Mountain bike, very basic advice sought

wersal gummage

Hi folks,

I know absolutely nothing about mountain bikes.

Have a few road bikes and made the mistake at the start of buying a hybrid, just to regret it and have to spend the money again....

Anyway, I need a mountain bike at the moment as my living arrangements have changed and the only options i have for cycles these days are in a parkland /forest type area. Very flat terrain, no major off road stuff, no trails, no hills, no jumps etc... But all on grass. I guess a cyclo-cross might do but I don't really want one. I've no interest in ever getting into mountain biking, but will be stuck with this situation for a few years... So just hoping to avoid buying some terrible bike.

I'm looking at a 29" hardtail.. But not certain why. They are cheaper, and I'm lanky so I figure the 29 gives a bit more room? Looking on the canyon site but availability is very limited for anything in my size. Any other good sites?

Any very basic do or don't do advice for a first mountain bike?

Thanks!

smacl

wersal gummage wrote: »

Very flat terrain, no major off road stuff, no trails, no hills, no jumps etc... But all on grass.

I've no interest in ever getting into mountain biking

Sounds like you just need a bike that can take wider off road tyres rather than a mountain bike so. Main issue with grass is that when it gets muddy you need wider knobbly tyres to get traction. The suspension fork on a hardtail only benefits you on rough terrain, I prefer the cx bike with fixed fork on grass. You're paying a premium for a reasonable mountain bike for the huge amount of abuse it can absorb that is part and parcel of mountain biking. If you don't need this, you could save yourself a fair bit of money by not paying for it.

Rose do lovely adventure bikes with and without suspension which would fit the bill, but IMO they're really just high specced expensive hybrids, where any half way decent hybrid would do the same job at a fraction of the price.

Probably get shot, or worse still banned, but it sounds to me if you don't want a CX bike, and don't need a mountain bike, you should consider a hybrid. If it was going to get very muddy a lot of the time you could also have some fun with a fat bike

C3PO

I would suggest that you buy a 29er hardtail MTB as you've already concluded. They're a great "do it all" compromise .... I should know I've got 3!! What budget did you have in mind?

wersal gummage

Thanks folks.

I suppose a hybrid probably would work alright! Horrible things!

Budget, as little as possible really as it's just something basic to get me by for a while, but I guess I don't want a fishing wire groupset. What's the tiagra equivalent in mountain bikes? (that'd be the lowest I'd recommend to anyone on a road bike anyway).

I've seen the canyon bikes for as low as 650, also happy to buy last year or the year before model if I see something.... Could probably stretch to a grand or a little above if there is some compelling reason to do so?

Biopace

29er Hardtail with a decent fork with lockout, great all round machine.

smacl

wersal gummage wrote: »

What's the tiagra equivalent in mountain bikes? (that'd be the lowest I'd recommend to anyone on a road bike anyway).

Probably Deore as equivalent to Tiagra. The gearing on the cheapest Canyon has 40/12 as the highest gear which is fine off road, but a bit under geared if you do ever end up descending on tarmac.

When you say no trails in your opening post, how rough is the surface? Grass that has had livestock on it for example is very different to a grassy bohereen.

smacl

Don't know if this is your size, but a nice 2nd hand 29er for a decent price http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057594406

C3PO

smacl wrote: »

Don't know if this is your size, but a nice 2nd hand 29er for a decent price http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057594406

smacl is right - that would be ideal if it's the correct size for you!