Getting into cycling / mountain biking

WAslayer said:
These are the 20 year old bikes I was referring to.. the giant doesn't look well maintained.. Merida looks better but seems to be a xl frame.. are you 2m tall..?
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Yoh - 20 years seems a bit too old. Both users insist Giant are in good condition but dusty due to no use recently. Hell no - not 2M tall - I didn't think of XL frame etc - will look for something that suits 1.75M then.
 
Sideshow Bob said:
Yoh - 20 years seems a bit too old. Both users insist Giant are in good condition but dusty due to no use recently. Hell no - not 2M tall - I didn't think of XL frame etc - will look for something that suits 1.75M then.
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Medium should suit your height, I am a little taller and have ridden both M and L, felt more comfortable on an M.
 
Remember its not just your standover height thats affected with frame size... Its also the reach to the bar.
 
Jam Sandwich said:
Years ago i did a casual mtb race with a mate. I had my hardtail and he wound up buying some Makro POS dualie..he was pretty stoked he had a dualie... We parted ways halfway in as his bike was already squeeking and creaking and was driving me nuts...

Anyway... After the race i asked him how it all went for him... He said it was the first bike he had ever ridden that required him to pedal going downhill..
He sold it to the gardner afterwards....
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I worked for more than 40 years at the same employer, and I cycled to work and back for about 35 of those years. I opted for bicycles better than the Makro, Game, PnP etc. types of bicycles. Each one I had lasted for more than 10 years of commuting to work and back each workday, and in none of them any major expenses was required to keep them on the road. Only tyres, tubes and the occasional chain replacement.

A colleague approached me at one time to ask some questions about commuting to work since i have been doing it for so long. I answered all his questions and also told him NOT to get the bottom of the barrel bicycles, but he went and got him a retail store cheapie. He said that for his needs, that would suffice.

Less than a year of him starting to commute to work, things started to give in, perish, squeak and wobble. He initially only complained about how heavy the bike was, but soon thereafter things started failing. He took it to the local bike shop to have it looked at, and it would have cost him more than double of what he paid for the bicycle just to get back in a useable state. He decided against it, left the bike at the bike shop and went back to driving to work and back with his car.

Follow the suggestions, save a bit longer and get a decent second-hand one of the Bikehub classifieds section or look at the entry level bikes from stores like Sportsman's Warehouse, or if you are in the Gauteng area, places like Solomons Cycles or Cyclelab.

You can even consider getting something like a hybrid bike, such as this one on special at Cyclelab.
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Pho3nix said:
Any decent bikes for R5k?
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2nd hand you will find a decent selection of hardtails for that money..

Jump onto bikehub classifieds and filter by location, MTB and hardtails and have a look what's for sale in your area..

Feel free to drop anything you are interested in , here and we can review for you..
 
How is Rockrider brand ? 20inch selling for R2K and seller says he paid R4.6K but hardly used

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Never heard of them.

Note: bicycle sizes in inches refer to wheel size. i.a.w. 16"/ 20"/24" are kiddies (primary school) bicycles.
Go for a 26" as there should be plenty, and be relative cheap.
Preferably (if you want to keep up the cycling thing) a 29"

Frame sizes on MTBs are indicated like T-shirts: XS/S/M/L/XL, etc
Frame sizes on road & gravel bikes are indicated in cm (48/50/52/54/56 ... 60)
Frame size required is roughly determined by your height

A few things seems to be the wrong way round: fork, seat post clamp.

Shrader valves (like a car) indicate it has tubes, and is not tubeless, so the rims are NOT tubeless ready.
The protector on the chainring and reflectors on the spokes but me off, but that is just me.

PS: I really think it is a kiddies bike!
 
gotaway said:
Never heard of them.

Note: bicycle sizes in inches refer to wheel size. i.a.w. 16"/ 20"/24" are kiddies (primary school) bicycles.
Go for a 26" as there should be plenty, and be relative cheap.
Preferably (if you want to keep up the cycling thing) a 29"

Frame sizes on MTBs are indicated like T-shirts: XS/S/M/L/XL, etc
Frame sizes on road & gravel bikes are indicated in cm (48/50/52/54/56 ... 60)
Frame size required is roughly determined by your height

A few things seems to be the wrong way round: fork, seat post clamp.

Shrader valves (like a car) indicate it has tubes, and is not tubeless, so the rims are NOT tubeless ready.
The protector on the chainring and reflectors on the spokes but me off, but that is just me.

PS: I really think it is a kiddies bike!
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He is also looking for one for his kid..
 
Sideshow Bob said:
How is Rockrider brand ? 20inch selling for R2K and seller says he paid R4.6K but hardly used

View attachment 1822567
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1st things 1st the fork is wrong way round. Either the front suspension doesnt work, or the frame will have some damage where the fork guard thingy bashed the frame when the suspension bottomed out.

Seller doesn't know anything about bikes, lowball.
 
Tman* said:
1st things 1st the fork is wrong way round. Either the front suspension doesnt work, or the frame will have some damage where the fork guard thingy bashed the frame when the suspension bottomed out.

Seller doesn't know anything about bikes, lowball.
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Thanks - good observation. I didn't notice that at all. :cool:
 
Sideshow Bob said:
Thanks - good observation. I didn't notice that at all. :cool:
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Then you get strange setups like my Merida. It has Manitour Markhor air shocks up front and the brace is at the back, however that is what it is supposed to be like.

Also look up Cannondale Lefty for another oddball setup
 
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