See my 2c below. Enjoy the riding
Bibs, cycling shorts, mtb shorts, jerseys, special socks? Where do you guys recommend we start? To keep this entry an enjoyable hobby, I want us to be as comfortable as possible from the start. If we're going to need it soon, might as well buy it now.
Start with bibs. Main benefit of proper jersey is back pockets but as long as you do not go out for longer than 3 - 4 h you can solve the storage in other ways
Start with bibs, cycle shorts, cycle shorts with exercise shorts over them? What's the most comfy for longer distance mountain biking? Normal pants (I already know this out)? Start out with loose technical shirts, tight shirts, cotton shirts? Are all bibs the same? All technical shirts the same? 🙈
In terms of value for money I would recommend Monton bibs. If you are in JHB, you can cruise past Northcliff cycles, if elsewhere order on line. I would not go too cheap on this as crappy bibs can cause havoc on your @ss.
Is one bib enough? They are quite pricey. We have a holiday coming up where we can basically cycle every day. Cycle, handwash/rinse and use again the next day? How hard wearing are these bibs? Hard to research... Use Mr Price cycle shorts for the 30-40min rides, use the bibs for the hour+ rides?
I would recommend getting two each as the shammys take quite long to dry and you do not want to ride on a wet one (makes skin soft and thus can more easily result in saddle sores). Do not use a cheaper one for shorter rides as 30 min on a crap shammy will still result in bum issues
Both of use are starting out with flat pedals. Are tekkies okay for a start? Where do we go from there?
Tekkies are fine. Can then progress to SPD cleats once comfortable on the bike
