Yeah yeah, New bike blah blah... But do need some advice.

morepower

OK I have been out of riding for a while. My current bike is an old Checker Pig rigid. It has some nice lightweight bits on it (well they were nice 20 years ago) as well as XT gears. But I now want to get back into riding again and have realised putting suspension onto the bike will not really be a good idea.

So here is why I am struggling to find a bike. 3 years ago I snapped my acromioclavicular ligament (holds your shoulder and collar bone together) So the little race oriented Checker Pig is too head down arse up for any real distance or time in the saddle. I now need something more relaxed to sit on but dont want to have a bike that had some of the fun removed or be too watered down to go off road without bits breaking or falling off on a regular basis.

Budget wise I was looking at the £1000 mark Give or take £200 ish. As I am used to a light bike I have not looked at or concidered a full sus bike so have been looking at a hard tail. I did have one dealer suggest a discounted 2012 Orange Crush (But the odd reveiw I read said it was not really a bike to go trail riding or have longer full day rides). The other alternative mentioned was a Whyte 901 which just fit into the budget.

Are there any others to think about? It just feels frustrating having to pick a bike round an old injury 'cause get it wrong and I will suffer for it on each ride. Being away from riding just means I am out of touch with what is out there and the number of choices is huge...

cooldad

You could do a hell of a lot better spec wise for the money than either of those quite easily. From Boardman onwards.

morepower

cooldad wrote:

You could do a hell of a lot better spec wise for the money than either of those quite easily. From Boardman onwards.

As I said... My problem is fitting the bike more than the spec. The ones that feel comfortable are the cheaper budget bikes... Which may be OK for a few months as I get back into riding but as I get my fitness back then they become limiting. I ride motorcycles and did quite a lot of motocross in the past so riding skills are not a problem..lol.. I can still keep up with some on much newer and suspended bikes on my rigid, but not for long as the pain kicks in.... I dont want a full sus as I know I will have to ride to the top of any hill to get back down and a 10kg bike sort of spoils you on the climbs even if I am not as fit as I once was...lol.

cooldad

No idea what you just said, TBH.
You don't want a full sus because it's too heavy? - Not true.
You don't want a really light bike because it's too easy? - Seriously?

So got try out some and buy one that's comfortable.

morepower

Light is good... mine is 10kg so it feels (or used to) nice to ride. It is just some of the bikes the local bikes shops seem to offer are more race oriented so not comfortable due to the snapped ligament (having it operated on is not an option due to the damage done to the area) Then the ones that have a shorter top tube are more the type you see married couples going for a little ride on a sunday afternoon.

As I said I have been away for a while partly due to racing and/or riding motorcycles all year round. Then due to the crash that did the damage which now means my current bike is just too painful to ride for more than an hour or so without the need to dose up in industrial pain killers afterwards.

It just seems the lighter full sus bikes are out of my budget so I have not looked at them.... I didnt say I was not open to suggestions. I cant just get out to test bikes here as we have no decent sized bike shop with demo bikes locally. So I was looking for some suggestions for bikes to try as that will mean I need to go away for the weekend to do that for most of them.

morepower

cyd190468 wrote:

You should see if you can demo a few full sus bikes as I think you will find rear sus relieves jarring from the handle bars almost as much as front. I have two dud rotator cuffs and on a duelly I can ride for hours but on a hard tail even with 100mm fork I can only do an hour or so before it starts to hurt. I'll probably cop it for saying this but if you're dealing with a chronic injury a duelly with 29er wheels is the way to go.

Cool... I just did not want to stretch the budget more than I have set. Being off for a while and no decent trails within either a ride from home or a 20 minute drive makes getting out harder than it used to. I used to live on the doorstep to Sherwood Forest so I could ride from home and within 3 miles I could be off road all day. Here it is hard enough to get a few mates to want to go out never mind getting them to drive to any decent trails. lol. So it would be either used and get used well or start to become a bike I only use when we go away camping ect. So £1000 ish is more than I would spend for a bike to just plod round with my wife or just use to go to the local shop.. But is way short of one of my mates La Pierre (he lives over an hour away so going for a week day ride is not going to be an option and weekend he spends with his kids or a big group of guys who go out on a regular basis).

It just seems to be that awkward point. Not enough budget for a full sus that is lightweight and the hard tails start to get longer and more race oriented, which I know will start to hurt. The one dealer who did have a think did say the Orange crush may be a good option due to 140mm travel and a more upright stance due to the longer fork. But I would think there are other options than the one offered by one dealer.

So I would look at full sus it just seems a little retro grade going from a light weight bike. lol.

morepower

Cool.... Will look into the 29R's then. It just seems sometimes the answer is get a bike that goes over your budget. Regardless of what you set it at.. lol. I do appreciate a good bike but going mountain biking is not may main hobby and even though I used to ride 3 or 4 times a week it was more to keep fit for going motorcycle racing. So it was not a social thing with a groups of us it was just preparing for the next race or building some strength back from the previous injury.

I will look at what there is on sites like chainreaction and see what deals there are on full sus bikes too. It is not just about the jolts and impacts from the bike though even riding on roads or smooth paths is a pain due to the snapped ligament as your muscles have to now try and do the work of the ligamant so it is the constant strain on the muscles too.

The Rookie

In terms of riding position, ant bike will sit you more upright if you
1/ Move saddle forward on the rails
2/ Replace a setback seatpost with an inline
3/ Replace flat bars with riser, or low with high rise, more backsweep (angle and starting point) will also help
4/ Replace stem with shorter and/or more rise.

A hardtail will have you out the sadlle more often over the bumps and put more weight on your hands, so I'd seriously suggest an FS, a good quality 100mm FS will keep you in the saddle much more than you'll expect.

Have a look at the Board man FS, and consider some of teh above mods, that or look on paulscycles.co.uk at what you can get in your budget range, a Giant Trance is well worth considering as well, look at Geometries, look for ones with shorter ETT (not linear TT) - allowing for setback v non setback seatpost, also longer headtubes will lift the stem mount relative to a shorter one.

morepower

Cheers.... I guess it would be a case of seeing how much of the changes needed could be part of the deal. Moving round on the bike is not a problem. It is an odd one as the worst pain is from stuff like going walking or riding the motorcycle for extended time. Walking you relax and the shoulder drops opening up the gap and putting strain on the other ligament. On the bike in race mode you are in a ful tuck and the leathers hold it all in place or try to and the joint can move and put strain on it too but as the leathers are so tight you actually feel like it is strapped up and fine until you take them off. Then the joint opens up. If you use the muscles round the shoulder is it not bad. It is sitting down peddling in a position that keeps you in one position for extended periods. The riding position of my current bike is very biased to weight on the arms and being rigid does not help.

I will keep looking and will try a few bikes in the new year....