Mountain Biking In London (noob)

jeboy

Hi to all, Im new with all this so please bear with me.

Firstly, im unfit, and would like to start biking as a way to get a bit fitter as well as for the enjoyment of it. I can spend £750 on a bike and would appreciate some advice on a good bike to get for that money?

I live in East London, and to be honest, I just want a mountain bike because they look way better than road/hybrid bikes, so feel free to call me a poser I guess :oops: I've researched some bikes and I came up with this list:

Focus Fat Boy 2008
GT Avalanche 1 Disc 2008
Mongoose Tyax Super 2008
Mongoose Otero Super 2008
Saracen Ariel 1 2008

so which one??

I'll be riding the bike about 20miles a week, but is it alright to ride a Mountain bike, especially full sus on road and pavements? please I need help, thanks a lot. And also do yall know any mtb spot in london or nearer?

xcracer

Don't ride your bike on the pavement. That's for pedestrians.

Try Epping Forest.

beccalily

I ride on the pavement all the time.

Random Vince

full suspension = more weight

also the cheaper (under £800) ride like a trampoline - there is no point to it at all for road use.

to be honest with you, when i use my mountain bike to get into uni i'll pump the forks up until they are almost rigid and ride it as if it doesn't have suspension at all.

a road bike (such as the scott speedster with flat bars) or rigid mountain bike with higher gearing would be the way to go

if i see you on the pavement it gives me a right to kick you hard and issue you with a £30 on the spot fine.

i think twice about 20 miles on road on the mountain bike

on the road bike it's no problem tho

jeboy

thanks a lot! I find this site really helpful and you lot are really nice.

What about a good hybrid bike?

beccalily

Random Vince wrote:

if i see you on the pavement it gives me a right to kick you hard and issue you with a £30 on the spot fine.

Face. Bothered.

beccalily

Oh and I have a full sus kona and I can lock the forks and the shock and i find it fine for riding on the road (or the pavement).

Random Vince

beccalily wrote:

Oh and I have a full sus kona and I can lock the forks and the shock and i find it fine for riding on the road (or the pavement).

thats slightly different tho, you've effectively got a large heavy rigid bike.


and with regards to my dislike of pavement cyclists, i took my gf to london for the day last week and someone on the pavement rode into her.

nearly had the £30 on the spot fine out of him before he realised i wasn't actually the police (never claimed to be)

beccalily

To be fair my ride to work is only a mile...

I dont ride down busy pavements most of them are dead up here.

I wouldnt ride through the city centre on the pavement.

xcracer

Cycling on the pavement is prohibited under Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835.

beccalily

xcracer wrote:

Cycling on the pavement is prohibited under Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835.

Bothered?

And driving over 30 in a 30 limit isnt?

Everyone breaks the law. Doesnt matter aslong as you dont get caught and no one gets hurt. :roll:

pittpony

Back to the original question...

You might want to look at a hardtail bike with a lockout fork if you really do want a mountain bike. There is a lot of choice for that kind of money - check out the 'what bike' thread. I used to do a 35 mile round trip commute on a heavy hardtail with no lockout. It's what you're used to i guess as i didn't mind it at all at the time. I've got a much lighter bike with lockout now and it only saves about 5 minutes over an hour long ride. But if you're not going off-raod a hybrid bike would definitely be quicker.

Marek-Mex

have a consideration on hard tails, less worries about the rear suss, more tecs, cause a £800 full-suss, does not wort. I've got a Gary Fisher, Marlin 07 and my wife's Claud Butler, Cape Wrath D2, and every weeakend we are ahead Epping Forest, following the Regents Canal (starting in Canary warf) so if you want to join ous once you get your bike, more than welcome.

Random Vince

beccalily wrote:

xcracer wrote:

Cycling on the pavement is prohibited under Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835.

Bothered?

And driving over 30 in a 30 limit isnt?

not by section 72 of the highway act 1835, it's prohibited by a different section and a different act :P

jeboy

Marek-Mex wrote:

have a consideration on hard tails, less worries about the rear suss, more tecs, cause a £800 full-suss, does not wort. I've got a Gary Fisher, Marlin 07 and my wife's Claud Butler, Cape Wrath D2, and every weeakend we are ahead Epping Forest, following the Regents Canal (starting in Canary warf) so if you want to join ous once you get your bike, more than welcome.

sure I'll let you know when I get my bike. I'ma go evans cycle tom wish me luck, hardtail it is then, thanks!

The Spiderman

I wouldn`t rule out a road bike,on coolness facor.
You only have to walk around central London,to realise the cool bike to have is a courier syle, batterred,fixie based on an old steel road bike .

beccalily

Random Vince wrote:

beccalily wrote:

xcracer wrote:

Cycling on the pavement is prohibited under Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835.

Bothered?

And driving over 30 in a 30 limit isnt?

not by section 72 of the highway act 1835, it's prohibited by a different section and a different act :P

I meant isnt illegal. Stop being pedantic. :roll:

Random Vince

beccalily wrote:

Random Vince wrote:

beccalily wrote:

xcracer wrote:

Cycling on the pavement is prohibited under Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835.

Bothered?

And driving over 30 in a 30 limit isnt?

not by section 72 of the highway act 1835, it's prohibited by a different section and a different act :P

I meant isnt illegal. Stop being pedantic. :roll:

i was aiming more for being facetious, obviously i failed - again

beccalily

Get bent....

Random Vince

beccalily wrote:

Get bent....

nah, i prefer proper bikes, be interesting to try a recumbent tho...


[should we stop this? we're both gonna keep coming up with retorts]

beccalily

Agree to disagree.... 8)

norco forever

Agree to disagree....

well aren't you missis mature :P

beccalily

norco forever wrote:

Agree to disagree....

well aren't you missis mature :P

Most definatly. 8)

Random Vince

beccalily wrote:

Agree to disagree.... 8)

no, aggree that this banter could go on for a long time, we're deliberately disagreeing now

jeboy

SO I was gonna buy a hybrid bike for £400 today, but I came across a second hand, very minimal use, GT AVALANCHE 2.0 2006, for £120.

Is it a bargain or not?

what upgrades can I do to make it more "road friendly"? thankS!

Milkie

what upgrades can I do to make it more "road friendly"? thankS!

Fit some semi slick tyres. You'll run out of gears like I do !!

Also, have you heard of the cycle2work scheme that evans do.. depending if you can get your employer to do it. I got a 45% discount on my bike, so it meant I could go for a much higher spec!

jaxurbody

I've got a carrera kraken (hard tail), and it's good on and off the road. it comes with pretty chunky tyres that are good on the dirt, but don't vibrate too much when cornering on tarmac

Father Faff

I used to live in Tottenham and ride down to work in Brixton Cycles on occasion. I had a heavy old rigid mountain bike fitted with slick tyres and that fairly sped along and could cope with the potholes. I used to use the Lee Valley/Regents Canal towpaths a lot and the only thing you had to watch out for was groups of teens ready to push you in the canal and nick your mtb and further up the Valley fisherman with enormous rods who liked to take a swipe at you. Got one mtb nicked on the canals and got well chased round Victoria Park for another - but they weren't fit enough.

If you do go to Epping Forest or find a bit of decent off-road terrain all you have to do is swop the tyres over.

grantway

Im in East London i go to Epping Forest but have been told of Hainult Forest
also out near Brentwood.

My first bike was a Giant XTC 3 cost around £ 600.00p fast bike
and with a crude lock out folk that worked

For secound hand bikes take a look on ebay and also bikemagic.com
web site could pick a great bargin

Tringa

I'd second Epping Forest as a place to ride. The closer bits - Wanstead flats and around Whipps Cross are fairly level. Think there is also a cycle route in Hackney close to Victoria Park

pyro_maniac

used to ride out about wanstead and whips cross when i lived in east london, now i have moved out to south ockendon, essex and looking for places to ride (just getting back into biking after a few years out)
any recomended routes/areas?
(sorry to hijack your thread)