Spaffy

We'll definitely look into this, it's actually at the top of the list. The sore butt is something we're not getting used to as quick as I'd like.

Using the bikes as we intended. Green point to Bantry Bay and back via the promenade. Our longest run so far at 15km. Might not sound much but our first ride was only 4km.

It is in fact going to a bike shop next week. I'm sure Mark will go over all the parts for me.

Oh boy, you guys are amazing. Sorry for only replying now but I see I'm limited to three posts a day. Thanks everyone that commented, I've received great tips, advise and opinions. Thanks @ChrisFfor mentioning Mark, I looked him up, saw he's a town over and got into contact. He's going to give both cycles a once over and make sure all is as it should be. Thanks @Barry for sending me some stems to try out. He was going to give them for free so we settled on a chocolate or two. We'll see where I am in a year but I feel much better having asked you guys for advise and having been lead down to correct path. Soon I'll be looking for group rides to join, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

At this point in time my neighbor's 6yr old will probably give me a hard time and she has training wheels. But we'll get there. Currently I can't wait to go cycle.

Thanks. Should I be looking for a stem though, or should I rather replace the the bar with a high rise?

Hello everyone reading this. As a recently turned 40yr old man I realized I am unfit and my life is boring and I need to do something about it. I've been wanting to take up cycling for years now and as this ticks the bored and unfit boxes it was a no brainer. Wife and I went to peruse MTBs at CWC and we almost quit cycling before even starting when we saw what these things cost. However googling MTB for sale the first bicycle I see is the one pictured, and it's reasonably priced, so off to Makro we go. Two mountain bikes, helmets and all the accessories they had later and we have been cycling a little over three weeks and loving it. I've been joining FB groups, watching Youtube vids and have opened a Pandora box I didn't realize is so vast. The cycling community is awesome, I've had a stranger drive past in his car and stop just to tell me my wife's seat is too low and she's going to hurt her knees after which he proceeds to help adjust her seat to a better height. Most cyclists are super friendly and always greeting etc. I love it. What I am worried about though are these bicycles. I've now seen numerous posts here where people in the know say that one would regret buying bicycles from stores like Makro and Game etc. My question here is why? What am I missing out on, having nothing to compare it to? What is a brand new budget cyclist supposed to do, not yet at that time knowing if this is really something they'll enjoy doing? If these cycles are that bad what should I look to improve without buying other bicycles, as numerous posts indicate a ~R10k budget for beginners? Lastly why are bicycle parts so expensive? I'm almost 1.9m and this bicycle is a "one-size-fits-all" type design with a frame probably between a medium and large. My seat height has been adjusted based on numerous Youtube recommendations and the seat is also as far back as it will go. I want to replace the stem for something taller but these things start at R800 and I've seen some at over R3000. Why is this small extension so expensive? Anyways thanks for reading and any tips or advise for a new cyclist would be appreciated. At the moment we're sticking to tar to learn but I'm eyeing some offroad tracks for beginners, like Polkadraai, in the near future.

Thank you so much for the response.

Hi there. Could you assist me? I'll be looking to sell my Mongoose soon and would like a rough idea on value. It's currently in storage but the wife says if I put it in the lounge she's putting it on the street. I'll get the serial nr and more pics when I have a chance.