My new ride.........

Ken C.

Ken C.

Jack of all trades, master of none.
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Jun 14, 2000
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A few years back (11 to be exact) I puchased my first mountian bike. It was from a company I never heard of at the time...Specialized. I got a Hard Rock model with a rigid fork. Front suspension was in its infancy and I was not too keen on the idea of my front end bouncing around. That bike lasted me 7 years of good trail riding. I then started getting into freeriding and downhill. The price tags started going up as my funds went down. I bought and sold many high-end bikes...Santa Cruz Bullits, GT's, Kona's, you name it. I had them all. But in the past few years I had to pretty much give up riding due to raising my kids. I sold all but my Intense M1 downhill bike. I haven't ridden it in about 3 years and it probably needs some upgrades.

Recently my wife wanted to start riding again with the kids. I said sure but there was no way in hell I was going to ride my Intense with a baby carrier on the back! It would look stupid. So...I went shopping for a new bike with a $1000 budget in mind. I looked at all the brands I was familiar with and did some online research to catch up on the latest trends. I wanted something that I can freeride and trail ride as well as carry my kids on. After 3 weeks I made my decision...it was to be a Specialized Hard Rock Pro Disc. I have gone full circle, ending with a bike I started out with. This bike has everything I wanted and more....Shimano Disc brakes, Marzocchi suspension (upgrading to a Z1 DROP-OFF I ) Sun ditch Witch double wide rims, a big bomb proof gusseted frame and Shimano components. I paid less than $700 and I have $$$ left over for the new fork. I will be swapping out the bars, stem, seatpost, and seat for some Titec Hell Bent bars, post, and a Titec Big Al stem, as well as my old Titec Berserker DH seat. All in all I am very pleased. Oh, and I'm gonna lose the safety reflectors, safety my ass! I ride downhill for craps sake!

Hard_Rock_Pro_Disc.jpg
 
Looks good! I have always like the Specialized P.3 disc myself. The two bikes have similar frame styles...nice big headtube gussets and sloping toptube. Congrats! :cool:
 
I used to ride BMX and Freestyle so I should have no problem on a dirt jumper. My favorite move is the "superman seat grab" but it has been at least 7 years since I pulled one of those off successfully.

I was very close to buying a P3. The problem was that the Large was not large enough for me. The large is more like a 17" frame. If they had an X-large frame I would have gotten the P3.
 
Nice bike!

My ride started out as a 2002 Trek Bruiser One, and has evolved from there.

It has Sun Ringle' wheels, Shimano XT hubs, deraileurs, cranks, and a Shimano XTR bottom bracket. Syncros downhill bars and stem, XT shifter pods, Avid brake levers controlling mechanical disc brakes. (I'm trying to think of the name!!!!) I swapped out the original Formula hydraulic disc brakes for the mechanical disc , mainly because if incessant hydraulic leaks. Last, but not least, includes a Marzocchi Dirt Jumper 3 fork, and a Specialized 'mens' seat.

I wish I had more time to ride it.

Ken, are you going to use a bike seat, or a trailer for the kids?
 
sweet..ken..have you ever seen the Gary Fishers with the 700 wheels like a road bike..my bikin friend has one and he says it goes over, through, around everything fast.

Ren
 
I'm amazed at how much you can spend on bikes these days, but also how much you can get for your buck.
I'm the "bike guy" for the department, so I spend a lot of time buying parts and such.

It's always fun to fondle the Carbon-Ti-Scandium custom-framed, Dura-ace equipped roadsters that might go for as much as 6-7 thousand. I understand you can pay 10,000 for a custom roadster.

At the same time, as you've found, you can pick up a really nice ride for under a thousand. My last MTB, a Schwinn Moab 3, cost 995 or so, and I couldn't ask for a better bike for the money. My present roadster is a Trek 2120, that's the carbon-aluminum hybrid. Light, comfortable, stable, and durable. Very nice for just a little under 1000.00.

You keeping those rattraps, or going clipless?
 
Thanks guys.

I swapped the stem and bars this afternoon and I gave myself about another 1 inch of room in the cockpit which is good because I have long arms. I plan on swapping out the pedals for some Azonic Xtension Pedals. I hate clipless. I damn near snapped my ankle off riding with them a few years ago.

Code,

How do you like the Dirt Jumper III's? Good for freeriding? I am up in the air about seat or tralier for the kids. I have to see what would fit best without comprimising safety.
 
Yeah, bikes can get oftly expensive. I work at a local bike shop and a month or so ago we did a Trek Madone with Project One custom paint and some Zipp wheels. Out the door it was about $6500. A guy who used to work there built up a Colnago C45 and specd it with the best of the best....we figured the retail price on it would have been just over $10,000!!!! It was one hell of a bike though. I love working at the bike shop because there is no way I'll ever be able to drop the cash for a bike like that, but at least I had the opportunity to ride a $10,000 bike....it was fun:)
 
A few years ago, I did the Senior Olympics thing here, competing in the time trial. (Yes, I really am that old....) I was riding my "Retro-Rocket", a bargain-basement roadster I'd put together from a salvaged Raleigh "technium" frame and a bunch of other bits. Ugly, but pretty light. My present ride, The carbon-fiber Trek described above, was in lay-a-way.

I knew I was in trouble when several of the Seniors showed up on Lightspeed numbers, running 5-6K and up. Hehe...The best time was posted by a guy in the 65+ age group! A co-worker pointed out that the retired guys have more time to train....

I placed a respectable fourth in my age group, passing the two riders that started in front of me. Of course, one was an old lady who had a basket firmly affixed to her baloon-tired single-speed....Hey, she had a good spin!
 
You guys are awesome! You know I have only met two other guys that ride bikes and carry knives in my three years here in SF...

KV Colucci, Nice ride! I am a fan of Specialized and am lookin' for a new Mtn Bike. I LOVE my S-works M4 ('00), but wanna have some fun during the work day. I'm too chicken to do trails :o at the moment. :)
 
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