I'm buying a new bike, but haven't bought one since 1988 when I bought my Specialized Rock Combo...

What should I look for? What are frames made from now? Should I get
disc brakes, do Shimano still rule the roost for groupsets? I've seen
twist grips for gear-changing - is this the best option now?

I'm looking at spending under £400 on a mountain bike.

What should I do with my Specialized rock combo - it needs a bit of
fixing up, but if I do is it worth selling? It has a Suntour groupset
which is now obselete : (

Which child seat shall I buy for my bike - I have a 2 year old? Where
shall I buy a helmet? Where shall I buy a bike (I'm in London) - I'm
worried about buying a stolen bike from ebay, so not that keen...

thanks for the pointers!

What should I look for?
Thorn Raven Catalyst

What are frames made from now?
Steel

Should I get disc brakes
No, unless you stay on prepared roads without stony gullys :-(

do Shimano still rule the roost for groupsets?
Don't want no groupset

I've seen twist grips for gear-changing - is this the best option now?
Yeah, they're handy when your out of the saddle

I'm looking at spending under £400 on a mountain bike.

Which child seat shall I buy for my bike - I have a 2 year old?
Don't. Get a trailer: up to 2 kids up to seven years old, more stable,
more safe, more visible..

Where shall I buy a helmet?
I got a light and comfy Giro Xen from www.chainreactioncycles.com

Where shall I buy a bike (I'm in London)
St John Street Cycles in Bridgwater, Zummerzet

surely a trailer is more dangerous - a car swerves to avaiod you but
takes out the trailer instead....

Thorn Raven Catalyst - seems to be aout £1500, a bit beyond my stated
budget, but thanks for the suggestion.

surely a trailer is more dangerous - a car swerves to avaiod you but
takes out the trailer instead....
No I'm serious about this, I've been pulling one across town and up &
down hills for over four years now. An insurance co. in Germany did
some tests and the trailer comes out better (if the kids as strapped
in): trailers tend to get shunted out the way rather than resisting the
force of the car, and frame acts as a rollcage. Kiddy seats are very
high, child falls a long way, bike falls over more often plus profile
is the same as a regular bike: whereas motorists notice a trailer and
give you a bigger margin.

Thorn Raven Catalyst - seems to be aout £1500, a bit beyond my stated
budget, but thanks for the suggestion.
Think of the money you'll save not having to replace crappy old
derailer and sprockets and stuff.... Worth every penny ;-)

should I buy the rear hub gears and fit to my rock combo frame?

is the hub on its own really £625 (!) , we're talking over £700 for a
back wheel once you factor in the hub!

http://www.kinetics-online.co.uk/html/hub_picker.shtml

It looks amazing though : (

are there any cheaper hub gear options I could look at?

wrote:
are there any cheaper hub gear options I could look at?

I don't know if you have a Decathlon near where you are in the UK but my
local French decathlon has a natty hub geared MTBish bike with a Shimano
7 speed hub. I think the bike is around 350 quid. It looks really good
and if I were in the market for such a bike (or even had the money) it
would be on my list.



----------------------
http://www.abcseo.com/

in message .com,
') wrote:

What should I look for? What are frames made from now?

Carbon composite is good, light, comfortable, and not especially
expensive, but damage in a heavy crash may not be immediately visible so
if you crash one badly you should probably throw it away. If you don't
go for a full carbon frame, a carbon fork and carbon seat stays can
increase the comfort of an aluminium or titanium frame. Both aluminium
and titanium are also perfectly OK, and some reasonable aluminium frames
are now quite cheap. Steel is still available, but only for the very
cheapest bikes ('Hi Ten' or 'High Tensile' - avoid) or hand made frames
by artisan builders (which can be really good but aren't cheap).

Should I get disc brakes,

Not unless you are riding off road in muddy conditions. Extra weight for
no substantial benefit.

do Shimano still rule the roost for groupsets?

Campagnolo are the best, but currently for road bikes only. Most of the
racing MTB teams now seem to use SRAM. But for the average cyclist
Shimano is reasonable value for money.

I've seen
twist grips for gear-changing - is this the best option now?

SRAM derailleur systems use a 1:1 actuation ratio, and SRAM grip shifts
really work with them. Shimano use a 2:1 actuation ratio, and the
consequence is that it's hard to get enough torque with a twist grip to
change gear easily. None of the racing teams that use Shimano use twist
grips; most but not all of the racing teams which use SRAM use twist
grips. I have twist grips on both my mountain bikes, one with a SRAM X.9
rear derailleur, the other with Shimano XT; I like them both but there's
no doubt the SRAM works much better.

I'm looking at spending under £400 on a mountain bike.

Are you actually going to ride it on rough off road tracks? If not, a
road oriented hybrid will suit you much better.

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

There are no messages. The above is just a random stream of
bytes. Any opinion or meaning you find in it is your own creation.

thanks Simon

i plan on the occasional off road w/e trip, but I will mainly be using
it for commuting

is SRAM a brand or a design?

wrote:

What should I do with my Specialized rock combo - it needs
a bit of fixing up, but if I do is it worth selling? It has a Suntour
groupset which is now obselete : (

The Rock Combo wasn't sold in large numbers, and was interesting as one of
the very few attempts to market what was essentially a drop-barred mountain
bike. You might find a buyer via eBay, especially if you seed the auction
title with keywords like Bridgestone and Rivendell. On the other hand, they
were very versatile, practical bikes. What doesn't it do that you hope your
new bike will?

James Thomson