Hey guys. New to the forum.

I'm thinking about buying my friends bike and I really have no knowledge of what I'm getting myself into. Thought I'd check here to see what you gurus have to say. Here's the bike:

frame is a 19.5 and it is a ControlTech Team Issue
It has a Marzocchi Bomber fork
Shimano XTR/XT components
Continental tires
One of the brake levers is an Avid 2.0 and one is a Shimano XTR.
GripShift shifters
leather Selle Italia saddle on it.
It also has a red Chris King headset

Basically, I know nothing. Is this a good setup? What looks good, what looks bad, and how much should I look to pay for it. Bike is in great condition.

Thanks in advance.

I've never heard of ControlTech Team Issue frames? The components seem nice, but Almost all Marzocchi forks say "bomber" so that doesn't help.

How old is it, and can we get a photo?

The bike is probably five or six years old. My friend had the bike when we were seniors in high school and has sat in his garage for the past four years while we were in college. So it's older, but not well used be any means.

As far as the frame goes, I did an internet search using the info and didn't come up with much. I doubled checked with him and he confirmed that it was a control tech frame--said they made very few. I'll try to get a picture but it will be hard. He's in NYC I'm in Portland, OR and the bike is with his parnets in Portland.

I'm not worried about getting ripped off. Pretty much just wanted to post here and see if I could a ballpark price, but maybe I don't have enough info provided for even that. I'll try to get some more specifics.

Thanks for the help guys.

I wouldn't think it's worth more than $200-300. The parts may have been good back in their day, but the frame is not going to be anything of value.

ControlTech sold several Kinesis built frames under their name around the mid 90's. It was decent quality, if it hasn't seen a hard life, it's worth owning. Some of the parts are dated. What price were you offered?

You can get a brand new Kinesis tubing frame today for $100.

Well he hasn't even set a price yet. I was going to call him up this weekend to talk about it but I didn't want to go into it blind.

Things to consider:

Any fork that old, even a Marz, will need some help. It may be no good by now, if the seals are shot. The grip shifters from that era are pretty crappy too. Sure, it's got a CK headset, but that's about it. Mismatched levers are never a good sign. Did he have a bad stack and break one? What kind of cranks? Wheels? Hubs? Conti tires that are 5 or 6 years old are probably rotted and cracked.

I know I sound negative, but there's not much to like here. It may just be a money pit, that's not worth the effort. I'd look at it for possibly scrounging some parts, not much more.

My Marzocchi's don't say anything, they are all action :eek: .