Getting in to Biking!?
 

Hey Folks,

I've always been into breaking my sportcheck bikes on DH and trail riding... doing trials in the city, etc... I've also enjoyed riding the skinny tires that i've tried.

This coming school-year I want to avoid parking fees and the use of my gas-guzzling SUV and pick up some sort of bike. I need a bike that is great on city roads (good or bad) but wont complain if I take it on the trail... ride off a drop, or find some nasty potholes.

Seems Devinci and Rocky Mountain bikes are good all around brands... I was in "Redbike" in town looking at some bikes a couple days ago. I think my price range is under $1000 (broke student being 'funded' by parents, lol) and that seems to restrict me to hard-tail (which I dont mind, i've ridden some nice ones). I was concerned about losing energy with a soft-tail but I guess good bikes can be adjusted so that does not affect it?

Depending on how this experience goes, I may branch into city or trail/DH bike more... this is my starting point to get away from the crappy sport-check bikes!

Anyways if anyone has any input or suggestions I really appreciate them! And if I should be going to a better store im all ears! The guy there was super nice though and very honest, and their service and 1 year free adjustments sounds good.

Thanks!

Chris

Are you handy at all? You may want to consider a gently used bike because you can save a lot.

The all-mountain bike category is getting better for versatility, I ride an AM bike as both an XC or light DH but not for heavy DH. The problem is for a full suspension ride it will be above your price point. If you're OK with a hard tail then there are plenty of good rides in that category. I like RockyMountains (I still ride my old 1993 Fusion as my commuter bike, I've logged several thousand km's on it and it still holds together) but they are expensive.

You should look into a Trek .. man I love my Trek. Nimble, light, and fast and plush enough to taste a little air.

My general recommendation though is that you should pick a bike based on what you're going to do with it. A one-size-fits-all is hard to do well. Jack of all trades = master of none. (This is why I have 4 bikes :neutral: People always say "Geez man, how many bikes do you need?" and the answer is "ONE MORE, geez, duh!!!"). My DH bike for example is a Devinci 8flat8, 8" of travel. She does one thing well and that is descend: and she does it REAL well but at the cost of being hopeless for anything but. (I once pushed her down Moosepackers over here which is a downhill run in that you start at the top of a mountain and end at the bottom, but is really a XC trail in that there's a lot of valleys and climbs and plateaus and I can tell you I was ready to barf after an hour of it). That's what pushed me over the edge and I ended up with the Trek - my RM is a paved trail or pathway bike, my Devinci is for places with lift access or truck shuttles, and my Trek is for everything in between. Despite each being a "mountain" bike, the geometries for the 3 are different enough that it's uncomfortable riding any of them outside of their primary purposes.

For that reason you should sort of examine what you think you'll be doing the most, and focus on that kind of riding, and then rent if necessary when venturing outside that category (for example rent the DH bikes when you try DH). If you do the other stuff enough then look at buying a bike for that purpose (and trade up your other if need be, or keep it, or whatever works). A good commuter bike for example (no suspension) with skinnier tires will run circles around any mountain bike inside of the city. So there's something to be said about figuring out what your primary goal is and working out from there. Hard to gauge though, it took me a few different bikes before I found the sweet spot and it sucked selling off a few that weren't working quite right for me, but I guess that's like with anything. Try it out and evaluate and trade up if it's not quite there for you.

Check out pinkbike.com for a pretty large marketplace of used bikes.

Agreed! Pinkbike.com is the place for all mountain biking. Here is a pic of my trusty steed! Isnt she pretty.[IMG]http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/w...5/SSPX0050.jpg[/IMG]

If you would like to try the downhill discipline you are close enough to rabbit hill. Decent trails for the middle of the prairies and you can rent full suspension bike there as well. As for using my bike as a commuter. I would be very cautious how much i spend. Bike thievery is common place when the cost of the bike goes up. And as you siad the sprtcheck bike might not be a bad choice if you were to leave it out in the open all day for people to see. Not to sound like a party pooper. Outside of that I pretty much agrre with all tony has to say. I have my fully for the DH stuff and a hardtail for the cruising around stuff, and am looking at another.

Sorry for the ramble

Awesome advice! Thanks for the info from everyone.

I guess I should put myself more into the category of XC than DH (in terms of my current interests). More likely to do DH on my unicycle than a bike haha. That is FUN stuff!

Well I went in again today and looked at some bikes... I guess it sounds like a really just need to try riding some stuff to see what I like best?

Also - two bikes that interest me in particular are a Devinci and a RockyMountain... the bikes have the same forks and similar components (same brands) but the Devinci has the newer or upgraded versions of the same components and lockout on the fork... The prices are the same. I assume if rideability was not a factor (or they both felt great), that I should choose the Devinci because of the better components for the same price?

Anyways I'll have to keep looking and try out some bikes. Thanks!

Chris

I'm with Tony on everything he said, although I don't have as many bikes as he does. :mrgreen:

For XC duty I ride a Gary Fisher and for everything else I ride a Rocky Mountain Slayer, more of an All Mountian bike but it takes everything I have ever dished at it including a step down that I WAY overshot the transition on! I can ride the RM for XC duty but I have to change tires, it's amazing how much of a difference a tire change can make.

And since we are posting pictures.. lol
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...93957_5134.jpg

What GF you riding Robb?

Lovless, do you ride at Rabbit Hill often? Last year I didn't make it too much but the year before I was there at least a few times a week.

Nothing fancy, a GF Advance. It was the first bike I bought when I got into biking and I kept it around.

Im running a GF Marlin hardtail with discs that has done me fine for the last number of years as well.
Haven't taken it DH though... :wink:

If it doesn't have an engine, I don't have it!

Another place to visit is nsmb.com. Obviously more slanted to those of us on the West coast here, but still has some great stuff.

This reminds me that I need to get out for a ride. Kind of spoiled here. I look from living room window to some of the best trails mother nature (and trailbuilders) have given us. An hour and a half and I've got one great lap of the mountain in. Just to get spat out a quick two minute ride back to the house.

The last bike I owned was in grade 8 I think. Was < $100 from K-mart. I recall nerding it up in the computer room at school one day and heard from someone that my bike had been taken from the racks. I guess they were riding it INTO the school wall but the tire was so bent when I rode it the wheel rubbed the brakes a few times with each revolution.

I know this helps you out Chris otherwise I'd never intrude on your post. Just not my style =)

I used to do some serious XC stuff back in the UK. 2 x 20mile XC training rides during the week followed by a 40mile three hills treck on a Sunday, looking back now (15 years) I have now clue how I managed it.

The early to mid 90's suspension was just coming into play, my first bike was a Kona Lava dome, soon tricked out with all the latest CNC stuff and a neat pair of magnesium mazzokies (check spelling) on the front. Then came the hand granades (clip in SPD peddles from Shimano). Not a good move to go out in these for a first trip clipped in and cant get your feet out when you stop at a set of lights!!

So before I knew it I had ordered a custom frame from the USA from Chris Chance, the guy that built the USA mountain bikes for the olympics, the trade name was "fat Chance" :lol: The came the custom wheels from Jeremy Duke, again, he made the wheels for the UK olympic team.

Taking into account this was mid 90's I think i racked up a bill on this bike close to $5k!!!!!!! :redface: and managed about 3 hospital trips on it resulting in concussion twice.

Late 90's I gave up and found Carp fishing!!

Now in Canada I am back in the seat and have a 2009 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR! I just dont have the fitness I had all those years back, but hell this thing is like hacking a sofa on steriods down a hill!!

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...irect/bike.jpg

Well thanks for all the help everyone! I wish I could go for something with full-suspension but that moves in to the $1600 range... Gah...

And I would def go new because of the warrenty and adjustments and assurance that the bike is in good condition. Im handy enough but Im not the bike pimp so I dont know everything about every little detail, lol.

Ya I bought a seasons so im busy trying to make it worth my while. At present half the trails arent open because of the rain but its getting there.

For you budget and type of riding, I would consider a full suspension with rear lockouts. This way when you are using the bike for commuting you can lock out the rear suspension, and don't lose too much energy from bobbing up and down.

Just a few suggestions when locking up your bike, do not use the same spot more than a few times. If people see it in the same spot the same few hours, it makes it a target.

Take it into a building as much as you can, if a store doesn't let you, then don't go in. It takes seconds for someone with bolt cutters to get your bike, even thos "U-locks" are easily to break into.

My suggestions for a bike, are my personal preferences;
-Trek Fuel EX
-RMB Element, or Vertex (Hardtail)

This time of year, I would not recomment to buy from a store, the prices are at a premium. Buying used is another storey, avid riders are upgrading right now, and selling off last years cheap.

Ebay is a good choice too.

http://cgi.ebay.com/TREK-Fuel-70-Ful...item2eadbb26e4

for example

Unfortunately I have a 16.5" Fuel 80 that has gotten maybe in 100KM in the last 3 years.

Ken

I know the feeling, I remember when after every ride it cost $$$ to make repairs.

Ken

Brett... thanks for the wonderful contribution :P Haha.

Thanks for the continuing advice everyone!

In terms of used bikes... I guess im looking for something like this?

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/655443/

or this:

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/639596/
http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/655884/


I guess my question is... if going used... do I pick something that looks like its not about to fall apart and rides well/clearly is not broken? Do i buy something on the cheaper side and upgrade/replace some of the parts? Are the brand like 'big hit' generally OK? And Norco I figure is reasonable? Norco makes great trials and mountain unicycles and I think their bikes are ok?

Not too worried about theft, the bike would always be in my car, in a garage (in city or at acreage) and the UofA campus I go to is in camrose... camrose has very low theft, particularly on that campus.

Thanks for the continuing info!

Cheers,

Chris

Big hits are generally good. They are made by Specialized.

Generally you can tell the condition a bike is in just by seeing it. If its all scratched up and smashed you know its had a hard life. Imo if the major components like suspension, wheels, frame is in good working order the other stuff is fairly inexpensive comparatively.

Alot of people get bikes with good intentions of using them, but end up collecting dust instead.

Not a lot of info on the Ollie and he's used a stock picture by the looks of it. It's a toned down model from earlier years, at one point it was Devinci's second-in-command after their flagship Wilson for DH bikes and a lot of coin to get into an Ollie. Personally I don't think I'd give it much thought unless you find out he's real close to you and you can check it out in person.

Both the Norco and the Devinci you linked to there are larger travel suspensions (6" or up). They are not going to be fun to push on a commute for very long, unless your commute has a decent DH section (but the flip side is the other direction you're walking it uphill). If you're looking for more of a daily driver that can handle the occasional trail or trick then you should look for bikes in say the 4" of travel instead, for the sake of weight for the most part. Even less if you don't need it since it all adds up to weight. The newer bikes, like from say maybe 2008 onwards you get 5" travel bikes that weigh as much as a 3" travel bike from 2005-2007 but then you're looking at newer and thus probably fewer good deals to be found. You can probably start with a hard tail for now since it will be lighter, and cheaper, for the most part the softtails are really for taking drops (with maybe some exceptions but that's sort of the reason for the rear suspension as far as I'm concerned. :p ) Also take into account that bikes that aren't rigid will suffer from pedal bob if you can't lock out the suspensions, no pedal bob for the most part with a hard tail.

The best suggestion I have is that you need to try riding a few and see what you like best. Head into a few LBS and try out new models to get an idea for what grabs you but then look for those models used. If you restrict your search to say 2-3 years old the bike shouldn't have had much chance to be trashed. Bike maintenance isn't too bad, you can pick up a guide book from say MEC or similar for $20ish and it will list all sorts of things you can DIY including the crazier low level stuff. That said, I don't do that much except for the simpler stuff myself, I have a pretty good relationship with my LBS (the owner is a friend of mine), they know my bikes well so I usually get them to work them over if it's anything I don't really have the time to tackle myself.

Check out Bow Cycle this weekend they are haveing a huge sale with some great deals.

I think those bikes may be a little more then you need at this point. I'd look at a decently spec'ed hardtail. They can take quite a bit of abuse, and will still be light enough to commute around on day to day.

I think something like this would be a good fit:
Kona
http://www.konaworld.com/bike.cfm?content=blast

Specialized
http://www.specialized.com/ca/en/bc/...nuItemId=12241

Giant
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/...te/5398/41496/

Trek
http://www.trekbikes.com/ca/en/bikes...4_series/4500/

Or for the same money, you could pick up something a little better spec'ed used as other have mentioned

If you find your progressing out of one of these bikes in a couple of years keep it in your stable for daily commuting duty and pick up something a little more robust for the more challenging stuff.

loveless: Terrific! Thats exactly what I wanted to know! Thanks.

Tony: Thanks a lot for the info on the suspension etc...! I guess to find those things out its kind of about looking at the bike and finding out the model specs somewhere? (Since most people dont list them?) Or should the front and rear travel usually be the same? (im guessing that would make sense?) So you can eyeball it from the fork? And sweet, I have a MEC membership so when (or before) I get a book i'll have to pick that up!

Sitandwatch: Thanks! I'll try to take a look down there when im in calgary in a couple weeks (though the sale may be off?)

Parker: Cool, thanks! Im thinking maybe just a new hardtail might be easier for me to figure out and get started on since im just jumping in. The cost of a good new hardtail seems to be in the range of some of those used bikes that aren't in my riding area (yet..) so makes sense.

Thanks again everyone for the awesome info!

Cheers,

Chris

Yeah, looking up specs can become something of a hobby in itself. :lol:

Do keep us posted on what you end up with. :) I definitely see enough people in this thread that we maybe need to organize a bunch of Canreefer bike rides in our respective areas :lol: .. If you're ever really stuck with a bunch of free time on your hands, look into downloaded or watching "Drop In." Show is a few years old now but it's great for some byte-sized bike entertainment. One of the things they'd keep on saying to regular folks though is "just get out there and ride."

Now if it could just stop raining around here ....... :neutral:

Haha. Yeah looking at some of the spec sheets on some of these bikes... It takes me awhile to decipher what some things even mean! Lol.

I sure will! And that most definitely would be a sweet idea! Heck I'd drive around for a good ride I think. Haha. (man I'd love a good ride on a bike... On my UNICYCLE I've done some XC and DH rides with bike groups (on real bikes)... and MAN it was fun! But hard to keep up cause on flat ground i just CANNOT crank fast enough. LOL).

I'll keep an eye out for ya, I ride the Grey RM Slayer above with a red & white Giro Remedy.

Haha.

Wow haha, that was one hell of a video!

Im sure he went through a few tires/rims... but I definitely believe all that is possible! Its easy stuff for a trials rider and yet a lighter bike = easier to work with.

Maybe thats what I need for a bike :P ahah.

Well, im contemplating going to check this thing out! Its a 4hr drive but... it looks like its in really good shape. A friend of mine, she and her husband both have insane DH Bikes... she was helping me with some choices... she thinks with the kind of riding im going to do (since I think I will hit more trail/drops than typical riding), that I should attempt to find a soft-tail.

Anyways, heres the bike... thoughts? Its a 'XC Marathon' bike I guess? Has a few upgrades It appears (compared to the Rocky Mountain Site). It might be a bit small for me though from what I understand? I think the price sounds pretty good. Worth a look I guess?

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/661192/

Thanks!

Chris

The Rocky ETSX bikes are pretty sweet. That's basically a very sweet ride at a sweet deal. I'd be all over that one.

18" is what I ride. How tall are you? What's your inseam? It might be OK. Smaller bikes are easier to throw around. But it's a comfort thing. My DH bike is a Devinci 8flat8 in a small size, and it's still actually pretty hard to get on from the downhill side it's so dang tall.

You'll have to take it for a ride to really know for sure. Maybe find a RM dealer and take one of these out for a test ride before you make the 4 hour drive...

i ride a rocky mtn soul for most stuff but i use my balfa bb7 for big drops ect.rocky mtn are great bikes ive had very few problems with mine.

Tony that first sentence was pretty much the info I was looking for haha. Thanks.

And yeah I definitely plan on trying some out - I might go in on monday or wednesday to try some bikes at the store.

Tony I think im slightly taller than you? Im just over 5'11... but... I wear a 32" leg or so? Not sure... got long limbs haha. We will see.


Thanks for the tips guys. I pretty much just need to shut-up and ride some bikes now, haha.

Cheers,

Chris

Hmmm, could be on the small side then. I'm 5'9 and all torso, teeny tiny legs, so if 18" fits me it might not fit you. Hard to say though, it's all about what feels more comfortable to you. Try out the LBS's first just to get an idea of a frame size. You never know until you ride it!

Oh man, I took that bike for a ride today (the guy was in town)... Hoooo boy does it ride nicely! I really enjoyed it, and everything worked. The rear suspension didnt have full lock-out (at least we couldn't figure out how to set it), but I could stiffen it a whole ton or make it mooshy, and I can adjust travel from 4" to 5.5" as well. Gears all worked nicely... front brake maybe needs cable tightened... it really hasn't been ridden too much. The gears shift a weird way (buttons for one direction, and clicking break levers for the other), but it was still good, very smooth, all 24 gears or whatever worked. Rode it around a costco parking lot for around 15 mins doing different stuff... rode up/down curbs, hopped it, cat-walked a bit, endo, rode over a nice rock pile (4" rocks)... went really well.

He is willing to move on price down to 900 or 850 MAYBE(from 950)... so Im going to see what the parents say.

I should probably take some other bikes for a ride before deciding, but I had to say I had a great time on this bike.

Thanks,

Chris

Oh the bike fit perfectly too! Except that i would need a new mount for the handlebars that sits closer in/higher up (about an inch or two). Inconsequential I think.

What did you end up with Chris??!?

Gah... I was going to get that bike... but he sold it before I got a chance to call it a done deal. Going to be taking some bikes at some shops for a ride tomorrow (for sure this time). Should be getting one fairly soon I hope! And I will certainly update when I do! Would really like to get something full suspension.

Woop woop! Got me a bike!

http://www.devinci.com/bikes/browse#3_18_44

Its on order though. Not a single store had any of the bikes I wanted in my size, lol. I would have like to get the Desperado 1, slightly better components (same frame as all the chameleon series, and desperado series), but no-one had it in my size and the frame couldnt even be ordered in that size anymore :(

I tried riding the chameleon 2, the dynamics of it (the way it moved over bumps/curbs/in the air) were nicer than the rocky mountains I had tried in a similar class. I prefered the hydraulic brakes on the chameleon 4 than the rocky. I'll have to get a different handlebar stem so that I can sit better, and a different seat. I may/may not extend the cranks as well. Came out to $1206 after tax... I told my parents I would cover the increase above 1K and so they agreed :)

Bike should be here in a week... wont get to ride it though for about 2. :(

Thanks for all the help everyone! For all the tips, info, and wisdom!

Cheers,

Chris

Sweet lookin' black stallion bro. Bet you can't wait to fiddle faddle with that badboy.