Who rides Mountain bikes in here???

mantis

MacLeod,
Nice going man. I hate waiting as well. I found this really nice Specialized Rock Hopper in Silver but I couldn't have it until 4 days after I paid for it. I wanted to go riding that weekend and passed on the deal. It was a 500.00 dollar bike. Another bike shop had the GT ready to go with some minor personal adjustments. I bought it and love it.

Good luck man,

Dan

mantis

Did you get it yet???

MacLeod

No not yet.

Total price after tax is $502.

I put down $200 Wednessday and will probably drop another $150 tomorrow.

From there Ill just have to put in what I can as I can. Hopefully Ill have it all paid for within a month.

The weather has sucked here lately. Its rainy and not very warm which is bad for the beer business and as Im paid on commission, it hurts the old paycheck! :mad:

Its pissin me off! I wanna ride this thing!!!

mantis

You'll have it soon enough.

Then after you buy your bike, you willl need the following

A helmet
water bottle and frame mount x2
Bar extenters for climbing hills
Bag for under the seat
Maybe some clipless pedals and shoes
Bike shorts with the pad
Gloves
Jersey of the bike you own
Oakley sun glasses or non breakable
Bike hitch or roof rack trunk mount of your ca/truck choice
Mabye a new truck to go with your new bike
Mountain bike mags

The list goes on. I visit the local bike shops every other day and buy something. I love it. Today I picked up a nice floor pump with a nice tire guage on it.
I went riding today at Penny Pack park. I did 10.2 miles
Here is a shot of my bike after the ride. It was muddy as it rained

brettw22

It's a good point Dan makes......

Don't think that the price of the bike is all you're going to need to spend to be properly equipped.

A few years ago I spent $900 for my bike and then another $300 in accessories and misc parts.......Past that, I spent another $500 in gagets that I liked and wanted as well..........it definitely adds up.

MacLeod

Way ahead of ya fellas. Whilst I was waiting for the salesdude I walked around and noticed at least $600 worth of cool trinkets and gadgets I just had to have!

Mountain biking is almost as bad as car audio!

But the shop did throw in a free water bottle with mount! Yippee!

However my first upgrade will be the seat. Those "thongs" they have on em stock are worthless, not to mention PAINFUL!

nadams

All this talk about biking has gotten me out twice so far since the thread started. Keep it up guys, maybe I'll get back into this :P

MacLeod

Hell, Mantis' picture alone makes me want to go out!!!

That creekside shot looks cool!

nadams

btw, mantis....

is this a KICKSTAND I see on your bike? Get that crap off of there

if it is not, I apologize... and carry on.

michael_w

Not having a kickstand for me is more of a safety issue... you hit something and it falls down then you turn and bam :mad:

nadams

Yep... the only thing it does for me is catch on stuff and cause more accidents. If there's anything I don't need help with, it's having accidents while riding. I can cause enough of those myself, thank you

mantis

nadams,
Yes it WAS a Kickstand but I removed it yesterday. I used it until I got my Garage wall mount. I also picked up one of those ceiling hook mounts that you have to use pullies to get it up there. But my ceiling in my garage is 14 feet high. So the wall mount works better. It also has a built on shelf to put my helmet and gloves on. I like it.

Dan

mantis

Another pic

mantis

One last. I got this rack at Target. It was only like 12 bucks.

mantis

Well I went riding on Sunday with 2 of my friends. My one friend just got a new Giant Mountain bike. Really nice bike with disc brakes.
A 14.2 mile ride was tuff. Then it happened on the stretch back... I CRASHED...lol. There was this older man on a bike coming the other way. I was in the back of my 2 friends. They passed him under this tunnel big enough to drive a mac truck though. Entering the tunnel you first need to turn to the left about 45 degrees to 90 but not quite, sorta a slight left turn. At the turn was some green marsh covering the ground. If you stay straight, your fine, if you try to turn in it, your eating ground..... thats what happened to me. He came right into my path and tried to steer away, the path was narrow and I had to get out of his way or we would have crashed into each other. I turned to the right right in the green marsh and my back wheel kicked out. I had control for about 2 seconds as I was sliding sideways. I had my front tire turned into the turn but the back wheel kept on coming out from underneath of me. I went down at 19 miles an hour as I looked going into the turn. I slid on my side after the seat hit my in the leg and the handlebars hit me in the ribs. Funny I only cut my elbo with a brush burn. The green marsh made of a slip and slide. I slid for about 30 or so feet. It was like slow motion. I had all this time to experience this. Not exactly what I wanted but nonetheless an experience.

I hurt today as breathing hurts my ribs. I don't think there broke as it's like a bruise pain. My leg got a nice bruise on it from the damn seat.IT hurts 2 but only if I move certain ways or walk to fast.

I'm happy not to be that hurt but the cardio challenge was all worth it. I look forward to riding soon. I want to be able to ride before this weekend. We have about 6 guys in our party to go on a killer ride. I assume the distance with be 20 to 30 miles of pure off road terror.

Crashing sucks but at least my bike is ok ...LOL

By the way I have lost 8 lbs since I started riding. That in itself is all worth it. Losing weight is extremely hard for me. This is another way I can be active and have a good time doing so.

Dan

MacLeod

Damn it man!!! Im sick of waiting!! I WANT MY BIKE!!!! :mad:

bobman1235

Nice crash story Crashin's just a part of mountain biking. We always had a saying when leaving the trail - if you're not bleedin, you didn't ride hard enough. Just try not to break anything ...

I gotta get my lazy **** back on the trails again this year...

Willow

Nice bike !

I don't see a bell ! by law we must have a bell and a front and back reflector.


I noticed you have a slight curve in your handle bars and you also have bull horns. I wanted the horns as well but the dealer said it's a no-no to have both the curved bar and horns. But it looks good on yours

MacLeod

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA.....A bell!.....WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Some laws are just STUPID!

mantis

No bell or reflectors. I removed them . They where getting trashed in the woods anyway. I don't ride on the street at night so I feel no need for the reflectors. My mouth is big enough to get anyone out of the way.

Dan

Willow

unfortunaltly my wife and being patrolers we must have them. We also have a law that anyone under 18 must wear a helmet. A good law. But should be for every age.

After seeing your bike I am going to go buy some bull horns for my wife and myself.

MacLeod

Originally posted by Willow
We also have a law that anyone under 18 must wear a helmet. A good law. But should be for every age.

I disagree. Its the same as seatbelt laws. I agree wholeheartedly that kids should be required to wear seatbelts cause they may have irresponsible parents but Im an adult and if I dont want to wear a seatbelt they that should be ok. I have a BIG problem with this "the government knows whats best for you" mentality.

Dennis Gardner

Bikes should only be allowed on 20mph roads. It is simply too dangerous to put bikes on the highway with trucks and cars.

Flame away, but only if you can ride the minimum speed limit of 40 MPH.:D

bobman1235

Originally posted by Dennis Gardner
Bikes should only be allowed on 20mph roads. It is simply too dangerous to put bikes on the highway with trucks and cars.

Flame away, but only if you can ride the minimum speed limit of 40 MPH.:D

Bikes already aren't allowed on highways. Most roads with a speed limit over 45 prohibit bikes. Anything under that they can either keep up with traffic or you can get your thumb out of your **** and go around them.

Dennis Gardner

Originally posted by bobman1235
Bikes already aren't allowed on highways.

I can see that you don't live in the middle of the U.S. where they allow cross country riders on the highways that I drive everyday.
Narrow 2 lane national highways with little or no shoulders make it pretty hazardous. There are accidents all summer long.

nadams

I believe that bobman was referring to interstate highways and other 4 lane roads where bikes/pedestrians are not allowed. Bikers are allowed on Rt. 11 which runs right through my town... but that's fairly wide in these parts.

I think that you're inviting flames by using "20mph roads". Just try and find me a 20mph road.... I'm not talking about a 20mph corner... an entire road where the speed limit is 20. Sure won't find one around here, and this is the country.... 25 is as low as it goes around here.

I've ridden on lots of 40, 45mph roads, and some 55mph roads in a pinch. Drive around... if I hear a car coming, I move over as far as I can. As long as you're not too busy talking on your cell phone, move a little to the left and we'll be just fine.

Willow

Originally posted by MacLeod
I disagree. Its the same as seatbelt laws. I agree wholeheartedly that kids should be required to wear seatbelts cause they may have irresponsible parents but Im an adult and if I dont want to wear a seatbelt they that should be ok. I have a BIG problem with this "the government knows whats best for you" mentality.

Well I never get in a car without my seatbelt and never ride my bike with out my helmet. I guess the drivers in your city are cutiuous to bikes, they sure aren't around here, even when there are designated bike lanes. I rather look GOOFY than have EMS picking up my brains on the side of the street. I don't think it has anything to do with gov. knows best. I think it's common sense.

Just as you wouldn't hook up your gear without a surge protector. I wouldn't ride without my helmet.

Edit: we as well are allowed to ride our bikes on the non major highways. No 4 lanes but the 2 lanes.

bobman1235

Originally posted by Willow
Well I never get in a car without my seatbelt and never ride my bike with out my helmet. I guess the drivers in your city are cutiuous to bikes, they sure aren't around here, even when there are designated bike lanes. I rather look GOOFY than have EMS picking up my brains on the side of the street. I don't think it has anything to do with gov. knows best. I think it's common sense.

Just as you wouldn't hook up your gear without a surge protector. I wouldn't ride without my helmet.

Willow,

You're a smart guy, but I agree with MacLeod. Just because it's the smart or right thing to do doesn't mean there shoudl be a law about it. Laws are supposed to protect you from hurting other people. My brains splattering on the highway doesn't hurt anyone but myself, and I should be allowed to hurt myself if I want. I would never get on my bike without a helmet either, but that has exactly ZERO to do with the government. That's what he means by gov't knows best - gov't is not there to protect you from your own idiocy.

Your last example is a PERFECT illustration of my point - do you t hink it shoudl be a LAW that all electronics require a surge protector? Should the cops come to your house and give you a ticket for plugging in your computer straight into the wall? No. It's the EXACT same thing.

Willow

actually It is not law where you will go to jail, or have a criminal record, I think it's more of a by-law where a fine is given. right you should have the choice but the by-law is there to protect the rest of us, less emergency wait times, less money spent by the gov for health care etc.... but by all means go ahead and ride without one ..it's just common sense to me. If you wanna plater your brain or become a veggie, go ahead but think of the peeps who will have to take care of you.

mantis

I ride off road mostly or around the blocks so highway riding for me is not going to happen. Not to mention I don't own a road bike.

Respect for everyone on the road should be common. If it isn't....

Dan