Aesthetically I love the curved top tube.

Thanks for checking back in, I was just making sure you weren't refering to a different escape. I was kinda worried about that, but for about 275ish would it be worth it??

I'm not big on aesthetics, but I do like the styling on the frame. I'm more of a plain bare bones is sexy kinda guy (not in my women mind you :P ), hence my love for single speed and the flat black color.

Do you think it will be alright for minor beatings? Right not I'm stomping a low end gary fisher bike into the ground (250 price range when new ...) I really enjoy toying around campus and attempting variuos trial bike esque things, I'm not very good yet, but the gary fisher is obviously lacking what I need to truly progress, the geometry feels very high centered for what I'm attempting to do.

Any more input based on these facts?

*edit* and if you wouldn't mind, when you use an abreviation like XC or any other common internet biking term explain what it means, sorry, new to this area of the forum. :)

Thanks!

a crap bike with a crap rattlecan sprayjob for 275 ...blah .... I'd pay no more than 200 depending on what fork it is..

hmmm, dunno... almost stealth bomber mat black, maybe they just like it like that? does seem like concealment to me though. haros aint that bad are they (lol)?... any cracks behind the paint?

mind you, enuff decent bikes like that in london painted black to deter theft (couriers)