manskobus Posted February 13, 2018 Share Good day All,I'm very new to this and I've wanted a mountain bike for a while now.I've read trough a few posts and noticed that almost everyone hates on Raleigh and Makro.That said I'm looking into buying a mountain bike preferably a 29" as I'm 1.86m tall.I found this at Makro yesterday and Its on special for R3000https://www.makro.co.za/sports-and-outdoor/raleigh-29-vapor-frs-mountain-bike-black/yellow-297608EAI know most of you don't like Makro because the people who build the bikes know nothing about them but if I can give it a good run trough and rebuild and check everything would this kind of bike be good for a beginner like me?I have a budget of about R3500 if you maybe have a better idea.I'm in the Sunninghill area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitumenous Posted February 13, 2018 Share Morning. I am selling my 26" mountain bikes. have 2 of them. around 4 years old. immaculate cond. white. and changed over to Road cycling for various reasons, mainly due to my neck. both exact models. Silverbacks. dual suspension. both with less than 500 km on them. road tyres and knobbie tyres. will post them on bike hub this week-end. Will sell them at around R3k each. mattrb01 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALLMTB Posted February 13, 2018 Share Its not only that the people who assemble the Makro bikes don't have a clue what they are doing, its also that the bikes are absolute crap. I'd rather save up a bit more and look for a good second hand hardtail 29er. Somehting like: https://www.bikehub.co.za/classifieds/292696-merida-big-9-500/ Edited February 13, 2018 by ALLMTB manskobus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugene Posted February 13, 2018 Share No.... It's not only how they build the bikes it is the quality of them. My friend did the same as you and bought something similar from Game, despite my warnings. The pedals broke, the wheels were always out of true, the gears never worked. You will have to go second hand and maybe hardtail. There must be plenty of Hubbers in your area to assist you to check out a bike. manskobus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grease_Monkey Posted February 13, 2018 Share Please buy second hand... Buying at Makro is as good as flushing your money down the toilet (assuming you don't live in Cape Town - in that case just leave the money floating in thw toilet). You can get a good 26er for that price in the classifieds. Quality over wheel size any day of the week! NickGM, Andrew_Smith, MTBJD and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manskobus Posted February 13, 2018 Share Please buy second hand... Buying at Makro is as good as flushing your money down the toilet (assuming you don't live in Cape Town - in that case just leave the money floating in thw toilet). You can get a good 26er for that price in the classifieds. Quality over wheel size any day of the week!Okay thanks, I'll definitely then rather buy second hand and maybe look at a 26". Any brands I should look at and others I should avoid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manskobus Posted February 13, 2018 Share Morning. I am selling my 26" mountain bikes. have 2 of them. around 4 years old. immaculate cond. white. and changed over to Road cycling for various reasons, mainly due to my neck. both exact models. Silverbacks. dual suspension. both with less than 500 km on them. road tyres and knobbie tyres. will post them on bike hub this week-end. Will sell them at around R3k each. Thanks please send me the link as soon as you post them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcd Posted February 13, 2018 Share I checked the Makro link you provided. That bike has not one bit of descent equipment on it.If you are going with Shimano equipment get at least the Deore range. The frame, shock and Fork are not even recognizable as acceptable equipment.Buying a bike like that will not give you the experience of what a Mtb should feel like. Good luck !Im sure you will get a good deal on the Hub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manskobus Posted February 13, 2018 Share I checked the Makro link you provided. That bike has not one bit of descent equipment on it.If you are going with Shimano equipment get at least the Deore range. The frame, shock and Fork are not even recognizable as acceptable equipment.Buying a bike like that will not give you the experience of what a Mtb should feel like. Good luck !Im sure you will get a good deal on the Hub Thanks, I feel like I have a lot more research to do before I should buy something. xcd 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickGM Posted February 13, 2018 Share Thanks, I feel like I have a lot more research to do before I should buy something.Thankfully for you, everyone here is singing from the same hymnsheet.:Don't buy a bike from Makro or Game. Buy second hand. If I were in your shoes with your budget, there is just no doubt, I would buy a 2nd hand 26er. 26ers go for really cheap these days because everyone wants a 29er so in the end. They are undervalued. You could actually get a robust bike for that price. J∆kk∆ls and manskobus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marko35s Posted February 13, 2018 Share Morning. I am selling my 26" mountain bikes. have 2 of them. around 4 years old. immaculate cond. white. and changed over to Road cycling for various reasons, mainly due to my neck. both exact models. Silverbacks. dual suspension. both with less than 500 km on them. road tyres and knobbie tyres. will post them on bike hub this week-end. Will sell them at around R3k each. If these are the right size then they are worth a look, don't let the wheel size put you off. A good 26' beats a crap 29' any day of the week.If you buy a Makro bike one of three things will happen in the long run - 1. It's so bad you hate the experience, lose interest, stop riding and waste your money.2. You continually waste money trying to fix a broken and unreliable wreck of a bike.3. You end up binning the bike and spending more money on something that won't make you hate it. manskobus, J∆kk∆ls and Dusty 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ouzo Posted February 13, 2018 Share do a google for seths bike hacks on youtube. he tested what would be the equivalent of buying a bike from the likes of Makro.It started off ok, but by the end the bike was totally destroyed and his comments, whilst going downhill was along the lines of "I should be enjoying going downhill but this is not enjoyable at all. It would put me off MTBiking if I had to start with one of these" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manskobus Posted February 13, 2018 Share do a google for seths bike hacks on youtube. he tested what would be the equivalent of buying a bike from the likes of Makro.It started off ok, but by the end the bike was totally destroyed and his comments, whilst going downhill was along the lines of "I should be enjoying going downhill but this is not enjoyable at all. It would put me off MTBiking if I had to start with one of these"Found it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithbe Posted February 13, 2018 Share There are plenty of YouTube videos where Walmart (Makro) bikes are taken on a run on trails etc.. The succinct conclusion - Don't do it! manskobus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J∆kk∆ls Posted February 13, 2018 Share Good day All, I'm very new to this and I've wanted a mountain bike for a while now. I've read trough a few posts and noticed that almost everyone hates on Raleigh and Makro. That said I'm looking into buying a mountain bike preferably a 29" as I'm 1.86m tall. I found this at Makro yesterday and Its on special for R3000 https://www.makro.co.za/sports-and-outdoor/raleigh-29-vapor-frs-mountain-bike-black/yellow-297608EA I know most of you don't like Makro because the people who build the bikes know nothing about them but if I can give it a good run trough and rebuild and check everything would this kind of bike be good for a beginner like me? I have a budget of about R3500 if you maybe have a better idea. I'm in the Sunninghill area. Not sure what your height has to do with riding a 29er. I am 192cm and had a massive jol on both my 26"s. My advice is to save a little more and have around R6k for a used bike. Rather than p!$$!ng away R3000 unnecessarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manskobus Posted February 13, 2018 Share Not sure what your height has to do with riding a 29er. I am 192cm and had a massive jol on both my 26"s. My advice is to save a little more and have around R6k for a used bike. Rather than p!$$!ng away R3000 unnecessarily. Hi Yes I've gathered that its the frame size that matters and not the wheel size. Still very new to this. I'm still not sure that spending that much money on a bike is worth it for me just yet. I've looked trough the classifieds and see a lot of recommended bikes for my price range. I Guess I should look at a higher price range but then it will have to wait a whole while. J∆kk∆ls 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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