Spec Me A Bike.

[chrisbassist]

Sounds like a bit of a mission.

Good bike shops are a bit like good fish shops. Hard to find, few around. So when you find one keep going to support it.

I can't wait til I have money to upgrade bits of my bike. First things will be new forks, upgrade my disc brakes to hydraulic ones, probably new pedals, one day in a few years time I may replace the frame...

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

In my opinion being a tall female is a mission in it's self...the thing that p's me off most is I'm not THAT tall, there are a lot of girls way taller than me...where do they buy clothes from? bikes? GRR.

 

[JoshuaA]

Ignore the female/male bike classifications, anyway I always thought you were male .

If you do expect to be riding perhaps 2% offroad and by offroad I mean going down the local park as a shortcut then I really would NOT advise a roadbike, the thing will break the second you go over anything bigger than a pebble. Like the bass player guy said if you go off road you ain't going to get ANY grip if you have a road bike.

Also a completely agree with the suspension thing on him. Unless you're paying mega bucks or at least £900 you ain't going to get a good bike with "Full" suspension. For £300 you will get a quite a good entry level bike with a reasonable set up.

I would advise picking up a mountain bike magazine. There a few out there MBUK is a one to avoid, it's full of lunatics jumping off buildings and throwing them self down a cliff side (my kinda thing ) and then you have something like MBR, the chances are if you buy MBR you will come across a good review on a bike suitable for you! Look on the cover for "Entry level Review" and they will cover bikes in your price range!


Most important thing is take your time on this one, you may jump to a decision but for £300 its a decision I'd would much prefer to sleep on (a few weeks no doubt). Finally what you're looking for in a bike like this is... Something that when you ride it you don't think "Oh this will be good if I had that..." You want it to be good from there out. Big mistake I made on getting my bike, I think the only things which haven't changed on my downhill bike is the Frame/Front wheel/Cranks. Everything else has been changed either due to discomfort/general dislike or the fact the part wasn't built to last.

and remember! when you see a bike you really like in a LBS make sure you go online and check for the price there! LBS don't tend to drop their prices on older model bikes or have discounts. Online bike retailers have winter discounts/May discounts etc for no apparent reason

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Ignore the female/male bike classifications, anyway I always thought you were male .

I always thought I was a female ! I think on a forum most people assume that the poster is male.

Anyway I've ordered a bike in to have a try of; it'll be in in about 2 weeks; I had to pay a £50 deposit but if I don't like the bike I get my deposit back...it's not the end of the world. The other shop wouldn't order the bike in for me full stop.

It's a Giant Expression DX - nothing fancy; I just want a bike I can ride for leisure and for some fitness; I'm not that bothered what it looks like.

My local park has nice amooth paths hahaha; so does the woods close by actually!

 

[JoshuaA]

It's because there's usually no females on the internet, forums usually smell of stale farts and immature jokes like that.

Give it a go! Just don't let he bike shop push you into the sale. If you disagree the chances are they'll pull out the "Oh well if this bike doesn't work for you, you're not going to find any others blah de blah" in which you're usually expected to just go "Oh Ok then".

I had a lot of run ins with my local bike shop, however I taught myself using Park Tool USA website how to perform every bike repair I needed, only thing I can't do to my bike is rebuild the wheel from its spokes.

It's nice though that they're ordering one in for you to try it, although they will just keep it anyway no doubt to sell it on, try get something free out of it as well, usually you can wing it and grab a few free items, or get discount of those night time front and rear LED lights. I use to be allowed to borrow the bike shops tools every now and then.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

This bike shop WILL NOT give freebies....the other one who wouldn't order it in for me will. I'm tempted to go to that shop when I ge my bike and say...you lost out!

Well I tried a 21" frame last night and it was a good height; but the bike I've ordered comes in a 22" (according to their books) but according to the net and the shop documents it's a 21" - either one should be good; plus it has adjustable handlebars

 

[JoshuaA]

Hmm... adjustable handlebars? I think every single bar has exactly the same ability, I wouldn't follow that as a selling point, remember once you've got it set in a comfortable position there is no need to move your handlebars again. Mine haven't been moved for like 2 years haha.

So you have ordered the bike or are you going to test ride it and then go to the other shop?

Just another thing to point towards, if you can find a good priced bike with lockout front suspension you will love it. Though you would be expected to pay around £350-400 for a good entry level bike for it.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Hmm... adjustable handlebars? I think every single bar has exactly the same ability, I wouldn't follow that as a selling point, remember once you've got it set in a comfortable position there is no need to move your handlebars again. Mine haven't been moved for like 2 years haha.

So you have ordered the bike or are you going to test ride it and then go to the other shop?

Just another thing to point towards, if you can find a good priced bike with lockout front suspension you will love it. Though you would be expected to pay around £350-400 for a good entry level bike for it.

I'm not buying a bike because it has asjustable handlebars; it's just a novely hehe.

I've ordered the bike and then I'm going to test ride it (if I don't like it then its fine) - the other shop weren't happy about this. It should arrive in about 2 weeks .

What is lock-out front suspension? (Told you I was clue-less).

 

[JoshuaA]

Basically laymen terms, it instantly stops your front suspension being "bouncy". You "Lock" it so that it doesn't compress and when you go on the road you don't waste as much energy. Sometimes do by a little switch on your handle bar, or just on top of the front suspension.

Novelties can be expensive, They tend to be selling points. My bike frame can be adjusted into 6 different angles paid a lot for that novelty lol, funnily enough I never made use of it after I found a comfortable setting.

 

[seffieuk]

I'm coming to the party a bit late, but if you are in the UK there is a fantastic scheme running - they are subsidising the price of buying a bike

http/www.bike2workscheme.co.uk/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=bike%2Bto%2Bwork%2Bscheme&utm_campaign=Bike%2B2%2BWork%2BScheme

Seffie x

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

We have a bike to work scheme with work but the catch is at the end of the year of paying for the bike I don't own it; my work do and they can then choose to sell me the bike or not if they choose.

 

[JoshuaA]

How long till the test ride then?

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

At least another week. I ordered it last Wednesday and they said about 2 weeks to go

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Actually it would turn out I got a text from them at 3pm; so I went and test rode it on my way home last night; liked it and bought it . It had a scratch on it so I got money off (I'm not bothered; I'm only going to scratch it myself). Rode over lots of speed bumps and didn't feel a thing on the front . It's HUGE however (or rahter perfect sized for me )