Anonymous asked: i'm a roadie who wants to try mountain biking, but like nice bikes. so no entry level mountain bike for me. what's the best mid range starter bike when you are short 5'4' and light 110 lbs. and don't yet know your mountain biking riding style? most often recommended are santa cruz tr, pivot mach 4 or 5, ibis mojo slr and trek fuel ex. thanks and love your blog.
I’d consider all those bikes to be well beyond ‘starter’. Way beyond. I think you’re probably better off starting with a hardtail - there’s a lot less maintenance and you get a better appreciation for what suspension can do. If you jump straight in on a full bouncy I can guarantee you that you’ll end up trail-side screaming at your bike frustrated beyond understanding as to why the bike keeps bucking you off or keeps bottoming out on short baby head runs. Learning how to set up your suspension takes a lot of time and practice and makes a lot more sense after a few hundred hours on the trails without a suspension.
As far as the componentry goes, what you’ll want is something in the SLX or XT range in Shimano or X7 or X9 range in SRAM.
Here’s a good hardtail option: http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCProduct.jsp?spid=62048&scid=1100&scname=Mountain
And here’s a good full bouncy option (if you opt to go that direction - not recommended): http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCProduct.jsp?spid=62250&scid=1100&scname=Mountain
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captaintbag said:
No no no. Your dealin with a roadie here which means they ain’t happy less they’re spending too much money for stuff they don’t need. captain recommends top of the line scalpel 29er, stiff n freaky light
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taeblog posted this
