How good is my bike?

Question

I have a Mongoose Pathfinder.

Shimano Altus (or something like that).

Kenda Krusher wheels- should i use these for pavement?, they look more like mountain tires.

Also are the more expensive bike better (ie. specialized ..some $8K bike)

Answer 1

To be honest, your bike is best suited for riding on pavement and smooth dirt trails. If that is all you plan on doing, your bike will be just fine. However, once you start riding it over rough trails or riding off curbs, you will likely start to see parts of your bike breaking.

If you are looking to go off ramps, jump curbs and do other stunts like that, I would suggest looking at getting a more sturdy and reliable bike. Get your next bike from a bike-specific shop, they will ask what kind of riding you want to do and get the bike to match.

Generally, you get what you pay for in bikes, up to a certain point. Entry level mountain bikes will start at 250-350 $US. After you reach 1,000-2,000 $US though you start spending a lot of money for small increases in performance.

Answer 2

For general recreational mountain biking and street use, it looks O.K. Obviously it would never survive jumping off peoples roofs or other "EXTREME" riding. I'm sure that you do not have that kind of "riding" in mind. But for general use it looks O.K. A word of caution, if you did not get it at a bike shop, be ready to do your own repairs or pay the "list price" for a bike shop to do them.