advice on parts?
 

I just bought a beat up Gary fisher marlin for really cheap. I think it is a 2006. Anyway I want to get into mountain biking, but I don't want to put much money into this quite yet. The rear rim is rough. Several bent and broken spokes, the rim is extremely wobbly. I am trying to decide if I should lace in a new rim, try to bend back the rim I have, or just get a new or used wheel. I can't seem to find a good deal on a used wheel that takes a shimano cartridge. I also don't have a rear brake. What do you guys think I should do?

Also, the fork does not appear to be original, and I think it is worse than the stock one, should I worry about that as a beginner? As far as I know the frame is great and is my size, so it will probably be worth fixing up considering it was so cheap...

Before your problem can really be assessed, how much did you get the bike for & what kind of riding are you interested in? (ie - trail biking, freeride, downhill, commuter, etc)

You can get a Rhynolite/Deore disc wheelset from Jenson for $95. That is dirt cheap.

Oh, and whatever you do, install a Kore Chain Reactor on it . . . you should still have one I believe.

Paid $40, planning on offroad only. I have road bikes too.

BTW I found that kore and I still intend to give it back, i'll throw in a few bucks for interest as well ;) I kinda forgot all about that whole thing after i broke my collar bone and stopped cycling. sorry about the ****** move on my part.

Hell for $40 do whatever you want to it. That's a steal! Go to Jenson like dminor said & get a $100 wheelset, then scout craigslist, ebay, & any bike sites you know of for a decent fork. The other day I found a 2008 RockShox Tora 302 in near perfect condition for $120. I would have bought it if I had the money. Spadout.com usually has some pretty good deals, & I've been seeing a lot of forks on chainlove lately.

Do they have similarly priced rim brake wheelsets? I am posting on a cell phone so I can't check easily.

You can use that wheelset for rim brakes - - the Rhynolites have a machined rim-brake track. Just bonus that they have disc-compatible hubs, if you ever decided to go that way with that bike or another.

And I was just giving you a bad time about that Kore. Sure, I wouldn't mind having it back some day (never know when another friend might be in need of one); but it wasn't burning a hole in my mind.

The $95 Rhyno's are disc & rim brake compatible, so you should be good with those.

They seem like a nice deal. I'll have to save up and order them. I need a bottom bracket, rear brake, cables, housings, and a chain too in order to ride it. The thing has been flogged. At least the frame is still good...