first off hello, second off my brother is in the process of buying an older model Santa Cruz , he doens't know the model nor does the owner..but because of this new bike he wants to give me his 1996-1997 Mongoose Alta bike, it has a RockShox fork of some sort (judy?) , 1 inch headset, its in good shape but its pretty much stock. So should I run this guy or should I get a newer hardtail of some sort when I move to LA? I was thinking I could upgrade some little things, such as pedals, hubs, rims, maybe some stiffer springs, bars/stem, etc etc.. Thanks
I say you save money and buy a new hardtail when you move out here. Chances are you are gonna end up dumping alot of money into that old frame.
I agree with DINO. you can get a really good hard tail for what you would spend on just parts along trying to ugrade such an old frame.
The one inch headtube will limit your new fork choice to one by Marzochhi .Reason enough to get a new HT. Newer HT's will allow for a longer travel fork. The choices are endless at 1 1/8 headtube size.
Ok thanks guys, I think I may just ride this for a little until I can get some money up for something. Not even sure if I'd go hardtail or full suspension. cya round
Wait, could you explain your post more? Get a full suspension, but then you say to save a little more money some more, then buy a FS rig? FS=full suspension, right?
I used to have a Mongoose Alta SX. It was blue, chromoly frame and w/ the 1" headtube: its tough to find a good fork. But what the hell, ride the damn thing and enjoy it. For $169, you can buy a Marzocchi MX or for $99 you can get a Rockshox Judy SL. But thats if you wanna upgrade the thing, and that would be the only thing I'd do. I would keep the bike, its chromoly and old school and it rides better than any aluminum hardtail for regular trailbike riding. Buying a new hardtail is a waste of money because hardtails are relics anyway, so keep this one and save up for a nice full suspension.
