So I had a crappy Schwinn Ranger from Target (box/department store) that I was riding on some road/trails and I was really into it and wanted to go actual mountain biking. To my suprise, right in my hometown I grew up in, there is Galbraith Mountain which is 3000 acres with over 50 miles of singletrack. Holy crap! Its in the top 10 in the US or something for single track riding. So I took my Schwinn up there....NO! Crappy department store bikes are not meant for real mountain biking haha. So last summer I decided to get serious about it and got my first real bike - a Specialized Rockhopper. Its an entry level hardtail and its made me fall in love with mountain biking. Since the weather here has held up so nice, ive been out 3 days a week trying to soak up as much as I can and learn the ropes. Anyone else mountain bike? edit: here is the bike I got last year- http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/mountain/rockhopper/rockhopper-29
I bought a cheap £99 mountain bike last year, full suspension job, been out on it about 3 times, now it sits doing nothing - haven't got the enthusiasm for riding like I did 10 years ago, I get halfway to where I decide to go and remember I have to ride all the way back too, so don't bother - fitness is way below what it was 10 years ago too, trying to get fit again is less than fun
Oh man, I hear that! Ive always been in amazing shape, and just this last winter I got fatter and lazier than I EVER have in my life! Like im usually 180 lbs and ripped out of my skull...I got up to 235 lbs this winter! I could not believe it. I am already down to 195 lbs but I absolutely agree with you, its way harder than it was 10 years ago, and ive never actually understood what my dad was saying when he said his body was achy and stiff until now....I understand now dad haha. But luckily, once you are back in full swing, its exactly that so even though my body still hurts after every ride, I get stronger each ride and heal a bit faster each time. And having a real bike instead of a cheap bike is like the difference between my laptop and a real gaming desktop. Its that big.
I do a bit of mountain biking, nothing too extreme though. I also used my bike as a means of transportation everywhere I go. My bike isn't anything fancy, it was produced by Polygon (one of the largest and best bike manufacturer in Indonesia) and I bought it for around $350 (a full-sus mountain bike back in 2008). Still riding it now with a couple of extra parts upgrades and it does its job perfectly (at least for me). Happy biking DerSchniffles! Extraordinary age does indeed affects our physical strength, but personally, I found doing a bit of sports does wonders for me. Hope you'll find the time for other kind of sports that doesn't too demanding physically. Cheers!
Your cheap £99 full suspension is likely made of steel and weighs a ton. Don't buy full suspension unless you plan on doing massive jumps, and the cheap full suspension have horrible travel. Front is more than enough for most people, have your knees bent standing up when going over bumps and your legs take the shock, get a nice low end aluminium bike and you will see a world of difference, it would weigh a good 3-4kg less than a cheap full suspension
I do I also do road cycling on my mountain bike but with a different wheel set and tyres This is my bike which is now 5 years old and still going strong Light frame, good gears after (shimano) and with my road tyres i can get quite some speed. Kept up with alot of road cyclists on the recent London to Brighton bike ride. Quite a few asked me how was i going so fast, until they looked at the tyres and felt how light the bike was Also helps that i can set the ride height of the suspension and also lock it out if i want, dampening the suspension.
It's this computer that's done it to me, far too much fun to be had sitting on my ass eating cr4p and doing no exercise at all - I started jogging around the park last year, that lasted about 2 weeks before I just couldn't be bothered any more Im into weight lifting too, but again, I get into it for 2-3 months, spend a fortune on supplements, then out of nowhere I just lose my passion for it and I end up sitting around doing nothing again just as I started seeing results Each winter I tell myself Im gonna get myself back a beach body for the summer, and each summer I wish I'd done it lol Yea the cheap bike wasn't the best of ideas, and the full suspension wasn't great either, I don't feel like Ive got much control over the bike especially cornering EDIT - This is the bike
I got Felt Edict Nine Series 29er blast to drive. But this year I am in the shape of my life. Tbh getting in shape isn't that much harder then it was back in early 20's but we just have way less time. And we might have broken our bodies some. Gladly I haven't. After 40 it properly starts getting harder and harder to stay in shape but still manageable.
We're out cycling many weekends during the spring/summer. Nothing too serious, mainly canal paths, trailways, lanes etc. Like allesclar above, I've got a decent hardtail fitted with semi slicks & lockout thus making it a hybrid of sorts. I'd say cheap, heavy mountain bikes with knobbly tyres are one of those things that puts people off cycling. Making progress is just such hard work on those and not very enjoyable.
Looks was one of the factors. But it really is an awesome ride with 29ers. I can ride 26km/h avg with the really wide tires for 40 kilometers easy. This summer getting hybrid tires tho for road.
Exactly what's happened to me, never had a bike for over a decade, was excited to get back into it, bought that thing, put me off completely
I'm currently saving up some money to build a road bike inspired from the movie Premium Rush (the one used by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) for commuting. Although I love riding my old full-suspension MTB, riding it as a commuting bike isn't very efficient (not to mention how exhausting it is to try and take over a bus with it lol). As for heavy MTB with knobby tires, I think it's the current trend now for the most part of the world. It does make it as one of the most versatile means of transportation available for the masses. Meanwhile here in Indonesia, the current trend is to ride a fixie. Almost everyone that getting biking as a new hobby guaranteed to have at least one fixie bike. Most of my friends in my neighborhood got one. But when I ask them to have a trip in the city on the weekend, they kept using the excuse of "Our bikes doesn't allows us to stop pedalling, while yours is equipped with gears" but when I ask them to switch with my bike they used "Your bike is too heavy, less grip on the road surface due to knobby tires and lots of chain slacks if pedalling hard because of the soft setting of the rear suspension" :gape: I do think that the looks of the bike we ride does provide some sort of personal satisfaction, at least that's what I feel. I really wanted to ride a 29ers wheels, but due to my short stature and the tendencies to ride rather recklessly, I don't have the confidence to do so in a bike that I know is too big for me physically.. *sigh
Just picked up a new bike this week. I was going for MTB, but here in my location there's more road than anything. So I went for a hybrid in-between racing and MTB. I ended up with a Specialized Sirrus Elite Carbon Disc with Shimano Sora finish and hydro brakes. Did my first long run yesterday, but saddle pain .. oh gawd soo much saddle pain. Prolly need to look for a wide saddle before I can continue. Other then that, awesome bike, very light and you can use it on sandy roads as well.
I would love to go mountain biking and I have a suitable bike for it but the only paths I can take which are close here are literally overrun by german tourists. Its not mountain biking anymore when you have to wait in a line to get past a ridge path.