# First bike! Tips please



## jack smith (25 Nov 2014)

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/rockhopper-29er-2014-mountain-bike-ec052284

Picking one of these up on thursday hopefully in red for £260 mint condition first off have i got a good bike for the money? I personally think i have.

Id like to get some mtb shoes and pedals and maybe a few other small bits to get me going on the trails properly, i do have a knockabout mtb but its VERY basic and i run my look keo road pedals on it. But im wanting proper spd's.

Is there anything else i should get such as tyres ect. If anyone has a link for cheap shoes and pedals please let me know too!


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## jack smith (25 Nov 2014)

Also i dont like the novice sort of look shoukd i go with standard spd pedals or the ones with the flat part around them?


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## Cycleops (26 Nov 2014)

But not as nice as the original:


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## Jody (26 Nov 2014)

Looks like a great deal for the money. 



jack smith said:


> Is there anything else i should get such as tyres ect. If anyone has a link for cheap shoes and pedals please let me know too!
> View attachment 62607



Tyres look reasonable. Personally I wouldn't change them unless you want something more specific (faster rolling, lighter etc). Ride them first and see how you go

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/shimano/m520-spd-pedals-oe--ec050919 M520 OE spec (no fancy package) but you can't get much cheaper than this. Cages round SPD's seem a personal preference. 

There are lots of cheap shoes available from £40 upwards (or even £15 if you go to Aldi) but I would advise going into a shop to try them. I wanted a pair in the summer and had decided on one of two models. Went to Evans to try them and thought they were really uncomfortable.


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## tjones (28 Nov 2014)

I love my Specialized Hardrock (this is the model down from yours) Have done a few 7 hour off road rides on it this year.

My advice would be to get out and ride it first before spending money on modifications.

As for foot ware I use a good pair of walking boots as some of terrain on my rides especially this time of year can involve walking. It is also nice to make it home with dry feet.


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## Haitch (28 Nov 2014)

tjones said:


> As for foot ware I use a good pair of walking boots as some of terrain on my rides especially this time of year can involve walking. It is also nice to make it home with dry feet.



Not having SPDs on at least the first couple of rides will also help you get a feel for the bike and understand when you need to put your foot down or not. It will also save you the embarrassment of clipless moments.


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## Motozulu (28 Nov 2014)

I think it's best to ride being able to go either clipped or flat - best of both worlds. Some people swear by one or the other - I thought to myself 'learn both!' so I did. best of both worlds.

XC rides - clipped in, on the full suss on the gnarlier stuff - flats.


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## Spartak (28 Nov 2014)

Bought a Spesh Rockhopper last year 
Absolutely love it - really enjoy riding trails but nothing too technical.


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## jack smith (3 Dec 2014)

Took it out for the forst time on sunday it was REALLY wet and muddy really thick slimey mud and managed a 50th place on strave out of a few thousand so very happy! Think i might be onto somrthing here with mtb, got a Set of mtb shoes and pedals from a recycle place im hoping to voulenteer for and someone had ordered me a full face for christmas as i dont trust my giro road helmet protecting me agaisnt a tree/rocks to the face.


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## jack smith (4 Dec 2014)

Really want to upgrade this and make it abit lighter/better to ride, whats the best place to start, wheels/ forks? Is it worth going for carbon seatpost stem and bars or will this save hardly anything? 

Can someone also also reccomend some cheap light wheels/ best second hand forks and are second hand forks okay?


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## Cubist (5 Dec 2014)

Check On One for cheap carbon bars...they were doing Knuckleballs for less than 40quid last month. That said, they don't weigh much less than some decent alu bars. Secondhand forks are a bit of a gamble, but stick with something like Rockshox and they are user serviceable/ rebuildable. You can swap the internals around and replace seals with kits available online, but never buy a used fork with damage on the stanchions. 

Reba are good light forks for the money, or Xfusion for value. Sector or Recon Air versions may be a bit cheaper. 

Superstar components wheels are great value for money, you should be able to get some from their current clearance deals, and if you get their Pacenti rims on switch hubs you'll have a2kg wheelset for peanuts. Going tubeless will save some weight. Check classifieds on Singletrackworld and Pinkbike for used XT or SLX Hollowtech cranks, you should be able to pick some up for £40. I'd save weight on wheels, tyres and cranks before I bought carbon seatpostss or stems. on one CNC stems weight about 140g so aren't a massive penalty.


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## PaulSecteur (5 Dec 2014)

An off the wall idea...

Instead of spending your money making it lighter, why not spend it on some training?

When I got my Epic I could physically ride it around Cannock chase, but to be honest it felt like it was taking me for a ride.

I did a beginners course with one of the skill schools (chase skills with Alex Brown) and felt a lot better about riding it. I practiced for a while and all was good, I then did another more advanced course and all was better.

Im still no expert, but I do feel more in control, and most importantly for me... I really enjoy riding it.
There does seem to be some stigma attached to getting training "You need someone to teach you to ride a bike?!?!?!" but MTB is sooo much more dynamic than road bikes. Most trail centres have a school, or maybe just organised rides out where you can pick up tips and watch riders with correct techniques.

Just my 2 pence worth...


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## jack smith (5 Dec 2014)

Im one for picking up stuff as i go along and learning from mistakes really but i dont think id pay to learn skills ect ive got some really good locals around here who have offered help ect, ive even got danny heart just up the rode who i saw riding at the weekend... WOW. got a full face off the family for christmas to boost confidence abit so might run the bike hard and see what i feel needs improving although it will probably be summer when i can afford it


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## jack smith (5 Dec 2014)

Cycleops said:


> But not as nice as the original:
> 
> View attachment 62620



Bloody hell its came on alot!


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## Levo-Lon (7 Dec 2014)

My advice would be ,rag the wheels off that for a few month ,dont waste money on it..
get a good bike nxt yr ,by good bike I mean a higher spec quality fork drivetrain lighter bike..
that bike is perfect for learning and crashing on.

oh and ger the seat set at the right height for efficient pedling , it will improve yor riding no end

as for the old version posted ? Thank heavens for progress, id never have got back into mtb if they still looked like that or rode like em ...I dont get the rose tint nostalgia thing with push bikes..old bikes are just ....bad memories to me.


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## Cycleops (7 Dec 2014)

meta lon said:


> My advice would be ,rag the wheels off that for a few month ,dont waste money on it..
> get a good bike nxt yr ,by good bike I mean a higher spec quality fork drivetrain lighter bike..
> that bike is perfect for learning and crashing on.
> 
> as for the old version posted ? Thank heavens for progress, id never have got back into mtb if they still looked like that or rode like em ...I dont get the rose tint nostalgia thing with push bikes..old bikes are just ....bad memories to me.



A higher quality bike. What will that give you? Better quality drivetrain you say, I bet you wouldn't notice much difference. You certainly won't be saving much weight as most MTB's are quite porky. I would say that Jack's Spesh is about 14kg. Not unnaturally the first thing he does is wonder how he can save some weight. Even a 3k carbon bike comes in at around 10.5kg. Contrary to your belief that older bike designs are bad manufactuers could learn a thing or two from them. A few months ago I bought a Trek 8300 from the nineties, still in excellent condition and saving about 3kg on the above. No front suspension, but do you really need it? So don't be so keen to dismiss them.


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## jack smith (7 Dec 2014)

I'm happy to keep this frame I love the style of it and have heard its a great frame to keep and upgrade from a few magazines ect I guess I just want it lighter so I can fling it about abit more, I think for a hard tail this is a great frame for me but I know if I do get another mtb it will deffo be a full sus with a more downhill approach


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## Levo-Lon (7 Dec 2014)

Cycleops said:


> A higher quality bike. What will that give you? Better quality drivetrain you say, I bet you wouldn't notice much difference. You certainly won't be saving much weight as most MTB's are quite porky. I would say that Jack's Spesh is about 14kg. Not unnaturally the first thing he does is wonder how he can save some weight. Even a 3k carbon bike comes in at around 10.5kg. Contrary to your belief that older bike designs are bad manufactuers could learn a thing or two from them. A few months ago I bought a Trek 8300 from the nineties, still in excellent condition and saving about 3kg on the above. No front suspension, but do you really need it? So don't be so keen to dismiss them.




sorry if I hurt your feelings..but feel free to dislike my commencal and orange i wont mind.


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## Cycleops (7 Dec 2014)

meta lon said:


> sorry if I hurt your feelings..but feel free to dislike my commencal and orange i wont mind.


No hurt feelings. I just think that MTBs have got more complicated and heavier when there is no real need. Maybe I just prefer the simple life!


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## jack smith (7 Dec 2014)

Im glad for the innovation too just because i prefer the modern looks and the fact they have suspension, i wouodnt like to tackle a rough downhill trail on a solid bike but then again im young


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## Cubist (7 Dec 2014)

As @jack smith says, that Spesh frame is very upgradable. I'd learn the ins and outs of off road riding on it and upgrade bits as they wear out. The excess weight comes from cheap components as the bike has been built to a price point, and that will mean coil sprung fork and porky drivetrain and wheels/tyres. Depending on the terrain he wants to ride on he'll soon discover that searching the Internet for used bargains is the way to go, with a decent used XT crankset costing about the same as a new Deore, if not less. Same with wheels, a decent used pair of hope hoops will set him back about £150-180, and an air sprung Reba or whatever about £150-200. Those three things alone will save A kilo to two kilos of mass over the OEM kit, then a decent saddle like a Spoon will save another 100g, seatpost another 100g, bars about another 100, tyres, run tubeless anothe 200-300g if he treats it to some quality ones over the OEM knobblies. It all adds up and pretty soon he's back in entry level race weights. 

As for modern bikes being encumbered with excess weight, that's not down to progress @Cycleops , that's down to low budget. My steel framed Hardtail weighs just over 11kg. I used to ride a rigid forked MTB, but it's very limiting, in terms of speed, comfort and traction. The Soul will go down a good amount of red and black graded stuff, and there's a local descent where I used to end up unable to see anything on the rigid because my eyeballs were jiggling too much. The Soul flies down barely batting an eyelid. As for the long travel full susser, well, I haven't found its limits yet. As @meta lon says, embrace the change.


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## jack smith (7 Dec 2014)

Can i just ask, is it worth upgrading the drivechain? Its a mix of alvio and altus at the mo is it worth getting deore or higher ( not to well informed about the mtb group hierachy) as there are loads of cheap bits around, also the crank seems abit flexy when i climb shouod i stay with octalink or go with something else?


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## Levo-Lon (8 Dec 2014)

Slx is a good upgrade from alvio..xt then xtr. Deore is good basic kit but not that much of a jump from alvio rear mec.
My xo rear mec is 100g lighter than the slx clutch mec on my orange crush..but the slx is a clutch mec and I run that 1x10 with a ssuperstar 36 narrow wide..so 600g saved..so you see what cubist and myself are getting at. My old full susser bike weighed 15kg my new one weighs 12kg..that might not seem a lot but going up a fire road in wales doing the Beast its very noticable with 50yr old legs..


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## Cubist (9 Dec 2014)

Bang for buck SLX is pretty good value. The hierarchy is Deore, SLX, XT, XTR. You can mix and match to an extent, with all 9 speed kit being compatible across the range. You can't mix mechs shifters or cassettes between different speeds, but as an example I have a 10 speed drivetrain on the Soul except for the crankset. XT M770 was sold as 9 or 10 speed. I run it as a double and bash, having shed the original chainrings and fitting Blackspire 36 and 24 in the middle and granny, with. 30g BBG bashguard. I fitted a 9 speed double specific SLX front mech and still use the so-called 9 speed left hand shifter. 

Check the classifieds on Singletrackworld." I've recently seen 9 speed SLX triple cranks sell for £25 to £30. You can swap your existing rings onto the stiffer, lighter Hollowtech cranks.


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## jack smith (9 Dec 2014)

Would slx be the way to go then? They seem pretty cheap compared to road components, is it worth getting just the transmission groupset or the one with brakes too ive got tektro hydro at the moment but the front pad retainer pin is shot and wont come out so might be worthwhile changing that or are there cheaper better brake options to buy seperate?

Sorry for all the wuestions but ive watched laods of videos ect and still cant get my head around all the different mtb specs


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