noob alert (thats me!) and a hello from kent

roblade
roblade Posts: 16
edited March 2010 in MTB beginners
Well hello there and wow what a great forum I have spent hours browsing and finaly joined!

guess i should intorduce myself here as i cant see anywhere else for the introductions, chose the mountian bik section as thats what i ride, th9uogh have to admit i was a bit confused as to if i shoudl be in this section or the road section due top me being mainly a comuter on a mountain bike LOL

Im a 30 something smoker, so as you might be able to guess im not hard core fitness freak level ultra competative mountian biker who must have all the most upto date gear.

So how did i get into cycling then? other than the halfords special i had <mumbles> years ago when i was in school, i think every weekend on that i covered an average of 30-50 miles and in wales that really was an achivement! that is it was until it got pinched and never replaced. Then i found the joys of 4 wheels!

So that brings us to the here and now in a rather skipo a few years version where no bikes where mentioned at all.

So one day i was wondering how i can get my weekely expences down due to working only part time, and thought i would have a peek on ebay and see what bikes where near me, which is where i begin now.

well i got bitten by the cycle bug just about a year ago when i bought what i thought was a £50 bargain on ebay, only bought it as it was shiny and us boys do like shiny things. Had no idea what was good or bad. I paid my money loaded it on the bike rack and away i went. Had a good look at it when i got home, no decals on it and totaly debaged so no idea what it is and still have no idea to this day.

I enjoyed the bike and have ridden it almost every day since then, be it a quick jaunt to the shops or the little trek to work a grand total of 6 miles there and back. Though i have used it for the ocasional 20 mile ride as well (maragte seafront to reculver and back) no hills involved and no sand in fact tarmac/concrete all the way. and boy am i pretty much done in by the time i get home LOL But havign said that its also one of the best feelings i have had when i get home and colapse into the sofa with a cold can of stella!

So i thought i would upgrade the bike a few months ago, always remember Claud Butler as being a rather top spec bike when i was younger and trawed ebay for a little while came across a Claud Butler Stone River not too far from me put a bid on it a little higher than i really wanted to spend but won it none the less (you know how that place can be soooo addictive LOL), went and picked it up was about average condition i thought certaily not as nice looking as the £50 bike i bought previously. So off i go and start enjoying my "quality" bike, well i managed a few mils on it before i realised there was smoehitng not right about me and the bike together, it was uncomfortable as heck! so back on the trusty no name bike i went and sold the Butler on for the same price i paid.

This is when i realised all bikes may be equal, but some are defiantly more equal than others. I have been using this bike now for almost a year and have tried several different bikes in that time (Claud butler trekking, Giant Expression and a couple of cheapies) non of which have come close to being as comfortable to ride as the first one.

So by now i am most definatly hooked on the bug and trying hard to get my daughter into biking as well (she is 11) bought her a clapped out little thing and she loved it! so bought her a slightly better little thing and we sorted it out together on the weekend, changed the cables (brake and gear), changed the v,brake mechs and upgraded the brake lever/gears to trigger shifters from grips shifts that were knackered and yep she loves it as well, if she with me shes either riding horses or the bike. so we do fowlmead occasionaly though have to admit not been there since the real winter set in, she has been too busy horse riding.

And this about brings us upto date with the exception of my most recent aquisition from a local bike shop, I popped in to see what mountian bikes or hybrids he had as i just dont get on with the hybrid i have at the moment (Giant Expression), its a nice bike and comfortable, i just dont enjoy it. Thought i might be able to get a P/X deal with him. He asked if iw as after new or second hand, yep you guessed it i told him i was after second hand and he asked me to step through to his "office" he just randomly pointed at a bike as we were passing and saidf soemthign like that? i said almost exactly like that! I asked how much that oen was, and he said it wasnt for sale at the moment due to it being a bike that was brought in for repair a little while ago and not collected, I asked what sort of price would i be looking at if it were for sale, he ummed and arred a little andlooked in his little book and said it would probably be about £40-50 popunds, i said to him well if it does come up for sale give me a bell. he said (yes lots of me said, he said here now LOL) as its been sat there for the past....4 years, he will give the owner a bell and see if he still wants it even though its in poor condition (bald flat tyres very grubby looking condition handle bars twisted round for storage space), so i give him my details and off i toddle not really looking at anything else,

So being the impatient bugger i am i decide to do a follow up vistit next time im passing, wich was two days latter, Once more he invites me into his "office" and we start chatting and after about 10 mins he asks what bike im interestead in i say the giant thats not been collected, vauge look of Huh? and eplain was in a little while ago looking for a bike and point at the giant at the back of the pile. AHA! exclaims the shop keeper that one i wondered why i took the tag off it he says, so i follow him to the bike and he says its a customers bike i say yes i know did you have any joy contacting the customer to get permision to sell it? he says nope but hang on here while i go and call him a few moments latter hes back and tells me that the number isnt the bikes owner any more and seeing as it has been sat there for over 4 years im welcome to have it "SOLD AS SEEN" for £35. I have a quick look round it, at a guess i put it around 2003 due to the condition of the tyres, give it 3 years use and then a bit of maintenance, i notice disk brakes and think a bike that age made by Giant has got to be worth the money he is asking so the deal is done and loaded into the car, I managed to put a nice little dink on the decals without any help from anyone and think IDIOT oh well it happens.

So then i get home and give it the compusolry wipe down wash wash and clean, afert wi[ping the grime off the only real damage on the frame was what i did loading it into the car, this made me feel bad LOL so after straightening the bars out (head set lossend and pulled to proper postion), a bit of air in the tyres, its already looking like a totaly different bike! so start to have a look at what the damage maybe on it, imediatly spotted is the loose brake lever, quick inspection shows that its a threaded stud that ;locates in a hole on the lever and the threaded stud is the piston that operates the brakes, reatache stud in hole , conect banjo conection to the empty resevoir give it a pull and it feels good, not working but no resistance and no catching on anything, bonus me thinks as my brain was telling me this was going to need a totaly new replacment unit at worse (it still may well need it as well!) but at least its looking like a proper bike handle bar now.

once i was all cleaned up i foudn it was a Giant XTC 4, i can find very little information about the bike, looked on Giant ste and foudn teh archive, checked the spec sheet against the parts fitted and nothing was an exact match although the XTC 3 of 2004 was very close. Had a quick check on ebay and saw that the frames alone were selling for more than i paid for the bike figured it had to be something decent, did a little home work and have found its more than just soemthing decent, but something that 6 years ago would have been the dogs dhoodahs. so i am well chuffed with my find.

Now all i have to do is get it sorted and ready for a ride ASAFP.

hmmm me thinks that tomorrow it might be spent speeling until very late in the morning or i might pop to the local bike shop and see what he thinks is wrong with it and rough price to get it sorted out.

have fun out there guys and gals and dont forget to stay safe :)

ROB :)

ps just previewed the post....did i really type all that!!!! oh well i guss as you made it down this far you should be awarded the Bikeradar bordom badge for reading the most uninteresting post LOL
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(='.'=) the bunnies are coming!
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