My second hand mountain bike buying has taken a turn for the worse. I’ve just splurged far too much money on a new hardtail…
In the past couple of months I’ve been planning a long distance ride with a couple of friends – around 4 or 5 days to do 200+ miles and a few mountains, but more details on that in a future post. I’ve been wondering, though, whether my full suspension, all mountain steed is going to take too much energy to keep up considering my friends are both on decent little hardtails. Normally at this point I’d be telling you that my natural fitness, adonis-like body and athletic aptitude will of course carry me through, but of course that would be a bare-faced lie, and I need every advantage I can get to drag my increasingly flabby carcass along behind far-too-fit biking buddies…
Well, not long ago I was idly browsing some bikes on ebay and came across a really nice looking little Giant XTC – the top end model of the XTC range with full Shimano XTR drivetrain. It was sitting on a ridiculously low price for the build, probably due to the fact that the guy wasn’t going to post it and he lived a little out in the sticks. Well, after some quick communications asking about and confirming the possibility of postage I stuck in a bid and sat back to wait. Sadly some bids came in last minute and raised the price well past what I was willing to pay, but in a fit of irrational thought based around the fact that I’d waste all that time I spent asking him about postage (what, 20 mins…? Time is money my friend…) I kept on bidding and ending up winning the bike for a not inconsiderable sum… Dammit, why do these things always happen to me. It’s not my fault I tells ya…!
To be honest, I think it’s still a good price for the bike so I’m not too upset, and I think I’m just gonna treat it as a bit of a hire. I get a nice light bike which might help me keep up with the racing mates on our trip and I can sell it on again after the trek, hopefully not losing much in the process. It also means I can do a little review of the Giant XTC in the process for the blog – worth every penny eh?
Anyway, look out for details of my big bike trek in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully some details on the Giant XTC. Enjoy the riding!
[tags] Giant, XTC, Shimano, XTR, ebay, second hand, mountain, bike, biking[/tags]
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