Mountain Biking - My new(ish) bike purchase!...an update from another thread

As some of you know, I was in the market for a new xc/trail bike (old thread here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?647263-Want-to-build-an-XC-Trail-bike...coming-over-from-Road-Cycling...please-help)) I'm coming over from 5/6 years of road cycling, my friends suggested that I should join them in some xc/trail riding...

So I set out on a quest to build an xc/trail bike from the ground up with a Kona Kula frame.

But before buying the frame used from craigslist and starting the build...I attended a Police Recovered Stolen Bike auction, in hopes I could potentially purchase an entire bike for a fairly cheap price. My budget for the build was roughly $800-1000....I was looking at spending no more than $500 at the auction. Had my eye on a 2005 Specialized Rockhopper, 2006 Specialized Epic Comp, and 2004 Trek Fuel; all of which sold for much more than they should have in my opinion ($850, $1150, and $975 respectively).

Anyways, long story short, I ended up purchasing a Cove Handjob XC bike for $225, tax included!!

Here's the specs:

15.5" Matte Black Frame
Marzocchi MX Comp fork
Hayes Hydraulic brakes & Levers
Sun Rhyno Lite rims w/ Deore Hubs
Maxis Larsen TT tires
Sram PG-970 9-speed Cassette
Sram X7 RD
Shimano Deore FD
Sram X7 Trigger shifters
Race Face Evolve XC stem/handlebars/crankset
FSA Headset
Wellgo Pedals
Rocky Mountain seatpost

I think it was a decent purchase...
couple problems though:

Sram X7 RD is completely bent, I couldn't even ride the bike to my car from the building
Sram X7 shifters are missing some shifts
Rotors are a little rusted

I was planning on running Shimano SLX RD and Shifters anyways, so the broken Sram RD and miss shifting shifters give me more reason to make the two purchases. Other then the RD and Shifters problem...everything else is in working order; just needs a lot of TLC and maybe an overhaul

here's the bike off the auction site:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v386/604bullet/IMG_2504.jpg

Let me know what you guys think!

PS: As I'm in Vancouver/Burnaby, BC, Canada...I'm like 10 minutes away from Cove's shop and Race Face Headquarters/Distribution centre...so if anything goes wrong I wouldn't have to travel far!

Could you give some drive side pictures, in particular the RD? Usually the dérailleur hanger bends not the dérailleur itself.

^^

here's a picture....it's actually really hard to see as the bike is upside down, and the picture was taken with my blackberry. i'll take another one soon as my digicam is not with me right now.

i looked at the derailleur hanger, to me it doesn't look bent at all. I actually hope it's not the hanger because on this frame, it's not replaceable...=(


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v386/604bullet/IMG00059-20100605-1602.jpg

you can sort of see the pulley is bent inwards (towards the wheel hub), even though the chain is running straight.

If it were me I'd take the dérailleur off and take the bike to your LBS, they have a tool called a dérailleur hanger straightener which can determine if the hanger is true. Hate to see you buy a new dérailleur only to find its the hanger. If it is bent they can straighten it.

Thanks for the advice

and yea, i'd much rather pay to have the hanger straightened than get a new derailleur...but we'll see what the LBS has to say