[mountain_matt]

Ok I've got a 2002 K2 Lithium 4.0 I bought from a guy on craigslist. Since owning it i've been constantly replacing broken parts. I replaced my front fork with a Fox Vanilla R. Well I was riding it the other day and it completely blew out on me. I lost all the oil on the spring side. I'm also going to be needing a new rear shock here very soon.

So here's what I'm left with. Should I rebuild my vanilla r and just keep the bike, knowing i'm gonna need a rear shock here soon too. Or do I put the bike on Craigslist and try to buy something different??

 

[sanjuro]

Does it have a pull shock, like a Noleen? If so, throw it away.

 

[mountain_matt]

No really sure what you mean? sorry i'm kinda newbie on alot of this stuff. Here's a pic of the bike I had on my phone.

 

[mountain_matt]

Btw, I have no idea why it just rotated the picture when I uploaded it.

 

[sanjuro]

This is a pull shock, and thankfully you don't have one.

As for buying used full suspension bikes, there will always be some maintenance involved. Shocks and forks leak (should require no more than once a year rebuilds), pivots creak (could be a twice a year rebuilding), and cable replacements (once a year).

This depends on how much you ride. I figure average is 2-3 rides a week for about 40 weeks.

I usually ride 3-4 a week year around, so I use a hardtail for most of those rides.

 

[mountain_matt]

ok thats actually really good to know then. I've so far had to replace all of my cables, new front axel, brakes were rebuilt, new chain, and other basic maintenance. And I do ride about twice a week if not more. So should I just suck it up then and get the shocks fixed at this point?

 

[sanjuro]

Yeah, it will be about $200 to do both, versus getting a better bike but probably zero shock maintenance.

I've advised on a few used bike sales and so far no one has rebuilt anything.