Newbie's First MTB

muttley_109

Afternoon all,

I've wandered over here from the road bike section with an itch to go mountain biking. I've never had the urge to go mountain biking before, the closest I got was messing around on some trails on a CX bike. Great fun but as soon as it got rocky my eyes got shaken around so much I couldn't see and steep stuff in the drops is not fun or comfortable!
However I received an email about the new Alpkit/Sonder Transmitter which for some reason made me want to go offroading.
https://www.alpkit.com/sonder/bikes/son ... r-gx1-1x11

Given my lack of MTB knowledge and experience I've had read through some thread here and on other forums which has now got me completely unsure what I want to buy.

Living in South Wales i'm surrounded by trail centres as well as the Brecon beacons. Now I've read that for the trail centres most people would use a short travel full suspension bike like a Giant Trance which would cost more than the alpkit/sonder for a decent spec.

Would I be better off going straight for a full suspension bike or would the alpkit transmitter be a decent option for the local trails? I don't want to go overkill for my lack of skills but at the same time I don't want to get something that I'm going to find hard going then want to upgrade.

Buying roadbikes is so much easier than this!

Thanks

Ben

bailsofhay

I would go and test some before making a decision, should be spoiled for choice where you live. You may find you prefer a HT over a full suspension and at the price point of that HT you linked to there are loads of decent options both HT and full suss out there. I wouldn't get hung up on brands like Giant either as the premium you pay for the name comes at the cost of the quality of the components.

rockmonkeysc

Trance would be an excellent choice and pretty good value.
Check out Pauls Cycles website. They have some bargain Giants.

bailsofhay

Wow those are great deals! Never seen Anthems with that spec for so cheap.

muttley_109

I'll head up to afan and BPW and see what different bikes I can hire and try out. My head is saying get a hardtail, stick to blues, learn some skills and go from there. My heart is saying spend the extra, get a full sus, dive in head first, scare myself shitless and then realise I need to learn some new skills

Crazyjenkins01

Thats the way muttley!

On a serious, start on 1 blue but try not to hold back then give 1 red a go just dont go all out if you dont feel comfortable!
Personally i'd try and do the same blue and red on both a HT and full suss, that way you can gauge the difference the bike makes. then go from there......

The Rookie

On advantage of a hardtail (or short travel full suss) is you can scare yourself at a lower speed, that way the injuries are less severe.......

rockmonkeysc

If you're not experienced best stay off the bike park Wales red trails. They're more like black at most trail centres and can punish mistakes quite severely.
The blacks at Afan are really easy and definitely over graded. Strangely, the red final descent on blade is a bit more pokey than the blacks.