Newbie! Starting from scratch and no idea what I'm doing.

Lew barnett

Hi all, I'm looking to get in to mountain biking and im going to get a bike and equipment through a cycle to work scheme which starts again in September. I've had a look round various sites but I think I would have to get it from halfords because they are part of the scheme.

I can have upto £1000 and would need to get everything with that, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, lew.

supersonic

What type of riding will you be doing? Mainly roads and easy paths, or do you plan to venture further off road?

Lew barnett

supersonic wrote:

What type of riding will you be doing? Mainly roads and easy paths, or do you plan to venture further off road?

Hi, thanks for replying. Part of the scheme says that I have to use it to get to work, but I want it mainly for off road use. I live in Cardiff so there's plenty of trails that I want to explore.

supersonic

If just cross country terrain with no big drops and stuff, then the classic hardtail XC bike is a good bet. Something like the Boardman Team at £850. This leaves change for shorts, a backpack, tools etc.

Maintaining the bike is part and parcel of ownership - make sure they give you the manuals, and get those tools dirty!

Lew barnett

supersonic wrote:

If just cross country terrain with no big drops and stuff, then the classic hardtail XC bike is a good bet. Something like the Boardman Team at £850. This leaves change for shorts, a backpack, tools etc.

Maintaining the bike is part and parcel of ownership - make sure they give you the manuals, and get those tools dirty!

Thanks again for the reply! I'm looking to start going to the cwmcarn and brechfa trails. Will that bike be suitable for that?

supersonic

Yep, no problems.

benpinnick

If you're going to ride to work, I would seriously consider a 29er.

supersonic

I wasn't aware 29ers got you to work any better ;-)

Lew barnett

benpinnick wrote:

If you're going to ride to work, I would seriously consider a 29er.

Hi, what's a 29er?!

Lew barnett

Not to worry I found out! But whats the difference? I will be using it for work maybe twice a week, does this make a difference?

supersonic

They can ride more smoothly over bumps, and the gearing is upped by 10% because of the larger wheels. But overall, the difference will be little on the road.

cooldad

Unless you have money to blow I would stick with 26" wheels. 29er bits are still silly expensive, and much less common.

Shylock

Nearly all shops accept cycle to work vouchers and it will only be your work saying you need to use it to cycle to work. I never cycle mine to work!!!!!!

cooldad

Shylock wrote:

Nearly all shops accept cycle to work vouchers and it will only be your work saying you need to use it to cycle to work. I never cycle mine to work!!!!!!

There are a number of different schemes, and some are specific to certain shops, and it's HMRC (the tax break might be a subtle hint) not your employer that say you need to use it to go to work, hence 'Cycle to Work' scheme.

Whether you do or not is your call.

CarpOnWheels

supersonic wrote:

This leaves change for shorts, a backpack, tools etc.

Important point, this. There's a surprisingly long list of essentials and near-as-damnit essentials to pick up - nothing expensive, but definitely worth setting aside a little budget for. I'd offer my List o' Gubbins, but there'll be someone else on here who really knows their onions who can offer a much better one

Lew barnett

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I've got a lot to think about! I was a little worried because work said I can only use the money in halfords and there are a couple of local shops that offer 0% finance so I might be tempted to go that route, unless you guys think that's a bad idea?

If anyone could give me a link to a good list of what I need to get started that would be great!

Thanks again for all your help!

CarpOnWheels

I'll give it a go with a list of a few bits anyway. I shall await corrections.

- Helmet
Makes you look silly, but much better safe than sorry!

- Puncture repair gubbins
The means to repair punctures in whatever flavour of tyre you're using, so ye bog standard puncture repair kit for tubed tyres, plus a small, light pump. A spare inner tube to cart about doesn't go amiss either.

- Some sort of multi-tool thingy
Which I techincally don't have, but do have a rather neat allen key\screwdriver thingy that covers most of the bits of the bike I may need to remove\tighten\generally mess with. Must-have for maintenance basics.

- Lube n' degreaser \ chain cleaner
A chain full of mud and sand is going to be harder work than a clean, properly lubricated one. It'll also wear out both itself and the cassette a *lot* quicker. Myself, I use an aerosol degreaser\cleaner, a gear brush, and either wet lube if it's wet or dry lube if it's dry (there is a difference... wet lube tends to repel mud but attract dust, dry lube more-or-less the opposite). Well worth keeping the chain happy.

- Means of carrying water
The body gets through a lot of the stuff when forced into physical activity. There various ways an means of doing this (backpack with bottles in, bottles in cages on the bike, "proper" hydration packs). Personally, I bung a sport bottle or two in my backpack - dead simple, dead cheap, no maintenance, drink containers don't get covered in mud, the downside being I have to stop to drink.

- Means of carrying Stuff
Phone, keys, wallet, ride-related gubbins all need to go somewhere. There's plenty of options as to how to pull this off. As mentioned above, I use a backpack. It's relatively small but holds what I need it to. If possible, buy this in a store rather than online as checking the fit is important - if it fits nicely you'll not notice it when riding, if not it'll be a massive irritant.

- Shorts, and clothing in general
Some kind of cycling-specific legwear is a real must. Quite apart from the padding, the right stuff's designed to give you the freedom of movement you need and (hopefully) not chaff and wear out the crotch after a few afternoons pedalling. As to what, that's your call. Myself, I wear lycra as I don't like stuff flapping around down there, was a fan of 80s hair metal, and have no self respect. Thankfully there are baggier alternatives for those who'd rather hold on to their dignity*. Gloves, which really need to be bought in store to get a nice tight fit, are a real must - protection of palms for when you fall off, plus comfort for when you don't. There are plenty of other bits of useful clothing, but they're probably best ignored until the need ("I'm to wet\hot\cold\sweaty, now what?") arises.

- Mudguards
This is Britain, so mud's a fact of life. Whilst it's fair to say there's nothing fundamentally wrong with a face and bum covered in cold, wet, mud, I reckon there's even less wrong with a clean(ish) face and bum. Others may disagree, but I reckon you'd be barmy to ride around in Britain without them - the difference in even mildly moist conditions in terms of comfort is huge.

Oh, and... shop around for this stuff, especially the clothing. There can be huge cost differences between the posh stuff and that which just does the job.

Hopefully that's useful as a start. As I say, I'm no expert by any means, so someone else will probably (and quite rightly) correct me.

* Clearly, this excludes those bronzed Adonis\Venus types who carry it off rather well.

1mancity2

For trips to work,

Helmet, glasses and gloves,
Cycling clothing,
Back pack to carry change of clothes and tools/water (or put a water bottle on the frame)
Spare inner tube/pump, tyre levers
Multi tool with chain splitter, spare chain links
Puncture kit or scab patches

Lew barnett

Thanks guys!

Carp that list is a great help, thanks for taking the time to explain each one for me. I hadn't even thought about clothing so that's another thing to research.

Mancity, you said glasses? Why would I need them? Are they for protection/safety?

Again, thanks for all your help. It's greatly appreciated!

1mancity2

Lew barnett wrote:

Thanks guys!

Carp that list is a great help, thanks for taking the time to explain each one for me. I hadn't even thought about clothing so that's another thing to research.

Mancity, you said glasses? Why would I need them? Are they for protection/safety?

Again, thanks for all your help. It's greatly appreciated!

Nothing worse than getting dog sh*t in your eyes!

Not essential but they stop grit, stones etc flicking into your eyes.

Lew barnett

1mancity2 wrote:

Nothing worse than getting dog sh*t in your eyes!

Not essential but they stop grit, stones etc flicking into your eyes.

Good point, well made!

CarpOnWheels

No worries Lew. As I say, only returned* earlier this year so that's (part of) my list of start up gubbins.

Clothing's an odd one because it's an area where the budget can easily get out of hand, it's pretty easy (well, I managed it) to end up with stuff that sounds all good and necessary in theory but is a bit pointless in practice, and what you end up needing is kinda down to you and how you ride. For example, there's no point in going out and getting a load of "technical" sweat-wicking stuff if it turns out you're not actually getting all that sweaty when riding, whereas it's nigh on essential if you're regularly finding yourself drenched (I fall into the latter category). Likewise, high-vis stuff is basically money down the drain unless you're either riding on roads, or planning to go somewhere on your own where being seen by the emergency services is considered advantageous... where in both cases it could well save your life.

* And rode road in my previous human-propelled incarnation, which has somewhat different gubbins requirements.

christiandransfield

Hey Lew,

If you haven't bought any glasses yet, I've just bought the following glasses from ebay. Yes, they're incredibly cheap, but they're UV400 rated and come with a load of interchangeable lenses. You also won't cry too hard if they fall off and break during cycling!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261041048171?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_5049wt_1397

Chris.