My first 'serious' MTB was an Iron Horse MT400 and I still think they rock. I lusted after the mango yellow aluminum frame they did with XTR and Manitous but that MT400 was way rad... The A-frame design I thought was the Yin to Gt's Triple Triangle Yang. When rigid was all you rode (when you didn't trust Rock Shox Quadra 21R Magnesium WHAT????) it had all the strength you wanted humpin' it round those corners. It heralded the dawn of the sloping top tube. What I would give for a 4130 Iron Horse A-frame nowadays...

I have an Ironhorse Assault Fr1 entry level mountain bike and I love it more then many 500 dollar bikes. They are built solid but they are VERY light. I just love em.

I love threads from '05, they rock hard!

Personally, Iron horse bikes are crap. Their freeride and downhill stuff is descent, however all of their MSRP's are way to high to justify. Also, they are rarely sold by small or medium size shops with any customer service capabilities, and we all know about the shortcomings supergo's service centers.
Buy a jamis, marin, or kona. These guys actually care about riding.

How do you know this?

Define crap? Thier frames are as good as any other as far as i can tell, and the component spec is on par with everyone else; even marginally better as of 2005/2006 when i was bike hunting. As far as thier DH stuff is concerned, id call it better than "decent" considering the success of thier racing team....i thought the Sunday was considered an excellent DH rig, and DW-link in general is considered a good system. My shop stopped carrying them because they couldnt compete with the online retailers IH began selling to. It's a shame they went that direction. I would have thought they'd learn from Shwinn and GT's mistakes.

Aside from them going the big box retailer route which im also unhappy about....can you quantify crap?

alright, crap may have been a bit harsh.

Good for Sam Hill and Sabrina. They can ride fast. So can steve peat, fabian barrel, greg minnar, and cody warren. A fast and successful team has very little to do with the bikes they ride.

Well, Look at the mk3 team for 2007. $4,500, and the Jamis Dakar XAM 2.0 for 2007, $2,775

Rear shock- Dakar= Fox DHX 5.0, Iron horse=fox float r
Fork- Dakar= Fox TALAS RLC, Iron Horse= Rock shox Pike 454
Drivetrain- Dakar- XT-XTR mix with XT cranks. Iron Horse= x.9-x.0 mix, race face atlas crank
Brakes- Iron Horse= juicy carbon, Dakar= hayes el camino

So basically with the rest of the specs you have the Iron horse, a bike that costs 1725 more, with carbon lever blades and a slightly lighter but less durable wheelset, or you have the Jamis, a bike with Superior suspension tuneability and overall durability, and actual customer service from both the company and shops that sell them for 1725 less.

Hm.

I want to know about the "they care about riding" statement. Do you go out and ride with the Kona,Jamis,or Marin CEO's?

That jamis looks like a great deal. You did gloss over the x9/x0 drivetrain and DT swiss EX1750 wheelset combo on the IH is significantly more expensive than the XT/XTR drivetrain and mavic 317/deore hubs wheelset combo on the jamis. That's about $1000 difference. All of a sudden, the IH doesnt look so outrageous.

It's a straw man argument though because if we rated "good" and "crap" on bang for buck, then a lot of the posters on here have "crap" bikes.....lowcel may have the crappiest ones of all!

well, I know this because jake hellibron, the owner of kona rides here near me, and started the africa bike project. hmm giving bikes to poor aids victims seems like a little more care than building overpriced bikes.
Marin- Bob Buckley is a cool guy, and could probably whoop the majority of bikeforums posters. All of the people there ride...alot...and work on the preservation of the trails in marin.
Jamis- My rep is a cool guy. he tests alot of bikes for them, and is active in their r&d. His name is john samsteadt. Ever heard of him

You have a jamis rep? You run a shop or do you ride for them?

Thats my point,I don't know of any bike companys that are not into riding. It's like saying Specialized is a big company so there people must not ride (Brandon Sloan is a great rider). Some of the smaller companys have a real grassroots riding thing going on, like Transition and Banshee. Just becuse you don't like Iron Horse dosen't mean that these others are better.Maybe your rep could fix that chainstay problem on the Dakar.

Yes, I do work at a Jamis shop.
Pete- Don't know what your smoking, but I'd like some. After your previous posts where you stated that Iron Horse bikes were the best and that anyone without is a pouser looser didn't seem that funny. I suppose you are doing more for the trails in marin county yourself?

mtb66- I dont know of a chainstay problem, only had a few complaints of wild housing. That'll be fixed next year. let me know whats going on with the chainstay problems.

I have a riding bud that broke two of them and he's the never leave the ground type. A guy on here had the same problem as well.

https://www.bikeforums.net/mountain-biking/274267-i-stand-corrected.html

mtb66- yeah, that was the previous model. That was eliminated this year, and We have about 6 out with alot of rough riders on them, and no problems.
pete- yeah I kinda got that that was on april fools. Wake up. Its may now. Marin cares. What are you trying to prove

I think the burden of proof is on you mate.

You'll forgive me if in my mind you lose a little credability when it comes to manufacturers you like. You have a vested interest in Jamis, and im going to go out on a limb and guess that your shop carries Kona and Marin too? Btw - if you want overpriced, i think Kona could be used as an example. But they still make killer bikes regardless of thier price point.

No beef with jamis, i like em....but to hold them up against IH and say IH is a bad bike is silly. Truth is, it's hard to find a serious manufacturer that doesnt make solid bikes. I don't think there is a 'best', or even a 'bad'. I think on the whole the manufacturers all make a remarkably similar product and its up to the individual rider to find the one thats 'best' for them.

flack- The shop I work at carries ridley, moots, garneau, and Jamis is the only larger bike manufatcturer we carry for joe commuter and jane recreational cyclist.
Pete- maybe i should have said " Marin bikes contributes to the preservation of trails in Marin County" I stil don't understand what you are trying to tell me. remember your tampons

Really no bones to pick with anyone. I had a 2005 Rockhopper (good bike), test rode a 2006 IH Warrior Expert and bought it. Love the SRAM X7's, Avid BB5's discs, Marzocchi shock, and geometry feels right. Nicely spec'd bike at a killer price (hit the Performance Bike sale with additional 20% off). It's a hardtail I'm riding for a long time to come.

Anybody know about the weight of the Warrior 3.5? https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=3050

Performance Bike thinks it weighs ~28 lbs, whereas IH had told me yesterday that their bikes run ~30 lbs. Unfortunately, the IH web site doesn't have the 3.5, just the 3.0 and 5.0 models listed. This is confusing: why would the brown bike weigh 36 lbs, vs black at 31.7 lbs?
https://www.ironhorsebikes.com/Warrior3.html

The fork on the 3.5 is a Marzocchi Race 100 mm travel, but I can't find this fork online at all, to spec it. Can I assume it's on the light side?

whats the deal with iron horse now? are they still in business?

What's the deal with folks dragging up these old useless threads?

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/...tail/2741.html

People are never happy.

If someone didn't use the search feature and re-asked this question, or one similiar, everyone would of jumped on him for not using search..

He did it right, and is using search.... and now he's catchin' flak...

people ***** and moan when newbies dont use the search function, this is what happens.