gingeRS

now its a little less rainy, time to dig out my bike, and get muddy again!

now, bearing in mind i havent ridden it regularly for probably 3-4 years and the bike is a little crunchy, last time i rode it, should i??

take it to a bike shop and pay them to check it, lube what needs lubing, set up the gears and brakes etc and then get riding it again

or

go out and buy a new bike and join the 21st century.

my current bike is a GT (tequesta) but is easily 10 years old now, thumbshifters, canti brakes etc, but its not too small or anything. it cost me approx £500 when i bought it, but i figued with the way technology progresses nowadays i could get a newer better bike cheaper??

just dont know where to start, cos i dont know what anything is nowadays, so might end up buying the worng sort of bike for the purpose, usually i drive it to a local dirt trail and ride there, but it also needs to be suitable for some road riding

also having never ridden a full suspension bike, i'm wondering if these are worth it, my current bike is a fixed frame (not even front shocks )

cheers

Rolls

iTrader: (2)

Depends entirely on how good a condition its in IMO mate - you can easily spend 100 quid having a local shop doing a strip down, and rebuild, and thats before parts...
Where abouts are you in town? - I've got a stand, so could give it the once over if you liked?

Farmer Giles

If the bike is as bad as it sounds it will probably cost you a couple of hundred quid for a bike shop to sort it and then you still end up with an old bike..

Sounds like new bike time to me. Should be plenty of bargins around with people upgrading and shops clearing out 2007 models..


for your sort of riding I would go for front suspension only. If you use a full suspension bike on the road you need to be able to lock out the rear suspension or else you just bounce along getting nowhere fast and that inevitabley means spending quite a wedge on quality components.

I recon you should be able to pick up a quality 2nd hand bike for well under £500.. dare I say Ebay will probably give you the widest choise in one place.

Rolls

iTrader: (2)

Also, if you're looking in the 300 quid range for a new bike, IMO you'd be best with a hardtail! - full sus's in that price range will not be as well sepc'd from a component point of view!

gingeRS

i'm in barnet, north london

if that offer stands that would be ace