What gear to buy?

[PandaAttack1]

Hi all,

So the time is nearing to buy mountain bikes for myself and my GF. We will mostly be doing cross country and some trail mountain biking.

Where do we start with clothing? I've read a bit and have some inputs, but there are still quite a bit of options available out there.

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, 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? 🙈

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?

Both of use are starting out with flat pedals. Are tekkies okay for a start? Where do we go from there?

Luckily the clothes are not as committed as the bikes, but it is still a couple hundred to 1k -2k per item. 👀

Any thoughts or inputs will b appreciated.

 

[ChrisF]

Anatomic cycling, if you can get to their shop.

 

The single biggest complaint about all clothing manufacturers relates to sizing ....

 

Large in one brand is XL in a few others, is XXL in yet more.