How cheap were your current mountain bike(s)?

MrChuck

cooldad wrote:

Where do you get losers from? Don't put words in my mouth.
But seriously a few minutes with a hacksaw will sort out a steerer tube.
Most jobs can be sorted a lot quicker than two trips to a shop.
If someone doesn't want to, or doesn't enjoy working on their bikes, fair enough, but the excuse that it's too hard is rubbish in most cases.
For those who can't change a lightbulb, obviously there's little choice.

OK, you didn't say losers. But you certainly don't seem to hold people who don't do everything on their bikes themselves in very high regard.

cooldad

I am a grumpy bastard and don't hold many people in high regard.
I also don't use smilies so may sound even grumpier.

ilovedirt

cooldad wrote:

I agree there are some things (facing is one) where the cost of tools obviously doesn't justify DIY.
But you can install headset cups with a rubber mallet or hammer and a bit of wood. Wheels can be trued in situ (skill comes with doing).
Cost of an hours labour will buy you enough tools (set of allen keys, screwdriver etc) to do most jobs and most specialised tools (BB tool, chain whip etc are less than a tenner). Even a basic multitool will handle most jobs.

No more excuses. from lazy students. Get a job. (Although judging from your bikes you are not exactly poverty stricken)

I have a job back home, as I said, I do most things myself and have a lot of the tools (bb tool, chain whip etc) but i'd rather pay someone skilled to build a wheel for me than learn to do it myself at this moment in time. And yeah, you can install headset cups with a bit of wood and a hammer, but when i'm spending £80 on a headset and several hundred on a frame, I'd rather spend another fiver and have it done by a professional than attempt it myself and potentially mess it up by being cack-handed.

Also, I don't appreciate the lazy comment, you don't even know me, I worked bloody hard last summer to pay for my bikes, and at the present, i'd rather concentrate on my studies during term time (considering i'm paying the best part of £7k a year to be here, I think that's fair), so please keep your rude comments to yourself.

Also, living in halls, there's a lack of space, if i were home and wanted to cut a steerer, i'd whip out my dad's hack saw, g-clamps, mitre block and work bench and do it myself. Not quite so easy living here when you have either no room for the tools or can't afford them, especially seeing as i live 200 miles away from home. So, trip to the LBS it is!

Northwind

MrChuck wrote:

But you certainly don't seem to hold people who don't do everything on their bikes themselves in very high regard.

I hold people who give bullcrap excuses for not doing it in low regard. People who simply choose not to do it, that's fair enough but then you've got Mental Mickey up the page who claims you need a workstand, a vice and a workbench- if he said "I don't want to do it" that's fair enough but "I can't do it because you need all this stuff", that's just not true.

cooldad

ilovedirt wrote:

Also, I don't appreciate the lazy comment, you don't even know me, I worked bloody hard last summer to pay for my bikes, and at the present, i'd rather concentrate on my studies during term time (considering i'm paying the best part of £7k a year to be here, I think that's fair), so please keep your rude comments to yourself.

All students are lazy, drunken parasites.
It's a well known fact. I read it in the Daily Mail.

Rushmore

cooldad wrote:

All students are lazy, drunken parasites.
It's a well known fact. I read it in the Daily Mail.

i just hate their skinny jeans, silly big haircuts, and their loafers with no socks..

Electric Russell

1990 - Raleigh Mustang - second hand, dad bought it don't know how much. Won my first race on it.
1992 - Peugeot something or other - £260. Stolen after about 6 months.
1993 - Marin rocky ridge - Parents bought it. Managed two races before stolen.
1994 - GT Timberline - £400. Went the way of the last two sometime around 1997.
1998 - Saracen Dirt Trak - £400ish. Still got this, it has had some welly.

Beer and women hiatus.

2007 - GT Agressor - £500. Sold last year for £120.
2008 - Felt Q920 - £700. Still got it, it's not moved in two years.
2009 - GT Tequesta - £70. Ebay drunken nostalgia moment. Still sat in shed awaiting attention.
2009 - Cube AMS Pro 125 - £1800. My current ride.
2011 - Undecided.

rowlers

cooldad wrote:

Mental Mickey wrote:

I'm glad you recognise this as this is what I'm getting at, other than skill and knowledge, I also don't have the room or inclination (or particularly the desire to save monies required) to stock my shed with 1) Large set of tools covering all the range of jobs, 2 workstand, 3) Workbench + Vice (which is essential in my view after past experiences.

I don't really like the tone of some people on here when they make snide remarks such as 'it's a bicycle, not a rocket', highly patronising and there;s just no need for that. Especially considering that technology of the bikes has moved on considerably in the last 20 years.

Going by that analogy, I think I can safely assume that the maker of that remark and all the rest of you never, ever, have to employ the services of somebody else for any situations, because you do it all yourselves right?
Your computer crashes completely, dying a death and won;t boot up, your electrics go all throughout the house, your pipes burst in the loft, your washing machine/dishwasher stops working, your car breaks down on the hard shoulder, what are you going to do?

Of course, Da dun daaaaaaaaaaaa is it a bird, is it s plane, no it;s super forum man, you don't need to obtain help because you can do everything, after all, 'it''s not a rocket'. :roll:

Yeah right.

My remark was not patronising, it was exasperated. I do get fed up with helpless people. I will have a go at trying to fix most things, a bit of research and thought and you'd be amazed at what you are capable of.
For some things (electrical or gas problems) I'd call an expert without hesitation.
But generally I'm more confident in my work than most other peoples.
And last time my car broke down on the hard shoulder I did fix it myself.
Ironically I got the garage to do an oil change while it was booked in for it's MOT. (As I have just moved into a flat and don't have anywhere to do it.) The radiator hoses have to be removed to get to the oil filter and the moron forgot to tighten the clamps up. Accelerating up the on ramp they let go, massive cloud of steam and water, temp gauge shot up. Limped to the nearest garage, added coolant, bled system, problem sorted. It's not rocket science.
Frankly I don't give a toss if you don't like my tone, but you do seem a bit over-sensitive. Perhaps you should see an expert over your feelings of inadequacy.

Agree with everything you say, even had the coolant hose pop off on the way to work, water from a garage, topped up, bled and on to work and only little late!
Have a go, before just running to LBS, you never know what you will be able achieve

Raymondavalon

The Shaker was a bargain bin special.
Bike was £80 from Gumtree
eXotic rigid CF forks were £70 on special
Magura HS33 hydro rim squeezer brakes £50 EBay
Seatpost & saddle recovered from an unwanted Kona I had £0.00
Schwalbe Big Apple tyres about £38 pair
Crudcatcher: £4 on Ebay
Replacement front wheel, £30 - Halfords
Bell: £2.50 Tesco

Total: +- £290 Win!

The Bouncer wasn't overly cheap.

Project 456 still incomplete due to time / workspace restrains but the budgeted price is £1300

tom_howard

Carrera Mission 21 speed £190 with about £600 spent on upgrades over about 7 years as stuff broke
Azonic DS Evo £600 for frame and fork ,new, as pretty much everything was transferred from the Carrera. Sold to fund....
Kona Stinky £600 second hand - stolen
Apollo Vortice BMX £90 (new!) to this day the best smiles per £ ratio of any bike ive ever ridden! - ridden to death!
2 years bikeless
Specialized Demo 8 £1200 (rrp £2500) from ebay with about £1000 spend on upgrades/replacements -stolen (from Whistler!!! )
Specialized SX trail £2000 (insurance replace for the above) sold after a year to fund...
GT IT-1 £1500 from ebay 4 years old but in perfect condition, had 20% wear on the original, super tacky, tyres! (rrp £4500 in 2006) - currently sharing my affections with....
Orange Hitman 26" £370 from ebay (not sure of the rrp but i think 8-900?). This bike is the most magentic bike when it comes to ebay. Bought it as a bit of relief from the GT as a bit of a thrashy play bike, but due to my addiction to shiny things and hatred of compromise, its had nearly £800 (most of that on parts from ebay, would have been almost double that if id bought new) spent on it :oops:

Wow, that little lot amounts to a lot of lapdances... Guess all my bargins with the exeption of the apollo and the GT have been ruined by my magpie tendencies....

nowadays I really cant see why people buy new bikes, as long as you are careful when buying on ebay and ask the right questions, you get just as good a bike for often less than half the rrp. With all the advances in materials technology, bikes are lasting much longer, and the more expensive it is the more chance it has of being looked after and being in A1 condition, save a few paint scratches. Admittedly you dont have the warranty cover you have buying from a shop, and there are scammers out there but touch wood, ive never really had these problems (apart from the apollo, but what do you expect? plus i worked at halfords at the time so it wasnt too hard to get stuff sorted )


Ive been away for a while, nice to be back....

nozzac

I had my LBS fit my new fork because I didn't want to risk messing up cutting it and rendering it worthless. They did it for £10 including the star nut. Why bother doing that yourself if it's so cheap. Fitting of other parts I'll happily do because it's handy to see how they fit on and adjust.

Rybes

i used to have a raligh milk race when i was a kid. was a pressie so no clue how much

a saracen green thing, cant remeber the name or price

2004 kona cinder cone $700 dollars (bought in canada) just spent about 250 quid on shineys for it ready for playin this summer ( be here weds woohoo)

Northwind

I've broken the most expensive one, fallen out with the second most expensive one, the third most expensive one can't go up hills so today I took the carrera XC racing not enough gears, no suspension, no traction, brilliant- what a laugh.

sheepsteeth

Northwind wrote:

I've broken the most expensive one, fallen out with the second most expensive one, the third most expensive one can't go up hills so today I took the carrera XC racing not enough gears, no suspension, no traction, brilliant- what a laugh.

sounds utterly gopping.

on other news though, the golden willow will end up having cost me bout a grand all in so im pretty happy with how cheap that is for such a thing.

Fenred

Northwind wrote:

I've broken the most expensive one, fallen out with the second most expensive one, the third most expensive one can't go up hills so today I took the carrera XC racing not enough gears, no suspension, no traction, brilliant- what a laugh.

Ah yes...Remember "simple is good!"

Northwind

Ah but that's the trick here- simple's rubbish. But rubbish can be quite good

D-Cyph3r

Cheapest bike was the £450 Mongoose Tyax that got me started 5 years ago. After that it was the £2k EX8 and already the parts for the Hectik/Chumba have already come to £2000-2200....



I dont do budgeting well. :?

Fenred

Northwind wrote:

Ah but that's the trick here- simple's rubbish. But rubbish can be quite good

My point exactly!

Northwind

OTOH my vague plan to try and get the rubbish bike down the fort william world cup route might well end badly. It's all relative

sheepsteeth

Northwind wrote:

OTOH my vague plan to try and get the rubbish bike down the fort william world cup route might well end badly. It's all relative

didnt you already do that?

Northwind

Nah, only done it on my Hemlock which is non-rubbish

Though I've done chunks of it on my old Soul, which being a hardtail is of course rubbish

sheepsteeth

Northwind wrote:

Soul

thought so.

Fenred

Northwind wrote:

OTOH my vague plan to try and get the rubbish bike down the fort william world cup route might well end badly. It's all relative

Oh I see...Well my moto remains "simple is good", but in your case, good luck with that one!

Qaudangle racer

My current bike is a cannondale delta v600 1994 model cost £137 spent £100 on it and added bits i had laying around ive single speeded it so it should be cheap to keep going.

Ive also a new on one 456 frame ive spent £450 on it so far its not complete yet.

I also have a bmx race bike an SE quadangle team ive spent £1000 on this

Fattys Leg

I've got a 2006 claud butler pagan that i paid £20 for 4 years ago
a 2007 mongoose teocali elite frame that cost me £100 and fully built it owes me £430
and a orange msisle frame that cost me £50 (next project).