New Hobby - Hate running - Downhill Biking ?

[Mike_420]

Well im in the process of getting 'fit' and i can't run for shit, though i do like biking,

during the summer i done alot of long rides but on a bmx! so it wasn't so comfy,


now i have my car back on the road i know of a woodland just five minutes away we used to take the motorbikes and build jumps etc... their are also downhill runs there...



i know nothing about mountain bikes, price would be £200 ish and id be looking for some sort of bike rack, maybe one that goes on the boot, i have a corsa,


also ive got fox helmet and gloves, what else should i get ?


as its a hobby i plan to build up so im not gonna be buying right away, the essentials will do first :)

[Dave_P]

Some awesome downhill runs at Annoch Mor near Fort William.

[Jay_]

£200 quid bike won't last long tbh. Bike sub £500 with suspension is usually pretty rubbish components.

[Mike_420]

i was hoping £200 would get me a decent one for starters ?

i might be converting some of my bosses land so might move on to scramblers soon so i dont see the need for a £500+ bike yet.

surely their are decent ones for £200 ?

[MrHouston]

Only second hand

[dolby20]

Sub standard DH suspension is £200!
You'd be lucky to get a good spec DH bike for £200
Just sold a Commencal Meta for £1600 and that was 2 years old with out of date parts
Try mountain biking to start with
So maybe a decent second hand hard tail
You're close to fort bill where they host the World Cup so there are gonna be plenty of runs with varying difficulty nearby!

[Mike_420]

id rather save for a scrambler in that case, just a small 250 yamaha or the like

[dolby20]

Hairy muff fair enough!
Yeah DH is one of the more expensive 'biking' categories to get into - akin to road riding!
Strong frame, good sus, good brakes

[Mike_420]

Sub standard DH suspension is £200!
You'd be lucky to get a good spec DH bike for £200
Just sold a Commencal Meta for £1600 and that was 2 years old with out of date parts
Try mountain biking to start with
So maybe a decent second hand hard tail
You're close to fort bill where they host the World Cup so there are gonna be plenty of runs with varying difficulty nearby!


ok i may have used the word downhill biking a bit loosely,

im not planning on the hills ive seen on tv etc but something that will allow me to do a little downhill biking with some jumps etc

[dolby20]

Ahhh
Maybe I'm punching things above your weight
Well a hardtail would be awkward on jumps, not impossible
A full suspension bike starts cheap - but pay for what you get!
You'd be a lot better in the second hand market though

[holdawayt]

I used to jump hardtail bikes, Still never spent less than 600 for one though.

[dolby20]

I used to jump hardtail bikes, Still never spent less than 600 for one though.

How'd you find it?
I tried it a couple of times with a Trek 4300 (not ideal) then went for a Lapierre Spicy 216 full sus and never went back! and i concur with that price!!

[Mike_420]

it was a cheap hobby i thought i could take up since we have numerous bike tracks trails and woodland for jumps.


id love to buy another scrambler and take it out places but its pretty impossible unless you get permission so i thought the next best thing would be a bike,


a decent full suspension would do me i think. ive had one before an that was £300 odd and was fine.


i want it to be a ligh as possible so i can do some jumps/tricks and take a bit of a pounding too,


what are the specialised bikes like ? just a brand name or a decent make ?

[dolby20]

a decent full suspension would do me i think. ive had one before an that was £300 odd and was fine.


i want it to be a lighas possible so i can do some jumps/tricks

Two contradictory statements :P
Light as possible for £300 isn't going to be very light in reality! :(

[Stefan_Wood]

I had one of these
http://img.class.posot.co.uk/en_gb/2012/07/19/Carrera-Kraken-bike-FOR-SALE-20120719140857.jpg

Carrera Kraken, never did much with it but was a pritty decent bike

[Mike_420]

im not gonna be jumping 10ft hills lol, just the odd 4ft max prob,


would one of the specialised bikes do the job ? some downhill biking with a few jumps ?

i dont wanna waste my money and then snap the frame or the like..

[dolby20]

I had one of these
http://img.class.posot.co.uk/en_gb/2012/07/19/Carrera-Kraken-bike-FOR-SALE-20120719140857.jpg

Carrera Kraken, never did much with it but was a pritty decent bike

Hardtail :/
New one about £350/400 from Halfords
Seems decent spec - hydraulic brakes as a start! :)
Will struggle to get a new Carerra FS bike for less than £700 though
2nd hand market will be your best bet :)

[Mike_420]

I had one of these
http://img.class.posot.co.uk/en_gb/2012/07/19/Carrera-Kraken-bike-FOR-SALE-20120719140857.jpg

Carrera Kraken, never did much with it but was a pritty decent bike


I think halfords sell a bunch of this brand, id be looking for full suspension tho.

[dolby20]

im not gonna be jumping 10ft hills lol, just the odd 4ft max prob,


would one of the specialised bikes do the job ? some downhill biking with a few jumps ?

i dont wanna waste my money and then snap the frame or the like..

that's the problem
cheap means nasty in biking :P

[knight-22]

You should just buy a bike for £300, you might not even enjoy it?(Downhill biking). Then maybe after a while if your still into it, sell it and upgrade to something a bit more expensive?

[Mike_420]

i think the term downhill biking was a bit misleading, i wont be getting into it serious atm,

and its not like proper downhill more bike trails and jumps, with the odd downhill

i know cheap usually means rubbish, but for a first bike i thought id be able to get one around £200, nothing fancy,

i thought something like one of the specialised bikes would do the job?

[Mike_420]

You should just buy a bike for £300, you might not even enjoy it?(Downhill biking). Then maybe after a while if your still into it, sell it and upgrade to something a bit more expensive?

i love to bmx during summer, and me and my mates used to take the motorbikes to the same woods so i hope i get into it as their isnt much going on in this town to do that doesn't involve spending money.

it was years ago we took the scramblers there and now they have alot of dog walkers on the main paths etc i doubt id get permission to use any of the land thus why i thought about a suspension bike

[cyne]

You want to do 4ft jumps on a £200 mountain bike? :wacko: A £200 bike wouldn't last a week on a trail and it will also be awful to ride. I wouldn't even consider jumping a sub £200 BMX never mind a mtb.

Your best bet would be to get a hardtail and just do some cross country routes (don't know if you will be able to get one for sub £200). Cross country is actually a lot of fun, especially the technical areas. I usually just ride up a mountain (well walk haha) then have like a 10-20 minute fast paced ride back down it.

[holdawayt]

How'd you find it?
I tried it a couple of times with a Trek 4300 (not ideal) then went for a Lapierre Spicy 216 full sus and never went back! and i concur with that price!!

I really prefer it, you'll be travelling up hill more than you'll be going down. I always used to find that full sus bikes would zap the power from your pedal going uphill even with the lockout on.

Land smoothly and on target and you'll hardly notice the difference, land like a noob and you'll feel the pain haha.

I'm using a Boardman now. Lovely all rounded and not too pricey.

[Mike_420]

haha, i know nothing about bikes, only that i used to do some jumps on my scrambler a few years back and wanted to get back into it but knowing id never get a motorbike in there i thought of buying a cheap bike.

id like one that could handle a 4ft jump but that seems outta the question atm, im not landing on solid concrete, its woodland.


what about general MTB ? will a specialized bike do ? or are their better ?

[dolby20]

I really prefer it, you'll be travelling up hill more than you'll be going down. I always used to find that full sus bikes would zap the power from your pedal going uphill even with the lockout on.

Land smoothly and on target and you'll hardly notice the difference, land like a noob and you'll feel the pain haha.

I'm using a Boardman now. Lovely all rounded and not too pricey.

Indeed, I know what you're saying about power zap - turns your forward momentum into 'up and down' momentum!

Tend to use a Trek Session 8.8 if it's a bit of a lairy ride, but cope with the Lapierre on normal up and down rides

[Viper]

I would only spend £200 on a crappy town for leaving in town. Im looking for a mountain bike at the moment for occasional MTB use and imm looking around £1,200 for something that is worth buying. Under that then it won't last.

[Jay_]

90% of my bikes have been built from amenity site finds. My granddad is the boss at sorting them out :y: Had some lovely bikes, he currently owns 3 Trek with really nice specs that owe him the price of 1 set of XC forks.

[barwell1992]

i agree £200 i way to cheep my hard tail all mountain bike has cost me well over £1k

you can get an decent bike for £500 second hand

my brakes were £300 for the pair let alone the rest

ps iv done 6ft drops on my hard tail, only necessity was the 48 spoke rear wheel to take the load
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo16/barwell1992/mtb.jpg