Newbie wanting a bit of advice please

snerkler

HI,
I'm getting bike into biking after being away for many years. In the past I've just bought any old bike that I liked the look of, without taking into consideration whether or not the bike's actually right for me.
So this time I'm planning on doing it right. I've sat on a few bikes (all 22" frame as I'm 6'4"), some I took an instant dislike to, but for the most part they pretty much all feel the same to me. Some I'm leaning forward a touch more, some I'm a bit more upright, but we're talking minor differences. Whilst sitting on the bike's in the shop gives me an idea which is best, how can I tell which is going to be more suitable for me when I'm actually out riding?
If there's not much in it does it really matter which I choose as I assume you can personalise them more by changing items such as stem length or angle?
The bikes I've narrowed it down to at the moment are the Cube Acid, and the Cube Ltd Comp.
Any help greatly appreciated

toastedone

I am new myself to MTB's, the only advice I can give you is try as many bikes as possible and you will find one that feels right for you, If you go to a decent bike shop they should let you have a ride at least around the carpark, don't rush in your decision make sure the bike fits you and you are comfortable on the bike.

tofu21

Can you get a demo ride on them?

snerkler

tofu21 wrote:

Can you get a demo ride on them?

Only around the car park. Trouble is they don't have the right sizes in stock so have had to order the Acid in, but not the Ltd Comp as they have a Ltd Team in my size in which has the same frame and geometry as the ltd comp. As far as I can tell the only real difference is the forks. This should give me a good enough idea of the Ltd Comp shouldn't it?

supersonic

Don't just try 22". Smaller 'listed' sizes with longer top tubes may actually feel bigger.

Father Faff

I guess we need to know your max budget and the type of riding you will be doing to give any decent advice.

snerkler

Father Faff wrote:

I guess we need to know your max budget and the type of riding you will be doing to give any decent advice.

Max budget is £850, mainly light trails and road.

Father Faff

If you are going for light trails and road then definitely a hard tail and I would guess something light and fast like a Scott Scale might fit the bill.

snerkler

Father Faff wrote:

If you are going for light trails and road then definitely a hard tail and I would guess something light and fast like a Scott Scale might fit the bill.

Thanks, I'll take a look. I am only looking at hardtails.
Rather than recommending specific bikes though I'd like info in what to look for, ie how do I know if the reach is too far or too short, whether my riding position is right or wrong etc?

Father Faff

My local dealer, JD Cycles of Ilkley, has Scott bikes and I always test ride anything I might buy for at least a day on a long ride of the sort I am likley to do normally. A good LBS will also advise - JD's have a bike fitting service.

snerkler

Father Faff wrote:

My local dealer, JD Cycles of Ilkley, has Scott bikes and I always test ride anything I might buy for at least a day on a long ride of the sort I am likley to do normally. A good LBS will also advise - JD's have a bike fitting service.

My local bike shop (JE JAMES) will only let me ride round the car park. I don't have any other bike shops in my area really, other than Halfords.
Whilst the staff at JE James are very helpful, ultimately the riding position, comfort etc is donw to myself. They can tell if a bike's wrong for me, but obviously they don't know if I'll prefer a more racey set up, or a more relaxed set up, and to be honest neither do I. Whilst sitting in a shop a nice upright position feels better I'm not sure whether this will translate on te road, trails etc. I may find that when I'm out riding I prefer to be more forwards.
My thoughts are that I might go for the slightly more racey position as I think it would be easier to raise the bars, or bring them closer in if I want to, rather than getting a bike that's more upright and then finding I want to lower it, lengthen it out a touch. Would folk tend to agree?

Father Faff

For smoother trails and road use I would tend to agree that a racier position is fine with generally narrower bars and a longer stem. If you move on to rougher stuff then you may find a more compact upright position better with wider bars and shorter stem so that you can make very fast direction changes as you bounce down the rocks!

snerkler

Father Faff wrote:

For smoother trails and road use I would tend to agree that a racier position is fine with generally narrower bars and a longer stem. If you move on to rougher stuff then you may find a more compact upright position better with wider bars and shorter stem so that you can make very fast direction changes as you bounce down the rocks!

Thanks for the info. I certainly won't be bouncing down any rocks as can't afford any injuries.
Well today I had a tootle round JE James car park and felt right at home on the ltd team (same frame & geometry as the ltd comp) so have ordered the Ltd Comp. It's just going to kill me waiting for it be shipped to the shop ;-)

mtb crazy

Hey, i am also a newbie and am already addicted! Snerkler, ive just bought the Ltd Comp and its amazing really has improved my confidence and highly recommend it! the suspension is awesome and the brakes are really good too. its also quite easy to control, youll love it when you get out on it

snerkler

mtb crazy wrote:

Hey, i am also a newbie and am already addicted! Snerkler, ive just bought the Ltd Comp and its amazing really has improved my confidence and highly recommend it! the suspension is awesome and the brakes are really good too. its also quite easy to control, youll love it when you get out on it

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping to get it today but it's not arrived at the store yet
What colour did you go for? Any pics?
I initially wanted black, but the store hasn't got any stock in 22" and apparantly they Cube have built their quota for the year. I could have ordered it online but I couldn't get 24 months 0% finance elsewhere. So I've gone for the red/white/metal, and I have to say it's really grown on me and I now think it looka amazing

mtb crazy

the red white and metal is what ive got!!!! i tried it in the shop and loved it straight away. the cubes have been selling really fast at my local cycle shop too, they are popular bikes, glad you got one though. Its such an amazing feeling being out biking though its rubbish weather today so couldnt go out after work but it will give you loads of new found confidence when you get it, i went out on monday and got a massive high from it which trails have you ridden so far? im nearest swinley forest so going to try that soon hopefully. other than that i go to some woods about 10 mins away from my house with loads of interesting bits to ride, loving it!

snerkler

mtb crazy wrote:

the red white and metal is what ive got!!!! i tried it in the shop and loved it straight away. the cubes have been selling really fast at my local cycle shop too, they are popular bikes, glad you got one though. Its such an amazing feeling being out biking though its rubbish weather today so couldnt go out after work but it will give you loads of new found confidence when you get it, i went out on monday and got a massive high from it which trails have you ridden so far? im nearest swinley forest so going to try that soon hopefully. other than that i go to some woods about 10 mins away from my house with loads of interesting bits to ride, loving it!

I'm actually finding getting back on a bike quite scary( been riding my old rust bucket in prep for my new bike arriving). I ride motorbikes and feel much more proteted and stable on them. It's amazing how vulnerable I feel on the push bike, how exposed I feel. Also how 'twitchy' the bars are in comparison. I'm sure I'll get used to it before too long though. I'm building up gradually as am mega unfit :oops:
As for trails, I'm very lucky that I live right on a park area with gravel paths, wooded areas, wooded paths and fields. I'm not going to be doing anything extreme as I can't afford any broken limbs in my profession.

mtb crazy

you will definately get more confidence when youre on the Ltd comp, understandably your old one sounds abit poorly and i think id be scared getting on that too :P it can definately be scary, i fell off the other day and hit my head and though i had a helmet on it shook me up big time. but i got back on and did the bit where i fell off and was ok. youll find that every time you go out your confidence will grow that bit more. my tip is start small, then get bigger. practise anywhere you can as it all counts. im not going to do anything too extreme either as im clumsy and likely too injure myself otherwise :?

snerkler

mtb crazy wrote:

you will definitely get more confidence when youre on the Ltd comp, understandably your old one sounds abit poorly and i think id be scared getting on that too :P it can definitely be scary, i fell off the other day and hit my head and though i had a helmet on it shook me up big time. but i got back on and did the bit where i fell off and was ok. youll find that every time you go out your confidence will grow that bit more. my tip is start small, then get bigger. practise anywhere you can as it all counts. im not going to do anything too extreme either as im clumsy and likely too injure myself otherwise :?

Thanks again. Did you get my PM by the way?
Can anyone tell me how I get into my user profile to see my PM's and stuff?

mtb crazy

did you pm me? i havent worked out this site yet properly! otherwise i would be able to help more.

snerkler

mtb crazy wrote:

did you pm me? i havent worked out this site yet properly! otherwise i would be able to help more.

Yeah, just asked if you have any photos of your Ltd comp?
I'm not sure if this site is working with PM's as you can send them from the threads (there's an icon included in each post) but there doesn't seem to be anywhere in the user profile to access them. Unless it goes via email?

snerkler

Picture post test

snerkler

Hmm, kind of worked. Anyone know why it's chopped part of the photo off?

mtb crazy

that is my gorgeous bike!!!! erm you can view the whole picture.... use the scroll bar at the bottom of the pic :P i did get your pm, though i cant remember how?! sent you a reply that i will try to put some up on here when i take some photos of it. where abouts in the country are you?

snerkler

mtb crazy wrote:

that is my gorgeous bike!!!! erm you can view the whole picture.... use the scroll bar at the bottom of the pic :P i did get your pm, though i cant remember how?! sent you a reply that i will try to put some up on here when i take some photos of it. where abouts in the country are you?

I'm using the iphone so can't see the whole pic, didn't realise you could on a PC.
I'm in Chesterfield, Derbyshire

snerkler

mtb crazy wrote:

that is my gorgeous bike!!!! erm you can view the whole picture.... use the scroll bar at the bottom of the pic :P i did get your pm, though i cant remember how?! sent you a reply that i will try to put some up on here when i take some photos of it. where abouts in the country are you?

I got you PM thanks. I've figured out where to see your PM's. If you click 'Forum' at the top of the page, under the blue bar advertising all the mags, and above the list of threads you will see 2 links, one saying profile and one with your messages

snerkler

Woohoo, got a phone call today to say my bike's arrived in store so will be going down on saturday to pick it up

mtb crazy

ah awesome!!!! you will have many hours of fun on it ah cheers for the info on where to see your PM's, will be easier to pm people now! pm me a pic you with your LTD comp when you get it

snerkler

mtb crazy wrote:

ah awesome!!!! you will have many hours of fun on it ah cheers for the info on where to see your PM's, will be easier to pm people now! pm me a pic you with your LTD comp when you get it

I'll post some pics of my bike on here when I've taken some.

mtb crazy

ok cool thanks. it will make you addicted to going out! being in derbyshire you must have loads of awesome places to go out, i used to go there for walks and climb on the rocks bet mtb is brilliant up there.

snerkler

Picked my bike up today. Really happy with it