The wave of the future is in pogo sticks! Recent advances in increased dynamic performance in metal alloy tortion leaf springs has at last made it possible to achieve maximum comfort in a velocity suited to the young executive on the rise. And, get this: you’ll never have a flat tire on one of these vertical screamers, no siree. And, if you’re truly a “new way of thinking” thinker, you may be interested in doing what Others of your station in life are doing nowadays – combining the sheer excitement of pogoing with the added attraction of donning kangaroo shoes! Remember those things?

Thought they were gone forever? Well, cheer up, Mr. Weepy Face – they’re BACK! And they’re better and brighter than ever! Due to the same miracle design that has made pogo fever a widespread epidemic, kangaroo shoes have bounced into the Nineties, looming larger than Life! But don’t do what I did, and forget to REMOVE your kangaroo shoes before boarding your Stick! Ha ha: Yikes, what a scare I gave myself! And then I woke up. I need some input on Mountain Bikes. I am looking to buy a quality bike, but need to know what names and styles to go with. I had a Cannondale, but resently had it snagged. I know there are alot of you that are up on the mountain bike scene, so please drop me a line, and give me your opinion, and suggestions.

es, there are. They’re called “comfort bikes.” A couple of friends bought a couple a couple of years ago. Heh heh. Couple. Anyway, Jen and I were going to do the same, but wound up buying mountain bikes instead. For me, the suspension helps with comfort on long rides (20+ miles). I got a Trek 200 with a 21″ frame. Jen got a Trek 100. She liked the feel of that one better than the 200.

They were around 300-350. Very nice bikes, but not professional or “serious” mountain bikes. That sounds close to what I’m looking for. Nothing serious, but something that can handle a little dirt and a few bumps now and then. Front shocks would be ideal, but I don’t care to pay for the full suspension. I feel like I’ll get enough challenge on the hilly country roads here in VA, but once I get into better shape it would be good to have a capable mountain bike.

I guess there’s nothing preventing me from putting on street tires and saving the knobby tires for a future date, is there? I don’t know Raleigh, but in terms Giant: Largest seller of bikes everywhere other than the US, where Trek reigns supreme. IIRC, Giant makes the frames for MOST of the bikes you’ll be looking at, including Trek. My friend has a Giant Comfort-Bike, and I have ridden it for long distances and found it very comfortable (duh), and easy to ride.

I am looking for a basic, inexpensive mountain bike to ride around town. I would rather not pay for the cost and trouble that come with suspensions. So far I only found the Trek 3500 (MSRP ~$250). There are no such things in the Gary Fisher and Specialized catalogs. Do you know similar bikes from other manufacturers? There are very few rigid fork mountain bikes on the market these days. You found one of the few. Your idea of avoiding the front suspension is wise.

Inexpensive suspension forks are mushy, heavy, and are not needed for city riding. But if your goal is around town riding, you probably should be looking at comfort/hybrid/city bikes. They give you the more upright position, and low gears of a mountain bike but with narrower, less knobby tires that have less rolling resistance. A trek 7100, specialized crossroads or similar bike might be a candidate. If these “comfort” models may have a too upright position for your tastes you could get the bike shop to swap out a stem with less rise.

Having owned both mountain and hybrids, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to slog around on knobby, low pressure tires when riding on pavement. Finally, if you are set on a mountain bike want a real steal, you can look around for one from 4-5 years back or so when more low end bikes still had rigid forks.”not needed” … maybe … but they sure make the ride a *lot* smoother. My TREK 830 “mountain” bike (steel framed, no suspension) is down for repair and I’ve been commuting on a cheap aluminium framed “department store” Mongoose with front suspension and seatpost suspension. It’s a *world* of difference between the two. I’ve bought a suspension seatpost for the TREK but it’s still not ready to go back into service. Just because you ride in the “city” does not mean the surface is nice. There is a stretch of road that I ride that has been patched, dug up, patched again, dug up, patched agan … and so on .. most of this to the side of the road where bikes ride.

They aren’t very common any more on new bikes, but I’m fairly sure 6-speed freehub bodies are still available for both SunTour and Shimano. You might have to buy a 7-speed rear hub and replace the freehub body, unless you buy a 7-speed MicroDrive hub, in which case you just replace the MicroDrive double lockring cog with a non-MD single lockring cog. I’d go with Phil Wood or Bullseye and a Shimano Duraace or Suntour Winner Pro freewheel. The problem with freehubs is that if you break the freewheel you have to throw out the whole hub.

This was true of earlier models, but is not true of current freehubs from major manufacturers. The freehub body is bolted to the hub body, and can be replaced very easily. his is not strictly true if you use a suspension stem instead of a suspension fork. You probably don’t want suspension forks anyway because of the mainteneance hassles, but I’ve been assured that suspension stems tend to be more reliable because of fewer moving parts.

(I did hear of the a Frankenstem’s spring falling out once, but compared to the number of times I’ve seen RockShox in the shop for topping up with oil or just plain broken, that’s very little) The new micro casset stuff has supposedly improved wheel dish. Really? How? It’s still the same # of cogs, right? Cool stuff, but avoid the rapid fire or rapid fire plus junk. Thumb shifters are more reliable, less expensive, and weigh less. Grip shifters, I’ve heard, are pretty good. I don’t remember if they offer a friction option, but if they do, then I don’t see why they can’t be used on a touring bike. My brother has RapidFailure on his MTB, and they broke within the first 50 miles. I certainly would not use them for any serious riding.