Yet another newbie

KitsuneAndy

Hi,

Yet another newbie here, I'm Andy, live in Norwich and I've just bought my first MTB.

Picked up a Trek 4300 which seemed a good buy for my price range and I have to say that I am pretty happy with it. Needed something which would be fine for my daily commute to work but that would handle itself on a bit of off-road.

Chucked it around Thetford Forest a couple of times so far and am loving it. Might be a bad time of year to get into it, especially as we have no transport and have to take the bikes to Thetford by train, but nevermind. Just hope Anglia Rail don't mind muddy bikes!

supersonic

Hi Andy

Nice bike that, one of the lightest for the money, and a good choice for what you do.

KitsuneAndy

supersonic wrote:

Hi Andy

Nice bike that, one of the lightest for the money, and a good choice for what you do.

Figured I didn't want to spend a huge amount of cash before I knew just how far I was going to get into MTB'ing. And was pleasently surprised at just how nice the Trek feels. Gears can be a little clunky at times and I did find myself wondering if I should have paid the extra for the version with disc brakes at times this weekend...

My first intention is to get fit, while I'm not the least fit person in the world I could do with dropping a stone or two and figured cycling was much more enjoyable than the gym.

My missus has a 7 year old Muddy Fox Monarch Sport, which is extremely light and both bikes held their own on a few laps of one of the routes at Thetford this weekend. I know it's not the most technical of tracks down there, but we're both very much beginners...

We're going to see how it goes over the next 6 months - 1 year and decide if we want to spend more on bikes and take it a bit more seriously.

Anonymous

i know folks who rate thetford simply because it isnt too difficult.

although there arent any amazing down hill bits, there arent any guelling climbs either and as far as twisty single track goes, its pretty good.

as you get better, you will flow round the track smoother and smoother and feel satisfied without feeling thrashed by it.

sounds like you made a pretty decent purchase and the bike would be well worth upgrading at some point in the future as the bug catches on!!

KitsuneAndy

sheepsteeth wrote:

i know folks who rate thetford simply because it isnt too difficult.

although there arent any amazing down hill bits, there arent any guelling climbs either and as far as twisty single track goes, its pretty good.

as you get better, you will flow round the track smoother and smoother and feel satisfied without feeling thrashed by it.

sounds like you made a pretty decent purchase and the bike would be well worth upgrading at some point in the future as the bug catches on!!

I wasn't sure about upgrading the bike I've got or just getting a whole new bike when the time to upgrade comes. I'd heard several people comment that generally speaking bikes costing under £600 ish aren't worth upgrading and you'd be better off just buying a whole new rig?

Still, upgrading will be atleast another 12 months off so plenty of time to decide.

fumps

Nice mate i have a TREK 6000 & as yet cant fault it.

I know probably there is people who wont agree but i am dead chuffed with it....oh apart from the pedals what are like two peices of pig iron with no grip...lol

Sev101

If you have a good quality frame that you get on with might be worth sticking with it and upgrading bits - Issue tends to be cost - New parts can work out dear on their own but have a look around e-bay if you are in no rush and can get some bargains - Always h find out when the new years model is coming out cause you can save some serious cash by buying things from the previous years range but in reality there sometimes aint a lot of difference in the product!!

Happy biking!!

milkywhite

live in Norwich

Finally. I thought it was just me.

When do you go out to Thetford? I ride it a lot, but haven't had time recently

KitsuneAndy

milkywhite wrote:

live in Norwich

Finally. I thought it was just me.

When do you go out to Thetford? I ride it a lot, but haven't had time recently

We've been heading out most Saturdays, but we have a busy month coming up so I'm not sure if we'll be able to make it for a while now. My other half is at UEA and is starting a part time job on Tuesday, which means she'll be bogged down with coursework in all her spare time for the rest of this month/most of November.

We're going to try and get down there fairly regularly once she's less busy though.

How often do you generally get down there?

stevebrock

Watch out you guys! You will probably get the bug and soon think nothing of spending 2k on a bike!

There was me thinking 2 years ago I was crazy to spend £600 on a Rockhopper HT.

The Trek bikes you have are all excellent bikes at there price-point, the good thing about them is they have great frames, so the upgrade potential is there. Just replace things as they wear out!

Good Luck!