my first buy

Its a bike that leans more towards the aggressive sort of riding - that depends on your style and terrain. As you are new to biking I am not sure I would get a bike like that - I would be a little more conservative, maybe get a cheaper hardtail, learn the basic skills and see how you fair.

sleepydanny wrote:

im looking at buying my first bike and ive narrowed it down to the specialized pitch pro. it seems to b a good all round bike and has no bad reviews. im looking for an alrounder is this a good choice?? or does anyone have any other sugestions??

The Pitch PRO is a great bike (Ihave one).

You need to start walking before you can run, Buy a mid-price (£750) hardtail and see if MTBing is for you or not, also you will pick up valuable skill that you would not get on a FS,however if you get the bug and get a FS then you will really see the benefit of it.

Look at something like a rockhopper, trek or merlin malt...all great bikes

you know what this post will say so i'll save my breath
I've gone from FS to hardtail, make of that what you will but i think they're more fun.
For a 2nd bike you can decide more specifically what full sus you'd want in terms of which direction you wanna take your riding.
hardtail first, spend bout 600 maybe.

micko76 wrote:

I am only starting out and had looked around on the net and spoke to the guy in my local shop, he suggested the GT Aggressor. I have since read on a review site people dissing the hell out of it! Have I been sold a pup? I will be riding up in cavehill in north belfast. I am heading out tomorrow with a mate and will let you know how it goes

Dont worry, its a ok starter bike for the money.. how much you pay for it?

What spec is it

for the money its ok!

if you get into it big style then you will want to upgrade like i did!

i went for a 06 Rockhopper disc to and 07 Rockhopper Pro 07 which i still have as well as a 08 Pitch Pro

06 Rockhopper may 2006
07 Rockhopper pro march 2007
08 Pitch pro Novemeber 2007

do you mean upgrade the bikes or the bits on my pitch Pro?

I'd wait till something breaks unless its a really bad part. when something breaks, ask on here and do a search on here too. you'll quickly see the best products out there.

sleepy, dont listen, if youve got the money to spend then i reccomend you should buy the best you can afford. its all well and good saying you should learn on a hardtail so you will be technically better but you will learn plenty enough on a good full sus bike (which is a completely different set of skills altogether)

if riding a good full susser will mask your skills and make you appear better, then what does it matter. unless you are planning to be a competitor on the world stage, and most of us arent, then why put yourself through the arse ache of riding a hardtail which is more exhausting and tends to require more nursing through the "tough stuff" just to have passed through some right of passage which is no one elses business, when you can just blast along on a full sus having a blast and not worrying about whther you are the worlds most technically advanced rider. you will have plenty of time to ponder that when you are back at the carpark waiting for your battered and bruised technical expert mates (who all want a full susser but cant afford a good one)

of course, this is all my own opinion and i look forward to the incoming hardtail riders opinions no doubt extolling the virtues of less maintenance, lighter weight and satisfaction that superior technical skill brings yaaawn.

arse is a bit sore today! as are most of muscles. had a gret time up cavehill in belfast, had 2 falls, the first was head over the handlebars, the wheel got caught in a small hole. the second was completely embarassing! going along a narrow ledge too slow and cautious, some how i wobbled a bit and thought "feck I almost fell there" next thing I knew I was tumbling over the edge with the bike landing on my head( helmets work!) and sliding about 20ft down the gully. lay there laughing about it, nothing more than a bruised ego. I am completely hooked now, I want to have another go at that ledge, it will not beat me!