This blog is being created to follow my progress as I get back into mountain-biking and plan on building up a frame. A little on my background...the last bike I purchased was many years ago....1999 or so. I ended up purchasing a 1998 Iron Horse G-out. It was a full suspension bike with mostly bottom-end components but for the price ($400?) it was a decent bike to get me around and play around on the local trails.
Some years later, I was in college and decided to bring my bike out with me to ride around. I decided to do a few upgrades including clip-less pedals, and a new suspension fork. Both upgrades were used parts, but still much better than the coil fork and cheap pedals that came on the bike originally.
...Fast forward to about a year ago....I started looking into newer bikes...it didn't take long to realize how much things have changed since I bought my Iron Horse. Frame designs are better, alloys are better, suspension is much improved. Wheel sizes...last I knew there was the 26" wheel.....then came the 29" (or 29er as its referred to), and now 27.5" to split the difference. Tapered head tubes are becoming more common, carbon frames are trickling down to the more "affordable" price ranges. Oh and gearing has changed quite a bit as well. My old Iron horse from the 90's had a 3x7 (21 speed) drive-train...since then, bikes have progressed from 7 speed to 8, 9, and now more commonly 2x10. Even more recently, SRAM has created the 1x11 drive-train. As always, these technologies start out on the higher end bikes and slowly trickle down over time.
This left a lot for me to think about when looking for a new bike...As you will see in future posts, several things led me to my new purchases.
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