A buyers guide to mountain bikes (Sports Equipment in General)

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Product:	Sports Equipment in General
Date:	11/09/01 (467 review reads)
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Advantages: great fun

Disadvantages: easy to buy wrong bike

It can be pretty confusing buying a modern mountain bike. Since the early days of Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze and "Mountain Bikes Inc." mountain biking has split into several disciplines and many different price points.

Before you splash out your dosh, take a few minutes to check out this buyers guide...

important questions:

1) Do you really need a mountain bike?
2) What kind of riding do you plan to do?
3) How often will you use your bike?
4) Where will you use your bike?
5) How much can you afford to spend?
6) What other items will you need?

Question 1 is not so obvious, many people think they need a mountain bike because they are attracted to the imagery and lifestyle. If you need to get to work quickly, and have to ride 8 miles each way on the road, then look at road bikes and hybrids. Road bikes and hybrids (700c wheel size) are much faster on the road as they have larger wheels, taller gearing and tend to weigh less, with a riding position more suited to the road.

If you want to do some canal path riding, or have to ride across rough ground as part of your commute, then a hybrid may still be the best choice.

If you want to go off-road properly (we're not talking canal paths or forest fire-roads but real rough trails and muddy climbs) then a mountain bike is necessary. A hybrid would be capable of some off-road riding, but the larger wheels are weaker and hybrid tires tend to lack enough air volume and don't have an aggressive tread pattern to take this kind of riding. Hybrid frames are made from thinner, lighter tubing which won't survive long in a true off-road environment.

To sum up Question 1, a mountain bike may be the best choice as it is so versatile. With a change of tires, you can have a fast moving street bike that will laugh off rough tarmac and pot holes common to many cities. And by changing the tires back to off-road treads, you can take to the
hills. The mountain bike is a versatile machine, and this is its' greatest strength. You can't really change a road bike or hybrid for proper off-road use.

Question 2 :What kind of riding do you plan to do? Question 3 : how often? Question 4@ where will you use it?

ENTRY LEVEL BIKES

These points are very important, as they determines the pricepoint. For casual use, an entry-level mountain bike is fine. As frame building prices have fallen, aluminium alloy has become the material of choice, and even budget mountain bikes have adequate aluminium alloy frames (a bit heavy but tough enough). Entry-level bikes have a wide range of gearing, basic but functional components and will survive weekly off-road rides. Look for v-brakes, Shimano gears, as much alloy as you can find (for the handlebar, stem, seatpost), cranks with replaceable chainrings (if possible) and alloy rims with branded hubs. The more branded components you can find, the better your deal. I'm not talking about parts stamped with the bike manufacturers name but aftermarket branded parts from companies like "Bontrager", "Ritchey" and "Tioga". Don't expect to find many branded components on the cheaper bikes, but once you spend £250-350 you'll start getting more of these good bits. Entry level bikes are heavy at 28-35lbs.

THE MID_PRICE BIKE

Be aware that if you start riding more, you will find components wearing out quickly, as they are designed for weekly use, not daily use. I found this after buying a £300 mountain bike for my daily commute, within 6 months I had spend £180 on a new drivetrain to replace components that had simply worn out (and that wasn't even going off-road!).

If you want to do proper long distance off-road riding you'll need a good quality, mid price bike £400-500. This will have a lighter frame and lighter, tougher wheels; decent componentry that will survive muddy rides a
nd maybe front suspension. You'll get more branded parts at this price, plus a frame made from "butted" tubing (which means the tubing changes thickness several times to reduce weight and reduce ride harshness).

THE FRONT SUSPENSION ISSUE>>>

Front suspension is a a real issue for new bike buyers. A good pair of Rockshox, Manitou or Marzocchi forks cost around £150-250. So how can a bike company fit a pair of these forks to a £350 bike?

They can't, without making serious compromises to the rest of the bike. Like a cheaper frame made from heavier tubing. Or cheaper drivetrain parts. Or heavy wheels and tires. Another method is to fit cheap suspension forks, from companies like RST, SR (Suntour) or cheap Rockshox (often last year's forks rebadged or "OEM" specific models using older damping systems and heavier tubing). These are OK, giving some bump absorption, but lack the quality, durability and damping of proper aftermarket forks.

It's often better to buy a good rigid bike so that you get a decent frame and components, and then upgrade to good forks when you need them. You can always keep your old rigid forks for when you need to service your suspension forks, or if you sell your old bike!

Check out the magazines and websites for a guide to buying good forks, as this is an issue in it;s own right.

DOWNHILL RACING

Back to the type of riding issue...if you want to ride down lots of big hills, you should look at aggressive hardtails (front suspension bikes) and full suspension bikes. A proper downhill racing bike costs £2000-5000, so don't expect a £450 Barracuda "Downhill" bike to perform well or last the distance. And watch out for cheapo £169 full suspension bikes that look similar but are really crap as they use loads of cheap bits bolted together...

A good downhill bike is made from strong (i.e. heavy) tubing, with performance based susp
ension systems designed to cope with high speeds and heavy loads. Strong 26" wheels with larger tires (2.3" to 3"), thick inner tubes, limited gearing (often 8 or 9 speed), massive suspension forks using dual crowns and upside down legs (like a motorbike)and disc brakes to stop you quickly with control. Downhill bikes tend to be pretty heavy and don't go up hill very well. Downhill bikes tend to have 6-9" of travel each end. For the UK 6" is normally faster but for World Cup tracks you need 9" or more!

AGGRESSIVE HARDTAILS / FREERIDE BIKES

You can get a good aggressive hardtails from people like GT (Ruckus) or Kona (Stuff) for £700-900. Aggressive hardtails have strong, downhill style tubing, heavier wheels and stronger components such as downhill riser handlebars and short reach, forged stems. They are heavier to ride up hills, but will take alot of abuse if that's the kind of riding you want to do...Aggressive hardtails make great general bikes for heavy/clumsy/abusive riders.

Freeriding is a marketing tag describing people who go out and ride! This now also means Northshore riding (an area of Canada where riders on downhill bikes thread their way through man-made routes of log drops, see-saws and natural jumps). Freeride bikes tend to be lighter than downhill bikes, have wider gearing and smaller tires, but are still plenty strong to take the abuse. Typical suspension travel for a freeride bike is 4-6".

CROSS COUNTRY RACING

For cross-country racing you need to spend serious money to get a competitive light weight bike. You can go racing quite happily on a £300 bike, but riding a £1500 bike is much easier and more enjoyable. Weight, comfort, performance all improve as your wallet lightens. And if you're racing every weekend, you want reliable components that won't fall apart or wear out quickly. Good cross country bikes weigh around 21-22 lbs for rigid, 23-24lbs for fro
nt suspension, and 24-26lbs for full suspension. Full suspension bikes are becoming popular for racing, but are very expensive and have limited suspension travel (2-3")when compared to downhill bikes.

JUMP BIKES

If you want to relive your bmx days and like to jump bikes, then check out the "jump bike". These tend to be more affordable than downhill or cross country racing bikes as they are simpler. A new type of jump bike has emerged, with smaller (24") wheels, single gears and one brake (rear). Cromoly bmx cranks, cromoly frames and rigid forks are popular. It depends on the type of riding you do. If you want to jump sets of double jumps then a singlespeed bike is good, but if you want to ride in the woods and do more natural jumps (as well as doubles) then get a geared bike with a tough suspension fork like a Marzochhi Bomber Z-1 Drop off or Rockshox Psylo XC. A good singlespeed jump bike will set you back £600-700, whilst a geared bike with suspension forks is £999-1500.

SINGLESPEED CROSS COUNTRY

Like the jump bikes, singlespeed cross-country bikes are simple, light and quick but can punish your legs up the hills! You tend to build your own, as they're not widely available ready built. There are several companies making specific parts for this growing scene.

THE DISC BRAKE ISSUE...

You'll see plenty of cheap bikes fitted with disc brakes like those you see on motorbikes. It's a purely visual similarity, as these cheap brakes don't really work! Like the suspension fork, stay away from £300 bikes fitted with disc brakes. A good Shimano hydraulic disc brake costs £80-120, a good Hope disc brake is £120-150 which gives you an idea of the compromises a manufacturer makes to fit a disc brake. It's a fashion thing, like cheap suspension bikes, and best stayed away from.

Something worth looking out for is a disc brake ready frame and fork, with disc compatible hubs.
This will let you buy good quality discs once you are comfortable with your bike. As an example of pricing, a good disc brake equipped bike for general riding will costs around £900-1300.

CONCLUSION

I hope this has steered you in some kind of direction, it's a massive subject that a whole book could be written about. If you're still confused, get a decent entry-level bike around £300 and you won't go wrong. look for decent brands like Gt, Specialised, Raleigh, Trek, Fisher, Kona, Dawes and you won't go wrong. Entry level bikes are pretty similar these days, stay away from cheap suspension forks and cheap disc brakes and you'll get better parts and a quality frame. A good entry level bike can be resold for a decent price if you look after it, sometimes it's worth keeping as a commuting bike / spare bike if you get bitten by the *cycling bug* and want to get a downhill bike / jump bike / cross country racing bike.

The other bits....

Helmet £25-100
Locks £10-50
Tools £???
Chain cleaner / lube
Bike polish
Cycling shoes and clipless pedals
Cycle clothing
Panniers for carrying stuff

the list goes on, but helmet, gloves and lock are essential, plus a multitool for making adjustments to handelbars, seats and a bike pump, puncture kit and tire levers.

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