David wrote:


My current ancient bike was bought for £30 from the freeads to enable me to
chase after the kids and round 'em up when they go in opposite directions on
their bikes/scooters. I found myself (unexpectedly) really enjoying riding.
My bike is actually too big a frame for me. As I have some redundancy money
I can afford to buy a new bike, but obviously can't spend an absolute
fortune.

If the frame is too big I would go for buying another second hand one of the
right size. You'll get more for your money that way than buying new. For
some good advice read Myra's articles on buying a bike -
http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/mtb-advice1.html

Seems to me that the front only suspension bikes are cheaper. Never having
ridden a bike with suspension, what are the pro's and con's of front/rear
suspension both on and off road?

The cons are maintenance (both suspension units and the pivots) and added
weight. For cheap suspension the performance is pretty poor and it needs a
lot of maintenance to keep it going because it doesn't have the quality of
seals on the sliding parts. The performance problems tend to be that it has
lots of stiction (i.e. it doesn't slide smoothly but sticks and then gives
when the load is high enough) and they are underdamped so that they tend to
bounce rather than suspend which makes control on rough ground difficult. The
front fork legs tend to be flexy which makes the steering imprecise on rough
ground. If choosing I would definitely not go for full suspension at that
price point and front suspension only if you have to. You'll get a much
better rigid forked bike for your money than you will a suspension bike.

Tony