First ride on new bike............bloody marvellous!!!

RockyRaccoon

I picked up my new Specialized Hardrock Disc 2010 from Edinburgh Cycles this afternoon, then headed straight down to Glentress to try it out.

First time I have been on a MTB proper for 9 years, and the first time on a dedicated MTB trail.

I started off from the Hub up to the Osprey car park. I then cycled the Green route as a little recce for when I bring the family up. Then it was back to the Hub via Electric Blue.

This one afternoon has given me the impetus to get out on the bike as much as I can, get as fit as I can, and do as many trails / centres as my skill will allow!!

The bike felt great, and although not the best, I think it is more than adequate for me just now. Brilliant!

I've tried to add a couple of photo's.

Cheers

mikey0303

nice looking bike and youre lucky to have such great riding facilities nearby

Ive had my new bike about 7-8 weeks now and the feeling doesnt wear off!

GHill

Nice looking bike!

(I'd probably change the pedals though)

RockyRaccoon

GHill wrote:

Nice looking bike!

(I'd probably change the pedals though)

Now you mention it, my feet were bouncing on them a lot. Do you think better pedals would help, or do I have to improve my technique? Or both!!

Views welcome.............

chuckbiker

great bike, and changing the pedals probably would help. but it looks great!

cat_with_no_tail

Good looking bike that is.

As for pedals, depends what you are comfortable with. those basic resin pedals arent great, they dont offer much grip, and aint fantastic at power transfer either. most places stick them on new bikes because they are dirt cheap and many people have their own pedals anyway.

If you want flats, you can get some Wellgo V8 flats for about £10 delivered.

If you fancy giving clipless a try, you can get some shimano M520 for about £20 delivered (but you would need new shoes too).

Tonnes of choice, just depends what you are after and how much you want to spend.

I like your plant pot btw. B&Q?

RockyRaccoon

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Good looking bike that is.

As for pedals, depends what you are comfortable with. those basic resin pedals arent great, they dont offer much grip, and aint fantastic at power transfer either. most places stick them on new bikes because they are dirt cheap and many people have their own pedals anyway.

If you want flats, you can get some Wellgo V8 flats for about £10 delivered.

If you fancy giving clipless a try, you can get some shimano M520 for about £20 delivered (but you would need new shoes too).

Tonnes of choice, just depends what you are after and how much you want to spend.

I like your plant pot btw. B&Q?

Thanks for the suggestions, I didn't realise they would be so cheap! I think I will order those Wellgo you suggested.

.......and yes, they were from B&Q. Well spotted!

ramemtbers

i tried a set of wellgo v12s to see what they were like

it is money well spent if you but them and they are real grippy to

look on:

www.chainreactioncycles.com

cat_with_no_tail

RockyRaccoon wrote:

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Good looking bike that is.

As for pedals, depends what you are comfortable with. those basic resin pedals arent great, they dont offer much grip, and aint fantastic at power transfer either. most places stick them on new bikes because they are dirt cheap and many people have their own pedals anyway.

If you want flats, you can get some Wellgo V8 flats for about £10 delivered.

If you fancy giving clipless a try, you can get some shimano M520 for about £20 delivered (but you would need new shoes too).

Tonnes of choice, just depends what you are after and how much you want to spend.

I like your plant pot btw. B&Q?

Thanks for the suggestions, I didn't realise they would be so cheap! I think I will order those Wellgo you suggested.

.......and yes, they were from B&Q. Well spotted!

Cheap Wellgos I found are here:

http://www.woollyhatshop.com/category.php?id=84.

lots of choice

J55TTC

I got the same pedals with my rockhopper comp, truly rubbish pedals.

I put an old set of wellgo LU-939's - much better and lighter

xtreem

I like your white cables, so as the grips.
White pedals would look good too.

WeAreACC

I love the colours on that bike. Enjoy.

GHill

I didn't spot this earlier, but in one of your pictures (middle one) you're in a bad gear combo. You should try to avoid using the smallest cog at the front with the smallest at the back and largest with largest. It puts a lot of lateral stress on your chain and can wear components out quickly.

You should be able to get into an equivalent gear ratio easy enough.

kryptonick

I assume you live in Edinburgh somewhere? I'm living in fife at the moment but travel to Edinburgh often for uni etc, and am planning to move there next year either in January or in Summer. Anyways, if you fancy some company down at glentress I'm always up for a trip down, though I tend to work all weekends and can only get time off during the week. Give me a shout if you are up for it.

Well noticed the above poster on the gear combo, I never noticed it.

Finally thanks for the links on pedals, been looking to replace the same ones as the OP has on my rockhopper comp.

RockyRaccoon

GHill wrote:

I didn't spot this earlier, but in one of your pictures (middle one) you're in a bad gear combo. You should try to avoid using the smallest cog at the front with the smallest at the back and largest with largest. It puts a lot of lateral stress on your chain and can wear components out quickly.

You should be able to get into an equivalent gear ratio easy enough.

Wow! That is a GREAT spot, and an excellent bit of advice. Are they the only two combo's which should be avoided.?

Thanks in advance.

kryptonick

generally you want to avoid the larger half at the back with the largest at the front, and the smaller half at the back with the smallest at the front. It's not really an issue once you get used to it though (only took me a week of riding or so) as you can get equally easy or tough gear ratios using the middle cog at the front.

GHill

On the whole those are the only two to be avoided.

Some people advocate that it is good practice to start shifting at the front a little earlier. For example if you're on the smallest ring at the front and you were thinking of making pedalling a little harder by going into the third smallest at the back an alternative would be to shift to the middle ring at the front and up two or three (so larger cogs) at the back. Vice versa with the big ring at the front.

EDIT: Here's a bit more about gear theory, might be a bit heavy going though.

gnarly-ass-rider

looks nice, have fun oon it bro!