Looking for MTB recommendations

You might want to look at Titus as well,

I second that, both me and my wife ride Titus, they are wonderful to handle,
and unlike Ellsworth they are very nice to deal with.

Per
http://lowdin.nu

On Mon, 08 Mar 2004 10:02:10 -0500, Dan Volker wrote:

best way to
begin "enjoying" the mountain biking right away, on technical trails (
another poster said you were in Tampa, meaning Alafia is nearby, and it is
very cool and quite technical on many of its trails) would be to go the "All
Mountain" bike route, with 5 or 6 inches of full suspension,

You're so full of ****...

which should be
using SPV on front and back to make best use out of your roadie cadence
potential. This bike will be heavier than the hardtails your long time
mountain biking buddies may be riding, but it will get you through technical
obstacles with less need for finesse, and allow you to have fun immediately.

Man, I can't wait to trade in my hardtails and rigid bikes so I can get a
full suspension bike and start having fun.

Your aerobic advantage should cover the extra weight of the bike, and when
you screw up and hit something really hard, the all mountain bike should be
tougher than the 20 pound X-country alternative.

Pfft! Why is the alternative to FS a 20lb whippet bike? And why would a FS
necessarily last longer than a well-built 24lb hardtail?

--
a.m-b FAQ: http://www.j-harris.net/bike/ambfaq.htm

a.bmx FAQ: http://www.t-online.de/~jharris/bmx_faq.htm

Dan Volker wrote:

best way to begin "enjoying" the mountain biking right away

Austin Powers strikes again.

Bill "One *MILLION* Dollars" S.

On Mon, 8 Mar 2004 10:02:10 -0500, "Dan Volker"
blathered:

best way to begin "enjoying" the mountain biking right away,
on technical trails would be to go the "All Mountain" bike route,
with 5 or 6 inches of full suspension

http://www.btinternet.com/~peteajones/temp/wormcan.gif

Damn! Wish someone had told me that 14 years ago, I knew I was doing
something wrong....


Pete

"bomba" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 08 Mar 2004 10:02:10 -0500, Dan Volker wrote:

best way to
begin "enjoying" the mountain biking right away, on technical trails (
another poster said you were in Tampa, meaning Alafia is nearby, and it
is
very cool and quite technical on many of its trails) would be to go the
"All
Mountain" bike route, with 5 or 6 inches of full suspension,

You're so full of ****...


First, bomba, if anyone here is full of ****, its a newsgroup poser like
yourself, who enjoys hurling insults over the net, that would have you
toothless in real life. Because I don't want to buy in to the ss cult, or
your own version of what is the ultimate in mountain biking, you start
humping my leg.


which should be
using SPV on front and back to make best use out of your roadie cadence
potential. This bike will be heavier than the hardtails your long time
mountain biking buddies may be riding, but it will get you through
technical
obstacles with less need for finesse, and allow you to have fun
immediately.

Man, I can't wait to trade in my hardtails and rigid bikes so I can get a
full suspension bike and start having fun.

Spoken like a moron who is incapable of giving good advice to a "roadie" who
wants to get in to mountain biking.
Yeah, why don't you convince him he'll have lots of fun riding technical
trails his first week on a rigid ss bike.
I know a lot of roadies, and I have seen how they take to mountain biking on
x-country bikes, versus the ones who have gotten big travel bikes. Either
you don't know any, or you care more about having them see the world your
way , than you do about them enjoying their first year of mountain biking.
If they don't like their first few days or weeks, what is to keep them even
on their new mountain bike? Saddle them with a rigid, ss piece of ****, and
it will almost guarantee they won't enjoy the sport long enough to build
skills--they'll be back on the road bike instead.




Your aerobic advantage should cover the extra weight of the bike, and
when
you screw up and hit something really hard, the all mountain bike should
be
tougher than the 20 pound X-country alternative.

Pfft! Why is the alternative to FS a 20lb whippet bike? And why would a FS
necessarily last longer than a well-built 24lb hardtail?


Most road riders expect a good bike to be a "light bike". Going from a 15
pound bike on the road, to a 20 pound mountain bike will seem to many of
them as a big jump in weight and frame strength. They would have to have
"reasons" to want a heavier bike---whether it is a 24 pound hard tail or 30
pound all mountain full sus.

And I never said anything about the 24 pound hardtail not lasting as long as
the 30 pound "all mountain bike"--this is just more of your jumping to the
conclusions you enjoy jumping to....

Dan V

On Mon, 08 Mar 2004 17:08:31 +0100, bomba wrote:

Man, I can't wait to trade in my hardtails and rigid bikes so I can get a
full suspension bike and start having fun.

I think his point was to start off with full-suss, so the OP wouldn't have
to go to all that "bother" of developing riding skills. I don't know where
the assumption that the OP was in Tampa came from anyway - maybe just from
the comment about "hard-core mountain bikers" (those are all in Florida,
right?). ;-)

--
-BB-
To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

"Per Löwdin" wrote in message
...

You might want to look at Titus as well,

I second that, both me and my wife ride Titus, they are wonderful to
handle,
and unlike Ellsworth they are very nice to deal with.

Per
http://lowdin.nu


I'll put in a third. Cracked the lower swing arm on my Switchblade and took
it in to Titus (ok, so I live in Phoenix) and they told me to come back in a
couple hours to pick it back up. They even cleaned up the bike a little.

I wouldn't recommend the SB for racing, to boingy! Nice free ride.

Gary

Dan V says:

First, bomba, if anyone here is full of ****, its a newsgroup poser like
yourself, who enjoys hurling insults over the net, that would have you
toothless in real life.

snork You owe me a keyboard, Mr. Hard-Core...

I know a lot of roadies, and I have seen how they take to mountain biking on
x-country bikes, versus the ones who have gotten big travel bikes.

I've been riding a mountain-bike for 20 years now, and have never owned a bike
with any sus at all. I rode a road bike for 20 years before I started on a
mountain-bike, and have been happy knowing that any mistakes I made were mine,
not the bike's.
My kid has a hard-tail, and to be honest, especially after riding a rigid bike,
it just feels all squishy and squiggly and horrible.
My experience is no different from many, who find the transition from fully
rigid to suspension to be a very neagtive experience.
YMMV, and obviously has, but don't damn the other guy because his experience
(and Jon/bomba has tons) is different.

Steve

Dan Volker ran this through spell check:

You're so full of ****...


First, bomba, if anyone here is full of ****, its a newsgroup poser
like yourself, who enjoys hurling insults over the net, that would
have you toothless in real life. Because I don't want to buy in to
the ss cult, or your own version of what is the ultimate in mountain
biking, you start humping my leg.


since when are Hardtail and SS synonomous?

ps

"Stephen Baker" wrote in message
...
Dan V says:

First, bomba, if anyone here is full of ****, its a newsgroup poser like
yourself, who enjoys hurling insults over the net, that would have you
toothless in real life.

snork You owe me a keyboard, Mr. Hard-Core...

Fine, I'll bring one when I finally get out to ride with you guys...:-)



I know a lot of roadies, and I have seen how they take to mountain biking
on
x-country bikes, versus the ones who have gotten big travel bikes.

I've been riding a mountain-bike for 20 years now, and have never owned a
bike
with any sus at all. I rode a road bike for 20 years before I started on
a
mountain-bike, and have been happy knowing that any mistakes I made were
mine,
not the bike's.
My kid has a hard-tail, and to be honest, especially after riding a rigid
bike,
it just feels all squishy and squiggly and horrible.
My experience is no different from many, who find the transition from
fully
rigid to suspension to be a very neagtive experience.
YMMV, and obviously has, but don't damn the other guy because his
experience
(and Jon/bomba has tons) is different.

The point I'm trying to make--which you are actually reinforcing, is that
with all the time you have on a rigid mountain bike, you should realize you
do not ride "anything" like a roadie who is about to begin riding for the
first time on a mountain bike. You take a great deal for granted in
negotiating obstacles--real obstacles should be a non-issue for you most of
the time, but these will often be things that a roadie will have no
conception of how to handle.

If you really "want" new people to enjoy mountain biking right out of the
box, then advice needs to be relevant to their abilities....not to yours. If
you want them to crash constantly, and for only the tougher ones to make it
through this initiation---fine, but at least tell the truth.

Bomba may be a good mountain bike rider, but he appears to be clueless about
what will be fun and reasonable for a roadie to bite off, in their attempt
to get into mountain biking.

Dan V