Mountain biking has never been a particularly inexpensive sport, but our sport is now unfortunately very fashionable. Fashion almost always comes packaged together with ridiculous prices, and mountain biking is no exception. While I can wax lyrically for hours about disc brakes and Pace forks many of you can't even dream of owning these items. In fact I can only afford them due to a reckless misplacement of priorities! Even our own venerable Webmaster James is a penniless student. So I decided to put together a few tips on how to spend your wad wisely. After all this website is dedicated to the least-trendy side of our sport, so none of you should really be too bothered about being spotted in the correct labels! I've identified three areas where I really believe you can spare some serious wodge. This article will be published in three parts, this week will cover tips concerning bikes, next week will cover clothing and the final week will cover lubricants and the like.
The best way to save money on a new bike is to imagine buy something similar to a mainstream bike of a few years ago, but to carefully allow for future upgrades. But first the bad news: you'll have to spend around £500-600 to get something that won't fall apart during the sort of rides listed on this site.
Rule 1: Suspension - Forget rear suspension, and buy a hardtail. Perhaps even go fully rigid; I rode without any springs for 8 years. If you do want suspension in the future you can always buy a shock post. Rear suspension at this price point may well function fine, but will only lead to reliability and durability problems in the long run, and component standards will be reduced accordingly. Mid priced elastomer forks provide effective shock absorption, and require only extensive greasing to keep them sweet.
Rule 2: Disc brakes - If you can't afford hydraulics then don't bother at all. Cable operated brakes are appalling for both performance and maintenance. A full set of hydraulics discs costs around £400, and a full set of V-brakes about £40. No contest.
This leaves you with a hardtail, fitted with rim brakes. Now there isn't much happening in the realms of hardtail frame design at the moment, so save some dosh by buying a shop direct import. Shops such as Merlin, Terrain, Ribble and Dave Hinde (to name but a few) import frames directly from Taiwan and assemble own-brand bikes from these frames. Previous reputations for general 'dodgyness' still surround these frames, but they are now equally as good as established brands. Chances are your Kona, Marin or Specialized will have started life in the same factory. With prices around £100 for 7000 series alloy frames, or £180-£200 for Reynolds 853 or Easton aluminium you can hardly go wrong. Shop at the bigger shops - such as those listed above, who you can trust to build the bike up well. Another money saving option is to buy in autumn, when last year's models are being sold off. Just make sure that their isn't some major new innovation in next year's range, such as disc brake mounts or a new headset standard, which could render your shiny new bike incompatible with new kit. Most of all scour the magazines for bargains, and shop around. If you simply walk into a bike shop waving 600 notes, and saying that you need a new bike, the shop owner will think it is Christmas, and you may well get conned.
If you have opted for a shop own-brand build up, you will probably be able to choose exactly what components you want fitted. Now, surprisingly brakes and gears are a good area to save money. Tektro, SRAM, Avid and others offer excellent brakesets at bargain prices. STX derailleurs and rapidfire are fine, but grip shifts have never performed as well as the hype. Spend your money on all the components containing bearings, exactly where most production bikes hide away nasty rubbish. Using XT for both hubs and the bottom bracket is a wise investment, and at the moment there is only one serious choice in headsets - the WTB momentum greaseguard - seen on bikes of all prices. For epic riding I would never recommend less than LX quality for any bearings. For metalwork (stem, bars, seatpost) there are thousands of brand names, and almost all are re-badged Taiwanese items, and almost all of them are perfectly fine, so save your pennies here. I won't lecture you on what widths and angles to buy, as body position is a personal choice. I will however recommend that you buy a sensible width, sensible looking (boring in fact), mid priced saddle - something beloved by roadies (who spend hours sitting on them). Rolls, Turbo and Flite (for skinnier riders) are perennial favourites.
Before I leave the subject of bikes, another often overlooked detail about bikes is wheels. Without wheels, your bike would be a collection of purposeless tubes, so spend wisely. Again look to the roadies for advice - Mavic double eyeleted rims, 32 stainless double-butted spokes laced 3 cross, and HAND BUILT is a magic formula. Currently, the only double eyeleted XC rim is the X618 which is rapidly replacing the fragile X517 as the rim of choice. Again, you will only get this kind of choice if you choose a shop own brand bike (or build your own), but a quality hand built wheel will NEVER need truing (many builders will even guarantee this), and are far superior to some of the tat fitted to American production bikes. Notice that I said American; if you bought an Orange, you may well see this level of wheel quality as standard.
Lastly, all this is worthless unless your bike is well fettled. By this good old northern phrase I mean that time must be spent on the assembly and details. In order words, seatposts MUST be greased, fork internals MUST be greased, cable outers should be flushed with WD40 or thin oil, steel steerer tubes should be greased, and steel frames should be sprayed internally with rust preventative. Also the gears must be set up correctly, the brake levers at the correct angle, and bend in the bars line up with your wrists etc. etc. The temptation to ride your bike straight from the shop into the hills is great, but if you or your shop doesn't perform these tedious operations your bike will perform like scrap metal in less than a year. I've seen it happen time and time again. IF you do perform all these little pieces of preventative maintenance, it'll do exactly that - prevent maintenance. All you should need to do is oil the chain, change the brake pads and chain when they are worn, and wash the bike occasionally. That's all I ever do. Don't be one of those idiots who rubs the sidewalls out of his tyres 'cos he's too lazy to set up his brake pads, or buys a new bike after a year simply because his cables are rusty and his seatpost seized.
After all, this article is about saving money, and what easier way to save money than an hour or two spent on your new bike? If you can't perform all these tasks yourself, then ask a friend or your bike shop, and pay extra if necessary. Two hour's labour can't be expected for free, but if they didn't even bother to grease the seatpost for you then they're not a shop worth knowing!
Last Updated 05-09-2000
You can contact me at James@OffroadAdventures-Online.co.uk
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