Forum

Hi everyone! Im a 25 year old currently living in billericay and will be living in chelms in the next few few weeks,

I used to ride alot on cheap bikes offroad as a teenager but havnt done much since hitting my twenties, Id like to get into serious mountain biking but have no idea where to start, other then that I need a bike! Places like danbury common look really appealing to me and ramps and trails look more fun then general XC but I dont have a large budget on a bike, at the absolute max would be £500 and will probably get a bike through cycle to work scheme, I realise this limits me to a hardtail, so some questions are

Can hardtails handle a small amount of abuse from jumps and downhill like at danbury?
Are there any bikes you could reccomend?
Is there anyone about happy to show me the ropes once I have a ride?

Thanks in advance

More chelmo newbies..... Welcome

HT can handle Danbury fine... Keep an eye on the ride section for when a local one is planned if you have transport then even better to join in on a ride..

Don't get a bike through the cycle to work you'll end up with a compramise
use the £500 to buy secondhand and you will get some thing of a far higher spec
welcome btw

Hey and thanks, what do you mean compremise? on what can be bought through the scheme?

Any ideas on what good 1st and 2nd hand bikes would be good for a beginner in my budget?

Hey Kellboy

I'm no expert at all but I recently got a bike on the scheme and got a Carrera Vengance. I'm told it's a good entry level bike and well within the budget. My plan was to stick with it until my riding skill justifies spending a heap more on a better bike.

DH

sounds like sound advice mate! and thats also how i feel as well, as im primarily a rock climber, having to take some serious time off due to tendonitits in my elbows, so I dont want to commit to heavily either, but ideally Id love to do both sports, but do want to ease in gently.

I am thinking of this from the point of view of a newbie that was over danbury on saturday, he had not long picked up a fresh cube HT, very nice bike he was a little over 6ft so they had specced him a 20" frame.
a 20" frame over danbury etc makes life very hard work, it's a bit too xc orientated and too tall a frame.
you need to tailor a bike to your needs
if i was getting a ht for danbury it would be a jump style frame with a 1 x 9 or 10 gear set up a low stand over height but a longish top tube and a short stem with at least 120mm of travel but ideally 140-160mm.

i think your best bet would be to take a wander about danbury on the weekend and get chatting to people over there if its the sort of thing you want to do.
the advantage of a decent ht is that you can always extend the seat post and go for an xc jaunt.
UnityJon has a nice ht for danbury etc might be worth having a look at what he has?

Cool! I'm guessing you've spent some time at the Castle then? I used to climb too but haven't for ages and can't even remember how to belay.
One thing about Halfords you should know though, they don't seem to be able to build bikes very well so if you do get one from them and let them put it together you'll end up having to do some tuning. I managed to sort mine out with the helpful chaps on this forum and youtube tutorials.

DH

I got a Carrera Kraken through the scheme for Halfords £450
Seams very good BUT not done much on it so far

quiksilver71

thanks for the advice, all this talk of frame sizes etc pretty mindboggling for the beginner! But think i can understand the reasoning behind it, and yeah thats also why Id like to start with a HT is because Ill probably go on some basic XC trails with some friends and I only have space for one bike, so would also be nice to be able to do some more average cycling as well as the beginner jumps etc!

Ill be riding some bikes kept at my girldfriends outdoor centre, think theyre cheap but the instructors are all avid MTB'ers so they will also be able to help me I hope!




Haha no I havnet been there actually, heard good things though, I spend most of my time at harlow wall, the reach in london and the basildon sporting village wall!

Does anyone know of any good cycle shops in our area that would be good to for for some sound advice? Ive used halfords before, and have no problem for them but because of how tailored my needs are for biking Id like to go somewhere a bit more specialist if I can!

If you are in and around chelmsford
the best bike shop in town is chelmer cycles http://www.chelmercycles.co.uk/index.ph ... &Itemid=52
cycles uk are ok http://www.cyclesuk.com/article/chelmsford_bike_shop
also worth a look http://www.thecyclecompany.co.uk/index.php/contact

i did a taster session at basildon climbing wall was a lot of fun!

Nice! I can get a cycle Uk bike on the scheme and they have alot of HT models, some with the travel in the susp you mentioned, will check out both stores!

Yea it is alot of fun, just gutted I have to wait till my tendons recover! Its alot more fun outdoors though If I get off the ground with this riding and you can show me the ropes, I can show you the ropes next time you fancy climbing down there (scuse the pun!)

is this some sort of pun off lol!

Danbury is such a laugh on my bike i'm totally addicted to it !! the bike is rugged enough to whip ass down the trails there but manageable enough to ride back up (shame the rider isnt fit enough LOL)

If i were to start doing 12ft straight drops then i'd look at full suss but whilst there's a transition i'm more than happy !