what mountain bike??

[Dan]

I'd guess you want a cross country style bike. Perhaps a hard tail because full suspensions that are not in the thousands will often bounce on you as you ride up hill which means you use a lot more energy than you would with a hard tail. Even with lock-out on suspension they can still bounce a bit if it's a cheap full suspension.

Got for a second hand Specialized hard tail off ebay or your local rag. Anything of them should be fine providing the size is right and it's been looked after. You should get one a couple of years old with disc brakes and decent gearing for anything between £200 - £500.

I wouldn't get anything downhill, or trials (like that Danny guy you've been watching) as they're unique to what they're used for. Trials have no free wheeling (so you can pedal backwards or use the pedals to stall or hold a wheelie rather than using the rear brake) and downhill have a single front cog like a trials but bigger, so only 6,7 or 8 gears instead of 15,18,21 or whatever which is what you'd need for general trekking around.

I'm not brilliant on makes to be honest, lost touch a fair bit, but I bet there are a bunch of similar ones to the specialized.

 

[enduro]

Got this one from Halfords...Do 30 miles most sundays on it and its great...Cost £220.00

 

[Stewart]

Specialized RockHopper for me....,,,,

 

[Aston]

well after 2 months of trawling around, finally got the 2 bikes!!

the wifes....... giant talon 2 w 2010 model £409-00p reduced from £550-00p
mine .............Marin B17 2010 model for £699-00p originally £999-00p

so slightly over budget but all in all got what i need..
cheers for al the advice on this, theres more to consider than i origionally thought!!
ed

 

[DHTiling]

well after 2 months of trawling around, finally got the 2 bikes!!

the wifes....... giant talon 2 w 2010 model £409-00p reduced from £550-00p
mine .............Marin B17 2010 model for £699-00p originally £999-00p

so slightly over budget but all in all got what i need..
cheers for al the advice on this, theres more to consider than i origionally thought!!
ed

Pics..?

 

[Spud]

lets have some pics then Ed:drool5:

 

[hillhead]

The marin is a beauty of a bike Ed, i had same frame on a bike over a year ago and even had it in Scotlands Mabie forest !
Good purchases there as the B17 def was £999 last year because i looked closely at it before spotting my current bike for sale.

 

[Aston]

the wifes is in the garage and my marin arrives tomorrow at the store, so i'll take some pics of the happy couple tomorrow
cant wait to have a little blast on it..... feel like a kid again lol

 

[hillhead]

Go Ed go !!!!! lol

 

[Spud]

i had a spin on mine the other day, we are very lucky in Stevenage to have the best cycling infrastructure in europe shame the residents dont use them more often

 

[Mike]

i had a spin on mine the other day, we are very lucky in Stevenage to have the best cycling infrastructure in europe shame the residents dont use them more often

surely a racing bike would be more suffice to your area? how many mountains you got in hertfordshire?

 

[Mike]

Specialized RockHopper for me....,,,,

thats what i got too stewart. had it 22 years now. needs a bit of tlc now tho to get back on the road tho

 

[Aston]

i am trying to upload a pic but its saying failed ?
what am i doing wrong. i clicked on the 'insert image' then selection from computer, then basic
it then opened my pictures, i clicked and tried to upload, it started and then said upload failed??

 

[Deleted member 9966]

check the size of your pics Ed. make them smaller as it's usually the size that stops them uploading first time

 

[Aston]

thankyou elizabeth, i knew you would come to the rescue..