In a Previous Entry about Shopping For my First Mountain Bike Buying a Good bike Or What I Did I
told you about how I purchased a less expensive bike, so that if all out
mountain biking was not in my future, I did not bet the farm on something I would
only do once in a while. Well I suck at placing bets. Granted if I only ended
up using my bike for bike trails with the wife and kids, hey I made a right
choice that saved me some money. But if you have read my first ride, you know I
am now in love with Mountain biking.
So first thing was first I had to take care of a tire
problem. The bike came with a basic set of hybrid tires, they had a bit of grab
on the outside but almost nothing on the inside.
They were alright for riding the bike paths with the family and just okay for the off road riding that I now want to do more of. When cornering on the dirt and rock trails it became a bit treacherous. I love the speed of the off road trails, and I love a good shot of adrenaline just like the next guy. But I also like walking away from a good time. And flying off a turn down into a wooded ditch was not a great way to keep doing what I was enjoying. The tires I had would slide out from under me on the trail as I came flying around the corner, or even trying to come out of the corner they would not grab. Another down side was going up the hills I had little traction, which means I was working twice as hard as my friend Gary to get up some of the hills especially if I had lost momentum because of a corner.
I shopped a bit online and like bikes the prices went from reasonable to more than I pay for a car tire by a wide margin. Gary had a couple of sets of 26” tires that had been in his garage for a while, since he rode a 29er now he had no use for them. I offered him some money and he figured he was helping a friend out who had the same expensive hobby. (And as Gary knows I have too many expensive hobbies as a matter of fact if it was only mountain biking I could probably afford a more expensive bike to start with)
They were alright for riding the bike paths with the family and just okay for the off road riding that I now want to do more of. When cornering on the dirt and rock trails it became a bit treacherous. I love the speed of the off road trails, and I love a good shot of adrenaline just like the next guy. But I also like walking away from a good time. And flying off a turn down into a wooded ditch was not a great way to keep doing what I was enjoying. The tires I had would slide out from under me on the trail as I came flying around the corner, or even trying to come out of the corner they would not grab. Another down side was going up the hills I had little traction, which means I was working twice as hard as my friend Gary to get up some of the hills especially if I had lost momentum because of a corner.
I shopped a bit online and like bikes the prices went from reasonable to more than I pay for a car tire by a wide margin. Gary had a couple of sets of 26” tires that had been in his garage for a while, since he rode a 29er now he had no use for them. I offered him some money and he figured he was helping a friend out who had the same expensive hobby. (And as Gary knows I have too many expensive hobbies as a matter of fact if it was only mountain biking I could probably afford a more expensive bike to start with)
The next fix was my shifters. My bike came with twist
shifters.
This presented a problem every time I jumped and came down my hand would sometimes hit or twist the shifter taking my bike out of either an ideal speed or just screwing me by dropping my chain. Also this wear and tear on the drive system was probably not good for the bike. So I ordered a new pair of thumb shifters to solve that problem. The guys at Big Shark were very helpful in finding me a set that was compatible with my bike. I also had to change the grips since the others were part of the twist shifters, not a big expense so I threw those in as well. Big Shark also threw in my free tune up (a 75 dollar savings since I bought the bike through them) so anything I had whacked out of tune would also be fixed when I got it back.
 |
| Similar to what I had |
This presented a problem every time I jumped and came down my hand would sometimes hit or twist the shifter taking my bike out of either an ideal speed or just screwing me by dropping my chain. Also this wear and tear on the drive system was probably not good for the bike. So I ordered a new pair of thumb shifters to solve that problem. The guys at Big Shark were very helpful in finding me a set that was compatible with my bike. I also had to change the grips since the others were part of the twist shifters, not a big expense so I threw those in as well. Big Shark also threw in my free tune up (a 75 dollar savings since I bought the bike through them) so anything I had whacked out of tune would also be fixed when I got it back.
Now the down side. Big Shark Bikes have some very
enthusiastic guys who love what they do. And the customer service and maintenance
shows since they book most bikes (mainly due to the tune up) about two weeks
out. The price to pay for good work done on your bike.
So as I write this I have missed three spectacular riding
days, with a couple more coming up this weekend. I am itching to ride and although I have
focused my time on running (getting in shape for a half marathon) let’s face it
there is not much of an adrenaline rush to running 3-7 miles. I guess unless
someone releases a Bear in the streets of Kirkwood…. Bear pic here
So as I relive my childhood riding my bike, I now relive
what it felt like waiting for Christmas morning. So with some time on my hands
I guess I should brew something or maybe get together for some beer tasting
with family and friends……
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