lofnsjoke

my concern was not that you should buy a 2000 dollar bike, hell i bought a schwinn s-25 from target for my first bike. i rode the crap out of the bike, but it was not safe for the off-road. the rims never stayed trued, the deraillers never stayed adjusted, the front fork (if you can call it that) bounced like a pogo stick until it finally snapped, and the rear shock was nothing but a coil spring. i thought it was the bees knees though, until the swing arm broke in half causing me to fall and break my ankle. this was all within the 90 day warranty from target, so i returned it.

i finally was convinced by a few friends and many people on these very same forums that a x-mart bike, no matter how pretty or well loaded i thought it was, was nothing more than a toy bike. i ended up buying an entry level hard tail ($500) and have been romping through the rough terrain ever since. that hard tail is lighter and more maneuverable than that schwinn was. there were even stickers on the forks that said " not intended for off road use".

im not trying to tell you not to ride your bike, im just concerned that what happened to may may also happen to you. trust me, 6 months of rehabilitation for a compound fracture is not fun. as i said before, enjoy the ride, just dont push the bike to hard.