A cheap bike and made it nice? and post some pics, just for fun.

what about people that bought cheap bikes and left them cheap? :-P

Yeh i've always wondered who did up a Huffy or something? Could be interesting .

I always thought what it would be like tricking up one of those crap dual suspension x mart bikes with all XTR and some insane fork... but leave the crap shock on it... maybe a project for when I have money to spare. (which won't be any soon since I'm saving lots of money for 20" trials mod bike).

There have been some people that have done some nice upgrades to Specialized Hardrocks. That is the cheapest bike that I know of that would be worth upgrading. If the bike is lower quality than the hardrock (or equivelant) you are much better off buying a nicer bike to start with. You will get much more for your money.

Haha funny you say that, here is my old bike and is sadly no longer with us









Finaly replaced the frame with a p3, cuz it was twisted like no other

I paid $200 for my IH Yakuza Bokuta from a guy off craigslist, basically brand new.. Complete minus wheelset, rear cassette, disc brakes, chain, grips, tires and brake levers. Cost me $280 to order all that stuff. Just waiting for it to come in so I can put it all together. $480 for a bike that retails for $900 is pretty good I think.

hey free ridin' is that 150 mm of travel on your bike? I think I might be picking up a new fork around 150mm so that would give me an idea on how it would look. Sweet upgrades on the hardrock there though.

...its a z150...the name kind of gives away the travel.

a fool and their money will soon part company

there was some guy who bought a trek 3700 from us, and then immediately ordered a Sid WC, Full xtr kit, minus cranks, and some weird ass cranks that were 800 bucks. he then keeps the stock wheelset, uses xtr v brakes, and some bonty trail connection tires, and full thompson elite setup.


what a tard....

My god haha. Why would you keep the stock wheelsted when your going full XtR.

Pshht, howd I miss that

Those weren't really "cheap" bikes to start with. I'm pretty sure the OP meant X-mart bikes made 'better'. I like that hardrock with the Z150 a lot though.

Right now, I'm actually considering getting a Z150 and retiring my Z1 fr 3 altogether. Or I might build up a frankenstein trek 4100 with the Z1...that's gunna look funny.

Freeridin': I'd be really really really interested to hear your opinions on how your Hardrock felt with an 150 mm fork!

I'll post pics of my bike soon enough after I've installed the brakes.

honestly I think the 150mm travel and the hardrock were ment to be. After 5 minutes from switching over from my 100mm MZ comps I was completey use to it, I dident even feal a diffrence until I jumped on another 100mm fork. I did a lot of hardtail fr, djs, and park riding with that bike and it was amazing in all catagories, even the djs. At one time I put some 200mm boxxers on that bike to do this one stairgap, and even that felt pretty comfortable. I do suggest both putting the 150mm fork on a hardrock, and strongly suggest the Z150 fr.

My friend just got a pair of 05 Z1 fr 3s but is waiting for his wheels. So I will let you know how the rank jason.

Sorry about the poor spelling, in a little rush right now

Sorry I don't have the pict to go with yet (think it's on an old harddrive), but here was my 'cheap bike made better':

Mongoose MGX D50 from Costco (go ahead - -laugh )
Judy XLC 4" travel dual crown (online from Universal Cycles)
Bontrager Crowbar XXX handlebars (cheap at LBS)
Kore Lite 3 stem (cheap online)
SRAM X-Ray shifters (cheap online)
Fox Alps 5 rear shock (free from Fox)
STX-RC rear der. (LBS - after the half-plastic stocker wore out)

...that was my beginner DH rig. Got me on the podium enough times to graduate to Sport and land my first sponsor. I only replaced things as they wore out or bent/broke (surprisingly not that quickly) - except the front fork. That I changed as soon as I could afford to.

I supose this is a good place to ask..

If I got a 150mm fork would it wreck my frame? Ive gota 04 norco wolverine and Ive been talking to some people saying that it would possibly bend my headtube. I dont have enough money to buy a new frame yet so Im thinkin of just buying some good components but if it bend my headtube, I dunno.

Yeah people told me this too, but I think its bs. I think the only reason people think this is because putting a larger travel fork on most hts usually voids the warrenty, and thats cuz the manufacter does not want to take risks. Like I said, I even had a 200mm boxxer on my hardrock and did like a 15ft drop, no problems there.

sorry for jacking this thread, now lets see some **** that was turned into gold

I too switched from my Mz-comp to a fork with 150 mm of travel, I loved the change in geometry, it made things so easy to do! I could never learn anything with my old fork, and within 10 days of me using my new fork, I learned to pedal kick. It was something I had been trying to learn since I got my bike (learned it almost a year later). I also find it makes wheelieing much easier, manualing, and even bunnyhoping. Last year, with my old fork, I had a really hard time getting over things that were around a foot high, but now, with my Z1, I'm hopping up things more than double that. Too bad it broke.

nah. The wolverine frame is basically the same as the bigfoot. I'd do it. What size frame is it?

My friend Farva made his Gt Avalance 2 into a fairly nice bike. He bought a Marzocchi All Mountain 3 fork (130 mm) and Hydros.

well dminor you made my day...can you post some pics?

Oh and update on that JR T2...turns out the guy doesnt wnat to sell it to me therefore, i have a choice between a marzocchi EXR comp or a maniout stance.. Ill take the manitou only if the mz is gone and if i cant find anything better...

worst day of june so far for me....I can play soccer but then i cant play, the guy decided not to sell me that fork,AND the guy with the mz exr comp told me hell tell me in a few days weather or not hell sell it to me...you all know what that means.......