Mtb for canals and light trails- newbie

ShaunieVW

Hi guys, I've decided to get back on a back after a 10 year hiatus. In my teens I was a BMX'r and loved it. I've no real interest in road cycling but forest trials and canal riding is appealing. Now I've a tight budget of around 200 euro which isn't a lot for a mtb I know but it'll have to do me for the time been. I saw Halfords have this Raleigh Nova http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductMobileDisplay?catalogId=15551&langId=-1&categoryId=212589&productId=1178019&storeId=11101 at half price. Looks fairly decent for what I need it for? Plus my surname is Raleigh so would be a shame not to lol. Any tips for a newbie etc? Thanks all!!

saccades

It's probably the bike I'd go for on that budget - no heavy useless rear suspension and shimano kit where you need it.

I know it says alloy frame, but going off the 27.2mm seatpost I suspect it's steel alloy as opposed to aluminium alloy.

As you are used to bmx's - you'll find the gears will go out of tune and the brakes will get pretty bad after a coupla uses, this'll be the cables stretching with use. All good bike shops will tell you to come back for a service after 6 weeks or so to sort it out for you. Dunno if Halfords do this as I've not bought a bike off them in 20 years.

iwillhtfu

There was someone on the cycling forum earlier asking about pricing on an vintage raleigh and a Focus hard tail.

I'd have thought the scott hard tail would be in and around your budget probably a bit over if you could stretch. It would be a much better bike than the one you've linked.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057608665

ShaunieVW

Hi guys borrowed a full suspension bike for a couple of weeks and hit mullaghmeen forest yesterday. Had an absolute blast! But the bike is old, every bearing was fecked and suspension was shagged and gears jammed constantly which made the uphill climbs very difficult. So have put a click and collect on the raleigh nova hard tail from Halfords. Can't wait to hit the trails again. Really got into it and wasn't a million miles from BMX'ing. Steering with knees etc really came into it got filthy dirty due to the weather and my fitness needs improving but I'll get there. Any good trials for beginners in the Midlands? I'm in kinnegad so Dublin isn't too far away.

ShaunieVW

Just to update this had a disaster of a day yesterday, Halfords rang me when I was on my way to collect the bike to tell me that they didn't have it, but come up anyway and we will do a deal.
So thought grand I'll see what's there. Would only give me 10 % off other bikes but the jump from the €209 Raleigh to €379 Carrera was too much. Was not happy I ordered it last Tuesday and had a call from them to confirm pick up and all I expected more tbh. So anyway 6 hours of other bike stores and I find out that the Raleighs are been pulled from sales as there is a fault with the headset resulting in no steering :0

I ended up back at Liffey Valley and got talking to the Manager who was great to be fair and got a good deal on a Carrera Vengeance which is a far superior bike than the Raleigh. Really impressed with it at the money it held up very well in the forest today so I'm happy enough!

This is cleaned after the forest today, It was filthy!