School a newb on mountain bikes...

[Mr. Leary]

From the descriptions mentioned here, it definitely sounds like a hardtail would better suit my needs. I have little desire to crawl rocks, and if I encounter them on the bike, I will likely shoulder the bike and walk the tough sections.:snorkel:

Bones is going to help me on this end in my search for a used bike, since my time table is pretty wide open. I don't think I need a brand new fancy bike to learn on...

Thanks for the help, gents!

 

[T.Low]

...my search for a used bike, QUOTE]


I've was in outdoor and kayak sales for over 10 yrs. I reccomend finding a good used bike for your first one. It takes a while to figure out who you are as a rider. As your skills progress, your tastes and preferences change. You may want to excel in different aspects of biking than you originally thought.

If you buy a good used bike that may be worth $750 (a well known popular brand that is always in demand and therefore easy to resell when the time comes), but you get it for $500, and ride it for a year, 1) you get to have fun riding and develop your skills while you're still shopping for the bike, and 2) when you find the bike, you would still be able to get $500 or so out of your first bike.

...the difference between or need for full suspension vs. hard tail?[quote]

...Riding style and terrain available usually steer people to a particular bike

Great question and perfect answer.
I ride Galbraith Mt and it has a lot of varied terrain and very different trails. I also have a million friends that ride. So the bike I pick from my quiver many times depends on who calls me to go riding.

I have a Kona Unit 29er hardtail (with gears).
I use it in the winter a lot when trails are wet and I don't want to huck and land in the grease. I just want to "spin" the legs, as the roadies say, to stay in shape and enjoy the mountain, and I'm not going to go real fast on night rides.
I use it when the skinnies call me to go riding and I know they want to ride the smoother flowy trails and the hardtail is more effeicent and the only way I can keep up with them.

I also have a Kona Dawg Primo 5" front and rear suspension.
It is probably my main bike as it fits my preferred riding style. All mountain, as they say. I can lock out the suspension and its fairly stiff for crusiing the smooth flowies and for the openning clmbs to the top of the mountain. But it still doesn't climb like my hard tail.
It rails the turns, absorbs the rocks and roots and drops, and still pedals very well.

I also have a Kona Stinky Deluxe 8" front and rear suspension dowhill bike. While there are certainly bigger and more agressive downhill bikes on the market, I like the Stinky because it is still very rideable for climbing the roads to the top of Galbraith Mt.
Galbraith has some good "downhill" trails; big drops and table toppers, and I also live close enough to Whistler bike park for a long day trip. This also means that I have a 2nd helmet (full face), a 2nd set of shoes (Vans for the flat platform pedels- have egg beaters on the hard tail-and my road bike- and egg beater mallets on the Dawg) and full armor (which I also wear when riding my enduro motorcycle).


Another good thing about buying used: you can get one new bike for $1500, or eventually one $500 used bike in each of the 3 categorys. That's what I did, then eventually replaced each one with a new one.



[qoute]...since my time table is pretty wide open

Mr. Leary, with all due respect, we do not know our ultimate time table. Tell your family you love them and go ride.:ylsmoke:

Hope that perspective helped a little and wasn't too long winded.

 

[matt s]

Please no. I spend a good one third of my day trying to explain to people the concept of disposable not serviceable. Who ever came up the freewheel disc brake equipped bike should be... forced to ride their own creation and see how well/long it works.

-Chris

can someone elaborate on this. Define freewheel disk brake, and what is so horrible about it. Not trying to be too ignorant but really don't know.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Regarding used bikes - Keep in mind most used bikes are being sold for one of two reasons:

The bike is "used" and the cost to repair has disuaded the owner to do so. Or, they've ridden the poo out of the bike and they're ready for an upgrade. These often look like good deals until you realize they need a $30 chain, $75 cassette, $80 worth of tires, and probably $75 worth of cables and labor. Bikemech can probably confirm the usual bike shop scenario where some poor guy scores a good deal only to have the bike shop pinpoint the reality in the purchase - not a great deal.

Or, someone bought a bike, hated it, never rode it, and now they want their money back. Problem there? They want their money back. These are seldom good deals and not as ideal as finding a sale bike at a bike shop that can offer some service and warranty support.

Used bikes often don't equate to a good value. You have to find people really willing to abandon their bike with little regard for the value.

My personal opinion on buying a first bike - take your time, do it right, and do it once. I don't subscribe to the idea of buying twice. Bikes are spendy. I don't think you have to shell out $750 to discover what type of bike you want eventually. That's always seemed like money wasted to me. I never had much respect for fellow bike shop employees who'd say, "buy this $500 and figure out what you really want for your real bike." I always thought it best to just do more research and homework and pull the trigger once.

 

[Capt Sport]

Mr Leary,

You mention bike packing as something you desire to do. Below's a link to a board that is specific to bike packing. There's a ton of info on bike set up etc, it might help you zero in to the right kind of bike for you.

http://www.bikepacking.net/

Good luck and don't forget to show us your new bike.

 

[T.Low]

Used bikes often don't equate to a good value. You have to find people really willing to abandon their bike with little regard for the value.

I never had much respect for fellow bike shop employees who'd say, "buy this $500 and figure out what you really want for your real bike." .

I agree with the no respect comment, but not the good value comment. It's shame when I see people on a brand new bike that is temporary. A complete waste of time and money. Like I said, if you make a good buy used, you can learn, evolve, and shop while riding and you can sell for what you paid for it, or very close.


Maybe because of the high numbers of riders in Bellingham and the fact that Kona, Transition, SoftRide, and a few other companies make there US homes here, bikes don't keep there value here; they can easily depreciate 50% in one season. (this town of 70 thousand supports 5 really good bike shops and an REI bike department, plus a ton of back door deals from the manufacturers and pro deals to all the pro outdoor athletes that reside here.)

For ex., we bought my wifes Kona King Kikapu which retails for $3k, plus it had a ton of aftermarket upgrades, only 8 months old for $1250 off of a gal that primarily keeps 3 different road bikes busy. The bike was a cream puff (she keeps all her bikes in her living room).

My first Stinky was a one year old Primo that retails for over $3k plus a lot of aftermarket up grades, paid $1100 for it. Road it hard for 3 seasons and sold it for $975 to put toward a brand new Stinky.

My wife's current road bike is an all carbon Trek 5200. It think it retailed somewhere over $2500 (plus 8% sales tax), was ridden a grand total of three times. The guy was asking $1500.

A bicycle is such a small fixed amount of knowledge, it's easy enough to tell how worn things are.

You and I agree but also disagree quite a bit and all that really means is more prespective for the noob to draw from. Good deal. Long live internet discussion.:ylsmoke:

 

[Christophe Noel]

That's a great site, Capt. It's really improved in the last couple years as bikepacking popularity explodes.

It's hilarious to look throught the individual set-ups. Guys will pack a 200 gram tarp, skip food in favor of eating pine needles, then pack a full sized pillow or a one pound french press. Proves there is no perfect set-up as everyone has their own needs.

I'd like to point out that on this site, there's virtually no chatter about the bikes themselves. I think that's awesome. It shows that any bike...they one under your butt...can be an adventure bicycle. No need to have a team of engineering nerds design some $5000 purpose built bike to get you three to seven days down the trail.