Back in the saddle

The Hogester

Hi guys, after at least 5 years i got out on my bike last weekend and it was like a revelation for me. I seriously forgot how much i loved riding a bike. Now the bike i have is an old Raleigh Max. It has no suspension and hurt like hell on anything slightly bumpy.

Now i plan i going out on my bike much more often, so would i be better to upgrade my current bike? Or face defeat and just buy a new one?

Thanks for any advice in advance

cullen_bay

after a certain age/price point, its better to buy a new bike than upgrade an old frame. its a bit like throwing good money after bad.

ChrisMidsUK

Either buy a new bike (get a warranty with it) or fairly recent model 2nd hand of somewhere like Ebay would be the best options?

The Hogester

In that case, how much would you guys spend on a bike if you were just getting back in to it. At the moment I'll be mainly doing pretty flat xc stuff, but I'd eventually like to start throwing myself down some steeper stuff.

Which then begs the question of hardtail or full sus? I have no idea which is best for which type of riding.

Once again, thanks in advance foe any advice.

elPedro666

Safest bet is around £500 on a decent hardtail. That will get you something good enough to cope with anything (within reason) which will also last & be worth keeping until you're a super-fit technical genius. By which time you'll know exactly what you want/need!

Can do it for £300 but you'll be upgrading sooner - I reckon £500 is where things are worth keeping long(ish)term and really enjoyable to ride

50 differing opinions to follow...


More importantly - welcome back!

And get a decent helmet & comfy shorts ASAP! :shock: :shock: :shock:

The Hogester

elPedro666 wrote:

Safest bet is around £500 on a decent hardtail. That will get you something good enough to cope with anything (within reason) which will also last & be worth keeping until you're a super-fit technical genius. By which time you'll know exactly what you want/need!

Can do it for £300 but you'll be upgrading sooner - I reckon £500 is where things are worth keeping long(ish)term and really enjoyable to ride

50 differing opinions to follow...


More importantly - welcome back!

And get a decent helmet & comfy shorts ASAP! :shock: :shock: :shock:

Thanks for the welcome back

£500 sounds ok to me, but then comes the problem of trying to choose one

SpinningJenny

what a nice problem to have, though!

welcome to the fold

The Rookie

Get a good newish used hardtail to start with, a full suss worth getting starts at £1K new and even used your looking at £500+

Alternatively get a good frame a build it up the way you want it, I did that with my Giant (set up as a hybrid commuter as in my Avatar) and it cost me £70, now I'm building a Kraken for more off road stuff, and that way you can spec each part to what you want, not what the manufacturer decided to use!

Simon

The Hogester

SpinningJenny wrote:

what a nice problem to have, though!

welcome to the fold

Ha yeah, there are worse problems to have.

Theres one of those specialized concept stores about 2 mins from my house, i'll have to pop round and see what they have.

elPedro666

Have a tool through this list:
http://paulscycles.co.uk/offers.php?cat=1

Couple I liked
http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b7s2p1547
http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b1s2p677
http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s2p1295
http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b1s2p1428


Full sus:
http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s1p1291

And especially these:
http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b38s2p2439
http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b7s2p1938

Beware some are in very limited sizes though...

Enjoy!
(no work getting done today, I bet...)

The Hogester

Thanks for that! Frame size is the next issue, once again no idea which I'd need :roll:

Shorty12

try some out as sizing is personal

The Hogester

Shorty12 wrote:

try some out as sizing is personal

Is there any way of working it out? Or literally just trying them out? What should a correctly fitted bike do? If that makes sense. How will i know if it fits right?

elPedro666

Fill yer boots:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12566711

elPedro666

A good local bike shop is the best possible place to start - somewhere that will give you good advice rather than trying to flog you whatever they've got leftover.

Whereabouts are you? Ah = Brum, like it says :oops: Don't really know where to recommend; sure somebody will though!

Honest, reliable bike shop in the UK's third city, anyone...?

SpinningJenny

third city :shock:

i'm a brummie born lass and i can confirm that it is the 2nd city

The Hogester - buy a Specialized

not that i'm biased

The Hogester

elPedro666 wrote:

A good local bike shop is the best possible place to start - somewhere that will give you good advice rather than trying to flog you whatever they've got leftover.

Whereabouts are you? Ah = Brum, like it says :oops: Don't really know where to recommend; sure somebody will though!

Honest, reliable bike shop in the UK's third city, anyone...?

This place is literally a 2 min drive away from me.

http://www.specializedconceptstore.co.u ... &page_id=6

I dont know of any other shops, other than Halfords that is.

Edit - There's a Cycle Surgery in the city centre.

SpinningJenny

Cycle Surgery are quite good - I've used two in the City of London.... and spent a fair amount of money in both :shock:

must tell bank why spending money on bike accoutrements is better for me than putting it in savings account with 0.90% interest... oh hold on, that should be quite easy, then!

The Hogester

A Specialized Hardrock, good place to start?

lucyd

Hi

I got back on a MTB recently after around 10 years off - it felt great!!! I have bought a new one.

What I did was read lots of reviews and surf lots of sites when deciding what to buy. We sold loads of stuff on ebay and raised £1K!

I got a 2009 Rocky Mountain Vertex 30 (hardtail), which is fantastic beyond words. Already I can do things I had forgotten I could do.

Dp has a Specialized Rockhopper (also fantastic to ride). We both bought them online and they both suit us very well, but I think if you can try out a few that's probably the best.

For sizing I used the Wiggle guide and they set it up for me. They ask for your inside leg and your overall height. I would recommend them as a retailer if you want to use postal delivery. Dp used Evans and they were great too.

I could have got a 2nd hand one or a cheaper one but I wanted something that would last, that I could learn about and fix/customise as I learned.

Cheers
Lucy

elPedro666

SpinningJenny wrote:

third city :shock:

i'm a brummie born lass and i can confirm that it is the 2nd city

The Hogester - buy a Specialized

not that i'm biased

Abandoned the Midlands for my beloved Manc, couldn't resist

SpinningJenny

mind you, I'm an escapee too, but even so...

although I can't do a Brummie accent any more - a Southerner friend of mine can do it better :shock:

elPedro666

I'm from Wolves, but I can still do a pretty decent Dudley as well. Although I doubt you could tell the difference...
:P :P :twisted:

Wouldn't mind being in Brighton today though... 8)

SpinningJenny

so would i - stuck at work in the big smoke

still, back home tonight to see the sea

and no, i couldn't tell the difference b/t Dudders and Wolves, tbh

Moseley lass, me

The Hogester

As a sub question, where are the best places in the midlands to ride? If you know the area that is. Thanks again for any replies.

PS. A friend of my cousins works in Cycle Surgery, so if i play my cards right i may be able to get a healthy discount

In which case, if i stick to my budget of £500 i should get something pretty nice i reckon.

SpinningJenny

always good to make use of your connections :twisted:

I'm afraid I can't help with the midlands ride locations - i left there in 1989 :shock: OMG that's a loooooong time ago...

elPedro666

The Hogester wrote:

As a sub question, where are the best places in the midlands to ride? If you know the area that is. Thanks again for any replies.

PS. A friend of my cousins works in Cycle Surgery, so if i play my cards right i may be able to get a healthy discount

In which case, if i stick to my budget of £500 i should get something pretty nice i reckon.

That'll be the way forward then!

As for riding spots...
Cannock's good fun - enjoyable if not really challenging, but I spent a lot of time driving out to Wales if I'm brutally honest. Try looking up some local clubs? Your friend at the bikeshop would be a good source too, I'd imagine!

Just remembered the Wyre Forest.
And Kinver.
And Malvern.
And Long Mynd (pick of the crop) - there's a thread about the Mynd was running very recently if you have a search for it...
Hop-something (Hopton?) Woods rings a bell.

Peaks are well worth the drive too, when the roads aren't chokka with day-trippers...

The Hogester

Thanks for that, i'll give those a look.

Any chance you could take a quick look on here http://www.cyclesurgery.com/c/81/Over-500.html

Tell me if there are any particular corkers on there i should look at?

With the potential discount i could get, i could go to about £700 list price.

Once again, thanks for all the advice.

SpinningJenny

Oh yes, Malvern. Ride up to the top of Worcestershire Beacon! I spent lots of time there as a kid, orienteering with the other outward bound victims...

elPedro666

I like this classic steel:
http://www.cyclesurgery.com/1027002/Ora ... ige-S.html
but it really depends what riding you're looking looking to be doing (it'd be mint over the Mynd or Malverns though).

Have a search around the forum - there's about 17 'What bike for £500-£1000?' threads running...

Check what they've got left from 2008 too, some bargains still to be had!

The Hogester

Bit of an update:

Im going with my cousin to Cycle Surgery next weekend. Hopefully should find something i like.

Still not sure on how much to spend though. On one hand i don't want to spend the earth, because i've only just started riding again. On the other hand though, i want something decent enough that i won't want to upgrade in a months time.

Any opinions on that?