Pulling The Trigger on a 29er

So today I pulled the trigger on a new 29er...the time has come to suck up the pride and rebel attitude and dance with the big wheel crowd for a bit...my idea of the Niner build went by the wayside for a few reasons.

-Cost effective..though it is cool to build your own bike from the ground up...it is a lot more expensive and time consuming..one begins to delay the build as they mull over how they want the bike decked out..I have done this twice and though it was fun it was not cost effective..
-The people who I had talked to about this build never returned emails...at this point in my life customer service is a simple approach...no service...no customer..
-As this is my first 29er I did not want to break the bank on the bike so I decided to go hard tail and get the best equipped bike I could for the dollar..which will bring me to another dilemma I will discuss shortly.

So after much research and debating I went with a Airborne Goblin 29er...this is a direct to customer service company and the bike is shipped to your house and with minimal knowledge one can put the bike together out of the box...first the downside to doing it this way...

-No bike shop that gives free tuneups on your rig after you buy it from them.
-The argument that you should support your local bike shop..only support a shop that earns your business and after 25 years of buying bikes there is only one shop around here I can recommend right now..
-If something goes wrong with the bike I will need to deal with the issue and whatever company that issue may be with..such as fork or wheels..no biggie can not be worse than some of my latest issues with a certain 4000 dollar bike.

Now the plus..I just purchased a full Sram X7 with Juicy 7 brakes and a Reba fork for 1200 dollars...go to any bike shop in town and see what a bike speced like this will cost you...1800-2200 dollars...plus tax. Most all bikes from the big boys are made in the same place with of course each companies specs and quality control...and if nothing else and the frame does crap out on me I can buy another frame like a Niner for around 450 and build up another bike...the Niner X7 EMD is well over 2200 dollars..so is it a gamble...maybe..the reviews say not..Eric from Airborne has returned every email and phone call to me about this bike...call someone from Specialized and see if they will discuss their bike with you...good luck..they do answer emails though and they do stand behind their stuff and owning several Specialized bikes they are good bikes...now Cannondale will not even answer their emails..I have 2 Cannondales...issues with both of them and have been dealing with one issue for a year and a half...Trek bikes are good bikes..never a issue with any of them and great customer service,,,but could not find a Trek 29er that I liked...the Specialized 29ers just where not that good looking..so I also wanted something different than the usual stuff you see around here...so Airborne it was...

Airborne has been around before and where really into TI bikes back in the day..went away and came back under new owners and management I believe..from my correspondence with Eric they seem like dudes who love bikes and want to make a name getting riders on quality rigs at a great price,...or they are great salesman...either way it works for me...I tend to believe they are passionate about what they do...who calls a dude to discuss a bike purchase from a bike company...Airborne does...and the bike just looks trick...it is a 29er that has somehow managed to look like a real mountain bike and not something that someone tried to slam two big wheels on and the frame got caught in the middle...

I will post a review and pictures of it when it arrives and if anyone is interested in seeing one just let me know and I can arrange to meet you so you can check it out...this will be my second internet purchase of a bike...my first purchase yielded no problems and the bike only required normal maintenance and tune ups like any other bikes over the life of that bike..a minimal expense..

And for a side note...a few shops I asked about Airborne said they where junk..but the dudes selling the Specialized and Treks said Cannondale is junk...may have to give them one on that...dudes selling Cannondales knock on the other dudes...been that way for years..

I use to be hung up on having the best and lightest bike...over the years my brain has registered that someone is making some huge money on me...I have read dudes calling the Airborne Goblin a entry level 29er...because this dude is basing the level of a bike on the price tag..go in a bike shop and tell them you want a entry level 29er with Sram X7 and a Reba fork...you will be walking past the entry level bikes down to the intermediate ones..