Mountain Biking - Rocky Mountain Grind

I'm a road cyclist that knows nothing about mountain bikes. I found this Rocky Mountain Grind in my parents basement while on vacation, and am wondering if you guys can tell me more about it. Is it a well regarded bike? Worth shipping cross country and bringing it home with me after the holidays?

I went on an hour long ride with it today on paved city roads and it felt pretty solid. It was my first time trying disc brakes and they worked great. I also slapped a set of SPD pedals on it. Then again, I have no sense for what's quality and what's not on mountain bikes.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/6675/img1307gh.th.jpg (http://img441.imageshack.us/i/img1307gh.jpg/)

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How much would it cost you to ship? Looks like a fun bike. Pretty overbuilt and stout looking too. I'd keep it.

http://bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=2003&Brand=Rocky+Mountain&Model=Grind&Type=bike

Wow...this is actually worth more than my entry-level road bike! Not sure how much it would cost to ship, but I'm guessing at least $150-200 since it would be going from the west coast of Canada to the east coast USA. I may just leave it here and use it as my travel bike whenever I visit home. Might be a good opportunity for me to find some trails and finally try some real mountain biking!

Thanks for the link.

Took the Rocky Mountain Grind out for my first true mtb-style ride. Had a great time, even for a noob:

http://blog.lancelim.com/down-n-dirty

Check with a bike shop, it was going to cost me about $70 to ship from Calgary to North Carolina. If you can't do it yourself, they'll pack the bike for a reasonable fee too.

Also, most airlines have a cost to ship a bike...usually $80-100. Just make sure you insure the bike!

Nice find! And if you take off the wheels & ship them separately, you could probably save a pretty penny on shipping.

And in regards to your blog post, everything you changed in riding style was right except the braking. 75/25% front/rear braking still applies with mountain biking. The only times I use my rear brake are when I need to come to an abrupt stop, or if I'm 'power-braking' (sorry for the drifting reference guys--don't know the term used in MTBing) to intentionally lose traction through a sharp turn. Otherwise the front brake is still the way to go.

Thanks guys. Good ideas re: shipping. I'm gonna do some poking around Boston first to see how easy it is to find trails near my area. Might also lurk in the MTB forums to learn more about this side of bike riding. I had an insanely good time and completely understand why many of you love mountain biking now!

One more thing...is there a way for me to figure out what size this bike is? I looked all over the frame but didn't find any indication.

The only times I use my rear brake are when I need to come to an abrupt stop, or if I'm 'power-braking' (sorry for the drifting reference guys--don't know the term used in MTBing) to intentionally lose traction through a sharp turn.

As you describe it, the maneuver is known as "skidding." This is generally frowned upon.

If you do it without rear brake it's called drifting which is cool.

Any particular reason it's frowned upon?

Skidding has a detrimental effect on the trail, and therefore upon your friendly local trail builders / maintainers. But, and perhaps most importantly, it's seldom the fastest way through the corner.

Well now you've just got me all kinds of cornfused. Skidding with your brakes is frowned upon & detrimental to the trail, but skidding without your brake is cool? Are they not both equally detrimental to the trail?