Mountain bikes

[jrandom]

I want a mountain bike. It has to hold up to abuse, because I am going to attempt to ride it offroad.

I'll also be riding it around on the road a bit, I guess, but it will primarily be for me and Mrs Random to stick on the back of the cage and take to muddy, rocky, dirty and/or sandy places for sessions of abuse and personal embarrassment.

I have NO idea where to go, what to buy, or how much it should cost. What brands are good? What should I look out for? What are the caveats involved with buying a second-hand bike?

I'm not going to spend more than a grand on the thing, though. So anyone who's contemplating posting and telling me that there's no point buying anything unless it's a Cannondale 3000 XPRR SuperDuper NuclearTrailMachine can just shut up and go away, unless they want to donate one to my worthy cause.

So, them wot know, gimme some advice. Please.

[Mr Skid]

If you're motorised torpedo boat is going to spend a bit of time on the road, I'd suggest getting a set of road slicks. They're less effort to pedal, and will save your Full-X-TremeSprotKnoberly tyres for off road.

Oh, and don't try using the front brake to slow yourself on trails, or you'll end up in a bush. Or so I've been told

[Posh Tourer :P]

I take it you want dual suspension (both ends) if you are going rough stuff....Thing is, this soaks up HEAPS of energy, so it might be comfy, but you won't be going very efficiently on the road.
Second hand? bikes don't get taken care of unless the person is using it as a high end performance bike. You need to watch the front forks, they tend to be vulnerable to slider damage, same as bikes...
I don't know a great deal about brands, but I've spent a lot of time playing with bicycles, and you can *very* easily service anything on it, except for the suspension. So if the rest of the bike is neglected, it isnt too much hassle to get it going well again.
Buying second hand ought to be alright, as long as you pick right, there's a lot of rubbish out there.....

[jrandom]

I take it you want dual suspension (both ends) if you are going rough stuff...

Yuss.

Thing is, this soaks up HEAPS of energy, so it might be comfy, but you won't be going very efficiently on the road.

Don't care. I want a mad l33t trailstunting godmobile, not a pencil-wheeled Tour de Driveway speed machine.

[dangerous]

IMHO I wouldent worry about rear sus, a decent frount end is all ya need.
I used to race my Giant ATX870sp cross country its a decent bike light good components I'm a tad out of touch now but get down to ya local bike shop and see what they have, get to know what STX LX etc is pick a bike then post back and we can say ya or nay.

IMO decent frount end (Judy XC min) hard rear, 27spd, alloy frame and V brakes maybe a disc on the frount.

Caption for sec pic 'nice ass, but get out a the way dangerous comming through'

[curious george]

I know a mate selling a mint condition GT i-drive, full XT with Chriss King headset etc...
Disc brakes blahblahblah
About $1200 ono I think?
Interested?

[Motu]

Come down to the Bike Barn in Mt Roskill,over the roundabout from me,it's sorta a clearance house for shit they can't sell.I was talking suspension to one of the guys who works there the other day,we were on the same wave length,just as complicated as a dirt bike.

[Posh Tourer :P]

IMHO I wouldent worry about rear sus, a decent frount end is all ya need.
I used to race my Giant ATX870sp cross country its a decent bike light good components I'm a tad out of touch now but get down to ya local bike shop and see what they have, get to know what STX LX etc is pick a bike then post back and we can say ya or nay.

IMO decent frount end (Judy XC min) hard rear, 27spd, alloy frame and V brakes maybe a disc on the frount.

Don't most things have V-brakes now?

Front disc would be good.....

[Kickaha]

IMHO I wouldent worry about rear sus, a decent frount end is all ya need.

Much as I hate to agree with the Honda rider he's dead right,rear suspension is just a bit of extra wank factor unless you're right into very rough terrain and downhills the rest of the time it's just extra effort to push along

For $1000 I'd think you would get something quite reasonable,I spent $800 on a Bauer andn got good shimano componentry and reasonable front forks,it did have cable discs which were quite good but having tried hydraulic they'll be on my shopping list when I get another one

try here for a start http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Cycl...0380-0050-.htm

but do a bit of research on forks,brakes,gears etc as there can be a quite a bit of difference in the quality and good components make a big difference

[jimbo600]

Good place for you to go is Woodhill forest aboout 25km's past kumeu. As for buying a bike then the following link is useful

http://www.sportzhub.com/cgi-bin/cla...lassifieds.cgi

All the stuff for sale here is from genuine multisport dudes.

[MrMelon]

Yeah I wouldn't bother with a full suspension bike. You'd be better off getting a decent quality hardtail with good forks and components. I do agree about getting a set of slicks if you're going to be doing any amount of riding on the road though. They make it so much more enjoyable. You do lose a bit of wheelie stability with slicks on though

[Two Smoker]

Just go for a hardtail, with decent front forks (none of that warehouse shit rubber stuff) For a decent one, you are looking at about 2-3 grand (fully adjustable front suspension, rebound, damping, compression).... but should get an ok one for about a grand....

Bruce is the man to speak about mountain bikes.... there is a reason why his bike is insured for more than his TLS

[Blakamin]

It'd wanna have a strong frame JR

[gav]

God knows what it would cost, but HRC do a mountain bike
http://www.honda.co.jp/HRC/movie/index.html
Being a Honda its got some super complicated pedal, crank, gearing setup

[erik]

I don't know much about mountainbikes. I got myself one recently though off trademe, a 5 year old GT outpost trail, doesn't have any suspension, but it's way better quality than the mountainbike I had when I was a kid. Plus it was practically new in terms of usage when I bought it. I had a much lower budget than you do though.
If you find a model you are interested in, try googling (the web and newsgroups) for reviews of that model, you'll likely find some useful info.

You should probably do a bit of googling/reading about choosing the right frame size too.