MTBing a guide to....

There has been a lot of useful info posted in here in the past, that has tended to get lost in the mists of time, by some very knowledgeble folk. I think its about time we had a sticky that can be a quick ref. guide that can be accessed by all. Similar to what is available in beginners and commuting. Although there is bound to be disagreement on the finer points, Im sure we can all rise above our differences and provide help to those starting out.

From bikes to components and riding techniques etc. etc.

What do you all think ?

My thoughts are to keep it in some sort of order if we can, but this can be edited to fit posts into the right part of the thread Im assured ( naming no names )

So are we up for it ? Thoughts ?

I'd quite like to see a thread where a prospective purchaser of a MTB could see where to start. There are any number of "I want a MTB to ride on the canal towpath threads" No one is allowed to point out where heavyweight clunker gives way to rideable entry-level bike, so everyone ends up recommending some £300 "bargain" which in reality will be utterly disappointing for anyone wanting to branch out beyond a bit of parkside hardpack.

So. Let's begin by saying that if you're considering riding more than the occasional towpath, you need to find a bike that weighs less than 14kg, and has forks with damping adjustment. To do this you will need a budget of £500 or more. Or be prepared to shop at Decathlon or Halfords, (but not their £200 wonders). There I've said it, let teh haranguing commence.

Didn't we all start out riding more than the occasional towpath on rigid forks?

No, I once rode a rigid MTB on the Colne Valley Challenge route, and realized on one descent a) I couldn't focus 'cos my eyeballs were jiggling b) my wrists and arms were about to explode and c) my piles were worse than I thought. I vowed never to be uncomfortable again.


We could start a "MTB for Purists" thread which involves rigid forks, singlespeed and thrashing yourself with nettles if it didn't feel hard enough the first time round, or we can be honest and recommend kit that will do more than a green family trail with poise. I know not all MTBers will progress to red and black trails, but if you took a £400 bike on the Ae Line it or you are likely to fall to bits before you got to Omega Man.

^ So, in fact, 'yes' then?

Maybe what we need is to agree (some hopes) what level of sophistication of bike, components and core riding skills you need for each level of Mountain Biking especially for those who will never encounter a real mountain out on their bikes...

But I agree 100% with the idea behind your OP.

^^
Well yes, but only once. That's why I struggle with the sort of reverse snobbery that means we aren't allowed to recommend good kit, albeit at a price. My example is the thread where someone comes on and says "I have a grand to spend on a hardtail" so someone points to a quality bike with Reba/Fox and XT kit, only to be shot down with some "You don't need all that, spend £500 and the rest on a rack and panniers for it" nonsense. My point is that MTBing is recreational, it ain 't commuting.

If we want to recommend practical everyday shopping/commuting/towpath bikes on a £300 budget we point them at Subways. If someone wants to get into bridleway and trail riding then we owe it to them to tell them they need decent damped forks and a bike they can actually lift over a stile if they have to. In today's market that starts at about £500, but realistically is far better at £700 plus. The realism starts when that person gets out onto some nice trail and can actually ride the damn thing and doesn't get put off. They have to realise that the budget is (at times) eye-watering. By the time they've sold their second child to Science to buy an upgraded wheelset they may begin to wonder whether riding rigid may be a good idea, but by then their skills will be up to it.

Agreeing is the difficult bit. There are very few on CC who actually post about their MTB exploits and kit. There are one or two who delight in pointing out that the bit of kit one rider has recommended caused a flame war on STW in 2006 and as a result every MTB rider in the country ought to boycott any product that wasn't hewn from a single billet of Mithril in the Pennines.

The delivery on my desk will result in a lynch mob forming the next time I go to a trail centre. Replacing X9 front trigger shifter with an X0 gripshifter (arthritic thumb) so my bike with be asymmetric! And I bought it from Halfords!!

Stone him!

Anyway; let's do it, and let's keep the inverse snobbery, and commuting adaptations to recreational MTB's out of it.

Er, when you have finished doing that could you do one on road bikes please?

Regarding MTB's though my beloved Kona Explosive got stolen last year. I got some insurance money, went on ebay, for £200 I got a ParkPre 825 in Tange Ultimate, with a full XT groupset, Hope headset, Marzocchi fork (with dampening adjustment AND lockout), and a handbuilt rear wheel. I am not sure you could find a better new hardtail for five times that. So you don't need to spend a shed load of money at all. I guess though that buying bike second hand has it's own set of problems (maybe that would be the good subject of a sticky as well).
I am putting the rest of the insurance money towards a road bike, and that is a whole new learning curve for me.

Pffft, some of us still do that, it all adds to the experience. Frequency is the key, not of your eyeballs but of your off road riding. I can't really justify moving on from my 16 year old mtn bike, state of the art in its day, my frequency and type of riding does not justify it and yes I do occasionally go to trail centres. I get some perverse satisfaction from being the only rigid rider there but as you say, if I was buying today, I wouldn't get a rigid bike. And no, my bike skills are no better for riding a rigid, I'm still sh!t.

That's more like it!

Great post..........But how would this benefit a beginner wanting to buy a hardtail from new?

another sticky thread on the specifics of 2nd hand MTB buying.... you have to be as clued up as you do to buy a 2nd hand road bike and then some.

You haven't got a long travel frame knocking about have you? I've got a lovely 140 Fox fork and nothing to bolt it onto...............!

so we re all interested then ? I thought Greg and Cubist would offer a contrast in ideas ! Seperate stickys then do you think ? Bikes and components, then riding tips perhaps even ride guides ?

I like the idea. Do we need to sub-divide into organic bridleways vs trailcentres, with a bit of routesharing and recommendations?

This is the point of the sticky, defining the vast array of kit that is available, what you are going to need, to do what you want to do. All we can do is offer slightly less experienced riders the best advice we can. In doing so lets try to keep it factual. Sure we ll have our differences, but we can leave the points scoring for another time.

Anyway you like but I think we need to keep it organised, and easy to reference.

Great!
Where do we start?

I'm in. Might even change my avatar to see if cc allows Boardman hardtails without exploding.