Can I attempt some trail riding on this?

Keith1983

I have a Raleigh Attitude. I know full well that it isn't really designed to be a serious trail riding tool, but should I spend money on something else or give it a go on this first? It's 24 speed, with sr suntour forks with V brakes. Is it suicide or a smart move to see if I like trail riding on this first?

Keith1983

here is a pic of one, not mine but exactly the same.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9 ... WpBqFdx9GA

andrewjoseph

Depends:

on the state of the bike,

on the trails you want to ride

your riding skills.

If the bike is safe to ride, the trail not too technical and your skills up to par. then it should be doable.

stubs

I would give it a go it wont be any worse than the sort of bikes we used to ride off road 30 years ago. Only problem is it might fall to pieces pretty quick, bearings and brakes wont be up to a lot of hammering but will get you started.

Keith1983

Im tempted to flog it and buy something up to the job but would like to give it a bash before I commit to buying. Do most trail centres rent bikes out? Maybe that would be a better bet?

craker

Just choose the trail centre to match your bike and skills. Whereabouts are you? If you enjoy it you'll start getting an idea of what you want your bike to do.

jon1993

your bike will be fine lets face it cheep bike cheep to repair right just be realistic if you see a nice jump id advise to not do so and care on steep decents it will give you a taist never the less. my bike isnt much better i have a £400 carrera kracken and thats done dalby black and some mild dh at race pace every other weekend gone from coast to coast to edinbrough from hull ect and 20 miles each day commuting granted its not as good as bikes made for it but i think youll be fine just use some common sense lol

Keith1983

Thanks for your input guys. I might just take it out and try to break it and then post photo's in testament to how manly I am for breaking a bike! That is presuming I don't break myself at the same time!

Captain Peanut

I've done similar with my 6 year old Halfords Apollo lump, taken it out and ridden it into the ground and it's let me get a taste for things without forking out unnecessarily. Thankfully the missus has now let me order a new bike to replace it instead of paying out to repair hubs, brakes and the fork.

As others have said, as long as you're sensible and ride within your limits it should do for now.

Huck Finn

Get out and thrash it Keith. It'll be a good starting point because if it's not capable, you'll soon know the sort of bike you need.

antop34

haha, sorry jon1993, i love the 'mild dh at race pace every other weekend' part, gutsy on Kraken.

back to Keith1983, your bike will handle a trail, but it may not have the longevity you need to keep getting out there. Now the autumn seems to be setting in your v-brakes will struggle in the damp/wet and the forks are not going to offer much help either.
Most trail centres will rent bikes out, but be careful what you choose, as there is no point going for a £3k full sus if your budget is going to stretch to £500 hardtails.
I have done trail centres on various hardtails. from my first outing on my Giant Iguana (and last!) to my Saracen Tufftrax back in the day and it was more about having fun and trying to get through bits that the bike really shouldnt have been able to do, let alone me!
Now i ride a full sus most of the time as im soft and my knees hurt!

jon1993

antop34 wrote:

haha, sorry jon1993, i love the 'mild dh at race pace every other weekend' part, gutsy on Kraken.

yeh you could say that all seems a good idea while your doing it hense why i need a new bike 2 flat spots on wheels, cracks in the center of the forks just about to give from bottoming them and crushed BBs lol but hell its lasted 2 yrs of the punishment and costs nothing to repair/ replace broken parts

Fallout

Dude i have a Raleigh venture its not that dif from the one you haveand i find that its a good bike but if you try to push i to hard then things will go wrong (well thay do for me lol)

Keith1983

Thanks guys, I'll give it a bash and see how I get on. If I think the bike is the limiting factor then I'll look to buy something more suited.

DodgeT

My mate has only recently upgraded from a 5+yr old rockrider, with less than 1" of working travel on the forks, awful brakes and gears which weren't too bad.
He's done Llandegla, CyB, Penmachno to name a few and it never hampered him. I had a go on it at cannock one day and was shocked at how bad it was, but he got along just fine
Give it a go, it'll be fun either way.

jon1993

its always fun to have a good crash now and again anyway:P haha

oodboo

I've rode worse down my local red trails. The brakes were rubbish and I ended up hitting a tree stump and was thrown head first into a ditch. This was the result:


I'd say go for it but don't ride beyond what you or your bike are capable of.

tom_howard

what happened to your face???

oodboo

I was moving my head around to check my neck was ok as I used my head to stop by hitting it against the opposite side of the ditch, cracked my helmet in the process. My neck was a bit stiff for a few days after that.

Bikehawk

Hey, started out on a similar spec bike, found it great until I got carried away and went too fast, there was no way the brakes were going to stop me fortunetly the rocks did :oops: . Give it a go but as others have mentioned watch the speed, I noticed a big difference when I eventually got a decent bike with discs and suspension that worked .

d00m

If that raleigh's got properly set up v brakes then it'll be fine for woods and trail. Try it at a red graded trail center, it'll probably be ok on that too.

pots74

Give it a go! I started off on a raleigh massif back in the day. Ok your bike is not the latest technology but if you're just getting into it then there's no point buying a new bike. As the others have said as long as it's safe to ride, go for it. You only know what you're used to riding! Save your money until you get into mtb or your bike falls to bits?!