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Mountain Bike for the Off-Season..
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I'm looking at buying my wife an MTB as she wants to start coming out with me and doing some easy rides. I'm currently on a hard-tail, I guess I'm a little old school and have never liked the idea of dual suspension, always thought you lose too much power with the back end bobbing around.

Have talked to some of the girls over here who ride and they've all said a dual will make her a far better rider. Then I go into the local shop and he's telling me she needs these fugly big fat tyres. The girls all said 27.5, bike shop says 29'er (which mine is and I find a little hard to corner on the tech stuff).

So what MTB's are the girls riding for low key off-road rides, the odd event (she wants to do Xterra NZ but won't be particularly competitive), and some longer night-ride type team events.

Suggestions / advice greatly rec'd - I'm a roadie....def don't claim to know much about off-road!

Thanks.
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Re: Mountain Bike for the Off-Season.. [Salmon Steve] [ In reply to ]
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I have a 26" full suspension, but I bought it before all the wheel sizes took off.

What kind of terrain do you ride?? If it's super rocky/rooty I'd say full suspension. If it's smooth, flowy trails, a hard tail will be fine.

Buy the most bike you can afford and lighter is always better. Climbing on a beast just sucks.

Get her to ride a bunch of different bikes and see what she likes.
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Re: Mountain Bike for the Off-Season.. [Salmon Steve] [ In reply to ]
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I ride a 26" hardtail (this one) - I went out looking for a 29er but I hated every single one I rode, and totally fell in love (rather against my will) with the bike I eventually bought. This was before 27b was available for me to try in my area, but the fact remains I absolutely adore my small-wheeled bike and its speedy handling. I came to it from a couple of decades of riding trail on a full rigid or on my cx bike, and the suspension fork has definitely made tackling obstacles easier. I had no interest in full squish, so didn't even bother to try - unless you're doing very technical riding you don't really need it.

Best of luck to your lady - hope she finds a ride that makes her heart sing!

__________________________________________________________
ill advised racing inc.
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Re: Mountain Bike for the Off-Season.. [Salmon Steve] [ In reply to ]
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A hard-tail will make her a better rider but a full-suspension will make it seem like she's a better rider. A hard-tail will force a rider to learn how to pick better lines. Also, the concept of bobbing and power all but disappeared in the mid-2000s.

I've been partial to Santa Cruz. Spent nearly 10y on a Blur. Updated it with a Juliana Furtado (aka Santa Cruz 5010) two years ago. The Furtado is a 27.5" trail bike - I went with something a bit more slack and with more travel because I mostly ride recreationally. Plus I'm in the PNW so it's wet, rooty and very technical - there is no cruisy singletrack here, it's all punchy technical turns and short climbs. The alternative I considered was the Joplin (aka Tallboy), which would be the 29" equivalent of the old Blur.

It's a 2x10sp set up. Not a fan of the 1x11sp because I ride to/from the trailhead on the road and want a wider range of gearing so I can rip home after a ride. A lot of bikes do not even have geometry that will even allow a front derailleur.

I'm not too bothered by wheelsize and I'm 5'6". Ultimately I went 27.5" because that's what trail bikes tend to have. That said, smaller sizes are often spec'ed with 27.5" while bigger are spec'd with 29". Most of the girls around here are riding 27.5", but so are most of the men... I race cx so part of me wants to believe that having the same wheelsize on both bikes will make me a better cross rider too.

Bike was spec'd with Maxxis Highrollers. Great for wet winter riding but I'd probably swap them out with something thinner and more supple if I rode more in the summer. I suspect that would dramatically change the feel of the bike.

The other bikes I've ridden recently are the Giant Anthem, which felt a lot like the Blur, and the SC Superlight, which had low-end SRAM components so it sort of sucked.
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Re: Mountain Bike for the Off-Season.. [banana] [ In reply to ]
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You know what you're talking about. Can I PM you when I find one for her?
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Re: Mountain Bike for the Off-Season.. [Salmon Steve] [ In reply to ]
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You bet.

I will say that bike choice depends primarily on the types of trails you intend to ride. Trail category suits us best because we ride a lot in the wet winter on trails that are mostly roots with many sharp technical turns (Vancouver island). If we still lived in an area with long fire-road climbs and buff singletrack, trail bikes would be overkill and we'd be riding XC bikes.

From what I know of the NZ$ (in-laws are in Dunedin), you'll likely be somewhat hamstrung by currency conversion - same as us. We purchased in 2014. We have a great relationship with a local shop but if we bought from there today we'd probably be riding Devinci or Marin because of the conversion to US$.
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Re: Mountain Bike for the Off-Season.. [Salmon Steve] [ In reply to ]
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I've got no idea what I'm talking about, but I ride a 27 hard tail and have a heap of fun falling off it and improving my bike handling skills.

I suspect that until I'm a much better mtb rider it won't make too much difference.

I've also just ordered some flat pedals as I think I enjoy it a lot more and approach things with a bit more confidence if I know I can get my foot off quickly. I've got spd pedals and shoes but think I'll put them back on my commuter bike for the moment as I've landed up sideways with my feet still clipped in a few too many times. Maybe something else to consider for a newbie.

My date (who knows about as much as I do) bought a super dooper full suspension with a single chainring and he's kinda wishing he had the extra range that I've got with the old fashioned triple. I can climb just about anything but he runs out. At least that's his excuse...
Last edited by: blackthugcat: Mar 9, 16 17:30
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