He's handy enough, not very mtb literate but he'd be fine with most things aside from not having specialty tools. I looked at marin, but found nothing decent on the low end. I'll strongly disagree with you on that san quentin: 141 rear hub is a deal breaker for me. And no reason not to get a 29. Also square taper bb, some major red flags there! He's 220lbs, so being able to get a decently strong stock wheel set, (i.e. 148 and 110) will very likely be in his future. He was looking at a truly terrible trek marlin 7. At prices like the san quentin and marlin 7 ~1k usd, you're just giving up too much. Spending ~1.5k dtc (or +2k in a shop) will get you a bike that's 2 or 3 times better and has current standards for upgradability. He can afford a decent bike. I haven't looked in detail at bikes that cost that little for many years, I was a bit shocked at how many awful bikes there are out there. I found it a bit disheartening.
June 1, 2022, 5:16 a.m. - kcy4130
He's handy enough, not very mtb literate but he'd be fine with most things aside from not having specialty tools. I looked at marin, but found nothing decent on the low end. I'll strongly disagree with you on that san quentin: 141 rear hub is a deal breaker for me. And no reason not to get a 29. Also square taper bb, some major red flags there! He's 220lbs, so being able to get a decently strong stock wheel set, (i.e. 148 and 110) will very likely be in his future. He was looking at a truly terrible trek marlin 7. At prices like the san quentin and marlin 7 ~1k usd, you're just giving up too much. Spending ~1.5k dtc (or +2k in a shop) will get you a bike that's 2 or 3 times better and has current standards for upgradability. He can afford a decent bike. I haven't looked in detail at bikes that cost that little for many years, I was a bit shocked at how many awful bikes there are out there. I found it a bit disheartening.