musicsucks

I'm getting back into mountain biking after a few years and trying to decide what kind of bike to get. My budget, fuelled by my adolescent fantasies and my only sort of unrealistic desire to do at least once xc race eventually, is around $1200cdn.

The question is this: do I go with a very respectable and nice new bike (like, say, a kona cinder cone). Or do I get something amazing that already has a few kms on it; specifically my friends 2009 Cannondale Caffeine 1 29er which hasn't been ridden too much except for a few endurance races and has a few choice upgrades.


The 16 year old in me is bugging his eyes out at the fancy components on the used bike... the boring old man in me wants a warranty. Thoughts?

Canker

I guess it would come down to how much he wants for the Caffeine. Warranty is over rated .

jimc101

The 2 bikes are on totally different levels, the Cannondale Caffeine 1 was a high end XC bike, the Kona is an mid level trail bike.

What wheel size are you looking at, 29er vs 650B (current 2014 Kona)? for the warranty, this is a good thing to have, but being as you know the original owner, that can be worked around if you ever had any issues.

ColinL

I have yet to file a warranty claim on any bicycle complete bike, frame or component*. There are seven fully operational bicycles in my house and two others in parts.

* I did have exactly two brand-new Specialized bikes with bad forks. The dropouts were not straight which caused the wheel to be skewed. I guess technically they were warranty claims, but had I noticed before taking delivery of the bikes, I would have simply gotten a different one that did not have an issue.

I would also value a warranty on an expensive full suspension frame. If anything happened to the pivots, I'd want that to be covered. My full suspension frame was well-used, works fine, and very cheap so I can deal without having a warranty. If the Caffeine 1 is $1,200 CAD or less, I'd strongly consider it.

It is nowhere near comparable to a new Kona Cinder Cone. For starters, it probably weighs 7-10 pounds less.

Daspydyr 

I agree with the statements above about warranty. I've been riding since @1990 and never filed a bike warranty claim. One tire separated on an aftermarket purchase.

I think its fun to have a bike you like to look at. I've haven't owned much of anything ugly since my '64 Rambler Ambassador in high School. I am all about being pretty!

Seriously though, you want to like your bike. I am an XC type rider, so bike fit and trusting your components is really major. Know what you want to do and then get a good bike that gets you where you want to go.

roccobike

While I like to recommend used, in this case, if you're OK with a 29er, I'd go with the C'dale.
Unless the C'dale is my size, then you should go with the new bike and give me your freinds phone number.

wvridgerider

The Caffeine would work good if the price is right.

trekker pete

Warranties are nice, but used bike depreciation is even nicer, when you are the guy buying one. I just got an old Cannondale Jekyll for 200 bucks. Entry level forks cost that much.

Is there a bit of a risk?

Sure there is, but we ride bicycles in places that bicycles have no bidness being, at imprudent speeds. So we're pretty much good with the risk thing. Risk averse folks ride lifecycles at the gym.

Go for the old bling.