You may or may not have remembered my 'Build or Buy' thread I posted a week ago but I guess it doesn't matter 'cuz the story just got more complicated.

I decided that I should probably liquidate some of my toys since I'll be moving out of my apartment in May and figured I could at least use some of the funds to pay the difference towards a nicer bike. Over the past few days I've been listing a lot of electronics on craigslist all over Illinois including one for my Xbox 360 and all my accessories.

It included what amounted to near $900 in video gaming goodness which I was offering for $700 or a trade for a new or like new track bike (this was posted in the craigslist for the north side of Chicago).

I received an email today with a trade offer but the bike the guy is proposing to trade isn't SS. He says its worth over $1000 used, but well, I don't know and was wondering if you guys could tell me what I could get for the bike.

Here's what he wrote:

I have a full suspension Marin attack trail mountain bike. XT frount and
rear derailleur, Rear fox lock out suspension and its a 03. The bike is well
over a grand used, but I work at a bike and ski shop so i can just buy
another one for less then an xbox.

Is it worth it?

PS. I realize this thread doesn't necessarily have anything to do with SS so if it needs to be moved that's okay.

well, assuming the fork and brakes and wheels are equally nice i'd say it's worth it if you're going to go mountain biking a lot. riding a dual suspension bike around the city would piss me off, but people do it.

or maybe you could sell it for more than $700, depends.

Can I just take the bike from the guy and turn around and trade it (if I can even do that) at my LBS for a SS?

There is no way I would do that with a bike that old. The fork and rear shock are probably both almost obsolete by now and would cost a ton to replace. It may have been worth a lot when the guy bought it but that was years ago. Mass produced mountian bikes, unless they are something unique, really don't hold value well at all. Also it looks like an 02 I don't think they made one in 03. May have cost 1500$ new.