Tiny budget for mountain bike..

alexlyons

Am new to mountain biking and absolutely loving it!!

I'm looking to buy myself a bike but the budget is pretty small at the minute. I see what I'd buy as something that would keep me going for the next year or so but isn't going to be breaking any records

I'm currently borrowing a bike of a friend every time we go out, which is about once a week. He's a good friend and doesn't mind but I'd prefer to have my own.

I have this thing in my head that I'd love disc brakes, and it will take some convincing not to get them. I honestly don't see why some bikes only have front discs as I'd have thought you'd want more stopping power in the back so you don't go flying...?

Front suspension is a must, don't have rear on the bike I'm borrowing and don't really want it.

A saddle that isn't going to break my ar*e would be preferable

There is a bike on the halfords website that has a full suspension and front and rear disc brakes for €150. Not sure about it though.. SOmething around that sort of price range is all that I can do for now.

Any tips on what is a must to get or not to get would be great. Links to specific bikes would be even better.

Thanks folks

spokeydokey

I reckon you should keep on borrowing your friends bike and keep on saving for another while.


Or make an offer for your friends bike if it's any use?

alexlyons

It's pretty useless if I'm honest, does the job but not worth any money and I think he likes having it as a spare.

Do you not think something for that money would be in any way good at all?

Link

2nd hand is the best option, local rag, donedeal or adverts.ie

alexlyons

any suggestions?

Icyseanfitz

dont buy a full susser anyway, as a proper one (even second hand) will be well over 500 quid, id look at halfords carrera brand if i were looking for something cheap and ready but tbh you dont want to be spending anything less than 400 even second hand, this site (http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/) has some good deals but you would have to add £70 for delivery.
if you really like mtb's save up for something half way decent or you will only end up disappointed
btw do you know what kind of mtbing you are looking to get into? cross country or downhill? this will have a big impact on the type of bike you should be looking at

alexlyons

I think we're getting the wrong end of the stick here folks.

Budget is about 150-200, not 500 and I need something in the next few weeks

Appreciate the help so far

bryaner

Save a few more bob and go for something like this..

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/gt-aggressor-30-2011/

alexlyons

alexlyons wrote: »

any suggestions?

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/gentsbicycles/1781860

the likes of that maybe.

Are you actually going offroad and giving it serious use? If so cheap bikes won't really put up with that use, so new for your budget is a no no.

Icyseanfitz

i cant really recommend anything for such a budget but keep a look out in the second hand market maybe something like this, http://www.adverts.ie/bikes/specialized-a1-fsr-rockhopper-bike-for-sale-monocoque-design-very-good-condition/372096 or this http://www.adverts.ie/bikes/gt-outpost/337369
the second one is probably better unless your doing downhill but then you really really dont want to do downhill on a 250 bike, just out of interest what kind of cycling are you intending to do?

alexlyons

The type of cycling is just general off road stuff, generally trails in the dublin mountains. No great speed or incredible jumps at all, hardcore paved trails really.

Out of interest, to the untrained eye the bike brayner linked and this one look pretty similar.

What are the main differences? e.g. frame strength, brakes, wheels etc

cheers

oh and why wouldn't you want to go downhill on a €250 bike?

do bear in mind folks, we're not talking anything serious like I'm sure some of you do, just beginner stuff

Icyseanfitz

alexlyons wrote: »

The type of cycling is just general off road stuff, generally trails in the dublin mountains. No great speed or incredible jumps at all, hardcore paved trails really.

Out of interest, to the untrained eye the bike brayner linked and this one look pretty similar.

What are the main differences? e.g. frame strength, brakes, wheels etc

cheers

oh and why wouldn't you want to go downhill on a €250 bike?

do bear in mind folks, we're not talking anything serious like I'm sure some of you do, just beginner stuff

well in downhill you would be using very rough terrain with a lot of speed which on a cheap bike could potentially (and more than likely) fall apart at some point and injure you; this would be something built for downhill. As for the two bike's gt is a better quality brand than raleigh and the components on the gt are much better than the raleigh (doesnt even say what the components are on the raleigh tbh)

kona

alexlyons wrote: »

The type of cycling is just general off road stuff, generally trails in the dublin mountains. No great speed or incredible jumps at all, hardcore paved trails really.

Out of interest, to the untrained eye the bike brayner linked and this one look pretty similar.

What are the main differences? e.g. frame strength, brakes, wheels etc

cheers

oh and why wouldn't you want to go downhill on a €250 bike?

do bear in mind folks, we're not talking anything serious like I'm sure some of you do, just beginner stuff

Dude, listen to what the lads have told you, stop convincing yourself It will be grand, it wont.

If you want to do Mountain Biking, save up and get something decent, If you are buying a sub e300 BSO (bike shaped object) youd be better off wiping your arse with it.

You want :

HYDRAULIC disc brakes (not mechanical)
24 Speed
Aluminium Frame
Servicable front forks (go with Rock Shox or suntour or even RST)

You will get a bike with this spec for e350, which is the absoloute MINIMUM you will buy a bike that even resembles something useful for what you want it for.

Seriously dude, if you have a budget of e150, forget it. Your wasting your time and money and could potentially damage yourself.

easygoing39

For hardpacked trails,at beginner level that Halfords special will be ok.But as soon as you get into mountainbiking properly it will fall apart under you.So the question you need to ask yourself is,"How long before I want to get into mountain biking properly?" The longer it takes you to do the proper trails will be time spent saving up for a real bike.

Kintarō Hattori

Alex the guys here are well meaning but perhaps haven't explained things as well as could have been done. A cheap bike is a false economy. Corners will have been cut in its construction and you'll find that many of the components will be of pretty poor quality.

I had a cheap mountain bike which I thought was the business until I used it as a daily rider. It was a piece of crap. Both shifters eventually broke and were replaced. The chain came off the gears more times than I could count. The brakes came 'loose' quite a bit. It cost me more in repairs than it actually cost to buy the bike.

I got fed up of it and availed of the Cycle to Work scheme through my employer. The difference in the bike I have now and the one I was riding is night and day. The new bike has instilled confidence in me, something I didn't have with the old one. I couldn't rely on it, not knowing when it was going to break down again- not something which is fun when pulling away from the lights with a load of cars behind you. The new bike is also smooth as heck to ride- it's fantastic.

All the guys here want you to do is to buy something good- and if that means saving for a little longer then that's what you should be doing. Don't throw your money away on a cheap bike- you'll regret it. Save a little more and buy something good- even second hand.

Icyseanfitz

exactly a cheap bike will end up driving you crazy in the long run, it will be getting repaired every second week

dave.obrien

I don't understand what the rush is to get the bike. As has been said, a €150 bike won't be up to what you want to put the bike through, even if it's only for beginners. Hold off for the time being, and continue to use your mates, and when you've saved a bit more, there are loads of second hand bikes going that would give you something that you wouldn't need to fix constantly. If you save for even longer, you could afford something new, which would mean that a bike shop would fit you for the bike, provide after sales advice and you wouldn't have any worries as to it's history. It's your cash, and nobody here is going to be able to stop you, or be able to profit from you waiting to buy a better bike, people here are just giving you advice. Which is what you asked for.

So is the Raleigh you linked to any good? No. I'd happily spend multiples of that quantity on a bike, or on bike parts, but parting with €150 for that particular thing would be an utter waste of money.

alexlyons

Appreciate the responses folks, I can see it probably isn't the best idea.

I'll keep saving and have had an extremely generous offer from a user on here so I'm going to look into that.

On a side note, when I do go for a better bike, what brakes are the best all round, in terms of power, maintenance, all weather use etc
Mechanical disc
hydraulic disc
v brake

remember the budget won't be massive

dave.obrien

For all weather, hydraulics are best. Mechanical are good, but run the risk of cable snapping. V-brakes, if properly looked after, are very good in dry conditions, but clog up if it gets very mucky. My mtb has mechanical disk front and a top class v-brake on the rear, and is grand for all but very mucky conditions. Saying that, I really have to get the rear disk mount re-glued(it's a slightly loosened carbon joint) so I can go back to a disk rear...

Lemag

If you can stretch for a new bike this is about the best that I could find for a "small" budget. Other than that there is the secondhand option which others have mentioned here. Adverts.ie, donedeal, buy&sell, the adverts section here, gumtree and various mtb forums like that on mtbireland.com, epicmtb.com, mbcc.ie, etc. but there'd be no point in me linking to various ads as they'll be varying sizes. Get a feel for the market. Find something suitable for you that takes your fancy and then do a bit of googling for reviews, RRP etc. Due to the nature of the sport I'd be reluctant to go down the secondhand route though. There could be something that needs fixing on a secondhand bike that might not be apparent upon initial inspection. Obviously, with a new bike this is less likely to be the case.

Joxer_S

I bought a second hand Trek 6500 on here a few weeks back for 300 euro and it's in fantastic condition, I agree with most of what's being said on here about buying cheaply, I don't agree that you need to go and buy new to get a good bike, but make sure to keep checking the classifieds, if you can stretch to 300-400 with a bit of luck then you'll get something decent.

Lemag

Joxer_S wrote: »

I don't agree that you need to go and buy new to get a good bike

No one has said that here. Only that the actual condition of a bike might not be apparent. Especially so if the buyer doesn't know what to look out for. I suspect that this would be the case for the OP given that they are new to the sport.

Joxer_S

Fair enough Lemag, was just skimming through the earlier posts.

easygoing39 wrote: »

For hardpacked trails,at beginner level that Halfords special will be ok.But as soon as you get into mountainbiking properly it will fall apart under you.So the question you need to ask yourself is,"How long before I want to get into mountain biking properly?" The longer it takes you to do the proper trails will be time spent saving up for a real bike.

+1 on this

Icyseanfitz

alexlyons wrote: »

Appreciate the responses folks, I can see it probably isn't the best idea.

I'll keep saving and have had an extremely generous offer from a user on here so I'm going to look into that.

On a side note, when I do go for a better bike, what brakes are the best all round, in terms of power, maintenance, all weather use etc
Mechanical disc
hydraulic disc
v brake

remember the budget won't be massive

Hydraulic are the best brakes you can get, they can be a bit of a pain if anything goes wrong but thankfully they are much more reliable than v or mechanical, buying second hand bikes can be great just make sure the guy selling you the bike is legit and if you can bring a mechanic (or someone that knows bikes) to have a look before you buy

breezy1985

alexlyons wrote: »

I think we're getting the wrong end of the stick here folks.

Budget is about 150-200, not 500 and I need something in the next few weeks

Appreciate the help so far

halfords have an apollo for about 160 or 170 i got one over a year ago and its done a few 1000ks gets used on a short commute every day and gotten a fair batterin on back roads but its still goin strong.its a bit heavy for long distance roads but i often go on 30k spins up the clare hills and it does me fine.

Lemag

breezy1985 wrote: »

halfords have an apollo for about 160 or 170 i got one over a year ago and its done a few 1000ks gets used on a short commute every day and gotten a fair batterin on back roads but its still goin strong.its a bit heavy for long distance roads but i often go on 30k spins up the clare hills and it does me fine.

Have you tried cycling it into a rock yet?

Icyseanfitz

Lemag wrote: »

Have you tried cycling it into a rock yet?

so true haha i thought my old pos beater was great when i was young until i took it onto some of the rough stuff, i must have broke everything on the bike in a matter of minutes

breezy1985

Lemag wrote: »

Have you tried cycling it into a rock yet?

Does head on into a lamppost count

Icyseanfitz

breezy1985 wrote: »

Does head on into a lamppost count

not really tbh as that is a sudden once off type force whereas mtb trails are a constant barrage on your bike, hope you didnt hurt yourself (or the pole ) too much though

breezy1985

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

not really tbh as that is a sudden once off type force whereas mtb trails are a constant barrage on your bike, hope you didnt hurt yourself (or the pole ) too much though

was ok but annoyed cause it was a driving instructor who drove me off the road.But yes i should have stated that i dont do actual mtb trails I do back roads which are fairly bad condition but not actual offroad.

Icyseanfitz

breezy1985 wrote: »

was ok but annoyed cause it was a driving instructor who drove me off the road.But yes i should have stated that i dont do actual mtb trails I do back roads which are fairly bad condition but not actual offroad.

fecker :mad: but yeah there is pretty massive jump between back roads and proper mtb trails you should try it sometime its great craic be warned though its addicting and can get quite expensive

Lemag

breezy1985 wrote: »

Does head on into a lamppost count

Probably not. It depends on the magnitude of the impact and where on the bike experienced the stress. If it was akin to the bike falling over then the only likely concern besides superficial scratches would be the bending of the rear mech hanger (but only if it fell on the drive side). When riding head on into a rock it'd be the front wheel and the fork that would bare the brunt of the impact. I gather that a common failing among cheap bikes is with the fork. In fact, the last time I was up in Ballyhoura my buddy ended the life of the fork on his Carrera whilst mine survived far greater punishment.

The OP probably won't be able to gain any more wisdom from this thread as it's mostly the same advice being rehashed at this stage. It's up to him/her to go off and do a bit of research now whilst keeping in mind the advice dispensed here by the helpful posters.