Venturing into the realm of MTBs

I moved from Woolwich to Falkirk in October and now most of the house stuff is done bar a bit of painting, my eye turns to the wealth of countryside and tracks near me I'm excited to get back to a MTB for the first time since I was a kid in the New Forest. Also my only bike since the move is my trust Pre Cursa which is not fit for any paths near here.

I know close to nothing about MTBs but in terms of requirements:

• Suitable for my little 5'5 frame
  
• Ideally quite versatile (can take a rigid fork and rack or sus fork)
  
• Good starting point for learning about riding off road
  
• Can be used on a turbo indoors (possibly direct drive as a friend has offered my his as he's never used it)
  
  

There are lots of good woodland trails near me, Callendar Estate trails and I'm sure heaps more to discover.

I've always liked the look of On-One Inbred for the above, but anything I can get a hold off 2nd hand for around the £400/500 mark ideally the lower end of that would be fantastic.

Things to decide:

• Wheel size
  
• Frame options
  
  

Components wise I'll be going for whatever comes with the 2nd hand bike, and I'll just put on whatever the MTB equivalent of 105 is if I feel like upgrading and I'm riding enough.

The other area I'm flummoxed by is MTB sizing - from a google around, it'd appear about 16"?

As you can tell from the above pretty useless BUT I'd love any help/advice people have, and if anyone is near me and fancies a ride let me know!

Current insp:

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Unsurprisingly for a discontinued frameset, proving hard to find either an Inbred or 456 on eBay or on here. Any other frames I could consider that hopefully are a bit more abundant 2nd hand?

Have a look at Charge Duster as well, they did a Tange Prestige model. Old Voodoo Wangas as well (before they were built by halfords), Orange P7, Genesis IO, or the more expensive option would be a Cotic...

Krampus

It depends on what you want to use it for and how outdated you want the parts to be. Finding a decent useable suspension fork for a 1 1/8 steerer seemed to be a bit of a challenge. Most hardtails for trail riding have moved on a bit from the inbred geometry.

I’ve just gone through the inbred to more capable bike transition (and kind of wish I’d gone further...) but then I like following my riding companions down trails above my skill grade.

Edit: may also be selling my inbred soon but I’m in Ireland.

@wintyDono thanks - all added to the eBay trawl.

@S_b the Krampus looks awesome but probably a bit rich for me, Surlys seem to hold their price really well preowned.

@cheekysnaker ideally (not really possibly due to ever changing standard) get something that will have a good availability of parts. I'd like thru axle but that leads to boosts standard nonsense, tapered HT would be good as well as you say for fork choice.

I've seen the Sonder Frontier, iirc I saw someone in a CP thread building one for their wife. Will see if I can dredge it up. Unlikely to find 2nd hand but looks to be a good all rounder which I could hopefully get a sus fork if I found myself wanting one.

In terms of riding I'd imagine it'll be a lot of trails for the most part, and if feel more exotic and enjoying it, head further up country to some more adventurous riding. I've really fallen out of love with cycling so something that is going to put a smile on my face and get me out of bed to ride is the order of the day.

@velohobbit depending on how adept you are at sourcing parts and building yourself there's a small alu niner emd frame on singletrack atm, £150

Well finally some movement on this, bought on as much by the fact I have to start doing some cardio or I will not fit in any of my clothes, and the beautiful area we moved to has so many places to ride.

A short walk and £40 later, I'm the proud owner of an as of yet unidentified Raleigh mtb. I'd always fancied a retro mtb project and this looks to be my size! I plan on riding around in the snow tomorrow, having had an absolute blast riding it home tonight.

Medium term will be new:

1. Saddle and seatpost Seatpost (if my spare doesn't work and this one isn't long enough
   
2. Handlebars - can't decide on what kind, but the current ones are very narrow
   
3. Slick tyres to allow use on the turbo, thinking tan wall city jets
   
4. Pedals - can't decide on spd/flat combo or just some nicer flats.
   
   
   

Longer term:

1. SJS & wald combo
   
2. mudguards
   
3. dynamo
   
   

Main priority is actually riding the bloody thing but honestly, thick snow and riding home in wellies like I was a kid again

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Main priority is actually riding the bloody thing but honestly, thick snow and riding home in wellies like I was a kid again

:-)

Inspo: I spent all day ignoring a Zoom call and watching @t0-ster 's videos

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@BareNecessities it was bloody great, all I've wanted to do is go back outside but I have no lights and need to find my bike tools I've stashed somewhere in the move

I spent all day ignoring a Zoom call and watching @t0-ster 's videos

That young man's got far too many skills

Thanks for reminding me that simply enjoying riding a bike is the most important bit

Lots of love for this thread! Thanks for the shouts, that bike has great potential. I made a rather silly something out of what looks to be the same frame :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9dq7Qiloxw/?igshid=9o5e4etyof5x

Yes! I may have to ping you some questions re: clearances and potential upgrades

Raleigh Outland! I recall it's usp were the bullhorn handlebars. Had one as a kid. Sticking a Michelin Wildgripper on the rear was my first branded upgrade. I cherished that tyre!

Ping away!

From googling it seems it was a lot of people’s first bike in the early 90s! Mine was a Raleigh of some descriptions, hand me down from a family friends kid, must have ridden it up and down my road thousands of times doing jumps off drop kerbs.

Guess the Outland was cheaper than the Activator!

Great fun around the nature reserve and the river today, things I think need addressing sooner rather than later.

1. Bars & grips. The “rubber” grips are harder than the bars, and the bars are so narrow I feel like a FixieSkidder of years gone by. Planning to get a steerer adapter so I can have a wider choice of stems and bars - never could get on with quill stems.
   
2. Tyre pressure is way too high I think, need to find a way to gauge this by feel as I’ve no pressure reading device
   
3. Saddle, trying to find another Cosine Endurance as it’s the saddle I’ve got on with the best but it appears they’ve been discontinued
   
   
   

Now for the groupset:

My aim is to go 1x with as many as I can fit on the rear without getting a new wheel. Current is 7speed, what’s the biggest I should be able to get on this freewheel?

I could get a 1x chainring and put it on the current cranks but they aren’t up to much - anyone selling something suitable, ideally with BB and 1x ring?

Still loads of fun in the snow and I was absolutely blowing for most of it. Weather was unreal.

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Two rides in as many days, mainly because I misread a text for click and collect and had to try again the next day. Yesterday still lots of compact snow and ice so much slower going, today much faster. Front tyre has a slowish flat, and on snowless inspection a lot of cracking so will replace both.

I've posted in the tyre thread and since then have more or less settled on the Schwalbe City Jet unless there is something with more side tread at a similar price point? Need to decide on tan walls or black too.

Silver seatpost coming this week hopefully as that saddle is just crap. Parts bin flat pedals are a revelation, first time on flats with the little studs and I love them.

Does anyone have a square taper silver crankset (ideally 165/170mm) that is looking for a new home? These cranks are worryingly plastic and I would like to get to 1x and stable before trying a ride that takes me too far from home.

Also some bolt on grips so I can use the current bars until something more suitable reveals itself/I make up my mind.

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My aim is to go 1x with as many as I can fit on the rear without getting a new wheel. Current is 7speed, what’s the biggest I should be able to get on this freewheel?

I suspect you have a screw-on freewheel rather than cassette. SJSC seem to have a good range, but looks like they max out at a 34t largest sprocket. I'd not be massively keen to go 1x with that as a lowest option, but YMMV.

I could get a 1x chainring and put it on the current cranks but they aren’t up to much...

They look like they may be riveted together rather than bolted, so not an easy conversion to 1x (unless you leave the extra chainrings in situ, which rather defeats the idea of going 1x).

In summary, unless you want to get into the realms of Trigger's Broom, I'd stick with the current drivetrain and spend your money on some more comfortable bars and grips. Enjoy the ride, and say hi to the Kelpies for me.

Yeah this afternoons research and peek at the bike has left me with the same conclusion. I think a good clean and as best as I can adjust the shifting should solve the issue sufficiently. I get very shit up when my chain skips and I lose all connection but hopefully this will solve that.

Tyres and contact points sorted should be good, just need to chose my tyres!

Hmm. If it's slipping anyway (especially under load?), then it may be that everything's worn to death. In which case, you'll need new cassette/chain/chainset all at once. Which I suspect might take you into the territory known as "not economically viable".

New seatpost and saddle off the Pre Cursa and new grips. Went to check the front tube as it was going flat between rides and it was a patched 24" tube very stretched! But it held air well enough until the replacements arrived this morning.

Got out Sunday in shorts and a tshirt and went to the pump track about 3 mins away from home. Had the place to myself apart from a few deer and it was absolutely mint. Big grins all round, accidentally hit a few drop downs but lots of fun.

First time in the dry and the brakes are super spongey, given their age and probably quality, if anyone has any spare mini V brakesets let me know. It has definitely left me wanting a more capeable bike BUT I am fighting that urge, going to try and find some tyres on gumtree and head down to the bike trails at Callendar Park if I can make time this week, otherwise will try and find a fun trail somewhere else.

I think if I find myself riding this a lot and really getting into it, I'll try a hire bike at Callendar Park and if that hooks me, head to the classifieds. I can see this getting slicks/guard/wald/dynamo for longer rides but who knows!

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