A complete noob wants to get into mountain biking

[zircon]

If it freezes, it is no time for riding a bike.
Bikes are April-November activity.

Are you saying you don't enjoy cleaning mud out of places you didn't know your bike had while you're covered in mud up to your knees and your fingers are freezing off because your gloves are soaked through from the torrential downpour? What nonsense.

 

[Tom K.]

And then there are fat bikes.

How to get a good four hour workout in the winter?

Go for a two hour fat bike ride!

But, in the right conditions, they can be a blast. I've rented three times. Twice was sorta kinda OK, once was astounding!

 

[Tony Storaro]

View attachment 98443
Are you saying you don't enjoy cleaning mud out of places you didn't know your bike had while you're covered in mud up to your knees and your fingers are freezing off because your gloves are soaked through from the torrential downpour? What nonsense.

That's a damn fine looking machine right there.

Knowing how worked up I get when my bike is so much as dusty, this sight would send me directly to a place with padded walls.

 

[zircon]

That's a damn fine looking machine right there.

Knowing how worked up I get when my bike is so much as dusty, this sight would send me directly to a place with padded walls.

Ha. It's not much, but that's the bicycle love of my life. Even when I think it's clean, I find dust places 6 months later. Here it is on a dry day. Whatever you think of them, Specialized has some slick looking paint jobs.

 

[cantunamunch]

To be fair, if it rained a few weeks and then froze and thawed and rained some more you could potentially call it a CX ride.

But only if the tires are 33mm or less!

 

[zircon]

But only if the tires are 33mm or less!

"It's not that you can't ride on skinny tires. It's that you can't ride a bike and the skinny tires proves it"

Or something

 

[cantunamunch]

"...for an hour"

 

[Tony Storaro]

Ha. It's not much, but that's the bicycle love of my life. Even when I think it's clean, I find dust places 6 months later. Here it is on a dry day. Whatever you think of them, Specialized has some slick looking paint jobs.

That's a sweet looking bike and the colour scheme is very pretty. Specialized are well known for their paint jobs.

Is that 11-42 cassette?

 

[zircon]

Is that 11-42 cassette?

11-36. It just looks big because the chainring is really really small. We have one race here that's on the side of a ski hill and I may have overreacted...

I'm a runner with lots of leg speed and no watts, so it's got a frankengroupset (Ultegra crank and clutched derailleur, Sram Force cassette, 105 shifters) with 38 x 11-36 and a 46/34 double in the off season. Even grandma could spin up a wall with that gearing

 

[Tony Storaro]

(Ultegra crank and clutched derailleur, Sram Force cassette, 105 shifters) with 38 x 11-36 and a 46/34 double in the off season. Even grandma could spin up a wall with that gearing

Yeah, I saw the shifters.
Nothing wrong with low gearing, spin for the win. Let's leave the grinding to those who still do not know that knees come with expiry date
I have 46/30 to 11/34 on the bike on the pic I posted here and spin smiling happily past all the grinding huffers and puffers on steep and long climbs.

 

[Bendu]

I think you should watch this video. 3 reallly good for the money bikes, and one poor done dated bike, the Giant Stance.


I also want to add that.

Full suspension, get it, its easy, its faster, it more comfortable, its also arguably safer. With that said a good geometry Hardtail with a dropper is vastly preferable to an outdated geo FS with out a dropper post.

Either ride flats or clipless. Those half and half pedals are awful, I literally will not ride with people on them, because I do not want to be responsible for their injuries either from slipping off the flat side or not being able to clip in to the clip side.

Dropper post - get one pointless to ride with out one. Its taking away your bodies natural suspension system as well as range of motion for pumping and turning. It would be like skiing with out ever being to bend either knee. Just because people did it forever does not mean anything it just means there was not a better way yet.

That Fuji someone references has awfully dated geometry, Id avoid it like COVID-19. either of these would be a far better choice. If you need/or want to go though a local bike shop expect to pay at least 2.5k to 3k for a full suspension of this same build spec.

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15903684/calibre-bossnut-mountain-bike-15903684

Vitus Mythique 29 VRX

Say hello to the Mythique, our one stop shop does it all trail bike. The Mythique was developed around a proven horst-link 4-bar suspension design, allowing us to develop an accessible, capable and performance driven trail bike. Pairing modern geometry with dependable components and a setup that...

vitusbikes.com

 

[Tony Storaro]

Those half and half pedals are awful, I literally will not ride with people on them, because I do not want to be responsible for their injuries either from slipping off the flat side or not being able to clip in to the clip side.

Just out of curiosity-if the flat side of the hybrid pedals is basically the same as that of the flat pedals, how can one slip from one and not from the other?

And how can you clip fine in the clip pedals but not on the clip side of the hybrid pedals, which again is basically the same?

How does that work?

 

[Bendu]

well its not the same.


Show me a hybrid pedal that looks like this.

 

[Bendu]

@Tony Storaro do you actually ride singletrack on a trails that only a legit MTB could ride on?

 

[Tony Storaro]

well its not the same.


Show me a hybrid pedal that looks like this.

Right here:

How can one slip from the flat side is beyond me.
The only suboptimal combination with these is flat shoes and clip side, but then again if someone is unable to tell which side of the pedal he is standing on, perhaps cycling is not the sport for him.

 

[Philpug]

The hybrid pedals remind me of the worst part of when I still used toe clips. I hate having to flip the pedal over to access the clip, especially when in tighter technical spots. I used to clips mountain biking for over 20 years. I then switched to platforms with double sided clipless. These worked well as clipless and gave me a platform but not the connection I was looking for. I eventually decided to try platforms with a FiveTen shoe. While I lose a small degree of control and efficiency in climbing, IMHO, for me it a smaller sacrifice than I would lose staying with clipless in other areas.
Are clipless better? Absolutely. Are platforms better? Absolutely. Neither is a 100% better choice in every application. To each their own for their riding needs.

 

[Tony Storaro]

I hate having to flip the pedal over to access the clip, especially when in tighter technical spots.

Now, that's a valid point I can understand and agree with.
You do not like them-fine, to each their own.
For me personally the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages, especially for a bike I ride every day, with all kinds of shoes, on all kinds of terrain-flat or climbs mostly, so I am sticking with hybrids until life proves me wrong.


Hey, have someone here tried the MagPeds?

 

[Bendu]

You still did not answer the question. Do you ride singletrack that only a MTB could ride on?

those pedals still are not going to be as grippy as an actual flat pedal.


Also why use magpeds at 140 dollars when SPDs cost 25 dollars and work. Been using SPDs since the early 90s and really do not have a problem with how they work. To change over all my bikes to magpeds would be 500+ dollars and that would be quite a bit of money to experiment on. The pedal grip on mag pedals is also determinded by the sole which leads me to believe that pulling up the pedals isnt possible with mag pedals which is deal breaker for my riding in southern New Hampshire, again on actual singletrack that you couldnt possible ride a cross style bike down unless you were Danny Macskill. 15kg of up pull is nothing and easily exceeded.

So again do you ride on singletrack gnarly enough to warrant only a MTB? or do you just ride a cross bike on roads easier trails.

 

[Tony Storaro]

You still did not answer the question. Do you ride singletrack that only a MTB could ride on?

those pedals still are not going to be as grippy as an actual flat pedal.

Yes,seldom. On flat pedals. 90% of riding is on gravel bike, UP the mountain. On hybrid pedals. No problemo.

About MagPeds-was just curious to hear some first hand opinion, quite expensive.

 

[Bendu]

so basically you do not actually MTB? What year is your MTB from?