were to buy good mountain bike?

psychas

psychas

psychas

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Joined
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Ireland
Well loved my bicycle and loved some good extreme riding eventualy the bike was not suited for that kind of riding and it is broken now beyond repair.

i know there is load of bikes for up hill , down hill , free ride and simple cruising bikes.

i would like to have one that does all that, but im not good experct wich one to chose. i see they have disc brakes now and more suspension and maybe they are lighter.

So if you know anything about good moutine bikes and were to buy good one.

Tell us plz and ty for your help ;)
 
The best advise I can give anyone wanting to buy a bicycle is to go to your friendly local bike shop, have a chat and see what they recommend. That way they'll probably measure you up for size so you know what size of bike to go for.
 
greengiant said:
The best advise I can give anyone wanting to buy a bicycle is to go to your friendly local bike shop, have a chat and see what they recommend. That way they'll probably measure you up for size so you know what size of bike to go for.
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I did this on Saturday.

I'm now a happy owner of a Bianchi 4600 :)
 
psychas said:
Well loved my bicycle and loved some good extreme riding eventualy the bike was not suited for that kind of riding and it is broken now beyond repair.

i know there is load of bikes for up hill , down hill , free ride and simple cruising bikes.

i would like to have one that does all that, but im not good experct wich one to chose. i see they have disc brakes now and more suspension and maybe they are lighter.

So if you know anything about good moutine bikes and were to buy good one.

Tell us plz and ty for your help ;)
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What you want is an all-mountain bike. They have fairly long travel suspension but they aren't as heavy as downhill bikes. You can ride them downhill or XC, and they will cope with drops and technical sections quite well. They are not cheap though.

Downhill bikes and freeride bikes are stronger but heavier.

I can only agree that the best thing for you is to visit a decent local bike shop and have a chat with them. Try to get one with hydraulic disc brakes though. The stopping power is amazing compared with caliper or V brakes :)
 
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taliesyn said:
Try to get one with hydraulic disc brakes though. The stopping power is amazing compared with caliper or V brakes :)
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Hmmm. I couldn't justify Discs on my experiences with them.

I tried a Bianchi higher up the range from the one I bought with Disc Brakes and they seemed to offer no more stopping power than my V brakes on the one I bought had.
Also V brakes have always seemed to have a nicer feel to them.

The discs on both my brothers bike and his friend's have a very sudden biting point, whilst the V's on my old bike and my new one are much smoother.

Imagine it is as much down to as how they are setup, but when buying a new bike, I don't want to have to fiddle.
 
J.B said:
Just out of curiosity how much would a good middle of the range mountain bike cost these days?
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Full suspension about £1k+
Hard Tail :£750+

If you're just riding tow paths then clearly you don't need to spend this much.
 
PinkFloyd said:
I tried a Bianchi higher up the range from the one I bought with Disc Brakes and they seemed to offer no more stopping power than my V brakes on the one I bought had.
Also V brakes have always seemed to have a nicer feel to them.
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Good hydraulic disks are a world apart from cheap mechanical disks or even good v-brakes. Modulation is something that needs to be set up but once done you can get as much 'feel' as you would with v-brakes and disks have the advantage of being almost entirely unaffected by bad weather, mud or cable stretch.

J.B said:
Just out of curiosity how much would a good middle of the range mountain bike cost these days?
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How long is a piece of string? As a very rough guide I'd say the £700-800 range offers some very decent bikes for the money with relatively few compromises but you do get what you pay for often in biking. Sorry, should note that I'm talking hardtails here for the budget.
 
I've had a Specialized Hardrock XC bike for about 2 years now, which has served as a good all-rounder.

Its strong enough to go down downhill, light enough to cycle up hills and still efficient to cycle on roads.

Med price range I would say would be about £400-500

Disc brakes can be good, but the amount of hassle needed to work them in, and keep them running in tip-top condition outweighs V-brakes. With good enough v-brake pads, they can brake almost as good as discs.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Good hydraulic disks are a world apart from cheap mechanical disks or even good v-brakes. Modulation is something that needs to be set up but once done you can get as much 'feel' as you would with v-brakes and disks have the advantage of being almost entirely unaffected by bad weather, mud or cable stretch.
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Fair enough. Thanks for clarifying. Didn't really think about the effects of weather.
Doubt it will make a massive difference for me at the moment, but if I start biking a lot more I may look at discs.
 
Ice Globe said:
Disc brakes can be good, but the amount of hassle needed to work them in, and keep them running in tip-top condition outweighs V-brakes. With good enough v-brake pads, they can brake almost as good as discs.
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Hydro disc brakes require very little maintenance.
V-brakes are okay for dry conditions however I wouldn't like to trust them with my life in the wet.


Ice Globe said:
I've had a Specialized Hardrock XC bike for about 2 years now, which has served as a good all-rounder.
Its strong enough to go down downhill, light enough to cycle up hills and still efficient to cycle on roads.
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The Hardrock is a good starter MTB but it's not designed for downhill runs.
 
Bike Radar has plenty of bike reviews and some good advice on there, especially in the forums.

I found leisure lakes pretty friendly for a store, altho I did just buy a new stumpy from them at weekend :D
 
SDK^ said:
Hydro disc brakes require very little maintenance.
V-brakes are okay for dry conditions however I wouldn't like to trust them with my life in the wet.
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I had a pair of XTs v-brakes before and they are not actually bad in the wet, good-ish modulation as well.

Except for the fact that the pads wear out stupidly quickly... i.e. completely gone after 2 rides and eventually ate my rims after a few months.

V-brake is a completely stupid idea for a mountain bike unless you only ride in the dry as the cost of new pads and rims will eventually be more than something like a Deore set of hydraulic discs initially. From the experience I had with Deore hydros, they are pretty much fit and go.
 
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