Begineer Questions

[Adrian]

Hi Guys,

Just started looking in to doing a bit of mountain biking and I wanted to ask you a few questions if I could.

I've never done any mountain biking before and haven't cycled in a few years if i'm honest but I'm looking for a summer pastime and mountain biking looks like it could be fun.

Problem is that the bikes seem to cost a lot and I know I will spend even more when I start getting all the protection stuff.

Do you know of anywhere where you go can a weekend course or even somewhere where I could rent a bike for a day and try it out?

Any help would be great, thanks

[TomH]

Hey Adrian,
It certainly is a fun pastime. Bikes can cost a lot, but a beginners bike can easily be purchased for e300-500...A bike for that money would certainly be suitable for your first bike.

Protection wise all you need are a good helmet and gloves. e100 should be more than enough for these...

To reduce the cost of buying a bike, if you work you may be interested in the cycle to work scheme the govt are currently running.

Are you interested in cross country or downhill? Cross country is probably the easier sport to get into, and is a good base for progressing into downhill at a later stage...

I believe Wicklow Cycles do bike rental.
Good luck,
Tom

[Scrivo]

Talk to Brian @ Wicklow Cycles about renting a bike. You don't have to spend crazy amounts for a good starter bike. 450-500 euro will get you a very good bike from Giant or Specialized or Canyon. They'll give you a great introduction to get you hooked.

Don't know about other people in the club, but I haven't seen many people give mountainbiking a good shot and NOT get hooked. It's seriously addictive.

As our wise Sexmeister Tom once said "Mountainbiking is like crack cocaine except its twice as expensive and three times more addictive"

[TomH]

And we all know I've spent a LOT on crack..

[Morgan]

Hi Aidan,
As Steve and his dad say, you can get loads of good mtbs under €500 - and even less if you go down the second hand route. There are a few places offering mtb instruction now. These courses are probably beneficial but to get started it's really just a case of getting out on the trails and riding your bike.

http://www.allmountainexperience.com/ (as seen on TV!)
http://www.totalexperience.ie/ (handy for Ballinastoe I think)
http://www.firsttracksguiding.com/

[paddyobrien]

You can also get really good deals on second hand bikes from here and the other MTB forums mtbireland.com and epicmtb.com which can net you a much better bike for the same price as a new one, you just have to make sure it fits you properly first, so just ask for advice at any stage and people will help you out.

And yep .. very very very addictive

[Adrian]

Thanks guys for the good advice.

I might give one of those courses a go first just to make sure I dont destroy myself on the first day.

looking forward to it now :)

[eoinkildare]

hi guys.
i'm a newbie and i'm interested in taking up mountain biking. i reckon it'll be mostly xc with a small bit of downhill. i've no intention to race or do any mad stunts but its something i reckon i could get into. i intend on doing a training day or two as well.
my question is; which bike?!
i've been offered a brand new Trek 6 series for 600euro and the seller assures me this is an excellent starter bike well up the range. retail according to him is around 895euro.
he's also going to throw in a bottle cage and toe clips.
its got hydraulic disc brakes too.
any thoughts?

thanks,
eoin

posted the above on boards.ie too but it seems to be more geared towards road cycling so i hope i get more responses here! thanks morgan for your reply there (presume its the same person!)

[diamondG]

first things first, when buying second hand, you have to make sure its the right size. Its easy to get a bike that a great deal, but the wrong size, learnt that myself the hard way

so what size is it and you?

there's a number of different Trek 6 series models
ask if its a 6300 6700 etc

and then what year it is.

here's the different trek models and what they cost in the uk http://www.evanscycles.com/categories/complete-bikes/mountain-bikes?brand=Trek&page=2&price=&price_from=&price_to=&x=23&y=6

you can't actually buy treks online, so they might be a bit dearer than some bikes as a result

a good site for deals on giants, particularly last years models is
www.paulscycles.co.uk

[eoinkildare]

well i know its a 2008 model but not sure which model it is. i'll find out. i'm 5'11" tall, so what frame size should i go for? i took it for a brief cycle and it felt about right

[Faro]

Hi Eoin,

I PM'd you some info on my Trek 6300 which may be similar to the one you want.
Talk soon