Cycling for a Beginner

OREGATO

Well, over the last few weeks, I've dug out the old mountain bike and have been going on some cycles around to get my bearings again. (It's been a good while since I've been on a bike and at that, it used to be just for the odd spin up to a friends house, no long treks or anything)

I cycled into work a few times (roughly 8 kilometres each way with a slight decline on the way in and a slight incline on the way home) and I'm quite happy with the time taken etc.

Right now, I've got a mountain bike I bought a few years ago, has suspension at the front and those 'nobbly?' tires.

My plan is, that if I keep this up, I'll upgrade to a proper hybrid or else a race bike at some stage with the bike to work schemes, but for now, I'm happyish with the mountain bike, the journey home is quite difficult due to the slight incline but I've heard that it's better to change out the nobbly tires for 'slicks?' is this correct?

Also, the bike I have now is a cheap ass Halfords jobby, nothing special, is it worthwhile to get it serviced and put tires on it? (I do struggle a bit at times up hill - I think the gearing is foooked too) or should I just keep struggling and save up for a hybrid/racer?

Thoughts and advice please

kingoffifa

stick with the bus you have and don't pump money into it.
if it needs something to be fixed badly then get it fixed.
don't bother changing the tyres or any of that.
just keep cycling and that slight incline will become easier.


to give you an idea any time i get my bus serviced it seems to be around 50 euro. for that 50 euro i got my brakes sorted, gears sorted, a wheel straightened and cables adjusted.

if you are still cycling in a month and going further distances then buy a hybrid or a racer or something that will make the miles easier.

most important tip of the day - dont be obsessed with buying new. loads of choice for both hybrids and racers on the second hand market. i just bought new through the bike to work scheme. my next bike will be second hand because of the value out there. picked up an amazing bike for 500 euro for a friend

OREGATO

Thanks for the advice kof,

I find it is hard on the way home from work due to the incline, so if I could make my life a bit easier by getting slick tyres, I thought that this might be a better investment for the time being to see if I stick with it.

As for purchasing a new bike, I've organised the BTW scheme here in work so no problems there with buying a new bike under this incentive.

colm_gti

Hello, Mr. VZR

If you have BTW and kinda plan to upgrade in the near-ish future, I wouldn't go pumping too much money into your old MTB, a pair of tyres could set you back almost as much as your bike is worth!

You'll breeze up the slight incline on a road bike with skinny tyres

PS. Don't get a hybrid.

langdang

A 5mm Allen key, a bit of oil, a small screwdriver and a bit of search around google will sort you for the gears and brakes.

Me? I'd change the tyres for cheap slicks and pump em up hard. Tis all very well saying the knobblies will give you more exercise, but there's no point arriving at work in a bog of sweat.

If you're paying tax at the top rate and you have an interest in cycling, you may as well use the BTW.

Hybrid? Racer? whichever you feel like. If roadbikes are the ultimate answer for everything except offroading then the Dutch and the Danish have been doing it wrong for years and years.

OREGATO

colm_gti wrote: »

Hello, Mr. VZR

If you have BTW and kinda plan to upgrade in the near-ish future, I wouldn't go pumping too much money into your old MTB, a pair of tyres could set you back almost as much as your bike is worth!

You'll breeze up the slight incline on a road bike with skinny tyres

PS. Don't get a hybrid.

Hey Colm

I've gone and put the bike into a shop to get new tires on it. I think you're right though, the amount I'm paying for the tires alone are nearly half as much as what I paid for the bike, but either way, we'll see how it goes

Better to take a risk and get new tires, rather than going all in and getting a new bike that could end up gathering dust.

Why not a hybrid as a matter of interest?

langdang wrote: »

A 5mm Allen key, a bit of oil, a small screwdriver and a bit of search around google will sort you for the gears and brakes.

Me? I'd change the tyres for cheap slicks and pump em up hard. Tis all very well saying the knobblies will give you more exercise, but there's no point arriving at work in a bog of sweat.

If you're paying tax at the top rate and you have an interest in cycling, you may as well use the BTW.

Hybrid? Racer? whichever you feel like. If roadbikes are the ultimate answer for everything except offroading then the Dutch and the Danish have been doing it wrong for years and years.

I've gone down the route of trying to fix it myself, but each time, I end up bodging it more! I've left it in this time and I'll see about next time, I've tried following youtube videos et al, but I just can't for the life of me get it to work just right.

Arriving in work is not a problem as there's a shower here, also, it's an 8 kilometre trek in and out, so plenty of exercise to be had, nobblies or no nobblies.

studiorat

OREGATO wrote: »

Arriving in work is not a problem as there's a shower here, also, it's an 8 kilometre trek in and out, so plenty of exercise to be had, nobblies or no nobblies.

Doesn't really matter, they will both be crap if there isn't enough air in them. Try getting 40psi into them, if that works for a while try 45psi.

Check what the max pressure the tire will take and pump them up to that.