Advice needed

Hi,

It's a while since I did any amount of serious riding but I want to get
a bike again for both my commute and for general fitness. The problem
is I have no idea where to start.

I would like some kind of mountain bike that will work for road miles
every day in a city and also be useful for weekend riding on trails
etc. My budget isn't huge (need to see if I enjoy it before I go balls
out for a kick ass bike), around 250-300 pounds but I'd like
recommendations. Second hand is fine too if people have ideas of what
sort of thing I can get.

If it's not TOO much trouble, some idea of whether it's worth getting
single/dual suspension or disc brakes would be great.

Thanks in advance etc...

"Atz" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

It's a while since I did any amount of serious riding but I want to get
a bike again for both my commute and for general fitness. The problem
is I have no idea where to start.

I would like some kind of mountain bike that will work for road miles
every day in a city and also be useful for weekend riding on trails
etc. My budget isn't huge (need to see if I enjoy it before I go balls
out for a kick ass bike), around 250-300 pounds but I'd like
recommendations. Second hand is fine too if people have ideas of what
sort of thing I can get.

If it's not TOO much trouble, some idea of whether it's worth getting
single/dual suspension or disc brakes would be great.

Thanks in advance etc...


See current thread down/up there... somewhere.. titled 'Online and Offline
Cycle shops' much discussion that is relevant.

Cheers, helen s

"Atz" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

It's a while since I did any amount of serious riding but I want to get
a bike again for both my commute and for general fitness. The problem
is I have no idea where to start.

I would like some kind of mountain bike that will work for road miles
every day in a city and also be useful for weekend riding on trails
etc. My budget isn't huge (need to see if I enjoy it before I go balls
out for a kick ass bike), around 250-300 pounds but I'd like
recommendations. Second hand is fine too if people have ideas of what
sort of thing I can get.

If it's not TOO much trouble, some idea of whether it's worth getting
single/dual suspension or disc brakes would be great.

Thanks in advance etc...


You'll get lots of advice re road bikes v mtbs re ..

But, purely personal experience - I had approx 10 years away from cycling
and got back into
after signing up for a trip across Nepal. I bought a Trek 4300 as we did a
bit of training off road
just for the fun of it (the actual trip across Nepal was on roads) - the
bike was fine, great fun
off road, ok on road (450km over 4 days in Nepal) and perfectly manageable.
You might want to think about guards, lock, lights and pump/tools.

I've since also bought a touring bike (Dawes Super Galaxy) and it's great -
but, it's road bike
(fine for 'roughstuff' tho) and it cost a lot more. If I wasn't so
extravagant I'd have been perfectly
fine with my Trek - still use it off-road and occasionally on-road just for
a change.
Disks are useful off road in my experience. Don't even think about a
full-suspension unless
you want to spend £1200 and upwards.

G.

"Atz" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

It's a while since I did any amount of serious riding but I want to get
a bike again for both my commute and for general fitness. The problem
is I have no idea where to start.

Start from home, go to work.
End of the day, reverse it.


--
Morton

Highly comical.

in message .com, Atz
') wrote:

It's a while since I did any amount of serious riding but I want to get
a bike again for both my commute and for general fitness. The problem
is I have no idea where to start.

I would like some kind of mountain bike that will work for road miles
every day in a city and also be useful for weekend riding on trails
etc. My budget isn't huge (need to see if I enjoy it before I go balls
out for a kick ass bike), around 250-300 pounds but I'd like
recommendations. Second hand is fine too if people have ideas of what
sort of thing I can get.

Second hand is a good idea - you can get a lot more bike for your money.
But mountain bikes are not good on roads. If your trails are relatively
smooth paths you will be better off with a hybrid than a mountain bike.

If it's not TOO much trouble, some idea of whether it's worth getting
single/dual suspension or disc brakes would be great.

Good suspension costs serious money. Good disk brakes cost serious money.
A bike with cheap suspension performs a lot worse than a bike with no
suspension, and a bike with cable operated ('mechanical') disk brakes
stops no better than a bike with Vs. Also, if you're going to use a
suspension bike on the road, make sure the suspension can be locked out.
otherwise it will wallow horribly.

Expect to spend at least £400 on a reasonable bike with front suspension,
at least £600 on a bike with front suspension and disks, and at least a
thousand on a reasonable full suspension bike. Obviously second hand
bikes are cheaper - you will get /reasonable/ second hand bikes in each
category for about half the new price.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; So, before proceeding with definitive screwing, choose the
;; position most congenital.
-- instructions for fitting bicycle handlebars

Simon Brooke wrote:

Good suspension costs serious money. Good disk brakes cost serious money.
A bike with cheap suspension performs a lot worse than a bike with no
suspension, and a bike with cable operated ('mechanical') disk brakes
stops no better than a bike with Vs. Also, if you're going to use a
suspension bike on the road, make sure the suspension can be locked out.
otherwise it will wallow horribly.
Maybe for full sus. Front sus will lead you to develop a better
pedalling style.

Expect to spend at least £400 on a reasonable bike with front suspension,
at least £600 on a bike with front suspension and disks, and at least a

There is a model in the Giant range with hydraulic discs and reasonable
front sus that comes in at 400, about 100 cheaper than any other
manufacturer.

thousand on a reasonable full suspension bike. Obviously second hand
bikes are cheaper - you will get /reasonable/ second hand bikes in each
category for about half the new price.

And buy last years model in October/November in the end of year sales..
You may not get a discount per se but you could get more accessories
thrown in..

Simon's price guide will give you something an engineer would not
become dissatisfied with, ie the start of the 'quality' bikes where you
feel that the power you are putting in actually translates reasonably
directly to motion. Below that price point the inefficiencies of
cheaply produced (larger tolerances/poorer materials) can be clearly
felt (ie less positive handling, components wear quicker)

...d

Thanks for that. Would it be worth springing the extra cash for the
disc brakes given that I'm unlikely to be riding particularly
aggressive offroad? I suppose getting one with mountings for the discs
might be good. So far, browsing and on stuff said here, the GT
Avalanche 2.0/3.0, Trek 4300 and Kona Lana/Hahanna seem to be around
the price I'm looking for, does anyone have any comments on these?

I would like some kind of mountain bike that will work for road miles
every day in a city and also be useful for weekend riding on trails
etc.

You need to think hard about what you mean by 'trails etc'.

If you mean forest roads and similar then it's arguable whether you need
any suspension at all, although it's hard finding decent mountain bikes
without front suspension.

If you mean single tracks with tree roots etc then you would benefit from
front suspension at least but you certainly won't get a decent full
suspension bike for anything like your sort of money.

My understanding is that disc brakes are only really of benefit in muddy
conditions - otherwise they're heavy and expensive.

--
Michael MacClancy

"Atz" wrote in message
oups.com...
Highly comical.


Dependent upon distance from work, it can be a practical solution. Many
posters here are cycling commuters. My son does a 13-mile trip to college &
13-mile trip back most days during the school year, all year. I took a
decisin that when I have only a small amount of shopping-type stuff and
work-type stuff to attend to, I use my bike instead of taking the car. Apart
from the fitness aspect, it amazes me on the noticeable decrease in times I
have to fill the tank with fuel :-)

Cheers, helen s