Is this bike worth it? Iron Horse MK3

UpTownGS · 2010-01-17

It's a local bike that was just put on sale yesterday on Craigslist. I plan on low balling him a bit, what do you think is fair for this bike? http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/bik/1556289929.html

Glide the Clyde

· #2 · Jan 17, 2010

UpTownGS said:
I plan on low balling him a bit.

Yes, do this. I'd say about $500 at the most. "Lightly used"--what's that?

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Nikhil42

· #3 · Jan 17, 2010

I was considering a MKIII until I found that the rear triangle cracks in every single frame. I would stay away, just look at the Iron Horse forums to see the stories...

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BigSharks

· #4 · Jan 17, 2010

^^I've heard that too. Go ask on the Iron Horse forums- they probably have insight into possible defects - I may be wrong, but I think someone just bought out IH...

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Nikhil42

· #5 · Jan 17, 2010

BigSharks said:
^^I've heard that too. Go ask on the Iron Horse forums- they probably have insight into possible defects - I may be wrong, but I think someone just bought out IH...

Yeah, they went out of business, and now the bikes aren't covered under warranty. The MKIII seemed like such an awesome deal for the money, but luckily I researched the bike before I bought it.

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UpTownGS

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 17, 2010

called, he said he'd do $600 if I came by today. Should I do it?

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AZ

· #7 · Jan 17, 2010

UpTownGS said:
called, he said he'd do $600 if I came by today. Should I do it?

A bike with known warranty issues , the company is out of buisness , no replacement parts , I wouldnt buy that on a bet .

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Ken in KC

· #8 · Jan 17, 2010

Just so it's clear...

UpTownGS said:
called, he said he'd do $600 if I came by today. Should I do it?

No. Absolutely not based on the same reasoning at Arizona Mints listed above.

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Glide the Clyde

· #9 · Jan 17, 2010

I'm going to be the voice of opposition here. I respect AZ and Ken and their opinions but I think you could be getting a very good FS bike for a reasonable amount of cash. Most frame warranties do not transfer beyond an original owner anyway and/or manufacturers often worm out of such an obligation, so whether or not IH is out out biz wouldn't matter to a second owner. From researching any brand, you will find some people crack frames and some don't for various reasons. The MKIII breakage problem is the same. The components manufactured by the majors are replaceable and upgradeable--the real issue for me if I were buying new or used.

How many riders out there are on "obsolete" bikes-gear that was built by companies that are now out of business, existing companies that no longer build that bike nor have parts available, or have moved frame building duties offshore. Lots, I'd say. There are still used and NOS parts for many of them and the component manufacturers aren't going anywhere soon.

So, if it were me, I'd go take a ride to check for fit and function, look over the frame and especially the rear triangle and base my decision on that.

Dave

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ae111black

· #10 · Jan 17, 2010 (Edited)

^^+1 to that!
When I originally posted this it was under malibu's post not AZ's

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One Pivot

· #11 · Jan 17, 2010

i bet its already cracked :lol:

seriously.. go check out the ih forum, half the threads are about broken mk3 frames! its not a random occurrence, or heavy abuse issue. you'd be buying a bike with an extremely common failure point. its like getting an 08 marz fork and being surprised when it breaks.. shoulda seen it coming.

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Ken in KC

· #12 · Jan 17, 2010

It's not random...

Malibu412 said:
I'm going to be the voice of opposition here. I respect AZ and Ken and their opinions but I think you could be getting a very good FS bike for a reasonable amount of cash. Most frame warranties do not transfer beyond an original owner anyway and/or manufacturers often worm out of such an obligation, so whether or not IH is out out biz wouldn't matter to a second owner. From researching any brand, you will find some people crack frames and some don't for various reasons. The MKIII breakage problem is the same. The components manufactured by the majors are replaceable and upgradeable--the real issue for me if I were buying new or used.

How many riders out there are on "obsolete" bikes-gear that was built by companies that are now out of business, existing companies that no longer build that bike nor have parts available, or have moved frame building duties offshore. Lots, I'd say. There are still used and NOS parts for many of them and the component manufacturers aren't going anywhere soon.

So, if it were me, I'd go take a ride to check for fit and function, look over the frame and especially the rear triangle and base my decision on that.

Dave

We're not talking about random broken frames. We're talking about a specific known issue with a specific frame (the one in question) from a manufacturer who is out of business.

And while it's caveat emptor on everything someone purchases used, most OEM's will offer some sort of replacement at less than retail to keep a new client happy. That will not happen in this case. Many local dealers will also push a warranty claim through in order to keep a potential new client. That can't happen in this case.

There are known issues with several frames from several manufacturers. That doesn't make all the OEMs' frames bad. But purchasing one used is playing with fire. Added to that is that IH isn't in business any more.

I wouldn't purchase this frame.

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DriveByBikeShooting

· #13 · Jan 18, 2010

+1 for i would not pay more than 450...

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Glide the Clyde

· #14 · Jan 18, 2010

One Pivot said:
i bet its already cracked :lol:

Seriously, then a visual will turn it up. There are also many threads about people who have ridden one for 2-3 years and have no cracked triangles. Some say they have beat on 'em and they have taken all they have dished. Others who have broken triangles say they break everything. If this bike has been ridden only 30-35 times on easier to intermediate trails, shows no signs of problems at inspection, how can one go wrong purchasing it for a song and riding it probably for some time, a season or two? He can use the known triangle issue to beat the price down more. The triangle breaks, look for another deal or transfer the components to another frame. He's buying a freakin' bike, not investment art.

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kapusta

· #15 · Jan 18, 2010

Malibu412 said:
From researching any brand, you will find some people crack frames and some don't for various reasons. The MKIII breakage problem is the same. The components manufactured by the majors are replaceable and upgradeable--the real issue for me if I were buying new or used.

I'm sorry, but you are simply wrong about this. The number of cracked MKIII frames is way above and beyond what is normal, and almost all in the same place. Just go look in the IH forum. It is pretty unbelievable. Mine is on it's 2nd triangle, and that is starting to show a crack. The only other MKIII owner I know personally around me is also on his 2nd rear triangle.

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Glide the Clyde

· #16 · Jan 18, 2010

kapusta said:
I'm sorry, but you are simply wrong about this.

You're right. I'm wrong. I only did searches on several other manufacturer forums with "cracked frame" as a topic. Interesting how many threads came up with each that had occurred in the last couple years and how many were some higher end bikes.

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Bikinfoolferlife

· #17 · Jan 18, 2010

Malibu412 said:
You're right. I'm wrong. I only did searches on several other manufacturer forums with "cracked frame" as a topic. Interesting how many threads came up with each that had occurred in the last couple years and how many were some higher end bikes.

I don't think it's a matter of right or wrong and it's hard to tell from forums just what your chances are...but it does sound like there's a higher than normal occurrence of the problem with these and without factory support guess it just boils down to as Clint would say....do you feel lucky, well, do ya?

Personally I'd look for other than an IH bike...

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kapusta

· #18 · Jan 18, 2010

Malibu412 said:
You're right. I'm wrong. I only did searches on several other manufacturer forums with "cracked frame" as a topic. Interesting how many threads came up with each that had occurred in the last couple years and how many were some higher end bikes.

This is the extent of you knowledge on the matter? So you established that other manufacturers have had frames crack. Good work

Last couple of YEARS? You seriously need to look at the IH board. They have not even built a bike for well over a year, and you still see several broken MKIII frames each month. You don't even have to search, just look at the first page of the board and see how many threads deal with this, and how many broken frames they represent. In fact, look at the number of people who were at one time regular mkiii owner/posters over there that we got to watch go from stoked owners to previous owners (or just pissed owners) due to that crack on the rear triangle. These are not people who just showed up to complain, I'm talking about people who were IH forum regulars before the frame cracked.

Please give me one example of a frame that has failed anywhere near as much as the MKIII and is not considered a highly flawed design as a result. I remember the Intense 5.5 frame had a bad run a number of years ago (I forget which year, there were problems around the dropout), and it was pretty well understood that you would be an idiot to buy one of those model/year with no warranty. Of course, the difference there was that Intense would warranty these frames, with IH you are just screwed, even if it fails the day after you buy it. My point is, show me a frame with a track record as bad as the MKIII, and it will also be a frame that one would be well advised to stay way from with no warranty.

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CaveGiant

· #19 · Jan 18, 2010

If it is any help I demoed this bike.

Well was going to, it was SO bad on the shop floor, not worth it.

Forks TERRIBLE, frame weighs a ton.

didn't even try to pedal it, failed so hard before that stage

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firstcut

· #20 · Jan 18, 2010

i would throw the dice on this bike if the inspection is clean. if the frame fails, you can just transfer the parts to a new 1. Bike looks pretty sweet anyways.

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