Mountain bike help for novice
Turbo Mini Forums

Evening chaps looking for some suggestions on choosing a style of mountain bike for a novice.
The mrs took me out for a rip around local forest track Earlier which I really enjoyed and was a feck load easier than running but my old faithfull cannondale y frame did not finish the route :( its rear spring adjuster give up the ghost and sagged my ass on the back wheel, then the nut that holds the handle bars to the yolk thingy sheared and I lost my handle bars causing a rta with tree trunk buckling front wheel!
At the mo I'm searching the old catalogue for a new bike but don't know what style would be best for a novice off roader ie y frame or solid frame disk brakes suspension etc I ain't got a clue about bikes and would only use it for off road tracks now and then so can't justify mega money bikes, any suggestions would be really helpfull as would hate to waste cash when it could be spent on the mini.
Thanks mike

I'd probably just go for something decent with front suspension, 27 gears and as light as possible.

There are also some good second hand bikes out there that have hardly done any work for much less then they were new if you fancy being patient.

Kona, specialised, giant and the like are generally well specced.

Edit, I wouldn't go back anything other then disc brakes (only have experiance with hydraulic ones) either for off road riding, as you can get away with a slightly buckled wheel and have to worry about adjusting the damn things often.

Edited by minimole23 on 25th Apr, 2012.

Giant are decent,felt are lovely to ride aswell I bought a q720 last year,

Cheers for that so what about rear shock is it worth it? Really put off by the last one but it was old than my motor

For general cross country riding and anything with much incline or road work I really dont think you could beat a hardtail.

I have ridden a 2007 specialized Hardrock pro for the past few years and it has been fantastic! Im about to upgrade but for general allround use you can get some brilliant bikes for around £500-600 especially if you go for last years model.

or there are some brilliant buys if you go second hand of ebay!

Whats the budget?

You wouldn't go wrong with something like this, also worth going for shocks you can lock out for road riding.

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b7s2p1938

Budget is around 300 at the mo, is 17kg good for a bike? I could always cut some holes in it to make it lighter in true tm style

I run A Hard tail single gear with front shocks shortend bars :) 26" wheels its very light and can be thrown around spesh for jumping but can't do good long rides but can't tell you brands as my cuz built it for me :)

for 300 notes please avoid a full sus it will be awful! try and get something with hydronic discs and lock out on the forks....

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/jamis/...n-bike-ec031810

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/3...n-bike-ec030258

if you could stretch the budget a bit you can't go wrong with a good old hardrock, evans have a 10% on 2012 bikes ATM (don't think it's ended yet) discount code is 2012bikes


http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specia...n-bike-ec030131

Without sounding a proper plank what is a hard tail?

a hard tail only has frot suspention, so the tail/the back is hard.

Thanks for clearing that up and the link

Very happy with my specialized hardback pro for the last few years, used it mostly on road with semi slicks but is still great off road despite tyres.

-MINI CLUBMAN 1380 TURBO-

http://www.evanscycles.com/pages/internati...-and-promotions

discount page for you

Hard tail is good! but full round suspention if your doing jumps and stuff :)

Chicksands and woburn where i go with a few peeps

As above a hardtail is what you need, I wouldn't touch a full suspension bike under a grand, you pay for the rear suspension but fit much poorer components to bring the price down. my full sus. Bike retails about £4000

For £300 I would go secondhand, much better value for money,aim towards giant/trek/gt

Edited by bennyy on 26th Apr, 2012.

Audi s4 b5 - 470bhp & 486ft lbs

On 30th Apr, 2012 Brett said:
yeah stick the bit in and give it a wobble

I use to be a mechanic at a Trek, Gary Fisher, Giant, and Kona Dealer. Im not sure if Fishers are sold over there but that would be my first choice (you would have to look at used they are no longer made). They have a great component line because they were owned by trek so you can also get parts for them. Second choice would be a Trek or Specialized, i dont ride Giant because they use to be a poor quality, especially their carbon bikes which had lots of flex and cracked at times. Kona isnt a bad bike either and im currently building up Kona A myself. Also like said before stick with a hardtail and if you can hydraulic disk brakes, the cable ones just arnt the same.

-1974 Mini 1000 - BRG Turbo Build Soon to come

-04.5 LLY Duramax - RC/LB - White - Built Trans - EFILive - Dropped 4/6

-2013 TDI Passat - SEL - White - Lowered on Coilovers - Daily Driver

-2003 Silverado SS - 408 Stroker - DP NO2 - Full Suspension ~900hp For Sale

For £300 you will not get a good new bike, so secondhand is your best bet.

Keep an eye on this site, they have some bargains:

http://www.goinggoingbike.com/auction/cate...+BIKES/Mountain

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

I find my giant (giant glory 2010) very good, pretty heavy but not a bad thing on downhill imo, very feels very solid. It is not carbon though.

Audi s4 b5 - 470bhp & 486ft lbs

On 30th Apr, 2012 Brett said:
yeah stick the bit in and give it a wobble

Hardtail 100%
You don't need full sus at all unless you're doing downhill. I've spent £700 on a custom identiti 24" jump bike, and it's proper robust. Don't have any brakes on it either, my best piece of advice would be to not skrimp on wheels. Get some good strong/light wheels, decent medium weight frame, decent forks with lockout and then you can always easily upgrade parts as you go along!

-1974 Mini 1000 - BRG Turbo Build Soon to come

-04.5 LLY Duramax - RC/LB - White - Built Trans - EFILive - Dropped 4/6

-2013 TDI Passat - SEL - White - Lowered on Coilovers - Daily Driver

-2003 Silverado SS - 408 Stroker - DP NO2 - Full Suspension ~900hp For Sale

Dont get a street/dirt jumper if you want to do anything more than just that, mine is okay for abit of down hill but i fail at hills and xc riding. My old man has a giant and its fucking lovely can get them second hand for 300 notes easy

Drives
-Ford S-max Mk2 Ecoboost
-Rover 100 VVC #2 - track project

Searching is all you need on TurboMinis

Thanks so much for everyone's help over this, I have found a couple now so hopefully getting back on the track sharpish.
Cheers again

i have a felt q620 its a nice bike however i bought mine when they were not well known in the uk and prices are alot more now

I've just started building my identity 666 :) so ill get a picture up of what I run and my Cuzin runs for you