mountain biking

[»Xog]

I bought myself a mountain bike this weekend and been having a ton of fun riding thru some nearby trails. anyone here into mtn bking?

[No_Remorse]

I'm into mountain biking... But only when I'm too drunk to drive my car and need to get from point a to point b. Ha ha ha.

 

Seriously though, what kind of mountain bike did you buy?

[»Xog]

Oh just a crappy 100$ Next dual suspension powerx from walmart. will probably fall apart if go over any jumps haha. these things are hlla fun tho! like launching off of raised roots and rocks while flying down a narrow ass trail

[No_Remorse]

Oh just a crappy 100$ Next dual suspension powerx from walmart. will probably fall apart if go over any jumps haha.

 

It's probably better off for your own safety that you don't go over any jumps on a Wal-Mart special. I'm not much of a mountain biker, but I know people who spend thousands of dollars putting together a decent mountain bike. I prefer to spend my thousands of dollars on things that have a motor.

[Dav]

Yeah I ride quite a lot.

 

Mostly XC/trail for me and a lot of road to go with it (its kinda flat where I live)

 

Was racing in a 6 hr XC enduro a couple of weeks back

 

what sort of riding are you into

 

that bike is going to fall apart on you. If you are on a budget get a hard tail when you have to replace it.

 

I have a Giant hard tail atm,

hope to buy something like a whyte 19 http://www.rutlandcy...mpaign=pid30007

or possibly a nice on-one carbon XC whippet custom build http://www.on-one.co...c-whippet-frame

 

within a year or two though.

[»Xog]

.I just love riding thru the woods on trails lol. its so much fun!

Yea I am aware of how expensive some bikes are and can understand why, I just can't afford it. pretty sure this bike can handle basic bumpy trails though, atleast for now.

Do u recommend any ht bikes for dh tho? when I get my tax return in 6 months that's what I plan on getting

Fucking blackberry keeps deleting words after press space bar wtf

[»Lynx]

I used to love mountain biking and BMXing but I never have the time now! I have a Giant for getting to the Gym and for going to work (on the days when it's not raining... In England they're rare) but it's nothing to talk about.

 

I'd love to get a nice bike and do some off road cycling again, but realistically I'd probably use it three times and put it on eBay.

[Dav]

I used to love mountain biking and BMXing but I never have the time now! I have a Giant for getting to the Gym and for going to work (on the days when it's not raining... In England they're rare) but it's nothing to talk about.

 

I'd love to get a nice bike and do some off road cycling again, but realistically I'd probably use it three times and put it on eBay.

 

get the road bike, and discover the wonders of extended commutes to /from work. or if you have good trails take the dirty route

[toxic_intruder]

I love mountain biking too, I had a walmart full suspension until I started to ride it regularly and it started falling apart. I got a nicer kona hardtail 29er about a week ago and I've been riding it since. Even if I didn't ride through trails, I think I'd still use a mountain bike, not a road bike. I never liked riding on populated streets, and I can't understand how people ride without front shocks. I tried locking mine once and hit a curb, wrists were f'ked for the rest of that ride. Never locked them after that..

[»Xog]

Yeah. I'm taking my walmart piece of crap to Cunningham Park tomorrow. It's going to be a 5 mile ride to the train (cuz i can't take my bike on the bus.. FUUUU) then a 2-3 mile ride to the actual park. once im in the park, i'm going to ride like 6 miles of straight trails and minor obstacles. I want to run this bike into the ground. I'm getting a real (but used) mountain bike on Saturday, for $200. It's a 2004 Gary Fisher Marlin ^_^ Edited July 22, 2011 by Xog

[toxic_intruder]

Marlin? Are those the full suspension ones?

 

I'm jelly.

[Dav]

Marlin? Are those the full suspension ones?

 

I'm jelly.

 

 

It is a hardtail http://fisherbikes.com/bike/model/marlin

 

They are the best bikes to start with as they force you to use correct technique, whereas a full suspension bike lets you get away with more mistakes. Even after riding for several years I still can't bring myself to go full bounce. Mostly because over the terrain I ride an HT is faster, and you get a better bike for the money (ill probably get a full sus when I get paid more and have a (£2000-2500 budget )

[»Lynx]

If you get a full sus I highly recommend lockout suspension; I used to have some Marazocchi drop-offs with lockout (I think they called it EST or something...) and it made cycling anywhere so much easier - all your effort going into 7 inches of squidge is never nice. ;P

[»Xog]

There is no way in hell I can afford a FS bike. I mean, I can buy one, but it would be crap. I'd have to spend, like he said, $2k+ on a proper bike for it to be full suspension.

 

The 2004 Marlin deal went down the tubes. He told me the wrong size of it. It's too small for me. It also had rust on the rims and the vbrakes were bad (but I was going to upgrade to disk brakes anyway).

 

The ride yesterday was so crazy. I was completely exhausted just arriving to the park itself. I only did 1 lap (1.5 miles) on the beginner's course and could not even remain standing. The heat index was 117, too. The other people who I met up with there kept going though, except 2. One gave us a ride to our houses (thank the fucking lord)

Edited July 23, 2011 by Xog

[»Xog]

Oh, and the beginner trail was nothing short of very fucking difficult. Steep inclines, roots raised 3 inches out of the ground every couple of feet, giant rocks protruding from the ground, and leaves whipping you in the face (should have worn goggles+full face helmet to be honest). Those hills killed me. Especially since I couldn't get lower than 3rd gear on my bike.

 

This is why you should never buy a department store bike - it can literally kill you. I've heard stories of handlebars snapping in half, rims caving in just from a curb, and the most common (as with my bike), gears change at complete random and can even skip - so you wind up pedaling hard to get going, but then the chain skips and you foot goes flying, then it hits you in your shin, then you go flying forward over the handlebars. This has happened several times to me so far.

 

 

NEVER EVER EVER EVER BUY A DEPARTMENT STORE BIKE FROM PLACES SUCH AS DICK'S, TOYS R' US, WALMART, K-MART, SEARS, ETC. ETC!

Edited July 23, 2011 by Xog

[Dav]

on one of the forums I visit those "bikes" tend to be called "bicycle shaped objects"

[007paul]

ya dude i got a brand new mountain bike from toys r us last summer.... i tear sh*t up! i love mountain biking on a cold crisp summer sunday evening where the beer is cheap and the girls are pretty, knee deep, in the water somewhere over the rainbow.

[SpaceHiker]

I've biked some of the best trails in the world, such as the Slickrock bike trail in Moab and trails all through the Colorado Rockies.

 

I bought my bike and my wife's bike at a police auction. I have a full suspension 2007 Gary Fisher Cake 3 that I paid $200 for and the wife has a hardtail Specialized Hard Rock that we paid $110 for. Both bikes have had many upgrades to them since I bought them, but even my bike has no more than $400 total invested in it, for a bike that is comparable to a new $2000 bike.

 

So, if you look around, it is possible to get a real mountain bike for cheap. The department store bikes have no real frame geometry which means it will destroy your joints and break itself apart in no time. Trust me, I used to have a Next myself. A Next won't even fit into a standard bike carrier because the front axle is too small. The lowest gear on my old Next is equivalent to approximately fifth on my Gary Fisher, making steep hill climbs nearly impossible on the Next.

If you want a full suspension bike, the center shock should be an air shock with rebound control, if it's just a coil spring it will cause more harm than good.

 

If getting a true full suspension bike is out of the question, just get a cheap used hardtail like a hardrock or rockhopper and upgrade parts on it down the road if you want to. You won't believe the difference.

 

Also realize that if you're buying a real mountain bike, you'll want to make sure you're getting the correct frame size. The manufacturers usually have frame sizing charts on their web sites that take into account, height, weight, and gender. Frame size is usually measured from the bottom of the pedal stroke to the top of the seat post mount, or many bikes have the frame size printed on them, such as 15, 17, etc...

 

As for upgrades, nashbar.com is the king. Great quality stuff for super cheap.

[Dav]

I would love to get out a ride a few of those places. Best place I have been to so far was the Yorkshire Dales, endless natural and technical single track! Pleasantly of hills....