Thread: Mountain Bike

I don't know the answers to most of those questions. I'm short (175cm) if that makes a difference to the wheel size. I was planning on going hardtail as I've heard it's best to start with. Nothing too serious for a start. Budget of up to $1k I suppose, my policy (as with everything) is to buy something basic to begin with then buy something better when I know what I like/need.

Hmmm the 1K range in bikes is uuuuber depressing and they are simply not up to the job of actually mountainbiking. Even if they do survive it will be a heavy nasty ride.

Go S/H, look for one from a big brand (Specialized / Cannondale / Trek etc etc) that hasnt done much work (most of them) and you should be sweet. When it all boils down most bikes that have been sold in the 3-5k range new are pretty damn good and 90% of them have never done much more than go to the shops / occasional gravel road.

A good full suspension bike is so good you wonder how you ever survived without one - a cheap F/S bike is simply awful. Front suspension is pretty de-rigeur these days but once again cheap suspension is worse than none. The 69's roll over bumps much better, havent ridden a 29FR yet.

The main thing I recon about mountainbiking is that getting silly definitely seems to have an age limit - things that seemed totally reasonable at 18 like riding down Allenby Terrace steps in Wellington every day now just look utterly INSANE. At knocking on 40 riding down a steepish hill on a nice gravel road makes me slow down so yeah I probably dont need that flash bike in the garage any more