Is This A Good Freeride Bike?

[caveman_01]

Hey i was woundering if theis rocky mountain RM7 was a good bike. the guy im going to buy it off is gonig to sell it to me for $900. it needs new hubs and a service on the forks. it has some crappy suntour cranks on it with a sqare bb that i am told is a pile of crap. it has hayes mag brakes that need bleeding the rear shock is a fox vinilla rc. the chainstay has a bit of play in it does anyone know if this'll be a problem? the forks only have 160mm travel i think and was woundering if i should upgrade them to rock shox boxxers or a single crown like pikes or 66bombers. i want to do a bit of dh racing but mainly freeride. any help would be appricated.

 

[NH_]

i wouldnt be touching anything that old let alone doing jumps on it

 

[|Matt|]

I wouldn't be paying $900 for that.

There is much better in the trading area for a fair bit more cash, but its worth ponying up the extra for a good bike.

 

[Rik]

If you had the time, patience and knowledge to fix it up you could call it a bargain, but those things are worth alot more than money... and it'll take all those plus alot of spare/new parts to get it to race-ready reliability.
It looks like an old and most likely flogged bike, anything with mechanical issues should be avoided unless you know what you're doing. By the time you spend the many hundreds to make it a decent bike you could've bought something alot newer and better as well as saved alot of time and hassle.
One last issue, to do with age again, is those frames aren't the strongest from what I've seen, as they get old they fatigue and eventually crack and fail, which is no fun at all!

In summary, unless you have a shed full of spare parts, plus the time and skill to strip it apart and fix all the issues, don't even think twice about passing on the deal. Personally I have all that as well as access to metal machining facilities (handy for DIY bushes and other parts) and I wouldn't even bother wasting my time/money/effort on a bike like that as I'd always be worried about the bloody thing snapping in half.

 

[jonot]

I wouldn't be paying $900 for that.

There is much better in the trading area for a fair bit more cash, but its worth ponying up the extra for a good bike.

It's completely worth getting the extra money. You're probably thinking 'omfg i'ma get a new biek yayy', But listen to these guys. That bike really is fairly old, has probably been thrashed, and the parts are out of date. You'd have to spend a fair bit to get it into tip-top shape.

Just save a bit more, and buy something that'll be worth the cash.

 

[Renegade]

If your going to buy it for 900 then upgrade the forks and then fix all those problems which the seller told you about.. also considering there could be way more problems than what he just told you about.. it is way more worth it finding something on these forums for maybe 150-300 more dollars and you will end up with a much newer bike (2004-6) than some old one that needs alot of work and then maybe it will crack in a few months time you never know.

 

[leitch]

and one more thing.. the old Rocky Mountain swingarms had a really cool habit of snapping...

 

[PEELER]

i wouldnt pay $900 for it its too old see if you can get it for cheaper like $550-600.

 

[caveman_01]

thanks guys for the help its much appricated do u recommend any other bikes?

 

[shred]

have a look at the for sale section here, iam sure there is something to suit your needs

 

[Plow King]

Tehy Are Tehz Flexiez

 

[bikesarefun]

thanks guys for the help its much appricated do u recommend any other bikes?

If it's your first time buying this sort of bike, it's not a bad idea getting something slightly less good but new. It will give you a chance to learn about fixing stuff over time, as opposed to having to fix everying from the start.

The norco six three isn't too pricey for what it is (under $2k). Yeah, it isn't going to totally slay the tracks, but it should be fun.

Regardless of what you buy now, if you get fully into riding then you'll be wanting to upgrade inside of a year.

 

[fatass]

from the look of it I think you are new to riding/freeriding. If so you might be able to buy a heaps nice hardtail for that little extra, it will teach you to absorb the shock of a jump/drop better and a hardtail is always more hardcore if you can go big on it. Check out the for sale section, someone is selling an 04 norco torrent for $1300, check that out.

 

[blomtrog]

yewww, huckabilly!
900 dollars worth of lake jump funn!
that thing should hold up for a few more double backflips, just whack some tubes in her spokes and away you go!

 

[caveman_01]

i have been riding a norco rival for a year and had been looking at this bike because it is my friends older brothers and he was looking at selling it after he had a bad stack. i have worked it out and come to a sum of around $1700 to fully rebuild this bike (including the actual purchase of the bike) this includes new boxxer rides, new hussefelt cranks, new hayes mag brakes (with BFL leavers) and new front and rear hubs. this it all through buying stuff off online stores. i may be stupid but there is nothing else on the net that would be as good as this for this price. its only for a first fully suspended bike and im not really an insane rider yet.

 

[Rik]

i may be stupid

Dude, you'd be stupid to buy it and spend another $1k on upgrades... seriously, just because it WAS a big-ticket bike, just because it's boutique, just because some top rider has one, all that means shit all when the thing ends up being an overcapitalised (ie, too much money spent on) piece of junk that's liable to break on you.
Damnit, for $1500 you could find a really nice first dually in the forums, you just have to be patient.

 

[Plow King]

Go on ebay and search for a giant dh comp. And look on here for a giant dh comp, you can pick them up for around 1500 and they shit all over that...

 

[fatass]

even for $1700 it's still an ass uglyu bike, you can get HEAPS better bikes in the for sale forum, if you want to buy it but can't get posting access then justy PM the person! The people posting replies know what they are talking about! There's nothing we can do to stop you from buyuing it in the end but people will laugh at you at trails! Maybe not. You could spend the $1700 on AWESOME upgrades for your rival!

 

[roxy12]

i have been riding a norco rival for a year and had been looking at this bike because it is my friends older brothers and he was looking at selling it after he had a bad stack. i have worked it out and come to a sum of around $1700 to fully rebuild this bike (including the actual purchase of the bike) this includes new boxxer rides, new hussefelt cranks, new hayes mag brakes (with BFL leavers) and new front and rear hubs. this it all through buying stuff off online stores. i may be stupid but there is nothing else on the net that would be as good as this for this price. its only for a first fully suspended bike and im not really an insane rider yet.

a girl a i know yes a girl who rides a NEW RM snapped her swingarm simply going through a rock garden, and she is in no way as rough as the guys.Shes light as hell to, what does that say about them?

there was also a RM sponsored rider down here, chose to give them up at the end of his contract rahr then renewing because, surprise surprise they just kept snapping and cracking.

Id just stay away, you can spend 1700 on it now, have it snapp then be up for lot mroe for a new swingarm, at 1700 alone you can get something of here of muich better quality that wont destroy itself liek they tend to.

You may say your not hardcore enough to break it now, but when you do start oging bigger, a few months down the track ios it realy going to be worth it. I picked up an avanti d8 off here, 03 boxxer races, mag30s, haye mags, xt the works, for only $1300 and it was imaculate. That is so not worth it.

 

[Alec McJo]

Im pretty sure Nick (the guy posting this thread) has already bought this bike, and if he hasnt hes pretty set on it.

I tried convincing him not to, after he posted this thread i said to him look you should have listened to me.. but he still wants it.

Oh well.