[hallin222]

My wife and I are planning to go pick her up her first real mountain bike, a 19" 2005 Ironhorse Warrior Pro (for $599!!!), and was wondering if any of you had any experience with it. I read the reviews of the some of the components and see that thw wheels are relatively weak, and the fork and shock aren't near the best in the industry, but for a beginner, I think the specs are pretty nice.

What are your thoughts? Any reason why we shoudn't buy this bike?

Thanks,

Ian
Austin, TX

*EDIT: She's 5'11", 180+/- lbs and will be doing mostly moderate to mildly aggressive trail riding, no Mountain Dew commercial stuff. But we wanted a FS bike due to her bad back that she broke as a teenager. It still gives her problems sometimes.

 

[kntr]

Hmmmm you get what you pay for. I say no. Get something else. The shock and fork wouldn't last if your wife is around 180. Neither would the wheels.

 

[hallin222]

Too late.

We picked it up last night. She'd test ridden it twice and loved the fit and feel. Her first real ride will happen later today. She really wanted a FS due to her back troubles even though we could have gotten better components on various hardtails for the same money. I seriously doubt she'll be riding it hard enough to break anything anyway, and if she does, my LBS has been good about selling me what we need very cheaply. Maybe I could even provide the Warrior with the slightly better quality hand-me-down parts that come off my 2005 Kona Kikapu (bought from same LBS for $799) as I upgrade my bike. I'm larger as well at 6'3", 225 lbs and have been riding the hell out of my bike hard and fast on some pretty nasty trails, although no really big drops, and have had no problems with my bike.

We'll see. Like I said before, this is her very first off road bike and we didn't want to dump a ton of cash. If her skills and/or riding style outgrow it's capabilities, we'll deal with it then via upgrades or a new bike, but for now, she's happy. And that makes me happy.

 

[Verewolf]

As long as she's happy and enjoys the bike that's all that really matters.
Have fun and ride safe!

 

[bonnevillese]

I doubt she'll break the wheels or shocks if shes 180 and this is her first real mountain bike.

I got my warrior pro in April and have had no probs. Just an adjustment after the shocks broke in and the wheels haven't even needed to be trued yet.

I'm about 185 and ride mostly xc. I would say I'm hard on my bikes, no huge drops or anything, but hard.

Enjoy it, it's a great ride, and just replace what you break as you go along.

Hope the first real ride went / goes well.

 

[Jan R]

My wife and I are planning to go pick her up her first real mountain bike, a 19" 2005 Ironhorse Warrior Pro (for $599!!!), and was wondering if any of you had any experience with it. I read the reviews of the some of the components and see that thw wheels are relatively weak, and the fork and shock aren't near the best in the industry, but for a beginner, I think the specs are pretty nice.

What are your thoughts? Any reason why we shoudn't buy this bike?

Thanks,

Ian
Austin, TX

*EDIT: She's 5'11", 180+/- lbs and will be doing mostly moderate to mildly aggressive trail riding, no Mountain Dew commercial stuff. But we wanted a FS bike due to her bad back that she broke as a teenager. It still gives her problems sometimes.

Hallin222 Im sure your wife is going to enjoy the warrior pro I had a chance to set up a freind of mines this past spring and was very impressed with it especially being a single pivot. my first impression was that the rear was going to be to stiff but after a 15 mile ride over lots of roots it proved to be damped right on and soaked up everything I could throw at it .I was impressed especially sense the rear ario shock was non adjustible (just set the air pressure and ride ) it worked flawlessly as for the spec of the bike everything worked flawless the deore shifters the lx rear derailure deore front der and the race face crank set . now the only thing that I would have changed would have been the tires and put something alot lighter on it but the wheel set was good and took all the root pounding and g outs I could throw at it and as for the front splice fork that came on it maybe would have put a lighter spring in. It was just a little stiff for me but still worked very well. fill like I became one with the bike especially when dropping into all the g outs and was just hammering into everyone and it just ait it all up . Im sure you wife will enjoy it and like I said maybe could lighten it up with a lighter set of tires and in the future maybe some lighter components as you wear things out but I do think most everything will last for awhile considering that most of the mid line components always seem to be a lot more durable The frame was built very well and very strong and will take alot of abuse and as for the tires that did come on the bike yet on the heavy side did perform very well out on the trail and never washed out in any of the conditions that i got to ride on .Im sure it will serve her well. And here also is a picture of it a large 21 frame and a pic of my HP
Ride On
Rock and Root
Jan R

 

[CrystalBay]

Hi , I was wondering if this frame is the same as the 06 ? If so could I also replace the shock with a coil shock such as the 06 warriors vanilla.

 

[kap]

Warrior Pro Is A Winner

I have had my warrior pro for about 6 mounths, 550 miles and I am very impressed with the ride. I bought the frame only and built it up. 120 mx comp. and coil x-fussion with great results. I weight 200 and ride killer single track in north Ala. As cheap shocks and other parts fail upgrade. Enjoy.

 

[hallin222]

Hey, Jan R.........

Jan R, it looks like your 21" bike came equipped with the 130mm version of the Splice fork. For some reason, my wife's (and many others' according to the Review section) came with the 100mm version. Does anyone know which length this frame was designed around? I've already asked the owner of my LBS to look into getting the longer one free from IronHorse since that's what it was advertised as having on their website. I know she'd like the longer travel but I have concerns about screwing up the geometry. It's got a pretty steep head angle for an all mountain bike, so I don't think slackening (is that even a word?) it up a bit would cause any adverse handling issues, do you folks?

Thanks for all your feedback. I'll let you know how she likes it once we get a few hours on it.

Ian

 

[CrystalBay]

The 06 warrior pro uses the splice 130 in all frame sizes , I am assuming they are the same frames as 05 .

 

[Jan R]

steering

Hallin222
The head angle felt ded on. It responded well to rider input and I beleive head angle specs were with the 130 mm fork It Was not to fast or twitchy nor was it slow it just felt right And it liked going into the drops and was very predictable If I had the money I would have also purchased one but if I want I can call my freind and he would let me take it out again to have some fun on it.
Ride On
Jan R

 

[jammin]

Hey guys, I just purchased a 05 warrior pro elite from my local performance they gave me a really good deal on it, I'll pick it up next week, it's my first new bike in 5 years, I previously rode a Proflex 5000 K2 , i was a little concerned about going with another single pivot bike agian, but for the type of riding i do i wanted something stout, Just reading this post with the input you guys gave made me feel better about my purchase.

Thx. Joe

 

[PenMy]

manitou splice elite

I read the same after I noticed my bike had 100mm forks. I contacted Ironhorse and the were great!! They shipped out a new pair (Splice Elite 130mm) to me. I have not had any problems with them at all.

 

[hallin222]

Stock Brakes?

What kind of brakes did your 2005 Warrior Pro's all come with? My wife's has some Tektro peices that feel so cheap I can't stand it. She hadn't even noticed it unitl she grabbed my Avid mechanicals and was like 'wow, mine feel like crap'. I read somewhere that these bikes were supposed to come with Hayes mechanicals. Am I crazy, or is this another possible factory screw-up or false advertisement like the forks were?

Your thoughts?

Ian

 

[Bombin4X]

Mine came with Hayes

What kind of brakes did your 2005 Warrior Pro's all come with? My wife's has some Tektro peices that feel so cheap I can't stand it. She hadn't even noticed it unitl she grabbed my Avid mechanicals and was like 'wow, mine feel like crap'. I read somewhere that these bikes were supposed to come with Hayes mechanicals. Am I crazy, or is this another possible factory screw-up or false advertisement like the forks were?

Your thoughts?

Ian

I bought this same bike for my wife (17") from Supergo.com (R.I.P.) and it came with the 130mm Splice and Hayes lower-end disc. As for my first impressions - I'm 6'3" and about 210lbs and this bike felt really solid - for the money nothing could come close (I got it for about $500 shipped). My wife's a little smaller (about 5'6" & 145 lbs) and is fine for her. I like the idea of upgrading the parts as they are needed. Lotsa bang for the buck starter bike though.

 

[hallin222]

Bombin4X,

Sorry, I should have complained about the LEVERS specifically. The calipers are the same Hayes that you have, and they stop the bike just fine, but the Tektro levers feel incredibly cheap. Almost like some our size (I'm 6'3" 220) could break them with a hard squeeze. I'm sure they'll be fine. My wife doesn't ride nearly as hard as I do............YET.

BTW, you got a smokin' deal on that bike. I think we payed like $550 at our LBS and I thought that was great.

Ian

 

[Bombin4X]

You're right

I guess my wife's are the same, definitely not too beefy but good enough for her too.

I caught the bike when it was reduced and there was a 2-day 20% off sale. Shipping was like $50 or something and I assembled it myself. The front wheel was damaged and they replaced it with an MTB speeddisc with an upgraded hub too. I felt like I got a great deal.

Enjoy!

 

[Bombin4X]

Stellar Review slightly tarnished

Got all pumped up after this thread about getting my wife out on her new bike since the weather's improving, pulled the DS Pro out to air the tires and discover the Splice Elite needs a little Rebound Assembly overhaul (oil leaking out for no reason-never been on a serious dirt ride yet). Dangit! Answer says to bring it to a local dealer (no one's excited about working on this fork either), will end up costing me ~$40 for the labor...

I'm debating slapping my Marz Drop-Off Comp from my Coiler onto this bike and buying an upgrade but I'm not sure I want to drop a sizeable spot of cash right now...