I picked one of these up (999 MSL with Fox 34) for $1800 just before the rona as an XC bike and it's been surprisingly capable the few times I've thrown it into the shit. The bike looked pretty well maintained and felt tight when I went to check it out.
Of course the danger with a used bike is potential hidden issues. I only had one issue come up, an annoying grinding noise I could hear coming from the bb one ride. Turns out it was failed bearings on the bb, but worse is that the grinding noise was the cups rotating in the frame shell. The temp fix was pull the cups out, take the bearing seals off, clean and then clean and re-lube.
The problem was the PF cups didn't need much pressing to get into the frame as their spinning in the shell had worn it a bit. A bit of research found that some locktite bearing retainer would solve that issue. So as part of the temp fix while I waited for a new bb to arrive I wrapped the cups with one pass of electrical tape to get them to sit tight in the shell. That was two years ago and I still haven't put the new bb in as the bike runs great.
I also did a clean/lube of all the bushings when I took the shock in for service and everything was tickety-boo in that dept.
Great bike as a Shore XC rig.
June 14, 2022, 8:36 a.m. - Mark
I picked one of these up (999 MSL with Fox 34) for $1800 just before the rona as an XC bike and it's been surprisingly capable the few times I've thrown it into the shit. The bike looked pretty well maintained and felt tight when I went to check it out. Of course the danger with a used bike is potential hidden issues. I only had one issue come up, an annoying grinding noise I could hear coming from the bb one ride. Turns out it was failed bearings on the bb, but worse is that the grinding noise was the cups rotating in the frame shell. The temp fix was pull the cups out, take the bearing seals off, clean and then clean and re-lube. The problem was the PF cups didn't need much pressing to get into the frame as their spinning in the shell had worn it a bit. A bit of research found that some locktite bearing retainer would solve that issue. So as part of the temp fix while I waited for a new bb to arrive I wrapped the cups with one pass of electrical tape to get them to sit tight in the shell. That was two years ago and I still haven't put the new bb in as the bike runs great. I also did a clean/lube of all the bushings when I took the shock in for service and everything was tickety-boo in that dept. Great bike as a Shore XC rig.