Hey guys! I'm new here and was hoping I could get some help buying my first bike. I rode a lot of BMX back in the day, and rode a lot of trails on my old Haro back in the day (we're talking like 2005-2007). I'm currently living an hour north of LA for the summer and was hoping to get something while I'm out here. My hometown is right outside of Pittsburgh, PA.
From what I've read, I believe I'm looking for a trail bike.
I want something that I can take on the DH lift accessed stuff back in home in PA, and something I can mess around with on some home made trails. So something that, while not exactly being meant for climbing, has the ability to climb. Also, as stupid and unsuited as this may sound, I want to use this to commute to work since my office is only a 10 or 15 minute ride. It is a completely flat commute. I don't know if I'll get much riding in while I'm in Cali, but being able to hit one of the national parks once or twice would be cool. I guess overall I'm looking for a full-suspension bike with maybe 6 inches of travel that is pretty versatile. Not looking to do much dirt jumping or freestyle btw.
As I've said, this will be my first bike. I'm looking to spend under $1k USD and am 5'7"ish so I'm thinking I'd be on a size small or medium? Let me know if you need any other info. Thanks in advance and I'm really looking forward to being a part of the PB and biking community in general.
Hey guys! I'm new here and was hoping I could get some help buying my first bike. I rode a lot of BMX back in the day, and rode a lot of trails on my old Haro back in the day (we're talking like 2005-2007). I'm currently living an hour north of LA for the summer and was hoping to get something while I'm out here. My hometown is right outside of Pittsburgh, PA.
From what I've read, I believe I'm looking for a trail bike.
I want something that I can take on the DH lift accessed stuff back in home in PA, and something I can mess around with on some home made trails. So something that, while not exactly being meant for climbing, has the ability to climb. Also, as stupid and unsuited as this may sound, I want to use this to commute to work since my office is only a 10 or 15 minute ride. It is a completely flat commute. I don't know if I'll get much riding in while I'm in Cali, but being able to hit one of the national parks once or twice would be cool. I guess overall I'm looking for a full-suspension bike with maybe 6 inches of travel that is pretty versatile. Not looking to do much dirt jumping or freestyle btw.
As I've said, this will be my first bike. I'm looking to spend under $1k USD and am 5'7"ish so I'm thinking I'd be on a size small or medium? Let me know if you need any other info. Thanks in advance and I'm really looking forward to being a part of the PB and biking community in general.
Used or New? The only way anyone here is going to recommend a Full Suspension bike to you that can handle any sort of DH for under $1K is if its used ... and then you are pushing it. If you are going to be in Cali for a while and not do any real trails I'd recommend a hardtail. Fits your price and useage, you can even DH a hardtail. You will get better quality and maybe save yourself some $$. You sound like you need a "do it all" bike, and you will have to compromise somewhere, be it price, condition, suspension (FS or HT) or whatnot
Used or New? The only way anyone here is going to recommend a Full Suspension bike to you that can handle any sort of DH for under $1K is if its used ... and then you are pushing it. If you are going to be in Cali for a while and not do any real trails I'd recommend a hardtail. Fits your price and useage, you can even DH a hardtail. You will get better quality and maybe save yourself some $$. You sound like you need a "do it all" bike, and you will have to compromise somewhere, be it price, condition, suspension (FS or HT) or whatnot
I guess I'd be willing to get a HT and I'm definitely looking at buying used. I suppose I could do my first bit of DH on a hard tail then upgrade to a nice FS when I get out of school and can afford to spend a lot more.
What should I expect to pay for a decent beginner HT? I have seen some around here for 6 or 700 that looked to be in pretty good shape.
About me: I have been freeriding/downhilling for 3 years now. I am starting to get a lot more serious about biking. I am 5'10" and 150 lbs. I currently ride a 2008 specialized big hit 1. I ride mostly dh trails with lots of jumps and drops. And occasionally go to jump at the pike park.
I have been looking to upgrade because I have come to find that the big hit 1 with stock suspension (bomber z1 sport for a fork and a fox coil shock not sure of the name for rear suspension) just can't handle what I like to ride as I become a more aggressive rider.
I have been looking at some transition bottle rockets on here. I was wondering if a small would be too small. Help and serious answers are much appreciated. Thank you
By the way whats your price range ... and you are 5'10", a small is too small most likely. Most manufactures have a height chart for their sizes of bikes to give you an idea. Google is a wonderful thing
About me: I have been freeriding/downhilling for 3 years now. I am starting to get a lot more serious about biking. I am 5'10" and 150 lbs. I currently ride a 2008 specialized big hit 1. I ride mostly dh trails with lots of jumps and drops. And occasionally go to jump at the pike park.
I have been looking to upgrade because I have come to find that the big hit 1 with stock suspension (bomber z1 sport for a fork and a fox coil shock not sure of the name for rear suspension) just can't handle what I like to ride as I become a more aggressive rider.
I have been looking at some transition bottle rockets on here. I was wondering if a small would be too small. Help and serious answers are much appreciated. Thank you
By the way whats your price range ... and you are 5'10", a small is too small most likely. Most manufactures have a height chart for their sizes of bikes to give you an idea. Google is a wonderful thing
Whatever you get bud, don't buy an Aluminium frame. If you got the money, go for Titanium. If not, then go for Cromo.
You'd be surprised, but if steel "flexier" its most likely due to design, not the material its made of. Then you get into the designers using tapered tubes and double butted joints, yada yada yada. Not because steel has more flex, but because the design does.
But I will give you that because you need to use more material with aluminum frames to achieve the same strength, the resistance to flexing can inherently increases as well, to more than that of a steel frame. But again its design not material.
Well, Chemistry aside, I like to refer to real-time moments that I have experienced with Aluminium components on my bikes. First of all, I can clearly remember 'snapping' two saddle joints on two separate bikes. The part at the top of the seatpost where it joins the seat. The first one was on a GT 'top of the range' Power Series 1999 bike. I was just rolling along, went to sit down, the thing cracked, and I flew backwards right onto my ass with the bike rolling off forward like a ghostrider was riding it. Upon closer inspection of the seatpost, it had completely sheared off like someone had sliced through it with a Light-saber or something. The section was most definitely made from Aluminium Alloy. In fact, after replacing this seatpost, it happened only a few months later. Now the sad thing is, that in 1999 I was real slim and didn't weight more than 70-75kg. Now I'm nearly 100kg. That would never ever ever ever ever ever have happened with a Cromo/Steel material in that section (but they don't even make Cromo seatposts do they?!). So I don't know how your theories come into play here about Alu being the same as Steel. All these technical terms they have that describe certain aspects of a metal's strength, are all artificially created setups in laboratories, and are all quite different in their own unique ways of execution. For example, one test is to pull a solid piece of metal 'apart' until it snaps/breaks. That's one figure. Another test is to apply opposing forces to each ends, until it 'bends/snaps', again, another figure. Then there is to squash it until it gives in (compression). And so on and so on. There's like tens if not scores of different 'strength' figures. So what do you want to label the test I conducted myself when I flew off backwards off the seat? The 'Fatass test?". I mean just take the human body; they say tooth enamel is the strongest.... But given the right angles, you can shear off or snap a tooth without too much force. But with other angles, you couldn't even touch the enamel, because it is truly strong. And don't they say human bone is stronger than Steel in the compression phase? I.e. if you had a solid mass of Human bone the same dimension as a solid mass of steel and placed them both under identical 'very heavy' (or whatever) solid weights, the human bone mass would hold up longer than the Steel plate? Maybe these are old wives tales, but there is definitely some truth to these tales. Carbon fiber is way stronger than Steel in the compression phase, thats a fact. Even human hair is stronger than most metals if you 'apply force to both ends and pull it apart', and yet you can slice through it with relative ease. 'Relative being the key word.....It's all 'relative'.
I remember last year, I was just fiddling around with my SE Stout 29er (before I stripped it and upgraded all the parts), and as I was tightening one of the 4 Stem-bolts, with one hand, and a 10cm long Allen key, I heard this little squeaky cracking sound, followed instantaneously by an almighty cracking sound, and the whole stem sheared right in half along the lines of one of the bolts. It made me feel like the Incredible Hulk or something. This cheapass stem was made from none-other than 6061 (or something similar), surprise surprise. And if you could see the material inside, the bare-faced exposed metal that had been sheared off, it had the texture of chalk, almost dusty even. One interesting thing to note here is the sound the metal makes before giving way. It makes a little squeaky cracking sound; that's the fracture taking place, and then it's followed by a massive cracking sound, which is of course the metal opening up and shearing off. I recognise this sound so well now. It's an Aluminium sound. It's actually quite high pitched.
If you ask me, and I'm seriously not joking here, there should be a LAW against using any form of Aluminium on bicycles. There's only two reasons why companies use Aluminium, and that is 1) It's CHEAP + ABUNDANT and 2) It's LIGHT.
To put it in a simpler term, if Titanium had the same production cost as Aluminium, do you think anyone would ever use Aluminium again in their entire lives? Answer = NO.
In fact, if I ever get round to sorting out my next bike-build, I'm going to try and fly my 'Anti-Al' flag and try to build it completely and entirely Alu-free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
About me: I have been freeriding/downhilling for 3 years now. I am starting to get a lot more serious about biking. I am 5'10" and 150 lbs. I currently ride a 2008 specialized big hit 1. I ride mostly dh trails with lots of jumps and drops. And occasionally go to jump at the pike park.
I have been looking to upgrade because I have come to find that the big hit 1 with stock suspension (bomber z1 sport for a fork and a fox coil shock not sure of the name for rear suspension) just can't handle what I like to ride as I become a more aggressive rider.
I have been looking at some transition bottle rockets on here. I was wondering if a small would be too small. Help and serious answers are much appreciated. Thank you
By the way whats your price range ... and you are 5'10", a small is too small most likely. Most manufactures have a height chart for their sizes of bikes to give you an idea. Google is a wonderful thing
By the way whats your price range ... and you are 5'10", a small is too small most likely. Most manufactures have a height chart for their sizes of bikes to give you an idea. Google is a wonderful thing
Price range is anything under 2700
And you want a DH/FR bike right?
Check out the Dobermann Stella.... You can find out if a Cane Creek Double-Barrel will fit in the hole...... And you could have a look at the Kowa GF fork. There's a shop in Germany selling them for a reduced price. MASSIVE legs on that fork!!! An expensive bike, but you want upgrade, you got upgrade!!! (You'd have to compensate for the slight increase in weight by tricking the rest of the bike out with very light componentry though)
Check out the Dobermann Stella.... You can find out if a Cane Creek Double-Barrel will fit in the hole...... And you could have a look at the Kowa GF fork. There's a shop in Germany selling them for a reduced price. MASSIVE legs on that fork!!! An expensive bike, but you want upgrade, you got upgrade!!! (You'd have to compensate for the slight increase in weight by tricking the rest of the bike out with very light componentry though)
steel frames are too flexy for a full suspension, flex + linkage dont go well together. Not to mention they're unnecessarily heavy.
I'd like to know where the OP is from so I can see what's in the buy/sell
This should probably be in a steel vs aluminum forum but there isn't one yet. Your argument is kind of a lot of BS to be truthful and flights of fancy ... if you want to go make an enamel bike or one of human hair stronger than steel go ahead but hows it help your argument exactly?
"This cheapass stem was made from none-other than 6061 (or something similar), surprise surprise. And if you could see the material inside, the bare-faced exposed metal that had been sheared off, it had the texture of chalk, almost dusty even."
That dusty chalk like material is corrosion, you most likely didn't use a thread locker or grease. When different metals come in contact, the lower metal corrodes. Same thing would happen with magnesium, steel would corrode faster and crack even worse if not taken care of. That squeaking cracking sound is you over tightening with no grease and the excessive friction is causing vibrations.
Look, I can poke holes in you argument all day but here is this ... aluminum is here to stay. Its great for creating a stiff frame, it is more easily alloyed with different materials than steel, you can mold it, machine it hydro-form it, temper it for increased strength.
That GT Power Series was what a BMX? 1999? You're talking a different era of bikes, aluminum especially. Processes have changed, there are new alloys and designs which make aluminum a better choice than steel for many reasons in many scenarios. Corrosion resistance, weight, design ... so on and so forth. If you are dirt jumping, BMX or whatnot go ahead and use steel, you aren't doing crazy design things with frames there and you don't care much about weight. If you get aluminum stems look for T4 or T6 after the alloying number, otherwise the stem is cheap, and it should be 7075 T6 used, not 6061. Same goes for frames, a 7005 will fatigue faster but is widely used, 6061 is ok for frames especially if tempered (T4 T6) ... yes its advertised as aircraft grade, 7075 is best but $$. Now quit making dumb arguments
This should probably be in a steel vs aluminum forum but there isn't one yet. Your argument is kind of a lot of BS to be truthful and flights of fancy ... if you want to go make an enamel bike or one of human hair stronger than steel go ahead but hows it help your argument exactly?
"This cheapass stem was made from none-other than 6061 (or something similar), surprise surprise. And if you could see the material inside, the bare-faced exposed metal that had been sheared off, it had the texture of chalk, almost dusty even."
That dusty chalk like material is corrosion, you most likely didn't use a thread locker or grease. When different metals come in contact, the lower metal corrodes. Same thing would happen with magnesium, steel would corrode faster and crack even worse if not taken care of. That squeaking cracking sound is you over tightening with no grease and the excessive friction is causing vibrations.
Look, I can poke holes in you argument all day but here is this ... aluminum is here to stay. Its great for creating a stiff frame, it is more easily alloyed with different materials than steel, you can mold it, machine it hydro-form it, temper it for increased strength.
That GT Power Series was what a BMX? 1999? You're talking a different era of bikes, aluminum especially. Processes have changed, there are new alloys and designs which make aluminum a better choice than steel for many reasons in many scenarios. Corrosion resistance, weight, design ... so on and so forth. If you are dirt jumping, BMX or whatnot go ahead and use steel, you aren't doing crazy design things with frames there and you don't care much about weight. If you get aluminum stems look for T4 or T6 after the alloying number, otherwise the stem is cheap, and it should be 7075 T6 used, not 6061. Same goes for frames, a 7005 will fatigue faster but is widely used, 6061 is ok for frames especially if tempered (T4 T6) ... yes its advertised as aircraft grade, 7075 is best but $$. Now quit making dumb arguments
"Look, I can poke holes in you argument all day but here is this ... aluminum is here to stay. Its great for creating a stiff frame, it is more easily alloyed with different materials than steel, you can mold it, machine it hydro-form it, temper it for increased strength."
1) Of course Aluminium is here to stay, otherwise Bicycle companies will go bust. Only a small handful of good bikers can afford Titanium. And only a handful of bikebuilders use Cromo....... So Aluminium has the monopoly in the bike market. It's a completely rubbish material. If you really have to use it, then yeah, I agree, 7075 is the way to go... but still, it's garbage.
2) Now you're saying Aluminium is 'stiff'? Make your mind up dude. You spent the entire thread trying to convince people in here that it was a common misperception that Aluminium wasn't stiff and it was in fact more flexy than Steel.
I think you been Googling too much bud; seriously.
Here, let me explain to you how it really works....In really simple terms. The atoms in Steel are laid out differently than the atoms are in Aluminium Alloys. If you look at both through a high-powered magnification machine, you can clearly see the structures are completely different. In simple terms, Aluminium is more 'compact' and Steel is more spaced out, in structure. An easy way to actually see (hear) this in the flesh, is to hit two identical rods of Steel and Aluminium with some other neutral metal, and you can hear the corresponding pitches of sound being totally different. The Steel will sound 'deeper', lower pitched, with more of a 'twang' and the Aluminium will sound higher pitched, and the 'twang' will be considerably shorter in audible length (that's if the Alu bar doesn't actually crack in half from the impact). This is just an audible illustration of how both the metal's atomic structures are laid out. The sound is replicating how the structures are laid out. Simple.
Another easy test you can conduct yourself is to buy a Cromo handlebar, something along the lines of the Black Market's Molly Hatchet bars, and another Alu-Alloy bar, like for example an Azonic bar. Then get a neutral test bike, stick one of the bars on, stand cycling over a bump, or preferably a nasty wheel-length shallow dip, and witness the sensation you get through your hands/wrists. The Molly Hatchet bars will absorb the shock must better and will feel 'compliant' or whatever adjective you want to use, whereas the Azonic bars will feel like a piece of rock, and you will feel every single angle of that nasty bump/dip that you just cycled over. Don't tell me, this has got something to do with the wall thickness of each bar? BS. It's the material. And this is not an argument.... You're giving your own perceptions of what you think the properties of Aluminium are and I'm quoting Chemistry/Physics/Nature facts. You're trying to re-write nature dude.....And it ain't happenin' yo.
"Look, I can poke holes in you argument all day but here is this ... aluminum is here to stay. Its great for creating a stiff frame, it is more easily alloyed with different materials than steel, you can mold it, machine it hydro-form it, temper it for increased strength."
1) Of course Aluminium is here to stay, otherwise Bicycle companies will go bust. Only a small handful of good bikers can afford Titanium. And only a handful of bikebuilders use Cromo....... So Aluminium has the monopoly in the bike market. It's a completely rubbish material. If you really have to use it, then yeah, I agree, 7075 is the way to go... but still, it's garbage.
2) Now you're saying Aluminium is 'stiff'? Make your mind up dude. You spent the entire thread trying to convince people in here that it was a common misperception that Aluminium wasn't stiff and it was in fact more flexy than Steel.
I think you been Googling too much bud; seriously.
Here, let me explain to you how it really works....In really simple terms. The atoms in Steel are laid out differently than the atoms are in Aluminium Alloys. If you look at both through a high-powered magnification machine, you can clearly see the structures are completely different. In simple terms, Aluminium is more 'compact' and Steel is more spaced out, in structure. An easy way to actually see (hear) this in the flesh, is to hit two identical rods of Steel and Aluminium with some other neutral metal, and you can hear the corresponding pitches of sound being totally different. The Steel will sound 'deeper', lower pitched, with more of a 'twang' and the Aluminium will sound higher pitched, and the 'twang' will be considerably shorter in audible length (that's if the Alu bar doesn't actually crack in half from the impact). This is just an audible illustration of how both the metal's atomic structures are laid out. The sound is replicating how the structures are laid out. Simple.
Another easy test you can conduct yourself is to buy a Cromo handlebar, something along the lines of the Black Market's Molly Hatchet bars, and another Alu-Alloy bar, like for example an Azonic bar. Then get a neutral test bike, stick one of the bars on, stand cycling over a bump, or preferably a nasty wheel-length shallow dip, and witness the sensation you get through your hands/wrists. The Molly Hatchet bars will absorb the shock must better and will feel 'compliant' or whatever adjective you want to use, whereas the Azonic bars will feel like a piece of rock, and you will feel every single angle of that nasty bump/dip that you just cycled over. Don't tell me, this has got something to do with the wall thickness of each bar? BS. It's the material. And this is not an argument.... You're giving your own perceptions and I'm quoting Chemistry/Physics/Nature facts. You're trying to re-write nature dude.....And it ain't happenin' yo.
No, its really the design not the material. The reason you don't see flexy aluminum frames is they will last less cycles than steel because aluminum has different fatigue characteristics. Steel will indeed last longer ... but it does not flex more. So "Yo" it is indeed design and wall thickness "dude". Break out the digital caliper and go measure the thicknesses of the bars. Do you want me to cite some resources for you? Would that end this argument? Because I can do that
This whole ting started when some dude in here said Aluminium is too flexy, and then some other dude tried to correct him by saying 'no you're wrong, Steel is way flexier than Aluminium', and then you, 'Professor Mtnrider' stepped in and re-butted that guys testimony and stated that this wasn't the case and that in fact Steel was way stiffer than Aluminium and that Aluminium is flexier than Steel.
Hello? Did I just take the last train to Dumbasscus or something?
I think I know what is going on here.....There's confusion about which adjectives correctly describe what we all know very well....The 'feeling' you get from riding Steel. The people that describe this feeling as 'flexy' are actually trying to mean that the vibrations picked up from the ground are being soaked up more by the Steel material than they would do with an Aluminium frame. I think this is where the confusion lies. This is what people are using the term 'flexy' to actually mean.
I don't think every courier/fixie/park rider etc in the world can be wrong when they categorically state that the feeling they get from riding a Steel/Cromo frame is more compliant/softer/springier/twangier/boingier/zingier/supple + a million+1 other adjectives that you would care to try and use. You know very well what this feeling is. Anyone whos ridden a Cromo frame can tell you what this feeling is. It's like a solid feeling but with vibration-damping mixed in. Aluminium doesn't exhibit these characteristics. Similarly speaking, the second you step onto an Aluminium Alloy frame, you can almost 'hear' that it's Aluminium when you go over humps n bumps. The thing creaks man, like an old staircase. Regardless of 'frame design/wall thickness etc'. It FEELS different. The atoms in Alu Alloys are DIFFERENT buddy. Steel has Carbon atoms interlaced evenly amongst it's vast percentage of Iron atoms...Cromo has small amounts of Chromium and Molybdenum added to it....The chemical composition is DIFFERENT. It's like you trynna tell me the McChicken Sandwich is the same as a BigMac because they both come in a bun. They are two different things all together....
Quit trying to big-up Aluminium coz it ain't gonna happen G. Aluminium has it's place in the world, and that's for covering the Turkey with foil on Christmas Day (or Thanksgiving in your land). Oh, and also making Coca Cola taste like tin, when you drink it out of one of those cans.
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