Just getting into mountain biking
Discussion
As the title says, i'm just getting into mountain biking, largely because my mate has invited me to go mountian biking at Glentress on Monday. I have a Falcon Stratos mountain bike but its nothing special. Assuming i could start doing more days like this, what can i do (cheaply, infact very cheaply) to improve the bike?
To be honest, its 50/50 whether a Falcon would survive a day at Glentress.
As to what you can improve, those more knowledgeable will be along shortly, but what components does it currently have etc? The frame weight is going to be your main issue here though, and there isn't much you can do about that cheaply, other than getting a drill out
Does it have front suspension?
As to what you can improve, those more knowledgeable will be along shortly, but what components does it currently have etc? The frame weight is going to be your main issue here though, and there isn't much you can do about that cheaply, other than getting a drill out
Does it have front suspension? Edited by Nevin on Sunday 1st April 08:48
I used a Halfords special to go offroading many years ago. One minor crash (literally just fell off at slow speed) and part of the frame bent.
The groupset will be very heavy and not free running so riding a budget bike is always far more difficult than riding a half decent bike.
I'd say check out the mountain bike mags and try to buy a 2006 model decent bike. I bought a 1999 Cannondale in 2000 for half price and only now do I need to change the rear shock. Other than that it's in very good condition and it's worked out costing me less than had I kept buying Halfords specials and damaging them.
You could always check out Ebay. I've seen some great bikes on there. Some people always want the latest models so there are plenty of bargains out there.
Enjoy your ride...and try to do a few miles on your mates bikes. That might help you to make a decision on whether you want hard tail or full suspension.
The groupset will be very heavy and not free running so riding a budget bike is always far more difficult than riding a half decent bike.
I'd say check out the mountain bike mags and try to buy a 2006 model decent bike. I bought a 1999 Cannondale in 2000 for half price and only now do I need to change the rear shock. Other than that it's in very good condition and it's worked out costing me less than had I kept buying Halfords specials and damaging them.
You could always check out Ebay. I've seen some great bikes on there. Some people always want the latest models so there are plenty of bargains out there.
Enjoy your ride...and try to do a few miles on your mates bikes. That might help you to make a decision on whether you want hard tail or full suspension.
M400 NBL said:
You could always check out Ebay. I've seen some great bikes on there. Some people always want the latest models so there are plenty of bargains out there.
As if getting a discounted 06 bike in a shop wasn't enough, I bagged a barely used 2nd hand bike on ebay for a massive discount from list.
Other than a clean up, lube and bolt check there isn't much you can do with your bike. By all means take it off road, but respect it's limitations and be careful - doubly so if you are carrying a bit of "beer balast" as these can break easily and quickly.
If you find you like the sport, start saving then shopping. Don't get hung up on "needing" a grands worth of bike to have fun. Many riders have bikes far more expensive than their talent requires (hands up guys
). Good bikes for sensible money do exist, and overtaking a puffing and panting accountant with his nice new £2k bike is a very satisfying experience.Thanks for the replies guys.
Nevin: it did survive but the brakes were very slack afterwards.
Had gears reset and new brake pads on sat, brakes no good today. Need to tighten them up. With regards to current parts, its a full suspension setup with Chili works 250s on the front and a DNM (?) rear shock. Just as i bought it. As it was only a £130 job, it is quite heavy.
M400 NBL: I crashed today, although was worse than yours. Came over a crest to find a medium left. Was going too fast and ran wide into a mud puddle with 2 huge boulders in it. I looked up to see where i was going to be projected to by the stop. Fortunatly (?) i hit the handle bars and being male it was painful. Maybe that was what buggered the brakes up? A good 2nd hand bike would be a good idea. They had some Konas there, ranging form about £150 (according to friend) to about £1000 (i saw these ones) A lot were ex-hire from there so presumably would be in good condition, eg. well maintained. You said to try my mates bikes, tbh they were all basically the same all having full suspension and 18 or 21 gears.
Was a superb day helped by the blazing sun. My bike was the most reliable of the 3. Might have something to do with the work that was done on Friday.
Nevin: it did survive but the brakes were very slack afterwards.
Had gears reset and new brake pads on sat, brakes no good today. Need to tighten them up. With regards to current parts, its a full suspension setup with Chili works 250s on the front and a DNM (?) rear shock. Just as i bought it. As it was only a £130 job, it is quite heavy.
M400 NBL: I crashed today, although was worse than yours. Came over a crest to find a medium left. Was going too fast and ran wide into a mud puddle with 2 huge boulders in it. I looked up to see where i was going to be projected to by the stop. Fortunatly (?) i hit the handle bars and being male it was painful. Maybe that was what buggered the brakes up? A good 2nd hand bike would be a good idea. They had some Konas there, ranging form about £150 (according to friend) to about £1000 (i saw these ones) A lot were ex-hire from there so presumably would be in good condition, eg. well maintained. You said to try my mates bikes, tbh they were all basically the same all having full suspension and 18 or 21 gears.
Was a superb day helped by the blazing sun. My bike was the most reliable of the 3. Might have something to do with the work that was done on Friday.
Edited by R1 GTR on Monday 2nd April 21:28
How did you find Glentress? Good aint it!
If you enjoyed it on your current bike, I'd say that with a lighter, better specced XC bike you should be rocking.
As for hire bikes -would you buy a hire car? no, didnt think so. Every hire bike I've seen is shaggered.
Luckily for you, its a complete buyers market when it comes to 2nd hand mountain bikes, they dont hold money very well at all.
www.singletrackworld.co.uk and www.bikemagic.co.uk will get you off to a start!
If you enjoyed it on your current bike, I'd say that with a lighter, better specced XC bike you should be rocking.
As for hire bikes -would you buy a hire car? no, didnt think so. Every hire bike I've seen is shaggered.
Luckily for you, its a complete buyers market when it comes to 2nd hand mountain bikes, they dont hold money very well at all.
www.singletrackworld.co.uk and www.bikemagic.co.uk will get you off to a start!
snotrag said:
How did you find Glentress? Good aint it!
If you enjoyed it on your current bike, I'd say that with a lighter, better specced XC bike you should be rocking.
If you enjoyed it on your current bike, I'd say that with a lighter, better specced XC bike you should be rocking.
It is good. Only did the blue run because ive not done anything like this before but still wanted a challenge.
I did enjoy it on my bike, although going over some of the rocky bits it sounded like it was falling apart! So if my current bike is 4/5 years old would i be paying roughly the same for a lighter better specced bike due to tech moving on or am i being too optimistic?
Edited by R1 GTR on Tuesday 3rd April 11:09
Optimistic, go for a decent hardtail for £400 - £500 as a first 'serious' off roader.
Good frame is important, you can always upspec the components as and when they wear out.
I have a Merlin Malt 1, you can get an LX version in the sale for £399 which is a steal considering mine cost £525 without diskd 3 1/2 years ago.
www.merlincycles.co.uk/acatalog/Sale_Bikes.html
Good frame is important, you can always upspec the components as and when they wear out.
I have a Merlin Malt 1, you can get an LX version in the sale for £399 which is a steal considering mine cost £525 without diskd 3 1/2 years ago.
www.merlincycles.co.uk/acatalog/Sale_Bikes.html
You're doing the right thing and riding your bike as much as possible.
Upgrade your bike as and when you can afford afford it.
I remember going to Coed y Brenin a few years ago with a few mates. We didn't have fancy bikes but we rode all day for 4 days and had a fantastic time.
There were people there who had £3k full sus bikes who never seemed to move from outside the cafe. Everytime we returned for some food they were there with very clean bikes. Very sad.
There was also a coouple who threw there chain away after one ride!
We obviously raided the bin after they had gone and liberated the still shiny chains for future use
Upgrade your bike as and when you can afford afford it.
I remember going to Coed y Brenin a few years ago with a few mates. We didn't have fancy bikes but we rode all day for 4 days and had a fantastic time.
There were people there who had £3k full sus bikes who never seemed to move from outside the cafe. Everytime we returned for some food they were there with very clean bikes. Very sad.
There was also a coouple who threw there chain away after one ride!
We obviously raided the bin after they had gone and liberated the still shiny chains for future use
Why would you throw a chain away after one use????
To the OP, you may be better doing what I did, hunt around for a good frame used, I got mine for £15 from memory and it was a nice alloy one but I never found out who made it, and then build up with good midrange used components off ebay, I think my total build including some lake shoes and atac pedals came to about £140, the bike was a pleasure to ride and one of my friends preferred it to his full suspension orange £2k bike, now as it happens I decided mountain biking wasn't for me and decided to sell it and rebuild my road bike with the funds and I sold it for over twice what I paid, now I was lucky with a lot of components and only had to buy front mech, chain and grips new, but the point is it may be a good route for you considering like me your on a budget.
To the OP, you may be better doing what I did, hunt around for a good frame used, I got mine for £15 from memory and it was a nice alloy one but I never found out who made it, and then build up with good midrange used components off ebay, I think my total build including some lake shoes and atac pedals came to about £140, the bike was a pleasure to ride and one of my friends preferred it to his full suspension orange £2k bike, now as it happens I decided mountain biking wasn't for me and decided to sell it and rebuild my road bike with the funds and I sold it for over twice what I paid, now I was lucky with a lot of components and only had to buy front mech, chain and grips new, but the point is it may be a good route for you considering like me your on a budget.
wildoliver said:
Why would you throw a chain away after one use????
To the OP, you may be better doing what I did, hunt around for a good frame used, I got mine for £15 from memory and it was a nice alloy one but I never found out who made it, and then build up with good midrange used components off ebay, I think my total build including some lake shoes and atac pedals came to about £140, the bike was a pleasure to ride and one of my friends preferred it to his full suspension orange £2k bike, now as it happens I decided mountain biking wasn't for me and decided to sell it and rebuild my road bike with the funds and I sold it for over twice what I paid, now I was lucky with a lot of components and only had to buy front mech, chain and grips new, but the point is it may be a good route for you considering like me your on a budget.
To the OP, you may be better doing what I did, hunt around for a good frame used, I got mine for £15 from memory and it was a nice alloy one but I never found out who made it, and then build up with good midrange used components off ebay, I think my total build including some lake shoes and atac pedals came to about £140, the bike was a pleasure to ride and one of my friends preferred it to his full suspension orange £2k bike, now as it happens I decided mountain biking wasn't for me and decided to sell it and rebuild my road bike with the funds and I sold it for over twice what I paid, now I was lucky with a lot of components and only had to buy front mech, chain and grips new, but the point is it may be a good route for you considering like me your on a budget.
Sounds like a plan. How do these look for a start? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BANKRUPT-BIKE-2
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BANKRUPT-26-WHE
Edited by R1 GTR on Thursday 5th April 11:41
Lots of good advice.
Might also be worth sticking your head round the door of your local bike shop and asking if they know of any 'good' i.e. not abused second hand bikes that are for sale amongst the staff or their flat mates. Bike shop boys always know of a bike that might be up for sale but isn't public knowledge.....
I would be interested to hear how you get on at Kielder. Father moon lives just down the road from Kielder and I've often thought about chucking the bike in the car when going to visit him. Beats taking the ruddy dog for another walk!
Moonie
Might also be worth sticking your head round the door of your local bike shop and asking if they know of any 'good' i.e. not abused second hand bikes that are for sale amongst the staff or their flat mates. Bike shop boys always know of a bike that might be up for sale but isn't public knowledge.....
I would be interested to hear how you get on at Kielder. Father moon lives just down the road from Kielder and I've often thought about chucking the bike in the car when going to visit him. Beats taking the ruddy dog for another walk!
Moonie
Edited by theboymoon on Thursday 5th April 13:03
TBH at the moment i havnt a clue about most of this stuff. How does this look?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BARRACUDA-ALLOY
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BARRACUDA-ALLOY
This would be a good place to start
www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.php?product_id=90
www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.php?product_id=90
Edited by theboymoon on Thursday 5th April 17:10
wildoliver said:
I'd stay away from that frame! Looks a bit halfords like! I have a very similar thing in my garage that my GF wants me to build in to a bike for her but I want to bin and use a hardtail proper frame.
You say hardtail but i prefer rear shocks. Or is that not the way to go?
At your budget rear sus is a definate no. It won't work well and will make the bike extremely heavy. I've had hardtails and full sussers and found the rear shock not worth the weight or price hike. The Gt posted further up is a good bike but any fairly recent hardtail from a reputable manufacturer will be good if thats too expensive.
Woody
Woody
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