Purpose of this blog

I ride an aluminum frame full suspension mongoose Domain mountainbike. I bought it on impulse at a garage sale thinking "$75 for a mongoose is a smokin deal!" I wasn't aware until afterwards that Mongoose was now selling cheap stuff at Walmart. Back in my freestyle/BMX days, Mongoose sold really good stuff. Being a thrifty guy (married with two kids in private school, and still trying to save something for retirement) I'm going to ride this bike until it breaks, or just can't keep up with my abilities.
I will either dispell the myth that these "Walmart" bikes are junk, or prove it... either way, I have no ulterior motive.
As a side note, I did ride a $120 Target Pacific mountainbike on the same kind of trails I ride this one one. It survived 2-3 years of riding 3-5 times a week, and only has a bent top ring on the front sprocket, and maybe a bent spoke or two to show for it. My wife still rides it to this day.

Me and bargain hunting

If you haven't noticed yet, I'm a bargain hunter.

It's not that I'm poor, or that I'm cheap. I just don't like debt, and like to keep my money in the bank. I'm 38, and with the economy, job lay0offs, downsizing, the stock market, etc, I don't have enough to retire when I want to anyway. So, I try to live on a budget, but yet still not do without much. I pick what's important enough to spend money on. Plasma TV? Pfft. Nah... the 20 year old one still works fine for what little TV we watch. Lates greatest computer? This 10 year old one works just fine for me. Expensive clothes? Yea right... Brand new car? Nah. It'll just get scratched up anyway...

I've got an 85 Mustang SVO, that I've restored from a $500 heap. I've bought most parts used for it, traded labour or parts for stuff I need, etc.

I go to a lot of garage sales looking for stuff I need or want, or stuff I can flip on Ebay and make a few bucks. This is my "play money" and likely the money that will fund a new higher end bike if it ever comes to that.

We go on trips when and where we want. I'm looking for a deal on a canoe so I can take the kids out and treat them to something I loved as a kid. We live in a nice historic house in a nice neighborhod, but didn't bite at the huge amounts we could've gotten approved for. It's a reasonable home that we could pay for on one of our salaries if we needed to. Even though it's furnished from garage sales, or furniture I found tossed out on the curb, and restored, people would never know it.

I won't upgrade this bike unless I find a smokin deal, or absolutely break it beyond repair. So hopefully this blog will go for a while.

Friday, April 30, 2010


Rode in Brown County State park tonight for an hour or so. My bike survived better than my legs and lungs. Bottomed the front shocks out a couple times on some faster downhills sections. Met Jeff from the HMBA site, and said hi to a few others in the lot as I was getting ready to leave. No department store bike snobs so far.
Of course they offered to let me pick up their bikes. They weigh about as much as one of my wheels.
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Went out tuesday night with the kids. trying to teach my 7 year old to ride. Found some rocks to play on. Landed pretty hard on the front rim, and thought for sure it was toast, but alas, it survived. Also scraped the front outer ring a few times, and didn't even bend it. I need to chill out and treat this thing a little better before I do break it. LOL
Heading down to Brown County State Park to ride tonight after work. These trails are known nationwide, and should be a major test for me and the bike.
Looking forward to it, and hopefully we'll both survive.
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

I need to post my first few trips this year, and am not sure I can post them in the correct order. May just summerize them in one post.
I've been to Southwest Way in Indianapolis a couple times this year, and have yet to have any problems, other than trying to figure out where to mount a waterbottle on this bike.
On my trip to Kickapoo State Park in illinois I realized my rear derailer wasn't shifting down to my lowest two gears, which allowed my 56 year old dad to leave me in the dust on hill climbs. Promtly fixed that when I got home, and it's been fine since.
Broke the plastic pant guard first log I rolled over. Promptly removed the remains. considering getting a bashguard for it.
Brake pads are getting worn, so might be replacing them soon.
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