Thread: Mountain Biking Noob

Righto team..... After 30yrs out of the saddle, I've dusted off one of the kids bikes and have started shredding up the tracks, roosting the berms, getting huge air off the jumps.......



Then I wake up in a cold sweat, puffing and panting.

As much as I hate the 'Lycra Clan',(I see to many maggots on a daily basis) it's something I can do that doesn't hurt me. Plus with the kids having to be dropped off at sports practices,(6 a week) I've got an hour to something that may even benefit my health.
The first ride was only about 3km, which left me shattered. To many stops at the pie shops for this driver.
Have progressed up to 15km and feeling not to bad 10 mins after stopping. Looking at upping it further, then I can tag along (keep up with) a couple of fellas from work.

Since its been a lifetime between drinks, what are the better brands of bikes. For all I know, I could be buying a Lada thinking I've just bought a Rolls Royce. Same for bike shops. Are there better ones to frequent. Is Bikebarn the Warehouse of biking, or just another chain store.

Thoughts and your experiences appreciated. Cheers

While I was also a noob and got mack into it a year or so ago, it does not take long to get "match fitness" and improvement comes quite quickly. I got a GT mountain bike fro Torpedo7 and it has been good. There are quite a few decent brands out there worth looking at. Size is also important. It has to be big / small enough to be comfortable to ride. I have a 24 in cheapy here as well and while it rides and works well the brakes are hopeless, so I would suggest disc brakes if you can. A reasonable new bike will cost $600 or so, but they can go much more.

I am sure there will be lots of suggestions as to which are best / better / worse.

Bike Barn is a bit of a warehouse arrangement but I have heard good things of the Merida Brand they carry. Other brands that used to be good (Not sure if this has changed or not) would be Giant, GT,. Not sure about others but I am sure there will be help along shortly.

Lots and lots of options. Even down to choosing a wheel size.
Bikes are very component oriented so the thing with the brand name on it is only really the frame and a lot of the manufacturers frames all come out of the same Chinese factory. The main two (best) component manufacturers are Shimano and SRAM and their components are scattered over all the bike brands making it quite hard to compare apples with apples price wise as one bike may have better quality shifters but a lesser quality crank set for example.
Giant have traditionally been pretty good value for money for what you get. I own Specialized bikes and they are great but I wouldn't get too hung up on brands. It is the components that really make the bike what it is.
How much money you want to spend and what sort of riding you want to do will really decide what is best for you. I would rather spend $2K on a good hardtail than the same amount on a lesser quality duel suspension bike and if you think you will get a lot of use from the bike hydraulic disc brakes are a must. Stopping can become really important.

I’ve a choice of 2 in the shed. A Supercheap dual suspension. Front has seized and it was under $200 from memory.
Next is a front suspenioned Trek 4400. Got it for $80 a couple of years ago of TM when we needed 2 bikes.

Both are doing the job, the Trek is nicer to ride, lighter and easier to breakdown to put in the ute.
Just wondered who to go to when I need bits and pieces, servicing or replacing the bike if I get carried away.

Heaps of tracks around locally, so once I get abit of fitness, be looking at riding into a few hunting blocks around here. Day trips instead of having to overnight sort of thing.

If you have an Evo cycles near by see if they can get you a Silverback Spectre Sport. Around the 800 mark but a lot of bike for the money.
But yes, brand isn’t too important, look at specs. Lots to choose around the 600 mark, but for 200 more in the above you get a much higher spec machine.

i'd limit things to a hard tail (no rear suspension) and cable disc brakes. rear suspension causes you to lose a lot of downward "push" and you tend to go up and down not forwards (yeah ok you can get one with a lock out but its something you forget.... ) unless you plan on doing a lot of down hill its also just more weight. hydralics are nice but a bit harder to work on if something goes wrong.

larger wheel size allows your tyre to "roll over" obstacles same thing as truck wheel size i guess. make sure you get a good lighting system (headtorchs work ok but you really need a good red tail light) as i'm sure you know doing a lot of driving, bikes pop up out of nowhere.

has been a few years since i've been on my bike was well.... might just motivate me to dust it off

As a hunter, mountain biking is a great recreation and a way of getting fit. It takes you up into the forests and hills that you also enjoy as a hunter, which appeals to outdoors blokes rather than just cycling on the roads.
I got the kids into mtb riding so it has become a great family activity that has become a regular activity.(bit pricey tho)
Like anything you start off with lower priced bikes then end up doing more and wanting more suitable mtb bikes.
I bought a scott genius twin suspension bike but a trek remedy or trek fuel would have done the job well also.

It's a bit like asking what rifle or what scope should I get, it depends............

Whats your current goal, and budget being the two most important.
Are you going to much actual mountain biking or are you more realistically doing 90% road and the rest gravel roads?
Unless you are riding trails, a road bike or more road orientated bike is a lot easier/efficient and will help you ride further much much quicker.

Buying something 2nd hand can land you some extremely good deals and some huge savings, nut if your not sure what too look for it can be hard to know what to get.

I've been riding Makara peak for 10 years. I've only ever ridden a $700 hard tail and it's served me well. Good for uphill, poor to average for downhill.

Yeah as the other guys have said - For value & your sort of riding stick with a hard tail ( low - mid priced full suspension bikes can be heavy pigs of things ) If your'e just doing road / light trail riding a budget Mountain bike will be fine, If you get the bug & decide to get more serious then you do get what you pay for. There are some good second hand buys on Trade Me, MTB's do not hold their value at all doesn't matter how much you spend so very good used condition bikes are worth a look, Any of the leading brands will see you right.

When it comes to bikes the right size is really important, make sure it fits you ( beware of sales people that use an "elastic" tape measure ) & if you are riding on the road you need decent lights, Invest in a good bright rear flasher & use it all the time ( especially if riding on country roads ) then just go out, get your fitness up & enjoy riding.


Personally, I love riding, keeps you really fit & also use it as my thinking / meditation time, but it can be a very time & money consuming hobby, The replacement for my S-Works have now gone up to 14-18k lol ffs.

Great to have another MTBer on the forum. I reckon we need to plan a group multi-day ride/hunt...

Post your height and budget, no doubt a few of us can have a flick through TradeMe and share any good deals we find that would suit.

While you get a lot more bang-for-buck secondhand, it would pay to get it checked out by someone who knows what they are looking at as something like a bent or cracked frame can be hard to spot and expensive to fix.

Late start at work for me today, so decided to go for a couple of hour ride at first light in the frost, musta been about -3 up Arapuke Forest lol. Was a mint day to ride though just a pity I have an afternoon of stripping wallpaper to look forward to now hahaha

Cheers for the responses, ideas etc.
Looking like I'll only have the choice of one bike now (since the boys biffed the ute) and no upgrade in the near future it appears $$$$$

I had one of these back in the day ;-0 stick shift 3 speed from memory could be your vintage though

once long LONG ago I was the national hard tail down hill champ(class doesnt even exsist any more) but I couldent imagine riding a hard tail these days, the only thing that would make me do so is if I couldent justify spending the $ for a relyable fullsuspension. Some of the above comments are rather outdated or only aply to wherehouse grade crap.
Bike Barn can have some good deals on last years bikes, but keep in mind they do sales the same sort of way katmando does.
I helped my father by a very lightly used 3 year old full supension that will probably do him for the rest of his days for $890 from trademe recently so you dont have to spend a ton.