Man of Honour
- Joined
- 14 Aug 2005
- Posts
- 5,284
- Location
- York
They have a new fleet of Vala's at Dalby so well worth a hire, I hired one recently.
Mountain Biking
- Thread starter Zefan
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Jun 2004
- Posts
- 5,166
- Location
- Blackburn
That's perfectly fine to try it out. My post was aimed at Quad Channel who is suggesting people just hire bikes rather than own.
Associate
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2026
- Posts
- 21
- Location
- West Cheshire
I think I should clarify my position I am not against bike ownership
I do still own a number of bikes and my shed and loft has the frames and parts of a number of abandoned builds because I haven't got any room left at my place to store the full bikes after finishing the last 3 projects.
If you do a lot of Mountain Biking and can get to a place to bike regularly then yes ownership makes perfect sense more so if you can service everything that most would need an LBS to sort out, more so if you can do the advance jobs on wheels which will almost certainly be an LBS job for most home bike fixers and if you can service the suspension yourself you are in the god tier because the vast majority of LBS won't service suspension, they send your forks and rear shocks off to a suspension service specialist.
If you are the type of person that buys a mega expensive MTB and
only uses it a few times a year and can't service it yourself and has to transport it on the roof of your car or back of your camper van etc
and then put up with it your way in the kitchen, shed or garage for
350+ days of the year that you don't use it then maybe you would save hassle and money by hiring a good MTB when you need it.
People buying bikes and doing naff all with them was probably far less of a thing before Halfords existed and it no doubt it puts a lot of money into the economy but if its not going to be worthwhile for you then maybe you would be better off spending your hard earned money
on Ram and a GPU
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Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Jun 2004
- Posts
- 5,166
- Location
- Blackburn
I'd say the people who do what you said are the more money than sense type and don't really care if they've wasted the money or not. Certainly not the type of person who would be posting on an obscure MTB thread on a pc website.I think I should clarify my position I am not against bike ownership
I do still own a number of bikes and my shed and loft has the frames and parts of a number of abandoned builds because I haven't got any room left at my place to store the full bikes after finishing the last 3 projects.
If you do a lot of Mountain Biking and can get to a place to bike regularly then yes ownership makes perfect sense more so if you can service everything that most would need an LBS to sort out, more so if you can do the advance jobs on wheels which will almost certainly be an LBS job for most home bike fixers and if you can service the suspension yourself you are in the god tier because the vast majority of LBS won't service suspension, they send your forks and rear shocks off to a suspension service specialist.
If you are the type of person that buys a mega expensive MTB and
only uses it a few times a year and can't service it yourself and has to transport it on the roof of your car or back of your camper van etc
and then put up with it your way in the kitchen, shed or garage for
350+ days of the year that you don't use it then maybe you would save hassle and money by hiring a good MTB when you need it.
People buying bikes and doing naff all with them was probably far less of a thing before Halfords existed and it no doubt it puts a lot of money into the economy but if its not going to be worth while for you then maybe you would be better off spending your hard earned money
on Ram and a GPU
New bike is hopefully arriving this week. Cost nearly £6k, only ridden once in the last 18 months.
Associate
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2026
- Posts
- 21
- Location
- West Cheshire
HA ha Spud fair play thats quality
I stopped looking at Ebay and Gumtree because the itch to do-up still nags me even though theres nowhere left to store anymore bikes
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Jun 2004
- Posts
- 5,166
- Location
- Blackburn
Not got the bike yet but already upgraded the wheels....HA ha Spud fair play thats quality
And I have an excuse for not riding, just wanted to see if spending so much and riding so little would trigger you
.Broke my collar bone in Summer 2024, NHS took forever to fix me, 3 months before they decided I needed an operation. Then 8 months waiting for op with my collar bone not attached so no strength at all in my shoulder. Finally got the op, recovered and regained strength or figured I deserved a new bike
Not sure how to attach images anymore, all sites I tried wouldn't work so check out the Pinkbike link below to see my new hardware.
Dont think id be using a £15 bike for my type of ridingSchwalbe 'SmartGuard' top Level protection. I've never had puncture with Schwalbe's but for folks that do not ride often Hire your MTB's deffo the posh E-Bikes.
Felix Dennis said in his book 'How to get Rich by Felix Dennis'
"If it Flys, Funk's or Floats Hire it" (I changed the the 2nd one to funks because its a family friendly forum) he only kept his Rolls Royce because he used it a lot and one of his friends who loved Rollers
happily fixed it for free )
He did settle down with a Girlfriend in his later years
My run around bike was £15 off Gumtree, fix issues were easy and I shoved a set of Schwalbe Marathon Supreme on and they are still going strong.
After my last good MTB got wrote off I decided If I do any off-road biking I will just hire a E-MTB.
Thats a nice Bike, I really like that they went back to the classic Logo it looks soo much better. As a rule of thumb what ever the bike cost spend around 10% of the value of the bike on a good Lock and insist he always locks it outside shops, the kids where I live just dump there nice bikes outside the shop doors without a care in the world.
I never got over having my 1st bike stolen.
That's the way to do it, unless you live close to a trail and ride a lot
its not worth buying an expensive E-MTB that you will only use a few times, just hire one when you need one.
Dyfi has a downlift too!
got fed up of eating these maxxis tyres. Ive done 3 rears (DH casing) since October. Bought a pair of Kryptotals will see how they fair at revs next week
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Associate
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2026
- Posts
- 21
- Location
- West Cheshire
Crikey that metal thing looks menacing on the Xray Spud
you deserve what ever brings you joy fill your boots bud
I was out of action for years with one of my legs the worst part
was the pin removal, did not go well.
When all I had was basic kit I craved the good stuff, when I got
the full XTR,XO,Race Face and HOPE gear I loved it and still do
but I often worry about breaking it, so it rarely sees daylight
anymore, tbh my XTR wheels are nowhere near as durable as my
hope builds but they sure look good.
Na Craig your right but you'd be ok with my Giant Team though but the 30 year old Carrera (£15) would beat it on tarmac.
Dyfi bike rental brings up OnePlanet adventures
As well as rentals theres try before you buy
I'd try this one if they'd lend it to me
you deserve what ever brings you joy fill your boots bud
I was out of action for years with one of my legs the worst part
was the pin removal, did not go well.
When all I had was basic kit I craved the good stuff, when I got
the full XTR,XO,Race Face and HOPE gear I loved it and still do
but I often worry about breaking it, so it rarely sees daylight
anymore, tbh my XTR wheels are nowhere near as durable as my
hope builds but they sure look good.
Na Craig your right but you'd be ok with my Giant Team though but the 30 year old Carrera (£15) would beat it on tarmac.
Dyfi bike rental brings up OnePlanet adventures
As well as rentals theres try before you buy
I'd try this one if they'd lend it to me
Only place i have ever done a DH level tyre in was at Dyfi, a Schwalbe Big Betty SuperDH. Managed to plug it half way down SuperSwooper though, ill always carry plugs and C02 there now.Dont think id be using a £15 bike for my type of riding
Dyfi has a downlift too!
got fed up of eating these maxxis tyres. Ive done 3 rears (DH casing) since October. Bought a pair of Kryptotals will see how they fair at revs next week
this was at the bottom of flowstate, had to walk all the way down then all the way back up to the uplift road to hitch a lift.
no plugging this huge slash. Been very unlucky there
I'll be there again for the owners day. I just sessioned Lovey Dyfi and Super Swooper. Need to try another trail this year.
Yeah, i wonder if they have a facility to charge e bikes there but i doubt it, i might take my own bike the 2nd time and just do the 12 miles on eco mode unless its really steep hills getting there