breaker

I cannot believe that its taken about 18years for me to own a bike again. I took my Christmas pressie for a spin in Onrus yesterday and instantly had that feeling of freedom that I forgot about. And man what a feeling, almost forgot myself thinking I was on a bmx at times . Anyway its good to be back in the saddle, excuse the cliche.

This is what santa gave me, a Momsen 29er

A big thanx everyone here who contributed to this thread and ultimately helping me make a more informed decision. I must say I've learned a lot more in this short time. And a big to Revolution Cycles' Stirling Jnr for taking the time to sort me out with an A-Z and of course for this:

Yep.

Definitely the reason I posted and in the end better service is provided

So while the bike is being sorted / ticked off the list I need to get a few other goodies. What would you guys recommend for shorts and top. I'm planning on doing the TOTALSPORTS XTERRA Lite aswell so I need some sort of clothing for that. Also what are the small necessary bits that I would need? I have this feeling I'm only gonna know what I need, when I need it Then my only other huge problem is a bike rack, don't have a towbar and certainly don't have the moola for the fancy thule stuff so for now its down with the back seats for now - 2006 Audi A3 Sportback.

Similar to an other pet hate of mine, you are talking to someone, they get a cellphone call - instead of the polite I'll call you right back, they continue with the phone call. I've gone so far as to stand in front of said person and call them as well to ask if this would be a better way to be serviced. I expect the same in a shop, of course as a sales person you can't let someone wonder for minutes without being helped, but trying the juggling act might just make you drop all the balls.

Understandably its Xmas and the shop was busy, however when I entered the shop I waited patiently as there were other people before me, which I certainly don't have a problem with as Chris told me he will be with me as soon as he is done. I made a call wherein I handed my phone to Pieter to confirm some details. Jacques thank you for you call, I do appreciate it. This is the type of thing that will make me go back to a shop like this. A little customer service goes along way.

@tombeej, I might be eating my words buddy . Thanx for the suggestion.

So that was an interesting lunch hour. Following on from this thread, I decided to go to Cyclefactory to try out a Silverback, spoke to helpful guy by the name of Chris whom I had a conversation on the phone before. While Chris was showing me alternatives, Pieter quite rudely imho steps in and advises Chris to help another customer while he continues with me. Pieter then funnily enough shows me a momsen(thanx @tombeej). At this point I can appreciate the help he gave as he explained the bike to me and actually convinced me that this is the bike for me. However, after brief phone call and the situation basically in mid air, Pieter turns his attention to another customer. Now i don't know if there was a misunderstanding but I was certainly not done, especially since this bike needs to be ordered and still built. After standing around for a while I start getting that same feeling I got in a few other Lbs's, not good. Eventually Chris helps finalizes what we will do next. Now like I said, it could be as simple as a misunderstanding but I definitely left with a bad taste in my mouth, so much so that I will be phoning other Lbs's for the same bike.

Thanx, but sorry bud, this whole excersize actually started at a budget of 5k which then became 6k, so I won't be going down that road

So unfortunately I've run out of time and need to get a bike today before I go away. So would you guys be so kind as to help me ito these 3: Titan sport 29er http://www.titanraci...m/29rsport.html Silverback vida 4 http://www.silverbac...CK/vida4_13.htm Giant revel 0 http://www.giant-bic...59411/#features I will be going to test these 3 out today, but on paper this is what I've found. The Giant seems to be the cheapest but the feeling from lbs's I've spoken to is the fork is poor. The Titan seems good buy except that the component set is one less than the other 2 on the "Shimano scale" The Silverback to my mind seems the best, except that its a 24speed vs the other 2's 27 speed. So again with my lack of experience in riding I've narrowed it down on paper to Fork vs Components vs Speed. I've searched and found a similar thread, and that op bought a GT KARAKORAM 3.0 Any help will be appreciated.

Sorry to hear about this OP. I can confirm what Christopher is saying as I work in that building, security guards are far and few between there. Will keep a look out for the perp and your bike, albeit a little late

This... makes things harder to choose, but on the other hand atleast there is a choice and that one bike isn't that waaaay much better than the other.

I know,I know however I've got trust issues , and yes it can save me but I've had many online deals go sour so I prefer with something like this to buy in person. Chances are if it takes off for me I probably will buy a bike off here once I've been around for longer.

The one in gauteng? Yep that looks crazy good for that price, unfortunately I'm in cape town.

Any advice on the bikes I mentioned? Giant Revel 0 29er, Axis A40 any others I should be looking at? Would it help if I were to ask what would the best value bike be for about R6k, medium 29er hard tail, atleast a deore derailer and hydraulic brakes?

I've bought a helmet and gloves, still need to get cycling pants and top and sunglasses as a priority - bike rack I can't afford now, need to get past the xmas madness first.

I agree being new to the sport I'll have a bit more piece of mind buying from a lbs. Most salesmen are doing their job I suppose i.e. not really offering 2012 models and when I ask its always a case of "nah we don't really have anything that you are looking for - price wise"??? What I'm after is the something decent, so suggestions on models and places to check them out would be great thanx. Where did your family member get the Scott from?

I can be brutally honest and say I have no idea what riding I would want to do, I suppose I'll only know once I've experienced it first hand. We've just had our first baby about 4 months ago so time is even more limited than before. As for affordability like I said 6k. Like I said, I see myself doing the argus, oh and not forgetting the Xtreme sprint triathlon before that, and the more I explore the trails the more I'll be able to see what works for me and what doesn't.

Hey everyone, as with everything new I do these days, I head off to a forum to learn a bit more before buying, thehub came highly recommended, so thats why I'm here. Been reading through a few threads and it sort of has helped but also added a bit more Q's which I suppose is a good thing. So enough beating around the bush: This is the first time I'm getting into biking and I need a bunch of stuff biking related to get into the sport. My plan is to do my first Argus next year, but there after gonna be doing more trails than anything else, guys in the office have been talking about places like deer park, magic forrest and tokai. So on to the bikes - Budget +- R6k, I would think this should be good enough to get into and not too much to loose if it doesn't take off. I'm 1.74cm tall and weigh about 70kgs which I believe puts me on a Medium 29er / 26er(more on that later). I've been to a few lbs's in cape town and the one bike seeming to pop up most is the Giant Revel 0 29er - lowest if seen is R6200, so anything else I've seen I've sort of been comparing to this. I was quite set on this, until alternatives have been popping up some being more expensive and some cheaper: Axis A40 for R6750 and Felt Q720 2011 online special for R5k. So as you can see there are so many options and add to that the debates: - of 2013 vs 2012(which the lbs are running out of), - supposedly 26er higher spec for same price of a newer 29er lower spec - and just recently the new from a lbs vs second hand (the few people I spoke to offered the opinion that you don't necessarily know what you are buying and possibly if it was a road bike second hand will be ok, but being a mtb you don't know what sort of crash tests its been through) Sorry for the essay guys, just trying to provide as much insight into my situation. So I suppose to start off with I'd like advice on getting said entry level bike for a start, I also need apparel like shorts sunglasses and a bike carrier, but more on that later.