Mountain bikers. What size bike do you ride?

What are you going to do on it, General riding or serious off roading, being in the lakes you've got some cracking trails nearby. At your price point you'll be on 26" wheels I guess so I'd go smaller frame size, keep it light and chuckable!

 

And me! Got a '98 Kilauea now. I was briefly sponsored by them years ago and had loads of different ones, the kuala was my favourite though

 

Get yourself dwn the local bike shop and try a few combinations.

 

Found a few sites online selling 2014 or 15 marins, rocky mountains and GTs for about £150-200 less than the new models.

My old Raleigh took me everywhere, whinlatter, Grizedale and coed y brenin trails plus yorkshire dales, North York moors, snowdonia etc. It's also been to the top of helvellyn a couple of times.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cove-Hand...723704?hash=item25b878f0f8:g:u6gAAOSwv9hW6XDE

 

Plenty of good secondhand bikes out there bought this year old Giant Anthem good as new
and saved £750 on new price. Medium framed and I'm a 5'8" bloater.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Specializ...051947?hash=item3f5ec7302b:g:yQEAAOSwJb9WrM~I

old school goodness...

there are some lovely Pace RC36 with Vee bosses here...go nicely with an older Stumpy

 

Disk brakes opulence!!

Mine still has its Magura hydrolic rim brakes, though I had the elastomer Rock Shocks inners replaced as I liked my fillings in my head in cold weather.

Always loved BMX geometry on all my bikes, will forever have a soft spot for full ally Cannondales as I think the mid 90 ones are art.

 

I nearly bought a Fisher Joshua a while back....full floater, weighed the same as a small planet....

 

think about Uranus

 

It was more getting banged about around me Venus...

 

I've a set of Avid Ultimates (Vees) that I've transfered onto various bikes, on and off road, and I can honestly say they're not far off the SLX hydros I've got on my Surly at the moment....even on cheap rims

 

I'm 5'11" and 32" inside leg and I ride 18" bikes.

 

bradly wiggings was ask to recommend a light weight bike to someone ,he just said tbh you can buy any bike, just lose a couple of stone ,the bike will ride better after...

 

I started out mountain biking in January 2014 and bought myself a medium frame 2009 Gary Fisher Piranha for £300 of the eBay. I was massively unfit and dipping my toe under a mates encouragement.

The bike was in good order, light and chuckable. However I got the bug and very quickly found that I was riding trails that pushed the bikes comfort zone. The front suspension was just not handling the likes of Cannock Chase, and with no rear suspension it was somewhat low on comfort.

I didn't want to spend too much on a sport that I wasn't sure I wouldstick with, so spent another £300 upgrading the front fork with a new old stock Rock Shock Reba. ( Beware when buying a 26er with a straight steerer upgrading parts like shocks is getting difficult ).

I rode that bike for a solid year had some great fun and built my fitness up, got a lot quicker both up and down hill, but again found myself ridding bigger and bigger trails.

December 2014 I bit the bullit and put a deposit down on a Lappierre Zesty 327 AM ( Medium frame)
cancelled my gym membership and haven't looked back........ last year I was riding some big races the Ard Rock Marathon etc and January this year Strathpuffer 24hr.

I still keep the hard tail but only really use it if the Zesty needs maintenance, I'm going out with the kids or going away and security isn't going to be great......

The end of this year I have my eye on upgrading again - Santa Cruz / Orange..... It's a bug, a expensive one ;/

( for some reason this forum changes O r a n g e to Jaffa?!? )

First climb on the Ard Rock..... zoom in for the riders to get some scale..... twas no fun with a hangover !

 

The problem with buying second hand off ebay is unless they are really close by theres no way to try them and find out if it fits or not.

I want this sooo much. Proflexes with Girvin Vector forks just float my boat.

Thats one of the bikes i've wanted for the past 25 years or so. The other being a square tubed Pace RC100 or similar.
One of my mates picked one up a while ago from a shop that was closing down. It'd been built up and never used just hung as a display. Only cost a couple of hundred quid and i reckon he only bought it because i've always wanted one.

That looks like a rather nice climb.

 

he was being interviewed after winning some major event and the commentator said "So, Bradley, you're arguably Britain's most successful cyclist...have you any advice for the upcoming generation?".... expecting to hear the usual carp about dedication, perseverance, 110% etc......he replied "make sure you've got zips on your pockets and don't be embarassed if you have to get off and push" Proper bloke

 

Yep...sorry Zebedee, mea culpa!....I know it's always better to have a test ride and see the bike in the flesh, but keep checking the auction sites, Pinkbike etc. as you'll get much more for your money buying good used, even if it means more hassle...
plus I like looking