Beginner looking for some advice on bike choice, sizing, etc.
MARKakaJIM
Posts: 6
I'm in need of finding myself some alternative exercise after moving home and losing my old bunch of football mates, a lot of people I work with are quite into their cycling and so I'm going to give mountain biking a go with a few of them before my waistline spirals any further out of control!
First issue I'm having is that it's been about 15 years since I last regularly rode a bike to any extent so I'm somewhat out of the loop when it comes to identifying what's a good bike and what's best avoided. I'm hoping as time goes by and I become more competent I can do some proper off road riding but initially there's going to be quite a bit of tame stuff along former railway lines to try and build up a bit of fitness and then heading for some more exciting stuff with a few friends on the weekends. With that in mind I'd been looking at trail type hardtails as a decent niche to suit the sort of stuff I'd be looking to tackle, specifically the Whyte 900 series really catching my eye when looking round a few bike shops, however prices do seem a bit off putting for someone taking a bit of a leap of faith that they'll stick with it despite local bike shop's best attempt at doing me a deal. I'd also seen the Commencal Meta HT as a potential, slightly more affordable, alternative as you seem to get a lot of kit for your money there but information on them doesn't seem to easy to come across. Not sure if any of you kind folk would have any preference for one above the other? Or any other recommendations that would be similar or even better suited for what I'm looking to do?
My other thought, given prices seem to have increased more than I anticipated in my cycling sabbatical, is to look for slightly older versions of either of the above bikes, or any other suggestions that may be kindly thrown my way, as second hand bikes so I'm not as financially exposed on my new venture. The other side of this option that appeals to me is the need/possibility of doing a bit of work to the bike to fix things or bring things up to a more modern standard, give me opportunity to customise things a bit more without being as worried about ruining a more expensive brand new bike and also give me the opportunity to learn about more about how it all goes together so I don't have to rely on my local bike shop for every tiny repair in the future.
Lastly, and this issue concerns the Commencal first and foremost, is sizing. I've been and sat on a Whyte 901 in a shop with a medium frame, didn't really get chance to have much of a ride but it felt comfortable enough, the sales person wasn't sure whether I'd be better off on a large though, they were concerned with the handlebars hitting my knees in tight turns. Seems odd to me that someone of my height 5'9" would have to worry about such a thing on that size bike and those doubts were confirmed at another store, where the bike wasn't available to view, but the owner said I'd be better off with medium and to always go smaller if in doubt between two sizes. This all becomes rather trivial when comparing to the Commencal as I've not managed to find anywhere I could potentially try one for size and judging by their geometry table on their website the bikes seem to size at a completely different to scale to pretty much any other brand, think my little comparison had the XL in Commencal being most closely matched to a M in Whyte! So that thrifty option becomes very difficult to judge as I could potentially burden myself with a very uncomfortable bike if I take that plunge.
Think that's probably enough wittering for an opening post, any advice would be greatly appreciated, hopefully can get something sorted out and continue to contribute as an active mountain biker!
First issue I'm having is that it's been about 15 years since I last regularly rode a bike to any extent so I'm somewhat out of the loop when it comes to identifying what's a good bike and what's best avoided. I'm hoping as time goes by and I become more competent I can do some proper off road riding but initially there's going to be quite a bit of tame stuff along former railway lines to try and build up a bit of fitness and then heading for some more exciting stuff with a few friends on the weekends. With that in mind I'd been looking at trail type hardtails as a decent niche to suit the sort of stuff I'd be looking to tackle, specifically the Whyte 900 series really catching my eye when looking round a few bike shops, however prices do seem a bit off putting for someone taking a bit of a leap of faith that they'll stick with it despite local bike shop's best attempt at doing me a deal. I'd also seen the Commencal Meta HT as a potential, slightly more affordable, alternative as you seem to get a lot of kit for your money there but information on them doesn't seem to easy to come across. Not sure if any of you kind folk would have any preference for one above the other? Or any other recommendations that would be similar or even better suited for what I'm looking to do?
My other thought, given prices seem to have increased more than I anticipated in my cycling sabbatical, is to look for slightly older versions of either of the above bikes, or any other suggestions that may be kindly thrown my way, as second hand bikes so I'm not as financially exposed on my new venture. The other side of this option that appeals to me is the need/possibility of doing a bit of work to the bike to fix things or bring things up to a more modern standard, give me opportunity to customise things a bit more without being as worried about ruining a more expensive brand new bike and also give me the opportunity to learn about more about how it all goes together so I don't have to rely on my local bike shop for every tiny repair in the future.
Lastly, and this issue concerns the Commencal first and foremost, is sizing. I've been and sat on a Whyte 901 in a shop with a medium frame, didn't really get chance to have much of a ride but it felt comfortable enough, the sales person wasn't sure whether I'd be better off on a large though, they were concerned with the handlebars hitting my knees in tight turns. Seems odd to me that someone of my height 5'9" would have to worry about such a thing on that size bike and those doubts were confirmed at another store, where the bike wasn't available to view, but the owner said I'd be better off with medium and to always go smaller if in doubt between two sizes. This all becomes rather trivial when comparing to the Commencal as I've not managed to find anywhere I could potentially try one for size and judging by their geometry table on their website the bikes seem to size at a completely different to scale to pretty much any other brand, think my little comparison had the XL in Commencal being most closely matched to a M in Whyte! So that thrifty option becomes very difficult to judge as I could potentially burden myself with a very uncomfortable bike if I take that plunge.
Think that's probably enough wittering for an opening post, any advice would be greatly appreciated, hopefully can get something sorted out and continue to contribute as an active mountain biker!
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Comments
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Medium0
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02GF74 wrote:Medium
Is that medium for the Whyte, Commencal or both?0 -
Welcome to the forum.
I can't give you specific data on the bike sizes, but in just about any bike size, 5`9" should be fine with a M. I'm 5`10" and ride a M (18") HT and L (19") FS bike.
In terms of what route to take with bikes:
Buy brand new (assuming full price/discounted etc) - get a shiny new bike but quite an investment if you either don't like the bike or don't get on with MTB. However, everything is new and guaranteed etc
Buy older model brand new - this is a great time of year to get 2018 (or 2017) bikes reduced. Get more bang for your buck. It will still be brand new with guarantee.
Buy 2nd hand - can be a bit of a minefield depending who/where you buy from. You might enjoy learning and tinkering, but could spend a lot of money on a bike that you'll never get back (compared to buying new).
Personally, I'd try to get a reduced brand new bike so you can go and ride and still enjoy a new bike with a warantee. Plenty of time to fettle later."Ride, crash, replace"0 -
After what seems like an eternity of scouring the internet and making many a failed offer I now have myself a bike.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2Dv8kTYCEFUQxgaEA
Rather off piste from what I was generally looking for but I grew frustrated on my endeavours and just started trawling through endless lists of bikes online until this caught my eye. Ended up spending a little more than I had originally intended but from what I've read it seems I've obtained rather a lot of bike for my money.
Now time for me to get out there and start riding, luckily have some very tame glorified footpaths I can utilise on my doorstep to get things setup to my liking and then hopefully push on to some more interesting stuff!0 -
Your link returns a 404 error mate.
Good to hear you found something you're happy with though!
Current:
NukeProof Mega FR 2012
Cube NuRoad 2018
Previous:
2015 Genesis CdF 10, 2014 Cube Hyde Race, 2012 NS Traffic, 2007 Specialized SX Trail, 2005 Specialized Demo 80 -
MARKakaJIM wrote:After what seems like an eternity of scouring the internet and making many a failed offer I now have myself a bike.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2Dv8kTYCEFUQxgaEA
Rather off piste from what I was generally looking for but I grew frustrated on my endeavours and just started trawling through endless lists of bikes online until this caught my eye. Ended up spending a little more than I had originally intended but from what I've read it seems I've obtained rather a lot of bike for my money.
Now time for me to get out there and start riding, luckily have some very tame glorified footpaths I can utilise on my doorstep to get things setup to my liking and then hopefully push on to some more interesting stuff!
Seems a bit of a pain to get images to work on this forum, wouldn't work at all when i tried to inset it in the post so had to just go with a link instead. Might work now.0 -
Wow, didn't expect to see a Stanton! Very nice mate! Now go get it dirty
Current:
NukeProof Mega FR 2012
Cube NuRoad 2018
Previous:
2015 Genesis CdF 10, 2014 Cube Hyde Race, 2012 NS Traffic, 2007 Specialized SX Trail, 2005 Specialized Demo 80 -
CitizenLee wrote:Wow, didn't expect to see a Stanton! Very nice mate! Now go get it dirty
Had my first attempt this Saturday, popped over to Sherwood Pines with a mate and had a go at the red route over there.
Happy to say I managed to make it around without causing myself or the bike any real distress, had a couple of wobbles early on but then I hadn't really rode a bike for 10 years or more! Don't think it's a particularly challenging place by the standards of more seasoned riders but certainly a good test for me whilst I get into the swing of things, need to get my lungs working a bit more efficiently as much as anything so I can more time riding and less time standing around desperately gasping for air.
Few things I did notice, really need to work on my 'stance' on the pedals as I spent way too much time with one foot right down and caught a pedal a few times that could've ended badly but that should be something that's fairly easy to adjust if I put my mind to it. Also don't think I make great use of the gears, was only really flicking a few gears either way at any point, but I did notice a bit of a catching noise at times when going lower down the gears and that did sort of deter me from going any lower so might have to do a bit of investigating to see what's going on there. More than anything I think I just need to put some more time in on the bike, most of my early issues were as much down to lack of confidence in myself or the bike rather than anything else, being a bit too keen with the brake and getting caught up amongst the bumpy stuff when I'd probably have been better off trying to carry a bit more speed through and skip over the top of some of it.
One minor annoyance, my rear brake developed a significant squeal part way round, not sure if that's likely to be down to wear, conditions or something not being properly aligned but something I'd like to get to the bottom of and sort out ASAP.0 -
Thanks for the write up.
Ref some of your comments.
Pines can be seen as a bit `easy` to some riders and not a `real` red route. Personally, I like it and I've been riding for 25 years. It's nice old school single track through a pine forest. It's what I grew up riding. It's not a DH venue as you just don't get the gradient there. It's a great place for people who are new to MTB or getting back into it. It's horses for courses.
The good things with Pines is that if you want to make it more challenging, go faster. I can ride is sensibly or harder and faster and that creates new challenges. It can also be ridden differently on a HT or FS. On a HT you feel a lot more lumps and bumps and need to try to be `smoother`. On a FS you can be a bit more of a hooligan.
Try to keep your pedals level on the DH bits and when you corner, have your outer pedal down and inner knee poking out a bit. Try not to have your inner pedal down, or you'll catch rocks and roots and risk and ejection. Also helpful if going down fast sections to have level pedals flat but with your heels down a little as it helps you keep your weight to the back of the bike and when you brake you're better balance and less likely to shoot forwards.
I only use about 4 gears around Pines as it is fairly flat - maybe use the full range on the fast DH bits and steeper slopes. Other than that I'm in the middle of the cassette (1x11).
There are also loads of `off-piste` trails @ Pines - you just need to know where to look. Steve Sordy is doing a group ride there on Sunday 30th Sept. It's mixed abilities and uses some of the red to link up loads of different hidden trails. Sign up and have a go. It's free and good fun.
Keep practising and it will all get easier!"Ride, crash, replace"0 -
I'd suggest getting yourself to Glentress, hiring a bike, then decide if you like it or not - I did that about ten years ago, and I ended-up buying the first bike I tried, a Scott Genius MC-10.
If you live quite far away, I can recommend staying here: https://www.glentressforestlodges.co.uk/ - just make sure you check the weather forecast before going/booking.
Good luck with your hunt!0 -
That's gert lush! Good find!0
