Newbie from Bolton

GedM

Hi All,

I went mountain biking in the lake district a few weeks back and absolutely loved it. I decided I had to get one and signed up to the cycle scheme at work. After doing my research I've ordered for the B'Twin Rafal 740 (a renamed rockrider 8.3) as it's was reduced to £650, and considering the kit that was bolted onto it it seemed unbeatable for that money. I'm happy with the 26" wheels as I'm obviously really crap right now so probably can't tell the difference, and they seem to suit the riding style I'm interested in (fast and twisty downhills).
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rafal-740-mountain-bike-id_8314897.html

Surprisingly there's very little written about these bikes. What do people think?
It's my first bike, so not really sure whether I made the right choice opting for a hardtail instead of a full suspension? but considering the full suspension version was twice the price I thought I'd give it 12 months on a hardtail before I start spending bigger money.

One question I do have is regarding the SPD pedals that it comes with. I'm not sure whether to jump straight in and spend £50 on some SPD shoes, or whether to play it safe and spend £30 on some decent flat pedals.
What's the safest bet here??

So what's next? Does anyone have any tips or any good articles for me to read before I head out and do myself some injuries? I've read through most of the guides on this site, and started reading parktool. I'm interested in both riding and maintenance aspects.

Cheers,
Ged.

cooldad

I would start with flats, but am maybe a bit biased.

After 50 years of riding I recently fitted some SPDs to see, and can see the attraction (and so far haven't yet had my SPD moment(s))

But as a beginner I would stick with flats for now.

GedM

Yeah, I was kinda leaning towards getting the flats until I get more confident with the bike. I just didn't wanna spend £30 on flats and then realise I'd made a mistake and have to spend another £50 on some shoes.

jamski

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19674452#p19674452]GedM[/url] wrote:

Yeah, I was kinda leaning towards getting the flats until I get more confident with the bike. I just didn't wanna spend £30 on flats and then realise I'd made a mistake and have to spend another £50 on some shoes.

Flats are great. Maybe if you're only using the bike for proper days out on it the spds would be fine, but you can't beat the continence of just being able to jump on the bike and ride.

Nukeproof electron evos are what I went for and love them. So grippy!

GedM

I picked a set of these up from Decathalon when I picked the bike up. http://www.decathlon.co.uk/900-alloy-freeride-mountain-bike-pedals-black-id_8244912.html

Really glad I did now, my feet spent more time on the floor correcting my mistakes than on the pedals :oops:
I'll put the SPDs back on next summer when my pedal to floor ratio hopefully improves somewhat