Quote Originally Posted by fastdogs View Post
it sounds kind of like buying a used mountain bike might be risky, no? If these things are common after only 6 months of riding, probably you would have to plan on making all these repairs to any used bike you might buy?
vickie
To ANY bike you buy. It's just mountain biking. Dirt, dust, mud, miles, rain, grit, crashes---it's just hard on a bike is all. I have four mountain bikes, two of which I acquired used, two new. Level of maintenance is relative to how much each is ridden, and in what conditions. One of the used bikes I bought was pre owned by a shop owner and in cherry condition. To this day ( it's a 2001 formerly top line model) I have NEVER rebuilt the rear suspension, although I did replace a fork on it. That was from riding style and not failure. The other one - it did require a total rebuild but that was because it hadn't been maintained at all

There are great buys out there for used mountain bikes. I check CL twice a day, and I amazed at the bargains out there on really fine mountain bikes. New or used, a well ridden MTB is going to go through parts at some level whether you like it or not. One school of thought is the "ride it til it breaks" school but that can get you into trouble on the trail. Another school of thought is to do all your own maintenance so it gets done when you think it should be done and not what LBS suggests.