New member, biking since childhood!

helen984

Hi everyone!

I'm Helen from Hemel Hempstead, I'm 24 years old and own a little house with my fiance not far from the grand union canal and lots of nice leisure rides.

I was a total bike nut from a very young age and taught myself to pull bikes apart at weekends when I was still in junior school: I started out with kiddie bikes and a BMX scooter then when I was 12 my parents bought me an Apollo Pulse (it seemed cool at the time...lol). I kept that until my late teens then treated myself to a heavy-as-hell full-suspension steel framed thing with some money from my savings, it was bright red and very sporty looking but a joke to ride!

Having had enough of the big heavy red thing after about 5 minutes I sold it on Ebay (and actually made a profit...to my surprise) got myself a credit card and splurged out on a 2007 Kona Fire Mountain - my pride and joy. To my dismay a month later Mum decided we were going to move into a small flat where I would have nowhere to store my new Kona, I was devastated and sold it on Ebay, making a quite a big loss, there were tears, I loved that bike.

Last year my fiance and I bought our house and a friend of mine generously said I could have his 'second bike' which was sitting at his parents' house in Wales gathering dust. I wasn't expecting anything great so I was pleasently surprised when he turned up with a Specialized Hardrock XC! Its an ex-hire bike with a few cosmetic scrapes but it rides well and has great potential. I spent all of Sunday stripping it down cleaning and re-greasing, there was black muck all over my house but I'm pleased with the results and gagging to give it a test ride; but first I need a new inner cable for my rear derallieur or I won't be going anywhere!

I will buy a 'splurge' bike again one day when we have a bigger house but for now we have no shed or garage so I'm sticking with my 'freebie'! My only plans for it are a cheap set of front suspension forks, probably second hand.

BEFORE any of my hard work:


I will get some pics of it now that I've cleaned it up, stayed tuned!

Andy B

Welcome!

I see you know the 1st rule of the forum...show us your bike

ChrisMidsUK

Hi and welcome Helen.

I'm from sunny Staffordshire but notice you are from Hemel Hempstead, that's where I bought my bike as it happens and would recommend the store as they were pretty helpful with my 1st timer questions and gave me a 10% discount on the bike.

http://www.leisurewheels.co.uk/

nonnac85

have you ridden the trails at Woburn - just up the M1 from you. Mix of jumps, mini DH and lots of XC trails.

helen984

ChrisMidsUK wrote:

Hi and welcome Helen.

I'm from sunny Staffordshire but notice you are from Hemel Hempstead, that's where I bought my bike as it happens and would recommend the store as they were pretty helpful with my 1st timer questions and gave me a 10% discount on the bike.

http://www.leisurewheels.co.uk/

Thanks Chris, that company's name comes up a lot around here, they leave a van parked near the magic roundabout most days as advertising, LOL! I still haven't ventured down for a look so it might be a task for the weekend

helen984

nonnac85 wrote:

have you ridden the trails at Woburn - just up the M1 from you. Mix of jumps, mini DH and lots of XC trails.

I haven't actually, I don't really have a way of transporting our two bikes so we tend to ride locally; the only decent bike carrier to fit my car has a reputation for causing scratches...and I love my car to death so I'm not taking the risk, LOL! I could take the wheels off, fold my back seats down and contort them into the boot somehow but again I see potential for some damage :?

SpinningJenny

Welcome Helen - you sound like you knwo what your doing - and what a fantastic freebie!

And thank you for reminding me of the magic roundabout.... :shock:

nicklouse

"Time for bed", said Zebedee

Soul Boy

Yes, welcome aboard.

Used to do a big loop on the Grand Union from Harlesden out to Bulls Bridge, left down the Kew, then pick up the Thames path to Hammersmith, then a road ride back to Harlesden. 26 odd mile with only about 5 on the road, in the middle of London. Great stuff.

And great to hear you've got the mechanics sorted, no bringing your bike into the shop to fix a puncture!

helen984

LOL, the magic roundabout is a legend...scares my Mum though! (The road system not the kids programme )

I have some brand new pics of my 'baby'...however I'm having gear issues, the front is fine, the back is missing the smallest gear altogether and the indexing is pissed RIGHT up. However it stops, goes and changes gear so at least I can ride it until I summon the botheredness to have a fiddle!

Post-strip and sporting new grips & womens gel saddle, bar ends, lock, alu bottle & cage & pocket rocket pump


Lovely and clean after last week's efforts...but the gears still need adjusting so I poked the excess gear cable up a very handy hole in the frame for the time being, LOL

ChrisMidsUK

helen984 wrote:

LOL, the magic roundabout is a legend...scares my Mum though! (The road system not the kids programme )

I wondered what you were on about before and started having thoughts of Dylan, Ermintrude and Zebedee for a moment, quick google search revealed possibly the most mental (UK) road system I've seen. :shock:

I watched this video with interest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih223jffmek

And from the wikipedia entry, this quote pretty much says it all.

When it opened in June 1973 a police officer had to be stationed at each of the mini roundabouts to prevent chaos.

helen984

You really should see the look of horror when a non0local motorist accidently ends up on the thing, sheer panic! The main thing is breaking your instinct to travel clockwise; on this one you can go either way!

Its great though: as a local I can fly over it with the car in well under 30 seconds (only on weekdays though, at weekends its more like 45-60 seconds, lol). It totally works...for the locals anyway! Its a booby trap to keep strangers away from our town really, HAHAHA!

I did a 15 mile towpath ride with 2 colleagues and their partners today, LOVELY day for it but I feel soooooo pooped now! The bike survived beautifully though! I just need to re-index those gears!

helen984

OMG!!! Thats youtube video! Big LOL! I think I may have seen my car too!