MountainSmith Bicycles

(Tony) said:

I was at my local [censored]'s the other day and saw that MountainSmith is
making bicycles. I can't find any info on the net, or any reviews
whatsoever.
They appear to be low(er) end bikes with quality(?) components. I am
looking at mostly off road riding with it, as I have a roadbike.

What is your road bike?

Quoted message said:

I'm 5'10 and weigh 230 (the more I ride, the more I lose, ain't it
funny that way!). I'm looking for just a general trail bike, for
pleasure only (read, easy stuff!).
Their hardtail has similar components. Thanks for any replies!
The full suspension bike that caught my eye for $300 has these
components:

Quoted message said:

Frame: 7005 Series Aluminum

What does the bike weigh? If it weighs about 40-45lbs, (with kickstand,
haha), then it's [censored]. If it's 30lbs or less, not too bad.

Quoted message said:

Fork: Rok Shox Judy TT

Go for a non-suspended bike. Are you at 230lbs, a beginner (?) going to be
rock and stump jumping? No? Then more useless weight.

Quoted message said:

Rear: RST 20A Coil

Complete and total waste of weight.

Quoted message said:

Tire: Kenda

Quoted message said:

Hubs: KT Alloy

This is ok but what are the 'wheels'?

Quoted message said:

Saddle: WTB Race
Seat Pin: Pro Max Netted Allen Adjustable
Headset: Threadless

Shimano is OK. but is this bottom of the barrel-ish?

Quoted message said:

Shifters: Shimano Acera
F Derailleur: Alivio
R Derailleur: Shimano Deore
Crankset: Shimano Alivio
Chainwheel: Shimano Alivio
Cassette: Shimano Acera

Quoted message said:

Brakes: Pro Max F/R Disc

[censored], also?

Quoted message said:

Brake Lever: Shimano Acera

Try to look it up on www.roadbikereview.com

May I suggest you upgrade your roadbike and if you must get an additional
set of wheels, with some nice 700x35c tires, and swap them out for road vs
trail. Those can handle most anything but mud and slop...

Now if your road bike is super 'racey' skinny tires, it may not be able to
handle too-wide tires. But on this kind of tire I've ridden ALL kinds of
trails, sandy, stony, pebbley, crushed rock.

A heavy, crappy 'low-end' trail bike, with huge knobbie tires. Hmm. Will
you ever really use this? To switch from a good roadbike to a 45lb clunker
can't be a pleasant experience...mostly.<g>

uh, suspension is highly over rated. Do you really want to be bouncing
around boingity-boingity? Even a suspension seatpost, with cushy saddle,
advertised as comfort, hurts after a while...sinking sit bones, and an
extra 2lbs - who needs it? ;-)

-B

Badger_South <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

(Tony) said:

I was at my local [censored]'s the other day and saw that MountainSmith is
making bicycles. I can't find any info on the net, or any reviews
whatsoever.
They appear to be low(er) end bikes with quality(?) components. I am
looking at mostly off road riding with it, as I have a roadbike.

What is your road bike?

It's an old 70's Ross 10 speed

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm 5'10 and weigh 230 (the more I ride, the more I lose, ain't it
funny that way!). I'm looking for just a general trail bike, for
pleasure only (read, easy stuff!).
Their hardtail has similar components. Thanks for any replies!
The full suspension bike that caught my eye for $300 has these
components:

Quoted message said:

Frame: 7005 Series Aluminum

What does the bike weigh? If it weighs about 40-45lbs, (with kickstand,
haha), then it's [censored]. If it's 30lbs or less, not too bad.

Don't know, it's not listed in the flyer...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Fork: Rok Shox Judy TT

Go for a non-suspended bike. Are you at 230lbs, a beginner (?) going to be
rock and stump jumping? No? Then more useless weight.

Quoted message said:

Rear: RST 20A Coil

Complete and total waste of weight.

I've read that, plus your later comment on full suspension

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Tire: Kenda

Quoted message said:

Hubs: KT Alloy

This is ok but what are the 'wheels'?

Don't know, not in the flyer. I'll go back to [censored]'s and check.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Saddle: WTB Race
Seat Pin: Pro Max Netted Allen Adjustable
Headset: Threadless

Shimano is OK. but is this bottom of the barrel-ish?

Yeah, fairly low on the food chain.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Shifters: Shimano Acera
F Derailleur: Alivio
R Derailleur: Shimano Deore
Crankset: Shimano Alivio
Chainwheel: Shimano Alivio
Cassette: Shimano Acera

Quoted message said:

Brakes: Pro Max F/R Disc

[censored], also?

Don't know, didn't find much on that either.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Brake Lever: Shimano Acera

Try to look it up on www.roadbikereview.com

Nothing on the Mountain Smith bikes, just on the accessories.

Quoted message said:

May I suggest you upgrade your roadbike and if you must get an additional
set of wheels, with some nice 700x35c tires, and swap them out for road vs
trail. Those can handle most anything but mud and slop...

Now if your road bike is super 'racey' skinny tires, it may not be able to
handle too-wide tires. But on this kind of tire I've ridden ALL kinds of
trails, sandy, stony, pebbley, crushed rock.

A heavy, crappy 'low-end' trail bike, with huge knobbie tires. Hmm. Will
you ever really use this? To switch from a good roadbike to a 45lb clunker
can't be a pleasant experience...mostly.<g>

uh, suspension is highly over rated. Do you really want to be bouncing
around boingity-boingity? Even a suspension seatpost, with cushy saddle,
advertised as comfort, hurts after a while...sinking sit bones, and an
extra 2lbs - who needs it? ;-)

-B

Problem with upgrading the roadbike is that it doesn't fit. Cheap buy
at a garage sale, rides very nice, but way too big. Nuts are in a bind
when standing over the top tube.
What I'm looking for (now that I've researched a bit) is a mountain
bike in the $400 range. Something that I can be confident on trails,
and also ride the asphalt bike trail around home. My wife and I ride
about 15-20 miles every Sunday, and that's about the extent of our
"road" riding. when we go camping we ride the campground, and I want
to start riding the trails also. I road dirt bikes (motorcycles) every
nice weekend while growing up, rode BMX bikes on trails as a kid, and
now I'm 40 and getting back into the fun stuff.

Thank you for your reply. It confirmed things that I had been reading
all along.

Tony

(Tony) said:

What I'm looking for (now that I've researched a bit) is a mountain
bike in the $400 range. Something that I can be confident on trails,
and also ride the asphalt bike trail around home. My wife and I ride
about 15-20 miles every Sunday, and that's about the extent of our
"road" riding. when we go camping we ride the campground, and I want
to start riding the trails also. I road dirt bikes (motorcycles) every
nice weekend while growing up, rode BMX bikes on trails as a kid, and
now I'm 40 and getting back into the fun stuff.

Thank you for your reply. It confirmed things that I had been reading
all along.

Tony

I may have the perfect solution for you.

My brother had (of all things) a 1980s Ross! Can you believe it?

He paid about $300 for it, friction shifters, heavy (32lbs), but nice
otherwise, cro-moly.

Trouble was the friction shifters were out of tune and several other little
problems, plus the weight made him tthink about a replacement.

He got about the modern equivalent in a Trek 7200FX.

The FX is only 'seatpost' suspension, adding about 2lbs. But otherwise it's
(comparatively) a -schweet ride-. He only paid about 320ish for it in Va
Bch. It's new, in that the FX (no suspension frame) used to just be

7300FX ~$450
7500FX ~$600
7700FX ~$850

It has 700x35c tires and could be called a sport/MTB type (shimano MTB
components)

See:

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/City_Bike_Path/Hybrid/FX/7200_FX/index.php

Do a test ride of any of the FX bikes...the ride feel and geometry is
similar. When you compare against your friction shifters out of tune, which
yours must be (lots of slushy shifting, taking several seconds, chain
clanking) vs indexed shifters on the 7200FX, you'll be grinning from
ear-to-ear. For $330bucks, dayum!

He was reluctant to buy an new bike. After the test tide, the fsker wanted
to ride it home! ;-p

HTH,
-B

Badger_South said:

uh, suspension is highly over rated. Do you really want to be bouncing
around boingity-boingity? Even a suspension seatpost, with cushy saddle,
advertised as comfort, hurts after a while...sinking sit bones, and an
extra 2lbs - who needs it? ;-)

My current commute bike came with a suspended seatpost. Now it has a fixed
seatpost.

In addition to creating a "detached" feeling that I didn't really care for,
the suspended seatpost also proved to be a weak link. Breaking a seatpost
is unpleasant. Not as bad as breaking a chain, but still unpleasant.
--
Darin McGrew, [email hidden], http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/
Web Design Group, [email hidden], http://www.HTMLHelp.com/

"Red meat isn't bad for you. Fuzzy blue-green meat is bad for you."

Darin McGrew said:

Badger_South said:

uh, suspension is highly over rated. Do you really want to be bouncing
around boingity-boingity? Even a suspension seatpost, with cushy saddle,
advertised as comfort, hurts after a while...sinking sit bones, and an
extra 2lbs - who needs it? ;-)

My current commute bike came with a suspended seatpost. Now it has a fixed
seatpost.

In addition to creating a "detached" feeling that I didn't really care for,
the suspended seatpost also proved to be a weak link. Breaking a seatpost
is unpleasant. Not as bad as breaking a chain, but still unpleasant.

Yeah, I tried to get him to swap it out immediately, but he wouldn't listen
to me. He eventually took all my suggestions, but getting a younger
brother, at 48 to change his stubborn ways...

Things were going good until a bit uf Ultra-Fred leaked out and he says:

'there's no kick stand, can I put my old (heavy thick steel) kickstand on
it.'

My eyes get big and I try to say, but it comes out in slowmo and
audiowarped, and Jim Carey like:

"No-o-o-o..."

-B

Badger_South <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

(Tony) said:

What I'm looking for (now that I've researched a bit) is a mountain
bike in the $400 range. Something that I can be confident on trails,
and also ride the asphalt bike trail around home. My wife and I ride
about 15-20 miles every Sunday, and that's about the extent of our
"road" riding. when we go camping we ride the campground, and I want
to start riding the trails also. I road dirt bikes (motorcycles) every
nice weekend while growing up, rode BMX bikes on trails as a kid, and
now I'm 40 and getting back into the fun stuff.

Thank you for your reply. It confirmed things that I had been reading
all along.

Tony

I may have the perfect solution for you.

My brother had (of all things) a 1980s Ross! Can you believe it?

He paid about $300 for it, friction shifters, heavy (32lbs), but nice
otherwise, cro-moly.

Trouble was the friction shifters were out of tune and several other little
problems, plus the weight made him tthink about a replacement.

He got about the modern equivalent in a Trek 7200FX.

The FX is only 'seatpost' suspension, adding about 2lbs. But otherwise it's
(comparatively) a -schweet ride-. He only paid about 320ish for it in Va
Bch. It's new, in that the FX (no suspension frame) used to just be

7300FX ~$450
7500FX ~$600
7700FX ~$850

It has 700x35c tires and could be called a sport/MTB type (shimano MTB
components)

See:

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/City_Bike_Path/Hybrid/FX/7200_FX/index.php

Do a test ride of any of the FX bikes...the ride feel and geometry is
similar. When you compare against your friction shifters out of tune, which
yours must be (lots of slushy shifting, taking several seconds, chain
clanking) vs indexed shifters on the 7200FX, you'll be grinning from
ear-to-ear. For $330bucks, dayum!

He was reluctant to buy an new bike. After the test tide, the fsker wanted
to ride it home! ;-p

HTH,
-B

Thank you!
Hehehe I paid $10 for my Ross at a garage sale. New tires, cleaned,
lubed, and ridden about 100 miles so far.
I have a LBS that sells Trek about 10min from my house.
I'll go check it out tonight.

Thanks for all the replies.

Tony

(Tony) said:

Thank you!
Hehehe I paid $10 for my Ross at a garage sale. New tires, cleaned,
lubed, and ridden about 100 miles so far.
I have a LBS that sells Trek about 10min from my house.
I'll go check it out tonight.

Thanks for all the replies.

Tony

Good deal. Take your time. Test ride these bikes also:

Trek 1000, or 1000C road bike (entry level), now with Tiagra rear
components.

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Road/Comfort_Road/Alpha_Aluminum/1000C/index.php

or 1200, 1200C, etc.

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Road/Comfort_Road/Alpha_Aluminum/1200C/index.php

The C is for less severe geometry, saddle approx. level with H/B.

Road bike, with drop bars has more hand positions.

I say test ride, meaning -even if- you don't plan to buy -that- bike, b/c
you should get a wide range of experience before making a judgement of "I
want a MTB", or "I want a hybrid" before you enter the store.

You might also inquire about end of the year sales. 2004 bikes are at
rock-bottom prices! (Lemond road bike 04 $400bucks?)

-B

Badger_South <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

(Tony) said:

Thank you!
Hehehe I paid $10 for my Ross at a garage sale. New tires, cleaned,
lubed, and ridden about 100 miles so far.
I have a LBS that sells Trek about 10min from my house.
I'll go check it out tonight.

Thanks for all the replies.

Tony

Good deal. Take your time. Test ride these bikes also:

Trek 1000, or 1000C road bike (entry level), now with Tiagra rear
components.

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Road/Comfort_Road/Alpha_Aluminum/1000C/index.php

or 1200, 1200C, etc.

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Road/Comfort_Road/Alpha_Aluminum/1200C/index.php

The C is for less severe geometry, saddle approx. level with H/B.

Road bike, with drop bars has more hand positions.

I say test ride, meaning -even if- you don't plan to buy -that- bike, b/c
you should get a wide range of experience before making a judgement of "I
want a MTB", or "I want a hybrid" before you enter the store.

You might also inquire about end of the year sales. 2004 bikes are at
rock-bottom prices! (Lemond road bike 04 $400bucks?)

-B

I don't want to buy a road bike, because I "do" plan on getting off
road with it, and some of the trails that I'll be riding are fairly
intense. If it comes to it, I will continue to ride the Ross on the
asphalt bike trails, but weighing 230, I'm going to need something
pretty rugged for some of the trails I plan on riding. That's why I
originally was looking into full suspension and disc brakes, but the
more I read the more I'm leaning away from disc brakes and more toward
a hard tail.

Thanks for your reply!

Tony

(Tony) said:

Badger_South <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

(Tony) said:

Thank you!
Hehehe I paid $10 for my Ross at a garage sale. New tires, cleaned,
lubed, and ridden about 100 miles so far.
I have a LBS that sells Trek about 10min from my house.
I'll go check it out tonight.

Thanks for all the replies.

Tony

Good deal. Take your time. Test ride these bikes also:

Trek 1000, or 1000C road bike (entry level), now with Tiagra rear
components.

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Road/Comfort_Road/Alpha_Aluminum/1000C/index.php

or 1200, 1200C, etc.

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Road/Comfort_Road/Alpha_Aluminum/1200C/index.php

The C is for less severe geometry, saddle approx. level with H/B.

Road bike, with drop bars has more hand positions.

I say test ride, meaning -even if- you don't plan to buy -that- bike, b/c
you should get a wide range of experience before making a judgement of "I
want a MTB", or "I want a hybrid" before you enter the store.

You might also inquire about end of the year sales. 2004 bikes are at
rock-bottom prices! (Lemond road bike 04 $400bucks?)

-B

I don't want to buy a road bike, because I "do" plan on getting off
road with it, and some of the trails that I'll be riding are fairly
intense. If it comes to it, I will continue to ride the Ross on the
asphalt bike trails, but weighing 230, I'm going to need something
pretty rugged for some of the trails I plan on riding. That's why I
originally was looking into full suspension and disc brakes, but the
more I read the more I'm leaning away from disc brakes and more toward
a hard tail.

Thanks for your reply!
Tony

If you don't mind, what kind of trails are you riding, and what do you mean
by intense. Interesting. You might be able to get by with fully suspended
for about $1800 bucks, but that's minimum. That's 3" of travel.

The pros you see riding and stump jumping and BMX riding are on $4000 to
$5000 bikes. The break point on real full suspension is about $2000. Stuff
below that is just not going to work like you expect. Now some ppl get too
much bike for what they're riding and waste their money. Some ppl get a 150
Walmart bike-shped object and since it says full suspension that's what
they think is happening. It isn't.

Are you riding down the side of a mountain, jumping logs, riding in streams
in loose gravel? Well the Ross, properly fitted and tuned will do that.
It's a cro-moly frame and the components are good. Use your legs for
suspension, iow, man. :-D

-B

"Badger_South" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

(Tony) said:

Badger_South <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

On 27 Oct 2004 05:46:41 -0700, [email hidden] (Tony) wrote:

>Thank you!
>Hehehe I paid $10 for my Ross at a garage sale. New tires, cleaned,
>lubed, and ridden about 100 miles so far.
>I have a LBS that sells Trek about 10min from my house.
>I'll go check it out tonight.
>
>Thanks for all the replies.
>
>Tony

Good deal. Take your time. Test ride these bikes also:

Trek 1000, or 1000C road bike (entry level), now with Tiagra rear
components.

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Road/Comfort_Road/Alpha_Aluminum/1000C/index.php

or 1200, 1200C, etc.

http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Road/Comfort_Road/Alpha_Aluminum/1200C/index.php

The C is for less severe geometry, saddle approx. level with H/B.

Road bike, with drop bars has more hand positions.

I say test ride, meaning -even if- you don't plan to buy -that- bike,
b/c
you should get a wide range of experience before making a judgement of
"I
want a MTB", or "I want a hybrid" before you enter the store.

You might also inquire about end of the year sales. 2004 bikes are at
rock-bottom prices! (Lemond road bike 04 $400bucks?)

-B

I don't want to buy a road bike, because I "do" plan on getting off
road with it, and some of the trails that I'll be riding are fairly
intense. If it comes to it, I will continue to ride the Ross on the
asphalt bike trails, but weighing 230, I'm going to need something
pretty rugged for some of the trails I plan on riding. That's why I
originally was looking into full suspension and disc brakes, but the
more I read the more I'm leaning away from disc brakes and more toward
a hard tail.

Thanks for your reply!
Tony

If you don't mind, what kind of trails are you riding, and what do you
mean
by intense. Interesting. You might be able to get by with fully suspended
for about $1800 bucks, but that's minimum. That's 3" of travel.

The pros you see riding and stump jumping and BMX riding are on $4000 to
$5000 bikes. The break point on real full suspension is about $2000. Stuff
below that is just not going to work like you expect. Now some ppl get too
much bike for what they're riding and waste their money. Some ppl get a
150
Walmart bike-shped object and since it says full suspension that's what
they think is happening. It isn't.

Are you riding down the side of a mountain, jumping logs, riding in
streams
in loose gravel? Well the Ross, properly fitted and tuned will do that.
It's a cro-moly frame and the components are good. Use your legs for
suspension, iow, man. :-D

-B

Ok... I guess for "me" they would be kinda intense. One trail in particular
is called the "Mad Mile" and is narrow, rocks, ruts, roots, nothing that I
can remember that would entail jumps (I walked it this summer). Mostly what
I'll be riding is single-track through the woods, don't know about your
area, but here (Kansas) has the normal smattering of rocks and roots and
such... My budget for this is only around $400. As I stated in a previous
post the Ross will not work for this because it's way oversized for me.
Standing flat footed over the top tube puts my nuts in a severe bind, and my
seat properly adjusted is pretty much sitting on top of the frame, not much
tube exposed. I do NOT want a x-mart "bike shaped object" I have a Huffy MTB
in the garage collecting dust. Brakes are [censored] and it weighs a ton. PAINTED
rims! No more of that mess...

Thanks!

Tony