Good advice needed
 

MTN biking interests me and I don't really have a bike, but my brother does. He never uses it and he said I could. It is a lower end mongoose bike with full suspension. Two problems, I want to stiffen up the rear end because it kinda just collapses and the pedals come to close to the groun and drag sometimes. So I would want to raise the pedals up some. Anything I can do?

Sounds like it's a bike from a department store, right? You may be able to get the rear suspension to not move, some sort of chock or something? It's kind of hard to say without more information on the bike, maybe a picture? I'm sure you aren't in the market for a new bike, so fixing this one up is probably the current option, correct? If you can give a more detailed description of what we're dealing with, more help can be given. I would hate to see you not get into biking because of a poorly designed bike :) Good luck, and I await further information.

Biking is sorta like guitar playing...the better your equipment, the better the experience.

If your bike is mega-heavy, inefficient, doesn't shift properly etc...you will not enjoy your new MTB'ing experience as much as you could/should. A common problem that I run into is I see people get excited about it, then they fatigue too easily b/c the bike doesn't fit properly combined with the above reasons. This makes them not want to ride very long...and eventually gets more difficult to set foot out the front door.

El-cheapo components improperly set up cause frustration, in turn causing a poor experience.

You don't need an expensive bike to have a good time. It sure would help if you had a proper bike though. Your Mongoose is most likely a Walmart special. The cheapest beater you can buy at your local bike shop (Trek 820 for ex.) would give you 10x the satisfactory experience in the woods than some pile that's causing you worry if everything is working properly / pedals dragging...whatever.

So, you can't afford $230 or whatever a bottom feeder "bike shop" bike is runnning. Check out craigslist, ebay, garage sales...etc. Find a good bike from a good manufacturer and ride the piss out of it!!


I've picked up 5-10 y.o. bikes that are quite decent from random individuals for $50-$100 plenty of times. Just take a picture of it and post it here before you buy so you don't get hosed into buying a Mongoose'esque ride in hopes that it's of decent quality.

Martin guitars fit that bill at my house. I could add nice flyrods to that as well.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w.../TGMBG2005.jpg

...the reason why i can't get any friends to come out with me for a ride.

+1

Thanks for the info. I am still stuck at school right now and I want to do some looking around espically since it is garage sell season. There is also a little bike shop and some pawn shops near where I live. The mongoose is something I can use to get my feet wet but I will be seeing a bike shop this summer def because I want to look at some road bikes as well. Some good incentive is 3.65 a gallon gas, haha.

I wonder if you could replace the rear shock with a block of wood and some bolts? I know that sound sarcastic, but it isn't intended that way. Those K-mart full suspension bikes are pretty awful and since this particular one sounds way too soft then removing the shock entirely may make it more rideable. You'd effectively have a hardtail.