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Buy The
Right Bicycle |
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Bicycle shops to day are
modern state of the art places selling gleaming top
lined products made from fancy materials you may not
of heard about like carbon-fibre, titanium, and
special blends of aluminium. Gone are the days when
bicycles were made from steel and one size suited all
and the choice of bicycles were Raleigh.
Ask yourself,
'What do you what a bicycle for' ?
It's an obvious question,
but sometimes over looked mountain bikes are now very
technical bits of kit, so choosing the right one for
your type of riding is the most important decision
you'll make, so don't waste money on the wrong
machine.
That is up to
you, but we at Bicyclemania recommend you try and
spend at least £450 on a bike if you what to go
off/road, spending less could mean your new bike
spends most of it's time in the workshop or worse
busted. Try not to go for the adverts offering bicycle
for £49.99 why ..! because at that price it will not
last 5 minutes off road & less time if you try
jumping. |
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~ Trail Riding
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All about riding on a variety of
terrains, and guess what? it'll be what you will mostly be
riding on. The mountain bike market offer you Hardtails & full
suspension with suspension travel from 80mm to 125mm. |
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~ Free Riding ~
All about riding steep descents,
wooden frame structures, jumps and cliff edge drop-offs.
Mountain bikes for this generally feature big & heavy full
suspension frames with at least 150mm (6") of travel to adsorb
the heavy impacts. |
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~ Cross Country
Riding ~
All about light weight and
efficiency, it used to be dominated by hardtail mountain bikes
but now the manufactures have designed light-weight full
suspension bike. The nature of the full suspension X/C bike
means loads of money because of the components and materials
used. |
~ Downhill Riding ~
All about socking up the big hits
at warp speed. A downhill mountain bike is in essence a
freeride bike on a diet, downhill bikes will have full
suspension travel of about 200mm and cost a kings ransom too. |
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~ Dirt Jumping
Riding ~
All about jumping, street riding &
skate parks, Dirt bikes are overgrown BMX's with small tough
hardtail frames with few gears and usually a short travel
suspension fork. |
Buying a second-hand bicycle >
Always go for the
mountain bike with the best frame your money can buy. So much
of the bikes life is in the frame and that is transmitted to
the ride. Heavy or low quality frames will feel dull and
uninspiring to ride.
Go shopping with cash
for discounts and extras and remember to haggle, never pay the
price on tag if you can help it.
Make sure the bike you
choose is right, take it for a test ride & get the shop to
change the odd things, you may have to pay the extras but it
will save money in the long run.
If your bike is quipped
with air sprung systems you'll need an air pump, unless it's
supplied with one. Do get the shop to show you how to operate
the pump and set the air setting for your weight.
Some parts on mountain
bikes are down-graded, usually the bits like hubs, bottom
brackets, headsets & front mechs so check to see what you are
getting.
Go bargain hunting
around October/November its usually the time of year when the
bike manufactures are launching the new models. But do be
weary of old stock models, they may be selling off cheap, it
could be an issue later on finding spares.
Try to go to the
mountain bike shop in the week when you can get the sole
attention of the assistant to help you with any questions you
have. Also chances are there will be no muppets putting you
off. |
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