Introductions - New Member with 7-year-old MTB

Hey, everyone!

I've been riding bikes ever since i was 7 (i'm 20.5 now). I have an old Pacific Hyper Cross mountain bike that's too heavy for me to lift. I can only lift up to 50 pounds, but that's 3/4 my weight. The bike weighs around 30 pounds.

TO remove it from it's storage location, I have to remove the front wheel and lift the rear section of the bike front the hanging hooks to be able to ride it.

To decrease the weight, I was talking to my dad about either getting a new bike, or just replacing specific parts with carbon fiber versions. My dad still gets Performance Bicycling catalogs, and this past weekend, just started going through it looking for parts.

I know that the frame is the heaviest part of the bike. The Performance catalog does not sell stand-alone frames anymore.

Anyway, I'm happy to be here, hopefully I will learn some important stuff.

Definately get a new bike! Pacific bikes are very low quality department store bikes, and moving to carbon parts you are talking a very minimal weight decrease in the spectrum of things. The heaviest components would be the wheelset, frame, crankset and bottom bracket most likely.

An entry level mountain bike will weigh about the same, 28-30lbs typically, but will have much better components. I am guessing the Pacific is probably closer to 35lbs anyways. If you are 75lbs as your post suggests I am guessing you are pretty short and a bike fitted to you at a bike shop would be pretty important as the Pacific is a one-size-fits-all design and probably too big.

A good place to ask questions is in the General forum... the mountain bike forum isn't always the best place for good information unfortunately.

Oh yeah and welcome :)

I'm actually 5-foot-4-inches, and my abnormal weight is the result of a genetic kidney disease.

My Pacific bike came equiped with Shimano parts... Yeah, I know Shimano's a great company and all, but they're far too common (most all bikes I've seen have Shimano components).

The Pacific is not too big. the total rolling stock outer diameter is 24inches. My dad has a Canondale bike with 26inchers.

I'm also thinking about trying to keep my bike (present and future) as road-going ATB. Since we have plenty of good jumps around, I plan to keep it as an ATB.

Oh, and another thing. The bike's got to be easy to disasemble and fit in the back of my Focus...

Oh, and thanks for the welcome!

Tire size actually doesn't determine fit... (and sorry to hear about the kidney disease... my friend is in the same boat so I know a bit about what its like)

The frame determines fit... at 5'4" you should be on a bike that has 26" wheels, but maybe a 12-15" frame depending on your inseam. Fit is key, and you will find yourself much more comfortable on a good fitted bike, which will have better handling characteristics as a result.

As far as Shimano goes, like most any company, they make good at bad stuff. The parts they sell to dept. store manufacturers like Pacific, Huffy, Mongoose, some Schwinns, is very low end low quality. The stuff you find on a quality Trek, Marin, Specialized, Kona, Cannondale, Orbea, etc tends to be better quality and higher up in the model line.

As far as disassembly, any bike in a bike shop will have quick release front and rear wheels, and many have a quick release seat collar as well.

If you want to do road and mountain, a cool bike to check out is the Cannondale Badboy. It comes setup as a commuter bike, with slicks for road riding, but if you got another wheelset and brake rotors, you could put knobby tires on those and just swap out the wheels when you want to hit the dirt.

My girlfriend is about 5'4" and she rides a new Haro V-3. I noticed it's a bit on the heavy side, although I am comparing it to my 17" '04 Marin Nail Trail, so there's a bit of a quality difference. That, and Haro seems to use really fat aluminum tubes, for some reason. They're so big, in fact, that I have difficulty getting the bike to rest properly in the cups on my rack.

I am assuming you have a ZX3 or ZX5 Focus. I used to have one, and I loved it to death. Literally. I used to fit my Bolinas Ridge into the back of that thing with the seats folded down. Hell, I used to fit my Bolinas Ridge into the back of my four door sedan that I drive now! I would seriously consider getting a new bike. It's like going from light to day with a 'real' bike. I used to own a walmart special years ago, and when I got my first Marin, it was like my eyes had opened. My girlfriend just recently came into the light when I got her the Haro. For lightness I would almost suggest a Marin; Haro seems to run on the heavier side, although Haro bikes tend to come with a better componant set for the money. Your LBS or even a place like Sun and Ski should have a V3 for around 375, and a V2 for around 300. A new Bolinas Ridge will run around 300, also, but the V2 actually comes with a bit better componants. Not dissing Marin, I love them!, but to get more bang for the buck it seems you gotta go higher in the spectrum on their bikes.

Another issue might be, and I don't know if this is true, due to your low weight, if you have any bone issues a fragility of your frame, you might consider a Full Suspension bike. I am a huge advocate of a Hardtail, but different stroke for different folks. I have heard that FS are an easier and less jarring ride. I don't know what your budget range is, but FS in Marin will start at LEAST 700. And all FS seem to be on the heavy side, unless you get a 4g bike. Haha! I'm a bit of a newb myself, but I thought I would put my two pennys in. Hope you find something that does you good!

73
-David