Anyone into Mountain Biking?

[Mike H.]

Just curious to see if anyone else is into mountain biking.

Had quite a few bikes and down to a single model.

Picked up a Motobecane from bikes direct for 250 bucks on a pre sale a couple years back..Got tired of spending a fortune on top name brands with mediocre parts just to have a sticker that had a top name on the frame.

Went with a Motobecane 550 HT...Hydraulic brakes..Sram shift componants and a cheap fork.

Decided to do some upgrading and put parts on it i want for my hard earned dollar...i still need a fork and need to install my crankset and sram componants but its pretty much done...With the addition of the fork i want it should weigh in about 26 27 lbs.

WTB speed disc wheels
WTB velocoraptor tires
Titanium skewers
Ritchey Pro 4 axis stem
Ritchey WCS carbon bars
Sram PG850 cassette
Titanium bolts throughout.
Shimano Deore hollowtech crank set
Mongoose teocali pedals.
WTB clamp on grips
180mm front disc/160mm rear (Tektro Draco Hydraulics)
SRAM X9 rear derailleur
SRAM X7 Shifters
SRAM X7 front derailleur
Cheap lightweight saddle.
cheap water bottle cage and bottle.
cheap bike computer
cheap bike bag
anodized valve stem caps

Its really a reliable bike and sees some pretty decent trail riding...The fork and crank are Suntour XCT for now..been pretty reliable so far for intermediate trails.

 

[kiwivaper]

yea- i still ride- thrash the trails a bit but i dont have a full suspension- just a alloy hard tail, xtr drive train -old xtr brakes, not disk- damm i wish i had disks, and mavric rims- the old girl has seen a huge amount of k's/ miles- i gotta admit its light azz- great for x-country-- do get u f**ked up looks when you pull out your mod and chuff a few clouds on the trails!!! lol i do!!! lol

 

[kiwivaper]

 

[kiwivaper]

my sid forks sux- they are from 2005- way to light and flexible- i need to get a new fork, i hope they've upgraded the new ones and made more rigid.. and with my brakes you sure gotta think ahead!!!! but hey brakes only make u go slower!!!

 

[Mike H.]

SID forks are a small fortune now days..lol

A good set of even entry level hydraulics are wonderful to have.

Hydrualics you can get for 60 70 dollars here in the states.

 

[zaroba]

When I was younger I was real big into biking and could go out for 25+ mile trail rides no problem.
Then life happened and I haven't biked for over 10 years.
Still have my bikes and equipment, nothing fancy or super high end though.

Have a Peugeot 10 speed for road riding. Think it's an 80s model. Got it for free when it turned up at a grocery store I was working night shift at in 98. It sat in the front for a week, then got pulled to the backroom where it sat another week, then got put in the utility room to get it out of the way and it sat there for 2 weeks so I took it home. Called the police to see if anybody had reported it stolen and they heard nothing.

Have a Schwinn Mesa that I got around 1995 or so. Think only the crank and frame are still original on it.

When I worked at walmart 5 years ago, I was a bike assembler. We had a higher end (for a department store) full-shock Mongoose hanging in the backroom that just needed parts. According to the other assembler (a lazy sob) it had been there for more then 6 years. We didn't sell the model anymore so before quitting I fixed it up, tossed a price tag on it from one of the cheaper Mongooses and bought it for almost almost half the price.

Have been wanting to get back into biking for a while.
Going to try it again this summer now that the cigs are gone.

 

[Mike H.]

@zaroba....youll be surprised at what models have been being built and used on the trails from department stores now days....The big misconception is with the frames but they are holding up just fine to some pretty hefty abuse.

 

[VapedCrusader]

I have a specialized rockhopper.... Paid 850$ about 3-4 years ago.. Just found out theres a trail that goes almost the entire state of ME thats riight next to my house so i plan to do a lot of riding this year considering i totally slacked last year. Gotta get it all tuned up and ill be set for when and if the winter ends


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[Mike H.]

I have a specialized rockhopper.... Paid 850$ about 3-4 years ago.. Just found out theres a trail that goes almost the entire state of ME thats riight next to my house so i plan to do a lot of riding this year considering i totally slacked last year. Gotta get it all tuned up and ill be set for when and if the winter ends


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I havent tried a 29er just yet...probably will at some point.

 

[Mike H.]

Bump..gotta be more than 3 or 4 of us...lol..post up.

 

[robot zombie]

I'm not heavy into mountain biking, but I do love to ride, sometimes off-road. It's one of my main forms of leisure and exercise. If I could afford it, I'd buy a nice mid-level MTB and go all in, start driving out to some real spots and tossing sand. The thing is, half of my riding is street. It's just that in the 15-mile radius I tend to ride through, there are many mountain biking trails, which I like having the luxury of dropping right into if it tickles my fancy that day. I like my current bike a lot for that. Fast enough to match traffic, but rugged and maneuverable to enough hit trails.

For now, I'm riding on a Genesis GS29. Best bike you can buy at wal-mart aside from the GMC Denali road bikes they get, one of which I also own can can say good things about. I hesitate to call them wal-mart bikes because you could go to a bike shop and get something just as good if you asked for a decent, entry-level bike. Shit is legit a fuck. Not a toy.

It's got a very light aluminum frame. The two thicker sections are hollowed out. The forks are not and neither is the rail from the seat to the pedal bearing assembly. It weighs maybe 20-25 lbs in all. The 21 speed transmission performs flawlessly.

All it really needs is some better tires and I'd confidently ride the shit out of it. The lack of rear suspension isn't a huge problem for me with the 29' wheelbase and my riding style. Plus, it's more rugged that way.

It actually holds up quite well, too. The thing can take some serious abuse, which I have put it through a lot of this past year. Still rides just the same. I trust it about as much as one can trust an MTB.

You just have to be careful with the wal-mart bikes because they never tighten everything down. They always fuck up the cable tension on the rear derailleur. I bought a Genesis 5 years ago that I loved to death until the grub nut for the rear derailleur cable popped off on me. It was a great bike... ...just poorly assembled. I was stuck on the smallest sprocket in the back from then on in... just used the front 3 to change my power-ratio lol.

I inspected this one when I bought it. The handlebars were off-center AND loose. The quick release on the seat was loose. At least all of the cables were set to the right distances for their tension AT THE TIME THEY WERE installed. Because the cable wasn't broken-in before they rigged up the rear derailleur, it fell gradually to its proper resting tension and started dropping to smaller sprockets on its own. I had to go in and make some minor adjustments after a month or two. It was perfectly balanced when I first had it and it pretty much is again now. What I really need to do is take a little length out of the cable. The brakes were all fucked up. Completely not gripping on one side of the front wheel. I think they pretty much just build bikes without testing or calibrating them there.

Easy fixes, just time-consuming, and dangerous for people who buy bikes there and don't know a thing about servicing them or what to inspect.

It's really quite a beautiful bike, though.

You guys may scoff at the idea or laught at me for riding a wal-mart bike, but fuck it, this is a great bike. Worth every bit of $150. I'd probably pay a little more than that. Just means I can drop some better tires on it with the extra cash!