Buying a hardtail advice
 

I'm looking for tips on buying a 2nd hand hardtail,

I went to view a strongly spec'd boardman 650b today, featuring expensive drivetrain parts inc. a dropper seatpost fitted - what a fantastic invention!

negatives:
1. it had upgraded forks, however the lock-out wasn't working - is it possible to get them 'repaired', the owner said that tokens had been fitted inside the fork tubes.
the dial for rebound was also quite tight I couldn't really test it out.

Should I negotiate a discount based on the fork needing attention?

2. hairline crack in the paint near the join of top-tube to seat tube. Not sure if it was just the paint, should I be concerned?

Other than that it felt really nice to ride.



This will be my first suspension bike, I don't want a 29er just yet, but keen to get 26 or 27.5, mainly for doing wheelies!

It seems only the FS version has Rockshox Sektor forks, however I want a hardtail, so ideally the spec. of the Boardman Pro 29er looks very good, but I want smaller wheels,

is there a smaller wheeled version of this, with Rockshox forks? I take it I could always upgrade the fork in the future.

hairline crack? walk

That's exactly what I did, I think the guy selling the bike knew it too, someone else bought it in the end. It was local so no sweat.

I got an old Whyte 26er in the end, it's got a Fox Float and a Rockshox dropper, a good introduction to the world of MTB :-)

pics or it didn't happen....

Well I ended up getting two, 1. Large 2. Medium.

the second was a slightly better fit than the first and a good price... so the plan is to sell the Large however now I'm tempted to keep it, as of yesterday I spotted the Medium frame paint chip and cracked paint along the weld of the top tube to seat tube... see photos below.

I booked the bike straight in for a bottom bracket change at my local bike shop last week, they were so busy it's not going in until this week.

Yesterday I went for a ride and on the way back I noticed a paint chip on the top tube to seat tube weld. Now I'm concerned about this visible crack in the paint - what do you guys think?



No idea if it's OK to keep riding or not, let alone is it worth spending any money on a new BB?




https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b651c02330.jpg
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https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...db3eb61769.jpg
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Looks like a paint chip to me. I’d wonder if something smacked it there. I kind of doubt it’s a weld crack, but I’m not a structural engineer either.

Thanks Wileyrat, you and three independent opinions from local bike shops seem to agree it's just a paint chip. I've got it booked in for a new BB and general service. Feel like I should be painting over it but I guess it adds to the charm.

which Whyte are they? Don't see many of them by me

I'd probably touch it up, assuming the rest of the paint looks good.