Show off your Mountain Bike!!!

No such thing as a noob question we all started out somewhere!
What kind of trails or style of riding are you looking for? Cross county? Long rides 15+ miles? All the brands you named are awesome bike companies and they all have something for you it just depends on what you are looking to ride

 

thanks for getting back to me. i havent really thought too much into yet because honestly i only now starting looking into getting a bike. looks like something thats fun while keeping the heart healthy too lol. i was just guaging the type of bike that i would look into, which would be a medium/large size bike. im 5'8" around 270lb (yeah i miss the military life LOL). but i saw some sick bikes with the larger all terrain type tire, disc brakes and shocks (fox). i want one more that style. not really the highway riding type bike with the skinny tires. if that makes sense.

 

Sounds like you want some sort of All mountain rig, a bike that can be pedaled up hills and down too.

This is my 2011 Santa Cruz Nomad c

Large frame, I am 6' 2ish, with 180mm fox forks, disk breaks that stop on a dime, and some aggressive non street tires. This is basically a dirt bike with no motor, it can handle some haggard trails.

 

wow very nice. yes! thats the style im looking for. so these are considered mountain bikes? how much was your rig if you dont mind me asking? i wouldnt mind something like that at all. very nice.

 

See what your local bike shop carries. For people just wanting to get out and ride mainly for the fitness part of it, you can't go wrong with any of the big names. At that point it's more how much you want to spend.

If you KNOW you won't hit anything rougher than a dirt road occasionally, what you're looking for is probably a cross country(xc) trail bike. If you think you might want to hit more rough stuff in the future, buy once and buy an "all-mountain" trail bike. It will do everything you expect and will have enough travel for the rougher stuff/bigger hits. Most of the people you see post in this thread ride all mountain bikes.

Cruise by the local bike shop and have them fit you properly onto a bike. Getting the sizing right will be the difference between you shelving the bike after a rude and riding it regularly haha. A lot of bike shops will let you demo the bikes too. All the names you mentioned are all good brands. Each person has their own preferences of course. (I'm partial to Santa Cruz)

Let us know what you get! (pics)

 

Oh I can deal with the snakes....it's all the POISON OAK overgrowth that scares the shit out of me lol.

Oh ya and the damn horses on the trail are an ongoing fear for me. Lol. Slamming into a horse say at a blind curve or off a jump is always in the back of my mind!

 

Yes this would be considered a mountain bike, but not a mountain bike like you would buy from walmart or something this is an actual mountain bike. My bike was $3,500 used. If you were to build this bike 2013 it would be about $6,500. Dont be scared by the price tag there are bikes to fit everybody's budget. A good bike that will last you years and hold resale value if you ever wanted to sell it would run you $700-$10,000... It really just depends on what you want to do.

If I were you I would go to your local bike shops and talk to the guys about what you want to ride and they can help you pick a bike perfect for you. Its hard to figure out what you want when first entering the sport but it is an amazing hobby that keeps you in shape and outdoors which are two things I like.

 

haha yah x2 on the snakes, I see a few a week also. Some rattlers and some of these king snakes

 

ah fuck that! I cant stand snakes. They have no arms or legs... Therefore they should not be able to move hahaha

 

what has been said is spot on, wouldn't really recommend anything different. Any of the brands you mention will be good, there are a few others that are pretty cool too but like mentioned definitely go to your local bike shop and see what they have.

I will recommend one bike, as much as I love have a full suspension Hard tails are really fun. Check out the Trek Stache. Its a 29er thats designed more to have fun than go race like most might associate a 29er with. I rode the stache a few weeks ago and had a blast, even through high speed rocky terrain. Again the best help to figure out what suits you best will be at your bike shop, they know the local trails better than we do so they can steer you in the right direction

 

Yep, my buddy's company 402Trails is actually contracted by Gravity Logic to build the Bryce bike park. He is based out of Augusta county where I'm at, so sadly it has nothing to do with Whistler

BUT, Brad is an amazing trail builder so rest assured whatever he builds is going to be SICK! He has built trails all over - Jamaica, Alaska, Colorado, and Alabama just to name a few. Everything he builds is of the highest quality and a freaking blast to ride.
You can sample some of his early work at Snowshoe Mtn bike park. He was the mastermind behind trails like Powerline, NinjaBob, Missing Link, Quick Draw, and Hare Ball. Each distinct in its own way but impossible to do it justice with words, get up there this summer and ride 'em all!

 

yeah I noticed something about 402trails, didnt really know what they were doing haha. either way the trails do look great. I saw some pics of some trails they did down south somewhere, the jumps looked fun. totally excited for them to open to try out some lift riding. hopefully ill hit up snowshoe in the fall too. I know a guy who puts snowshoe up in his favorite parks with whistler at the top haha

edit: just looked them up and they designed built fountainhead. that is a great trail for being right next to DC. definitely the best up there. now im even more excited to see bryce

 

Good work! You looked solid until you went off course. I've been there and it always sucks to crash out on easy sections. Sea otter is super fun to race. Fast and lots of smooth jumps out there. Missed it this year becasue of work.

 

Thanks man! I was riding really well that day so I dont even know what happened with the crash, the part I fell on was rough and chattery but it didn't give me any issues in practice so when it came time for the race I was expecting to blast through there and get a solid finish.. but thats racing

 

Right. I've had problems on the not so hard sections in races before. I always focus on the hard stuff and when I crack up the speed on my race run, I've over shot turns or jumps and ended up in the tape and on my ass. I try to do a few full speed runs each day of practice to know where race speed can screw me up. Good luck!

 

I think that is exactly what happened! In practice I wasn't jamming through that section so when it came time for the race i had wayyy more speed than i could handle or was used too and it ended up burning me, lesson learned and you will see me at 2014 Sea Otter downhill correcting my mistakes

 

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My Santa Cruz V10

 

Sometimes if you slow down and work on being smooth, you actually go faster..........!

 

Yea that's right, I forgot they did Fountainhead.

I would agree with your friend! I've been to Whistler as well and while Snowshoe isn't AS good for obvious reasons, it is by far the best and most fun riding in the greater Mid-Atlantic area and can easily hold its own against any lift-accessed riding area on the entire east coast!

 

Nice bike Mathew!