Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

genesis. good value for money and sorted geometry. the components are usually good quality too.
orange crush is alloy, not ideal hardtail material (not for what you intend to use it for anyway)

I was looking a few months ago, there's some good discounts on chainreactioncycles

I reckon I'd go for something second hand, like a rockhopper or something, might have some change for an upgrade too

Loads of bikes on ebay which people seem to have not used that much!

leave 09:54 London Waterloo [WAT]

arrive 10:43 Dorking (Main) [DKG]

Journey 0h 49m

First time mtb purchase approaching and I want some help and advice. I don't have any grand plans - definitely not racing - just a bit of rolling about on the downs/peaks etc. Budget is £600 and this is what I've narrowed down to:

1. Ex-hire Genesis IO ID (alfine hub one)
   
2. Brand new Haro Mary XC 29er
   
3. 2nd hand Orange Crush
   
4. 2nd hand Genesis Core 40/50 (seen both going for budget or less)
   
   

Open to other suggestions/offers! Cheers.

How tall are you?

I happen to know a man with a mint condition Cannondale Rush if you are in the market for such a thing.

You'd need to be 6 foot though.

genesis. good value for money and sorted geometry. the components are usually good quality too.
orange crush is alloy, not ideal hardtail material (not for what you intend to use it for anyway)

So between the Genesis IO ID and the Haro Mary XC - which would be the better all-rounder?

How tall are you?

I happen to know a man with a mint condition Cannondale Rush if you are in the market for such a thing.

You'd need to be 6 foot though.

5'9" - thanks, though...

Genesis.

epic day out

http://connect.garmin.com/player/52258804

northshore planks, freeriding, bogs, bikes as zimmerframes, it had it all

cheers to tom and ed for making it happen

fuck that james that's a road ride with added doubletrack bridleways.
that's like visiting london and walking from one end of oxford st to the other and thinking you have seen london. you have basically ridden past all the sweet surry hills singletrack

Genesis.

the genesis.

then you get to call it 'the genocide' when people ask what you rollin

fuck that james that's a road ride with added doubletrack bridleways.
that's like visiting london and walking from one end of oxford st to the other and thinking you have seen london. you have basically ridden past all the sweet surry hills singletrack

Having been on that ride, I'd say it was more like going back and forth along the A4, totally missing Oxford Street, etc, then veering off up Caledonian Road and falling into the canal, subsequently returning home knowing that - as impressive as St Pancras is - you've not really seen what you came for.

Perhaps you should be our guide next time? I hear that you know where to find things.

Still had a lot of fun. Reminded me of how much I love MTBing, even on a "bad" day.

epic day out

http://connect.garmin.com/player/52258804

northshore planks, freeriding, bogs, bikes as zimmerframes, it had it all

cheers to tom and ed for making it happen

I love how when you play the route, you get bits where it sort of fidgets a bit without doing much.

I am thinking that at 36 minutes we were probably wading through a nettle infested bog trying to work out how to get into a field that we could see through the trees.

Good times.

a map from nirvana would help (i presume. not actually seen one myself)
if i get the time i could show somebody the good bits but at the moment can't lead a big group on ridgid bikes (faster up but slower down than my bouncer) as i don't get to mtb that often at the mo.

if james loses that stupid wankercheif i'll think about showing him the twisty pumpy bermy stuff.

Genesis.

the genesis.

Well I tried an Alfine-equipped Day One today (8 speed) and thought the range was very limited. That said I was probably thinking in road riding terms.

The range is rather odd on the 8 speeds.

Genesis is probably going to release one with the newer 11 speed Alfine, I suppose you could wait for one of those?

i rode one (genesis IO) round thetford forest. i really liked it. would certainly consider one if looking for an xc hardtail

Thanks for the input, folks. Ed, Genesis are def releasing an 11-speed IO ID this year but it's £1500 - more than double my budget. Will try to ride both the Genesis and Haro then decide.

Ouch, were the 8spds Alfine IO on special offer/discount?

MrSmyth - If you were free one weekend for a tour of the proper trails would be ace. I imagine it would most likely be a small group of us on hardtails, no rigid singlespeeds here.

My knees are starting to ache from riding a bike with the saddle too low.

Am contemplating something like a joplin or gravity dropper seatpost, so I can have the saddle at correct height most of the time and then drop it for more rough sections. The gravity dropper appeals the most, as I could have it at full height for use on road and climbing, then drop an inch for bumpy bits and go to full drop for descents etc.

Anyone have experience of such devices?

You've only been riding off road five min James. Hold up. Try working on you technique for a while rather than throwing money at the problem.

If you do go down the seat post route straight away choose wisely some have more slop than others. A friend of mine has one but I can't remediable which one unfortunately, although I know he got it from rose.de. His has a small amount of slop but all the others he tried had too much, i.e. and inch or so and the saddle nose.

Tommy

I had similar knee problems before when the seatpost on my road bike kept slipping down a bit. An hour or so with a saddle an inch too low would leave me with aching knees, and then the fat pads started to swell up. A combination of physio, lots of ice and carbon grip paste on the seat post solved the problem then.

I'm not denying your pain. I'm saying run the seat post at a height that is comfy and learn to ride 99% of the trail like that. Use a Q/R for the 1%. Forcing yourself to ride with the saddle up will allow you to ride more stuff quickly rather than fiddling with a saddle on every bit that is a little bit rough. You will probably only find yourself dropping the seat post if you are playing on some jumps or repeatedly doing a drop to work on technique, in which case stopping and using a Q/R is no bother and allows for a large amount of moment of saddle.

I'm not denying your pain. I'm saying run the seat post at a height that is comfy and learn to ride 99% of the trail like that. Use a Q/R for the 1%. Forcing yourself to ride with the saddle up will allow you to ride more stuff quickly rather than fiddling with a saddle on every bit that is a little bit rough. You will probably only find yourself dropping the seat post if you are playing on some jumps or repeatedly doing a drop to work on technique, in which case stopping and using a Q/R is no bother and allows for a large amount of moment of saddle.

+1

If the saddle is hitting you in the chest on the descent then you might want to drop it, otherwise you can leave it where it is.

Ok, its just the other week I was told its best to drop the saddle when off road and potentially drop it further for steep descents. Clearly there is a difference of opinion on how best to handle this.

Will try to do more with the saddle at full height and see how that goes, its just waking up with aching knees is never a good sign.

No, I fully agree that aching knees are rubbish.

Honestly though you won't need to drop your saddle for the majority of stuff that your bike is designed for.