Newbie cyclist looking for advice regarding best buy within budget

[Theunissa]

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/hardtail-mountain-bikes/628900/scott-aspect-930

 

Like this. Small will also be very much in your size

[ChrisF]

9 hours ago, Melxisdead said:

Haha, what would something like this cost? I did a bit of reading up on whether 26ers are considered dead or not and it seems to be a mixed bag, depending on who you ask. But I totally get the concern for longevity in terms of parts. 

 

We have two 2 off 26" bikes, a 650B and a 29".

 

The 26" bikes are for a 1,5m rider.

 

At 1,68 you will get all the benefits of a 29" on trails.

 

There is a larger selection of tyres for 29", as compared to 26".  But we manage the local trails, even Ezelfontein, perfectly on the available 26" tyres.

 

Each and every other component is the same.

 

 

 

The "benefit" of a 26" is that it is more affordable .....

 

 

Rather look for a 29" with a 3x drive train (3 rings in front).  With the current hype for 1x systems, these 3x bikes are very affordable.  AND, very easily converted to 1x when the time comes 👍👍

[ChrisF]

6 hours ago, RobynE said:

As a 42 year old who came back into riding having last ridden in high school - 

 

A 1x drivetrain is a great friend as are disc brakes. 

 

I would stick to Titan, Silverback, Giant etc. 

 

Good quality tyres make a BIG difference. So if the bike is cheap but needs new tyres, it’s something of a false economy. MTB tyres are anything from 500 to 1.5k a pop depending on brand and purpose. Cheap tyres are a false economy as well. 
 

Geometry of the bike is important. I am most comfortable on a hybrid/gravel type. I get quite a sore lower back on my wife’s Signal Skye and sore knees too but I can ride my Decathlon hybrid for hours and hours with no discomfort. Incidentally both bikes are medium and professionally set up for me, so it’s not a setup issue. 
 

On that note - try do a bike fit. That takes you from a good ride to a great ride. Well worth the money! 
 

Happy bike hunting. 

 

 

Add to this -

 

Make sure the tyres are TR, ie Tubeless Ready.

 

Comverting to tubeless is easy .... IF you start with the correct tyres.

 

 

As noted above, it really messes with your budget if you need to buy two new tyres

[Melxisdead]

18 hours ago, RobertWhitehead said:

I am back 

let me answer your question:

1) what would something like this cost? I will make it fit your budget with some bells and whistles to welcome you into the sport. 

Here's my opinion on 26ers: 

Are they slower than 29ers on normal district road and do you work harder to keep up - yes. 

Are you going to "just roll over" anything and everything that comes in your way similar to the 29ers - no you will have to keep your witts about you on the technical stuff. Is this a bad thing? No as you will get to improve your skill set and this will be very handy later in your cycling journey. 

Are they much slower on the trails - surprisingly not that much, I read a comparison test once and it was like 13sec over 30km or something like that. 

Is a 29er more fun than a 26er - meh opinions will differ. 

I have done both a professional setup and I've used the below link. The values are pretty similar, the main difference I found was the tolerances given in the below. 

https://www.competitivecyclist.com/Store/catalog/fitCalculatorBike.jsp

 

Hey! Thanks for your detailed response. 

I have been thinking about having a bike built up by you and I really do appreciate your offer but I have some safety concerns since the theft and I think a brand new bike would be amazing but it would probably kill me if someone were to steal that as I'd be far more attached to it. Maybe that's irrational of me. But thank you for all your advice and I'm definitely keeping 26" as well as 27.5 bikes in my scope with regard to shopping around. .

If I really find nothing that tickles my fancy after looking around I will reconsider your offer. I've been really pleasantly surprised by the reception and willingness to assist from people on this forum. But especially you, so thank you so much for the warm welcome.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Melxisdead

[Melxisdead]

Thank you everyone for your responses. 🙌

There are so many new ones that it would take me quite some time to personally message everyone. 

You've all given me a lot to think about. As far as the 26 or 29 debacle I think I'm okay to try both depending on what I find. Thank you to those that sent me advice, adverts and also just their own experiences and choices regarding preferred specs. I think I have a good idea of what to look for. And I'll be reaching out to folks on here for more advice in the future.  Initially, making this post I figured no one would bother to respond to it, but I've been surprised at all the warmth and willingness to help. So, thanks for being kind to a brainless noob like me! 😊

[ChrisF]

3 hours ago, Melxisdead said:

Hey! Thanks for your detailed response. 

I have been thinking about having a bike built up by you and I really do appreciate your offer but I have some safety concerns since the theft and I think a brand new bike would be amazing but it would probably kill me if someone were to steal that as I'd be far more attached to it. Maybe that's irrational of me. But thank you for all your advice and I'm definitely keeping 26" as well as 27.5 bikes in my scope with regard to shopping around. .

If I really find nothing that tickles my fancy after looking around I will reconsider your offer. I've been really pleasantly surprised by the reception and willingness to assist from people on this forum. But especially you, so thank you so much for the warm welcome.

 

@RobertWhitehead actually holds down a day job.  Building bikes and assisting cyclists is just his passion.

 

In time you will note that he is always helping people.

 

Pretty sure he can build you a dream bike, for a reasonable amount.

 

 

@Bicycle Yard Zarras WESTERN CAPE is doing this as a business.  Still a nice guy, and around the corner from you.  I am sure he is looking through his stock for something that fits your budget and needs

[Melxisdead]

20 hours ago, Theunissa said:

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/hardtail-mountain-bikes/628900/scott-aspect-930

 

Like this. Small will also be very much in your size

I got in contact with this guy. I will have a look at it over the weekend and see if the small is suitable. 

[Melxisdead]

30 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

@RobertWhitehead actually holds down a day job.  Building bikes and assisting cyclists is just his passion.

 

In time you will note that he is always helping people.

 

Pretty sure he can build you a dream bike, for a reasonable amount.

 

 

@Bicycle Yard Zarras WESTERN CAPE is doing this as a business.  Still a nice guy, and around the corner from you.  I am sure he is looking through his stock for something that fits your budget and needs

That's good to know. 

I really appreciate the insight from both of them. I think I'll for sure pop by Zarras if I don't come right with a second hand private sale. 

[Bicycle Yard WESTERN CAPE]

1 minute ago, Melxisdead said:

That's good to know. 

I really appreciate the insight from both of them. I think I'll for sure pop by Zarras if I don't come right with a second hand private sale. 

We have frames and stuff available, I can give you a 26' Frame and you can start there , probably aswell as cranks and I have a user 104BCD chainring you can also have and PROV a 9spd groupset aswell just laying around. But usually in my experience building up a bike, like buying Bearings and BB and small things add up to alot, so even if I give you a bunch of stuff and you would still need to fork out a relative amount for additional parts that aren't used.

 

But like I Said, I don't mind driving you to langebaan if uou can negotiate with that oke with the GT to 4.5k to possibly buy there !

 

 

[Melxisdead]

1 minute ago, Bicycle Yard Zarras WESTERN CAPE said:

We have frames and stuff available, I can give you a 26' Frame and you can start there , probably aswell as cranks and I have a user 104BCD chainring you can also have and PROV a 9spd groupset aswell just laying around. But usually in my experience building up a bike, like buying Bearings and BB and small things add up to alot, so even if I give you a bunch of stuff and you would still need to fork out a relative amount for additional parts that aren't used.

 

But like I Said, I don't mind driving you to langebaan if uou can negotiate with that oke with the GT to 4.5k to possibly buy there !

 

 

Thank you for your willingness to help! I'll let you know about the Langebaan thing 😄

[dasilvarsa]

If you buy a 26er You will be sorry.

Geometry.

Get the GT on offer if you can.

 

 

[TheoG]

3 minutes ago, dasilvarsa said:

If you buy a 26er You will be sorry.

Geometry.

Get the GT on offer if you can.

 

 

I agree on the geometry thing.  The modern trend to have the fork at a much slacker angle as an example makes a big difference in taking on more tech terrain.

Also the rolling resistance between 29" and 26" is significant.  A number of year ago I trained for the Desert Dash in Namibia on my trusty 26", a week before the race a friend offer me a spare 29" on loan and immediately I could not only keep up with the other guys but sometimes even drop them.

Difficult to put a number to it but it is significant for sure.

[Frosty]

@Melxisdead get a bike that fits your reason to ride. Perhaps specify the type of “races” that you want to enter, and then you get the best fit that is within your budget.

The 26” bike will be fine. However, if you get a little more “competitive”, you might find yourself wanting to upgrade again.

[Melxisdead]

Look, I would like to try my hand at some trails but also practice on the road. I actually considered entering the 42km CTCT race this year but I decided to train and then consider next year's CTCT. Maybe by then, I will feel ready to do the full 109km. I'm going to have a look at the Scott Aspect 930 29" bike that @Theunissa posted above on Sunday and if that's not suitable (as it's a small frame bike; although from the Scott site, the Small and Medium frames have rider height overlap) I will perhaps take @Bicycle Yard Zarras WESTERN CAPE up on his offer.  But yeah, I am cautious of making the wrong choice, especially since buying a bike is a fairly sizeable expense. I will update the thread if I end up taking the Scott. It seems to be in a really good condition from the pics.

Edited March 31, 2023 by Melxisdead

[RobynE]

22 hours ago, Melxisdead said:

Thank you for your willingness to help! I'll let you know about the Langebaan thing 😄

Mel there’s a really nice green Momsen on Secondhand Bikes SA Facebook group, posted today. It’s above your budget a bit but zero to spend by the looks of things and I’d say it represents really decent value.  

[Theunissa]

1 minute ago, Melxisdead said:

Look, I would like to try my hand at some trails but also practice on the road. I actually considered entering the 42km Argus race this year but I decided to train and then consider next year's Argus. Maybe by then I will feel ready to do the full 109km. I'm going to have a look at the Scott Aspect 930 29" bike that @Theunissa posted above on Sunday and if that's not suitable (as it's a small frame bike; although from the Scott site, the Small and Medium frames have rider height overlap) I will perhaps take @Bicycle Yard Zarras WESTERN CAPE up on his offer.  But yeah, I am cautious of making the wrong choice, especially since buying a bike is a fairly sizeable expense. I will update the thread if I end up taking the Scott. It seems to be in a really good condition from the pics.

I'm 165. And small med works for me. Small just lo get stem