Mountain Biking

In need of a sport which will get me fit (and engines arent good for that) Im looking to get back to mountain biking, something which if im honest, ive only done a handful of times in the last 7 years. Prior to that, i was a regular biker, 3 or 4 times a week at least, with all weekends being taken up by it. I used to be a pretty Gung Ho rider, but i think ive gained a level of mortality in recent years.

The bike i have at the moment, is a very dated Saracen Backtrax, rigid with AceraX groupset and cantilevers.

I dont know what my budget is to be quite honest, as I dont know whats around for the price, and whether this will be something which will last years or simply this year Ive tried riding the Backtrax and it feels very flimsy with very narrow bars and without suspension, very hard!

Maybe im just being soft after using the SV which has a nice wide seat, wide bars and suspension to soak up the bumps.

i cant ride a mountain bike my legs go to jelly.< really unfit.

Do what i'm doing. I am sick of paying for expensive bikes so i'm building my own. I could save a fortune. Already bought a rear 8 speed cassette for a tenner thats worth about 25 and im eying up an Orange sub3 frame. Well over a grand brand new and ive seen one for about £200. But thats only if you have the time to do it.

Time? Time is what I do have, and its easy to build a bike, its just making sure it feels right at the end of it!

Fizz will be along soon to put you right

specialised enduro .... bob on mate, costs about £1300 for last years model, not cheap, but worth it, IMHO!

Or scott do one, forget the name now, that has a rear suspension lock out system (literally flick the switch on the handle bars), so you got the full sus for down hill, but when you climbing, lock the sus and whizz up there!

mountain biking is great for fitness, but it ani't easy! As far as it feeling wobbly, that will be partly to do with the sv! I always feel a bit ' wow wheres me bike!' for the first 5 mins

Yer, great sport, enjoy.

[mattSV]

Personally I would not bother with full suspension unless you want to actually do downhill racing.

I hate to say it, but you can actually get some pretty good deals from Halfwits these days - not that I would get a bike from there though

Picking up one of last years models this time of year is a good option

Discs are 'de rigeur' however I still have v-brakes on my Scott Competition, and have no problems stopping on that.

scoobs will be in shortly. he'll give you sound solid advice,

i love him.

I wouldn't bother with rear suspension...
More weight, cost (I don't think suspension on a budget is good), more maintainence, odd handling, some of your effort goes into compressing the spring...

You have all the suspension you need in your legs!

Front sus is good though!


RR

Originally Posted by keithd

scoobs will be in shortly. he'll give you sound solid advice,

i love him.

And as if by magic......the shopkeeper appears.

Echoing what Matt says really. Unless you are spending big bucks, stay away from suspension. It will be rubbish and heavy. I've done the full suspension thing and it was great and for downhill it is really a requirement. However, I now ride a hardtail (front suspension only).

V brakes are more than sufficient for stopping power and will be superior to low end cheapy discs. A good set of discs are awesome though. You get superior stopping power, don't have to squeeze the lever as hard, they don't get covered in gloop like rim brakes and they don't wear through the rim.

In the past I have gone for lightweight, bling, machined components. They look great, but ultimately don't work as well as Shimano components. I also have an issue with there strength. I have broken a lot of the billet stuff, but never broken any Shimano stuff. Plain and simple.....it works.