777funk

My oldest is considering buying his younger brother's USA Trek 830 (at $80 which I consider a good price). He's also considering buying a Giant ATX 980 for $100. I'm telling him, that the USA Trek is probably a better bike for the money. Am I wrong?

He just wants a smooth riding not overly heavy mountain bike that fits him. He does well on the 830 in the fit dept. He is 6' 1" and age 17.

TREK:



Giant:

cxwrench

Those bikes are so old it just doesn't matter.

777funk

Why? What's wrong with old bikes? Not everyone cares about disk brakes, better suspension, or special shifting mechanisms.., at least I don't. Am I missing something else?

I'm plenty happy with non indexing thumb shifters and manually finding gears as long as stops are properly set.

EDIT: to add... No Carbon Fiber in the price range I'm shopping (used market at that). And to me... shaving 2-3 lbs by adding money in the Aluminum or steel frame category isn't worth it. 2-3 lbs could be overeating for a week.

777funk

So is it accurate to say they're equal in (old) quality?

denaffen

Personally I’d want the Trek. I imagine the giant suspension is worn out, and the trek is surely much lighter

alcjphil

I would be reluctant to buy a 25 year old full suspension mountain bike. Suspensions require maintenance and you would have no idea how well it was taken care of or how it was used. However, at $100 you wouldn't lose much if it turned out to be a dud unless you tried to correct potentially expensive problems

777funk

I think of suspension as a good way to add weight (I don't care for suspension since I don't go off roading). But... supposedly the Giant is under 30 lbs. I'd be shocked if this is truly the case.

We weighed the Trek and it's about 34 lbs.

mstateglfr 

Whats it matter what you are shopping for?...this thread is about one kid buying another's bike.

The Trek is really entry level the price sounds fine, and it's it's one I would select without actually seeing either since it doesn't have suspension to worry about.

krakhaus 

That ATX is a far better bike, if the suspension is in good shape. The trek is probably running 200gs components, while the ATX is running LX or better. Plus you could get more than $100 for that Judy on Ebay.

777funk

It really doesn't matter what I think of course. But my take on it is that the Trek may be a more solid bike. It's also made in USA. Just my opinion. He's wanting to buy the Giant.

777funk

My son bought the Giant and it's a nice bike. It had lots of shift issues that weren't mentioned by the seller and he didn't thoroughly test. But... it's an old bike. We'll fix it.

I think it's on par with my second boy's Trek from what I can tell. It has knobby tires that probably would annoy me a little on pavement. But... good traction and I would suspect it'd be a nice stable (and safe) bike for the bike trail and road.

It's 4 lbs lighter than the Trek (hard tail). Pretty good for a bike with shocks.

2old

Either seems like an excellent choice, and he should purchase the one that fits best. I had an 830 that was a great bike and am a big fan of Trek, but Giant is excellent too. Don't listen to any naysayers about old, well maintained bikes. My wife and I have ridden them at times for years and loved the experiences. In fact, she is riding her "old" (25 years) Trek MTB hardtail now since her SC Superlight was stolen last week, and rides it as well as the SC and had a fine time on it this weekend.

Rdmonster69

Old bikes are awesome !! At 80 bux you should buy that old Trek for yourself !!

ClydeClydeson

I would check the Trek again for a 'Made In' sticker - I am 99.9% sure that bike was made in Taiwan (margin of error +/- 0.1%). The USA made Trek steel mountain bikies of that era were the 900 series and had lugged steel frames. Earlier 800 series were also made in USA but I believe they would have been lugged construction, not TIG welded.

Phil_gretz

As I read the thread, my thoughts were that the Giant is the better bike. I'd prefer to have v-brakes over the cantilevers on the Trek. Indexed versus friction on the Trek, (grip shifts can easily be swapped for trigger shifters, thus eliminating the separate brake levers too). Plus, the Giant looks longer in the top tube and gives easier reach adjustment via the threadless stem. Overall, it's a no brainer.

777funk

I would but the son that bought the Giant sold me his Fuji with Valite tubing (in dire need of some repairs) for $10. It's my all time favorite mountain bike. It has inverted tread 26x1.75" tires that handle pavement great. Almost as smooth as a road bike. No truck tire knobs on this one.

restlessswind

Please explain how there is "better adjustment" with threadless stems?. With a quill stem, it can telescope up and down (an actual adjustment)

Phil_gretz

Read what you bolded yourself.
- ease, not better
- reach, not up and down

Ease, since threadless stem changing doesn't involve removing handlebar-mounted controls. That's the biggest limitation to changing quill stems.

atnyc

Yes. You're missing the condition of the bikes.

I agree with cxwrench
With older bikes, especially old entry level bikes, the modal and components level don't really matter. Far more important is the condition the bikes are in. Are all the components in working order? Do the shocks still work, or stuck? Do the index shifters still shift as index? ...

777funk

Condition doesn't matter to much to me. I prefer bikes that are way out of adjustment or have (fixable) issues at a good price vs "good working" bikes at a higher price. Usually a seller's version of "good working" isn't my take on it anyways. Once in a while something being sold really has been maintained and is as good or better than I expect.

I have only one or two that are so entry level that they weren't worth fixing the rest have been a good investment of $20 on something needing some help (many are vintage Euro 10 speeds along with a few mountain bikes).

atnyc

In that case, the make and modal matters even less!

It's the condition "whether it's fixable" that matters 100%

Total waste of brain cell.