A welcoming forum

[Ride-or-die]

well as there is the current issue of being polite to newbies, id like to say this forum is very welcoming.

I'm looking at getting into mountain biking so i just joined a forum, mbuk.com i needed some advise so made a couple of threads, one basically saying hi, 8 people have read it, not a single reply!

anyone on here (going back to the place i know) know anythign bout mountain bikes?

[WebTone]

Aw sharrup. Blxxdy mountain bikes. B off to yer sissybike forum. wot u doing here?:laugh1






LOL soz m8 couldn't resist. I know nothing about 'em, or anything else according to the missus.:grin1

[Ride-or-die]

wow i got a reply and it basically started with......

"Another one for the love of god."

then he basically said that spending 300 odd quid aint enough, buy a better bike. so im not good enough, snobby enough or rich enough to become a mountain biker apparently

[WebTone]

We still love ya.:love1






Reaches for Domestos. Pah! Pah! Plurgh!:laugh1

[DoodleBug]

RoD, the Guvnor is the man you need to talk to, he used to race, check out the scar on his left arm next time you see him, awesome!!!

[harriebird]

blatant stereotyping but most of the mountain bikers i have met spend **** loads of money on their kit and never actually get out and ride their bikes... all paid for by mummy and daddy too.....grrrrr

i know not everyone's like that but like most things you can get too carried away on what kit you've got and how much you've spent rather than actually getting on and enjoying being out there :rolleyes:

[Lateshift]

I had to laugh at this thread because it reminded so much of my brother who apparently (i say apparently because its been a long while since we have spoken :D ) is still into his mountain biking in a big way, cutting the story short, he is one of these people that gets into mountain biking and has a bit of a flair for it, starts doing events all round the country and finally looks at the bike and thinks "£4000 well spent" :D :D

My argument being at that price or even a quarter of that price for that matter i want an engine in it! :D

Anyway, we just happened to be up in Wales and as part of the activities we were doing (aswell as climbing, walking, kayaking etc etc) we got to do the Red Bull trail (11km) and the Karrimor (34km) run in Betws-y-Coed.

We used what we call "PRI Specials" that to civilians would mean bottom of the range, ordered from a catalogue, weighing three times as much as a real bike, to stop squaddies breaking them special :D :D

And we completed the course quicker than most other people on there, however i didnt put that down to the bikes, i put it down to the fact that fitness played a big part in it, and when we couldnt be bothered to ride the bikes we ran with them on our backs :D

But mountain biking is no different than any other form of motorsport really, and in truth can be probably better compared to skiing, there is so much snobbery involved its unreal, and even less cameraderie :(

[winjaninja]

spend **** loads of money on their kit and never actually get out and ride their bikes...

Sounds like me and my ZX6

[RaceMeNSee]

Hurry up and get a bloody bike jason! Jeez! lol

[Ride-or-die]

i just lost my rag on that MBUK and called them a bunch of stuck up twats and then gave them an earfull

[The Guvnor]

Good man:clap I just pmd you mate.
Yep I used to race, my bike bike was touching 3k.......but i was sponsored.
And for someone to tell you 300 aint enuff for a decent mountain bike is talking crap ! What you spend depends on your capabilities and the type of riding you intend to do !
I now have a Carrera in the garage......bought from halfords.....but.....made for them by GT !!! It cost about 350 but I upgraded the gearsets and disc brakes !

300 is plenty enough to get started mate. If you want to take it serious, the main thing is to spend decent money on a frame........then as time goes by you can just upgrade the component spec.:clap

[The Guvnor]

Oh..and youll probably find that MBUK is full of jumped up teenagers who blow smoke out there arse if it aint downhill !!:laugh2

[Lateshift]

even so, slating them and leaving a link on their forum to here is probably not a wise move ;)

chances are we will have people registering here now just to cause trouble ;)

[The Guvnor]

Who me ? What link ? Have I missed something ?:laugh2

[Lateshift]

over at MBUK, J left a link to here showing what a welcome should be like ;) :D

[The Guvnor]

:laugh1 :clap

[Ride-or-die]

over at MBUK, J left a link to here showing what a welcome should be like ;) :D


my bad

[Lateshift]

nothing we cant deal with if anything happened, and having read the forums over there now, i dont suppose they are actually the kind to come over here just to cause trouble anyway :)

[Ride-or-die]

eaxctly and i think i made my point well as they are all being nice now

[The Guvnor]

Mate, just a tip...............whatever you buy make sure it has replacable hangers;)

[Ride-or-die]

Mate, just a tip...............whatever you buy make sure it has replacable hangers;)


see i dont even know what they are!!!

[The Guvnor]

lol......mate, at the back of the bike is were the wheels and gear deraillur sit.Its on the right hand side were the gears bolts to. On a lot of cheaper bikes the deraillur hanger is part of the frame (welded). If you come down hard the derailur hanger can snap....which means new frame !!........at 300+ you should get replacable hangers that way if it does snap you just replace the hanger not the frame.;)

[The Guvnor]

see..........who needs MBUK ! :laugh1 :laugh1

[Ride-or-die]

ok thats what i thought it was but i wasnt 100%.

your right who needs MBUK after one twat has decided to specifically insult bikers

i checked out ebay and bikes eem to hold their value and there wasnt much there, what do you make of this...
http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=60153
it has more stars than the saracen i mentioned and is around the same price range

or this

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=60057

[The Guvnor]

Both look good mate. Saracen is a better frame imo. But the GT is a better spec.
If your looking at GT......try halfords. If they knew anything on that site they would know that the Carrera is built by GT for halfords. They just change the name to make it Halfords specific ! And some of them are top spec bikes ! Worth a butchers if they have a website.
Did you nosey at the one I pmd you ?

[Lateshift]

do pushbikers still have to shave their legs to get some aerodynamics? :D

i think i will stick to looking like a power ranger myself rather than trying to look like a lycra clad queen ;) :D

[The Guvnor]

Just read the thread on that forum. Although there seem to be few ****heads on there.....they are also making some very good points. The main thing is to remember...your gonna ride the bike. I may be wrong but, when you say downhill you probably mean a steep fast singletrack or similar(not that many downhill tracks round these parts) they are different, totally. But both as much fun as each other.
As long as you get a decent frame and wheels mate the rest will follow. The more you get into it the more you will learn and the more you will spend.
The bikes you are looking at are ideal entry level bikes. Anyone that spends a fortune on a bike before they know what type of riding suits them is an idiot.
And using cheaper components to get started is a good idea. You will come off, and you will break something (hopefully not bones). The better a rider you become the more you will notice the difference between the components.
Until then...do what your doin.

Your choices are looking good so far.

[The Guvnor]

[quote=Lateshift]do pushbikers still have to shave their legs to get some aerodynamics? :D

The legs actually get shaved to stop mud sticking to them as much therefore bringing down the weight you are carrying. Aerodynamics means naff all when your flying down a singletrack at 40mph in the middle of a woods.
Have we found a subject that you now nothing about Mr Shift?:laugh1 ;)

[Ping]

do pushbikers still have to shave their legs to get some aerodynamics? :D

The legs actually get shaved to stop mud sticking to them as much therefore bringing down the weight you are carrying. Aerodynamics means naff all when your flying down a singletrack at 40mph in the middle of a woods.
Have we found a subject that you now nothing about Mr Shift?:laugh1 ;)
Tee hee hee!!!! That brought visions of mud covered yetis on bikes charging gung-ho down mountainsides... :D

Ahem, sorry.

[Lateshift]

I dont stand on ceremony, i know sod all about mountain bike riding and in truth never really understood why my brother ended up spending £4K on something that didnt have an engine in it :D

I have done a bit of mountain biking but that normally comes from the Army telling you that for the next 2 weeks you are going adventure training and whilst there you get made to ride something like 50km for the sake of it :D

I have to say that the Karrimor run and the Red Bull trail (amongst a few of the runs we did at Coed Brenin) were fantastic but in true squaddie fashion not only did we take the mickey out of people we saw falling off, but seeing as the bikes werent ours we did our best to see what we could break :D

Each to their own, i know through my brother that it is definitely an elitest sport, exactly the same as skiing where you turn up on a cheap and nasty and people think you are a tosser, much the same as when a mate of mine turned up at a regional cross country championships late and had forgotten his trainers, people took the mickey, scoffed at him for being some poor squaddie and how much of an embarrassment to cross country he was due to him running in a pair of desert boots :D



However the sneers turned to really big unhappy faces when he came in 3rd :D

[The Guvnor]

:grin1 :laugh1

[Ride-or-die]

lol see this is some good banter. im glad you have found your way to the thread i made, clearly that red lemon is a ****, but lke u said the others have been usefull.

and guv the link you pm'd me i thought u said get a HT and im not going to pretend i havent a clue about that bike

[The Guvnor]

I know , I said get a HT. But, Thats a lot of bike and if you can get that for 300 youll be laughing. Like the bloke says......couple of grands worth of bike there !!

[Ride-or-die]

i shall see what happens with it then, 50 quid postage tho, sheesh

[RaceMeNSee]

Dude, why do you need a special Trick pimptastic jobby.......Where are we actually gonna be going!? And will old Claud be able to cope with it? Dude.........Make sure you book your birthday week off!!!!

[Ride-or-die]

i have my birthday week off work mate, and i want a bike thats worthy of the money im going to spend thats all, im going to go for this one that guv has sent me the link of cos its a £1500 bike at the mo for 160 quid, bargain

[RaceMeNSee]

Cool Modife...Dude...How much are those bike rack things for cars!? OR how many bikes could you fit in your car?! J

[Ride-or-die]

i rekon i could get at least 3 bike and 3 people in my care mate, why what u thinking?

[RaceMeNSee]

Peak District! Or something along those lines..........Somewhere Miles away off Road 3 Guys 3 Bikes And a tent! Maybe a can of beans.............lol AND NO FIRE STICK THROWING AT PEOPLE! lol

[Ride-or-die]

im feeling it, guv you not still got your bike i take it?

[The Guvnor]

Ive got a czarrera in the garage mate.........but ive also got a very shagged arm ! My offroad days are long gone mate !:(

[Ride-or-die]

yeah i hear theres quite a scar, so you can ride a gsxr but not a puch bike, u big fanny come for a ride with us! what carrera u got?

[the captain]

Both look good mate. Saracen is a better frame imo. But the GT is a better spec.
If your looking at GT......try halfords.

Dont try Halfords:shooter ...come see me!!!!

Im the assistant manager at CYCLES UK in basildon.....i'll sort you out a good bike and a good deal i might add!!!!:rockon

[Ride-or-die]

i was actually told by someone to come see ur shop, what can u offer me?

[DoodleBug]

You might want to rephrase that to something like,

What bikes can you offer me?

;)

[Ride-or-die]

nope i think its fine the way it is LOL ;)

[the captain]

:laugh1 i got enough love for everyone!!!!

if you come down any day except wednesday i can go through it all with you..what kinda riding you want to do, how often yada yada yada......then we'll see what we got.........if its not in store i can get it so no worries there....and being a nice kinda guy we'll talk about any discount and or freebies at the time!!

[Ride-or-die]

i was going to suggest coming down today as im off work but no wednesdays, so i shall see if im off tomorrow or whether they want me in on overtime to help finance it lol. my budgets anything up to £350 ish. Heres some of the bikss I have been looking at so far....

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/index.html?pageTitle=Saracen_Mantra_2_Bike_2006&pageDesc=If_youre_looking_to_start_Extreme_XC_Ridi ng_then_the_Mantra_Series_has_your_Perfect_startin g_bike_Th&action=detail&maincatID=0&catID=&prodID=7815&brandID=

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=60153

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=60057

the saracen is in the chelmsford UK cycles so im guesing you will prob have it, i really like it but i was a bit heavy and comparing the reviews of that against the specialised hardrock and the GT it loses badly.

im looking for a hardtail, a decent set of front forks suck as rockshox, and a decent frame, other than that the add-ons im not so bothered about as i will wanna upgrade them as i get more into the sport.

Going to use you bike at least once a week for some XC stuff, but then also so DH. also planning on taking it away on some holidays. so basically something pretty strong and light

Also the cycles UK in chelmsford had a nice Kona and some marins but they were just too far out my price range

[RaceMeNSee]

Seriously....Jason do you reckon my beast is gonna cope with all the stuff were gonna be throwing at it, or shale i upgrade......Maybe i could add some **** to it, cause i LOVE the Frame and Wheels!

[the captain]

i definitley got something for you!!!

the GT is nice....the avalanche is a quality bike...we got the 2007 avalanche 3.0 in at the mo...the rest are due out in about 4 weeks so were told!....im sure we got the 2.0 in another shop which i can get over!

im sure i can get you a bit more ike for youre money though..those bikes you linked here all come with pretty run of the mill components....if you can get better stuff on it to start with then its a better bike from the off and its less to uprgrade to later...

RST forks are okay....but in my opinion not worth the bother....there naff all adjustment in them and theyre not gonna last too long.
same with the acera mechs......you want no lees than deore.!!!

Its better if you can get down to the shop and see me....like i say, im there everyday except wednesdays!!.......but i reckon i can get you a £450 for the money you got to spend.....may even get you some upgrades on the cheap too!!....had a guy come in and buy a kona king kolier the otherday....knocked the bike down from £1400 to £1125 and gave him a free XT shifte upgrade (XT being the dogs danglies!!!!) he pushed the price up to £1200 and i threw in an XT chainset for the £75 extra he paid (chainset costs £110) just to give you an idead of the stuff i can do if im feeling generous!

[The Guvnor]

:grin1 Now that sounds a good deal to me !!! .....By the way.........that Specialised went for £190 !!!!!! A steal !!!.should have bid my man !!!............rest of the cash could heave put you in upgrade heaven !:clap

[Ride-or-die]

yeah guv i know i did i was watching it when it ended but i emailed him some questions and he didnt answer and which put me off a bit, and my old man said yeah its a great uy for someone but not really for me

and pirate my man i'll hopefully come see you tomorrow, im not going to lie tho i dont know much about bikes so all this technical support will have to be dummed down for me

[the captain]

no worries mate....i try to make it all pretty easy to understand coz i get quite a few people who are in the same boat as you!!:laugh2

Make yourself known to me though coz theres so many people on here i still havent put a face to the name!....im not sure if we've met before (just in case we havent....i'll be the one with big holes in me ears and LOADS of tattoos.......appologies if we have met and im being a forgetfull dum ass!)

If you cant see me, get getyour eyes checked or just ask for Shane....not "the captain" coz you'll get a load of confused looks!!!!:laugh1 :laugh1

[Ride-or-die]

yeah we have met down the pb before and we chatted bout your tats and stuff, but you might not remeber me, dont worry tho i shall make myself know

[two]

i used to have a gt zaskar le back in about 1997... brought just the frame cheap ;) and built it up myself.... 3k spec bike worked out under 1k at the time (had a couple of contacts at the time in the trade) ..weighed under 21 lbs with suspension forks (student loans rocked)

got a old kona stinky now..brought it new in 2000
did a couple of dh races and broke the odd bone
did the alps a couple of times.. crashed baddly first time out there

normally try to get over to danbury to ride once the weekends are too crappy to ride the motorbike

normally stick to the very short dh runs (if only they were proper 6 minute runs) and small jump area... couple of drop offs (all very close to each other...i'm not actually into pedalling)
we could do an essexbikers mountain bike day.. (as long as it involved no pedalling that is)

my advise would be to buy the bike with the best frame you can afford... componets spec means naff all... everything wears out/break and need replacing anyway... i always just replace stuff with lx bits when they die

[Ride-or-die]

my advise would be to buy the bike with the best frame you can afford... componets spec means naff all... everything wears out/break and need replacing anyway... i always just replace stuff with lx bits when they die

thats exactly my plan my man.


Also im guessing shane wont be able to look on here at work and i wanted to contact him today, i was just wondering if anyone has him number they can PM me

[Ride-or-die]

ok so i had way too much to do today so i didnt even contack shane, hopefully he comes and looks at this later, i was wondering if he will be at work tomorrow about half 4, and if so what time they close as i have a mate who is looking for the same thing as me and i was going to bring him too.

[RaceMeNSee]

dont leave meout dude, we need to organise something for your B-day!

[the captain]

ok so i had way too much to do today so i didnt even contack shane, hopefully he comes and looks at this later, i was wondering if he will be at work tomorrow about half 4, and if so what time they close as i have a mate who is looking for the same thing as me and i was going to bring him too.

yeah im in tomorrow..half four will be fine mate no worries!...we close at half five monday to saturday

[Ride-or-die]

ok its a date will see you then

[Ride-or-die]

hiya shane, i'll chat to you via private messanging rather than in this thing as it is way off topic now if thats ok with you?

[gsxr dude]

dude come see me. im area specialist for bike hut (halfords)!

mbuk **** btw!