CBaron

Agree. That was a pretty good bike in its day and looks to be well taken care of. I abhor Avid juicy brakes but at that price, like you said, he could upgrade a few things easy. Finding some lower cost brakes is not difficult. And converting to 1x is very simple too (while bing pretty low cost also). IMHO he could be all in for around $800. If this bike fit well and has not been 'put away wet' I think it would be a great starting point (for a 6-12 mo MTB experiment).

I'm a navigation neanderthal under normal circumstances. I just began riding with Strava about 4 yrs ago and just primarily as a tracker of my activity (and social tool [I'm not on FB]). When traveling to CO or places in the past I used a good old fashioned paper map. But more recently in the past few years I've found a fondness for Trail Forks. I began with MTB Project, but found it lacking a good bit. But TF was very nice for my use case. This past Fall I spent weeks out in CO and Utah riding solo on new (to me) trails and it never let me down. I've used it in NM and Bentonville with great success too. Locally, I hard ever pull my phone out of my pocket so YMMV there. I think its worth mentioning that all my navigation is from my phone which is kept in my pocket. I pull it out to check directions/navigation and put it back. I see that your wanting something to assist you with a constant feedback head unit type functionality. So my experiences may not prove useful Later, CJB

Fun fact: I use to live in BW. We were there for about 6 yrs, my wife still coaches on the BWBW swim team. To answer your question: yes it will have a somewhat negative impact on your experience. But does that REALLY matter where you're coming from? Prolly not. Walnut Creek really doesn't demand much from equipment to have fun. Likewise, some of the easier trails at Brushy (Pedaler's, Picnic) don't either. But yes, you can easily tell the difference in mediocre stuff and quality stuff. Thats part of why my usual recommendation is to be quality USED stuff from 3-4 yrs ago. I think my recommendation would be to hone in on the correct bikes size (and learn the actual numbers so that you don't rely on monikers like M,L,XL). Then search CL and FB Mkt multiple times per day (maybe even in other cities San Antonio, Houston?). Then when the right bike pops up JUMP on it. If you're diligent and quick, I think you can find a bike in this heightened environment. Likewise, new isn't the end of the world either. If this experiment works for you and you find yourself diving into the deep end in a year, then your entry point bike can turn into your neighborhood kid cruiser. PS- I've got a very busy 36 hrs ahead of me. But I've got an extra hardtail bike in your size range. As long as my son doesn't plan to take it with him for Spring Break, you are welcome to borrow it for the next week. But it might spoil you! 😉 Feel free to hit me up. -Cody Baron 512-6nine4-one3one9

I agree with all of what you are saying. But that's making the assumption that our OP actually sticks with it and becomes a regular rider. In my 25 yrs of cycling experience, a few of which were while owning a bike shop, the majority of the people buy a bike and then it turns into hanging 'garage art' after about 3 months. Quite often, my advise is to buy used, buy cost-effective, and give it about a year of "test riding" to see if you actually pick up the sport. After that 1st year is over and you've proven to yourself (and wife/family?) that this is now your thing....tee off on something nice! Under normal non-pandemic circumstances, I usually recommend a used $500-600 bike (which can equate to a new $1200 bike). If bought used, then when it gets sold in a year it will still be with close to what the newbie paid for it. If hooked, then I'd probably recommend trying to step up to $2-2.5k and he could have a bike that could be ridden definitely. But its true, given the lack of both used & new bike availability, it makes 1st time bike purchasing very challenging. Good luck, CJB

There was a nice big crew out for the ride today. I didn't count but I bet we rolled out with 10-12 people. Weather was great, too great really. The dog walkers were out in force. Next week is my kids spring break, so I'll be out. I hope ya'll have a good time! Later, CJB

Do you have a link? I've ridden my bike through what looked like a camping area in Color Preserve. It looked pretty nice, but not terribly private. It was not too far from a parking lot and I'd think you may get a decent amount of MTB traffic around you. I guess depends on what you are looking for. -CJB

Based on my historical experience.....until the officials writing tickets come in or the fences go up. -CJB

At first I was going to say that a fence may not be necessary. IMHO BCP acquisition doesn't necessarily mean fences, usually its endangered species habitat that does that. However, upon closer inspection of the exact location of this property, combined with intimate knowledge of fun it is to play with toys that roll down down stairs on their own inertia....I'd say yes. A fence is in your future. All of this is simply conjecture on my part based on about 22 yrs of hanging around Austin, the MTB community and attending stakeholder meetings. I'm no expert. Later, CJB

I'd recommend against wasp spray. I was researching alternative deterrents this summer before my big 'walk-a-bout' trip. I saw a video of a guy who used this on himself and it was NOT effective enough. I'd 2nd the bear spray. (He may have used that on himself too, can't recall for sure) But the bear spray was POTENT! -CJB

Seems like a good time/place for my Rattlesnake on Deception video. Good ol' Mittens! This may have been my 1st or 2nd ride ever at Deception. It was May of 15'.

Great feedback, thanks! -CJB

Yep, my wife was the girl who carried her Bible in her backpack at school....and I was the guy who'd make fun of her for doing so. Yet look where we are at now!....21 yrs of strong marriage this April. Oh, I'm 100% is this same camp too. As a seasoned adult I can see so much idiocy in this idea. But as a dad with 3 sons, I sooooo think we need kids nowadays to be thinking big, thinking outside the box and willing to take chances (OFF THE COUCH, AWAY FROM THE XBOX)! Cheers, CJB

@Leafkiller. or anyone else have a report on how Cameron Park weathered the Snowpacalypse from last week? Have ya'll had much rain up there in the past few days? I'm thinking of coming up tomorrow of the rain holds off (which looks unlikely) Thanks CJB

Yunno, this doesn't seem like anything a few "old wise men" couldn't stop by making their presence known at the HOL around the time that the event is suppose to take place. https://images.app.goo.gl/KH5pGFQ2TZr8tY7q7

The parking situation alone will be enough to hyper-inflame the neighborhood! -CJB

Thanks Tony, Here is the actual one @TheX https://www.etsy.com/listing/952472184/i-survived-snovid-2021-texas-strong?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=snovid+2021&ref=sr_gallery-1-35&from_market_listing_grid_organic=1&pro=1&col=1&variation0=1829767759&variation1=1813051380

Where can I buy one of those? -CJB

Ok now I know who Jeremiah was! The main owner did not follow over to Nelo's. He left for Wisconsin or Oregon or something. Can't recall his name...I may have to reach out to some of my old Euro-sport buddies to get it. -CJB

Jeremiah wasn't the main guy, the owner/partner? I seem to recall the owner sold/closed down the shop and moved up north somewhere. I'm terrible with names... -CJB

100%!! The Austin TnR was pretty much a sacred event in my circles. I did it from 96-07' and probably did not miss a dozen during that time. I live up North and in August we'd roll from the house, meet up with the Freewheeling group, go down and raced 4 laps of the A-group and then ride home. I'd have over 70 miles, with 36 of that at race pace, by the time I got home. Ahhhhh those were the days. Later, CJB

Well to be fair, I think this was the hey-day of mountain biking. The sport was simply exploding and there was probably enough business to go around. After all MTB became and olympic sport in 1996. -CJB

Nah, I think a beaver or ground hog is more likely. -CJB

Fun fact...Nelo was the mechanic at Euro-Sport for many years. When Euro-Sport closed, Nelo opened up his own shop in north Austin. When I began visiting Austin around 95', I was a big GT Bicycles fan. I have the tramp stamp to prove it! But I would always seek out the GT dealers and hang out there. Euro-Sport sold GT and that was my shop once I moved to Austin after college. Freewhee ling was across the street and a very well known shop. I frequented there a bit too. Back then there was a big group roll-out from Freewheeling that headed down to the Austin Tuesday Nighter Bandit Road Race. The whole thing was quite an event. Later, CJB

Did you get EIE Carbon? -CJB

Not silly. At one point I had 3 kids in regular bike riding and the cost and effort for tubes (whether patching or buying tubes) was not insignificant. Problem was that they were not really riding a wheel system that I felt strongly enough about tubeless'ifying it. Now that my youngest is up to 26" wheels, he's running Stans Crest and it makes life much easier all way around. Back before tubeless was a thing, this is exactly how it was done. I cut my teeth riding in West TX while in college where there were many goat head thorns and you HAD TO run slime in your tubes. Later, CJB