Mongoose Pinn'r Foreman

Ridden, stolen, tested and even Chilliwacked by Mark Steinebach.

Have a look at what Dr. Mark thought here.

I just added this to the story but in case you missed it here's how the Foreman Edition became the Crackhead Edition:

Pinn'r Crackhead Edition - she was stolen!
I got this message from Mark a few weeks ago.

_Some bad news today. I was going to go riding today to get some riding photos on the Pinn'r to finish the test article and had all my gear and the bike in the back of my Yukon and some bastard had broken the handle off the back door and stolen it.

I was out at 6:30 am and when I went out again at about 7:15 to leave to go riding, the back door handle was broken off. The bike, my $400 carbon fibre helmet and my gear bag with all my armour, riding cloths and all of my tools are gone. I am soooooo exquisitely pissed and I feel really guilty about the Pinn'r. I don't know how many times I have done exactly this in the past with my own bikes and other test bikes and never had anything taken (and it is my birthday today so happy birthday to me).

As the bike is pretty unique, I can't imagine that it will go unnoticed if it doesn't get parted out. A posting ought to go up on the site's BB so that people will keep their eyes open for it._

And thenthe good news_…

I'm going out to buy a lottery ticket because the near impossible just occured. I have been posting photos and notices of the stolen mongoose in all the bike shops and have been offering a reward in hopes of getting it back. No word until today. A local RCMP was in a local shop buying a bike for his kid and he when he saw my notice he said "I have seen that bike." I contacted him and after meeting him at the evidence lockup I was reunited with the Pinn'r. The bike was recovered as evidence when this same cop busted a local Crack House looking for a particular person. When he was in the house he happened to notice this nice bike in a pile of other stolen goods. The arrested perp claimed he had purchased it for $100 worth of crack from a user who claimed it had been through the hands of several crack heads who had been using it for local transport and then a tradeable commodity for the purchase of crack. Apparently my neighbourhood is a gold mine for these folks who pretty much are just looking for something to trade for crack. The serial number has been scrubbed off so it was good fortune that I was able to describe every little bit of the bike otherwise the cop was reluctant to hand it over. My gear bag and helmet are nowhere to be seen. I will be going over it carefully but it appears to be exactly as it was when it was taken.
_
An hence the Crackhead Edition was born_. _Thanks to Chilliwack RCMP for their help in recovering the bike.

Oh well nearly a lucky escape ;)

The two freedrive bikes I've encountered (two Khyber supers,) so far both had significant play in the rear linkage. How did the Pinn'r stand up in this regard?

"One ride in and half the spokes on the rear wheel were loose and the hoop was wickedly out of true."

That sounds like every set of machine built wheels I've owned, except now I'm expecting it so whenver I buy a bike complete I assume the wheels are machine built and retension the spokes after each of the first few rides. It's amazing how much tension you lose during those first few rides. This is why you can't beat handbuilt wheels :)

I am going to throw out a "Nay" vote regarding internally-routed cables. Not only an unnecessary complication on a mountain bike, I have found that they generally discourage the rider from swapping out cables as often as they should be. Here in the Pacific Northwest, cables and housing ideally need to be changed a few times a year.
The bike sounds pretty good otherwise. Bum deal about the wheels, but I agree with shonky 100[HTML_REMOVED]#37; - assume the wheels are machine-built.

The two freedrive bikes I've encountered (two Khyber supers,) so far both had significant play in the rear linkage. How did the Pinn'r stand up in this regard?

Nothing but solid after several months of heavy duty beat down.

"Whoever built the wheel set needs to be smacked and then given some remedial lessons on how to built wheels that are both safe and durable."

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Whoever wrote this paragraph needs to be smacked.
No proof reads?

Not so sure about the name pinn'r. Makes sense when I read it but when I say it out loud I hear "pinner" and think of the skinny freaks from Napoleon Dynamite.

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Whoever wrote this paragraph needs to be smacked.
No proof reads?

It's not that bad. A comma could be inserted, and some word order changed, but it's not smack worthy.

"Whoever built the wheel set needs to be smacked, and then given some remedial lessons on how to build safe and durable wheels."