Mountain Biking Advice needed

Dante1979 · 14-07-2009 12:13am #1

I am approaching a certain age where I am beginning to realize that my oh so fast metabolism as a young fella, has dramatically slowed down and has left me with a paunch. A Paunch!! & Moobs

I what a big to start to get fit, I'm after a downhill mountain bike, that can also double as a road bike, maybe a hard end with front discs and suspension.
I've checked out Half-hours, and had a look on GumTree and was out bid on a Koni Firemountain, a bike probably well outta my class and level.

So, if any1 can gimme some advice about buying or knows of a good place that sells bikes(Im a Dub) it would be much appreciated

Trojan · 14-07-2009 12:21am

Hitting 30 can have a strange effect on a fella

First bit of advice: what novice mountain bikers consider "downhill mountain biking", and what enthusiasts do are two very different things. You're probably looking for an "entry level" bike, not specifically a downhill model.

DH Mountain Bikes

In addition to the obvious changes in this style of mountain bike riding, there are a number of big differences in the bikes and equipment used by the riders. A downhill MTB Frame will be far more specialised that the normal hardtail mountain bike frame you or I used, and will usually have a much more rugged and durable full suspension mountain bike frame.

The reasoning for this is the more extreme terrain that a downhill mountain bike will encounter. The trade off of having a full suspension bike, which is built to a much stronger standard than a normal MTB is the weight. Whilst a standard MTB would be lower than thirty pounds in weight, DH bikes have been known to go over 40 pounds. This high weight is now however being reduced~coming down~reducing~. Other major differences in downhill mountain bikes can include the use of full disc brakes, a high travel suspension fork (5-6 in.) and differing frame geometry.

(source)

DirkVoodoo · 14-07-2009 12:25am

Trojan wrote: »

Hitting 30 can have a strange effect on a fella

Sorry for the off topic, but are you saying that hitting 30 will be the start of the decline???

A downhill bike, like Trojan says, is a specific piece of kit and not something I would recommend for commuting. In fact, if someone said "what is the worst possible geometry for commuting?" A DH bike would spring to mind. Either that or a tri bike.

I expect someone to come on and say "I commute on one" now.

Would you not get a regular hardtail for trails? Far more likely to get you fit and help out as a commuter.

Trojan · 14-07-2009 12:33am

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Sorry for the off topic, but are you saying that hitting 30 will be the start of the decline???

Hell no! Quite the opposite in fact

Trojan · 14-07-2009 12:36am

+1 on entry level hardtail as commuter.

I got my dad a Giant Boulder a year or 2 ago for trail riding, and gave him a second set of wheels with slicks on for road riding.

I've also toured twice in France on hardtail MTB (Trek 4300) with slicks on, as well as using it as commuter.

Check and see if you can get them to swap your tyres when you buy the bike, you can get more suitable one to suit your purposes.

kona · 14-07-2009 12:43am

Dante1979 wrote: »

I am approaching a certain age where I am beginning to realize that my oh so fast metabolism as a young fella, has dramatically slowed down and has left me with a paunch. A Paunch!! & Moobs

I what a big to start to get fit, I'm after a downhill mountain bike, that can also double as a road bike, maybe a hard end with front discs and suspension.
I've checked out Half-hours, and had a look on GumTree and was out bid on a Koni Firemountain, a bike probably well outta my class and level.

So, if any1 can gimme some advice about buying or knows of a good place that sells bikes(Im a Dub) it would be much appreciated

I presume you mean KONA firemountain:)

Apparantley halfords are doing them for e319.99 for a older 2007 model.

Id strongley reccomend the firemountain, its spot on for what you want.

Instead of downhill, A cross country MTB is what you want. Whats the budget?

ednwireland · 14-07-2009 9:13am

having raced mtb's in the early 90's (completely unsuccessfully) first on a gt karakoram then on an orange aluminium 'o' with no suspension (finally fitted with pace rc-35's now rockshox tora's). you dont need suspension at all now a lot of the centres in britain are been built with full sus in mind but if your doing track and road a hardtail will be plenty.chain reaction usually do some good deal on beone's (keep being tempted by some of them ) might be a biit of assembly involved though

Morgan · 14-07-2009 9:28am

This is a downhilll mountainbike

It's completely unsuitable for riding on the road or anything uphill.

This is a cross-country mtb:

Good for up and down offroad and OK for the road. Like you say - a hardail (front suspension only) and disk brakes.

Are you planning on doing much offroad riding?

blorg · 14-07-2009 11:11am

If you are specifically looking to get fit it is probably easier to do so on the road... Having said that if you want to get a mountain bike because you actually want to mountain bike, with a secondary use of on the road, a hardtail is what you want.

Indeed if you have weight on you need to look at diet even before exercise, it has a greater impact unless you are exercising in very large amounts (which you will not be if you have not been doing it before.)

kona · 14-07-2009 11:35am

Morgan wrote: »

This is a downhilll mountainbike

It's completely unsuitable for riding on the road or anything uphill.

This is a cross-country mtb:

Good for up and down offroad and OK for the road. Like you say - a hardail (front suspension only) and disk brakes.

Are you planning on doing much offroad riding?

And a excellent taste too:D;)

Mountain Biking Advice needed

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