Mountain bike newbie

Lordofweld

My brother recently bought a decent felt mountain bike and we have been doin a lot of forestry downhill and gettin a lot better (Not hittin trees). Gettin a bike myself shortly but not sure what to get, Are the cheaper bikes any good or will they fall to bits, Dont want to spend big money, Mates Wedding in lanzo in october, Also is there anywhere around mayo/sligo/roscommon people downhill or where in Ireland is there a good downhill club?

studiorat

Seems to be a fair few second hand dh and freeroide bikes around at the moment.
Have a look at the forum on Irishdh for around €1,000 you could pick up something handy.

Without knowing your budget it's hard to say what's suitable.

Ciaran500

Lordofweld wrote: »

My brother recently bought a decent felt mountain bike and we have been doin a lot of forestry downhill and gettin a lot better (Not hittin trees). Gettin a bike myself shortly but not sure what to get, Are the cheaper bikes any good or will they fall to bits, Dont want to spend big money, Mates Wedding in lanzo in october, Also is there anywhere around mayo/sligo/roscommon people downhill or where in Ireland is there a good downhill club?

Do you cycle up the mountains before you go down them? Downhill riding would be considered hiking up to the top and riding very fast down technical track with big bumps and jumps. Most people don't mean this when they say downhill when starting out and this will completely change what type of bike you need.

One of the downhill tracks around Dublin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzECLpADZqU

Lordofweld

Thats exactly what we do, Lucky to have a big Mountain/forestry nearby, We have a quad too so fabricated up a holder for the bike and can get to the top via a link road to save pushin it up each time.

Tenzor07

Second-hand bikes would be the way to go on a limited budget, you will soon get bored with fireroad descents and may want to venture onto more technical trails which will overwhelm any sub-€1000 full sus...

Things people should watch out for when looking at cheaper full suspension bikes:

• The suspension shouldn’t slam to a metal-on-metal clang, pogo endlessly after every bump or seize solid
• You should be able to pick the bike up or pedal it uphill without it busting your back
• You should be able to stop and steer over the rough stuff fairly well, otherwise you will end up crashing a lot.

Lordofweld

My budget would be roughly 500-600, There doesnt seem to be much on donedeal these days, Any other site thats good for buyin bikes?

Tenzor07

Lordofweld wrote: »

My budget would be roughly 500-600, There doesnt seem to be much on donedeal these days, Any other site thats good for buyin bikes?

Adverts.ie
check the buy&sell forums on

irishdh.com
epicdh.com
epicmtb.com
madmtb.com
imbrc.com