Mountain Bike Gurus! - Lateral-g Forums

novanutcase · #1 09-08-2007, 08:27 PM

Now that I've morphed into a fat slob sitting around not doing chit except for banging out proposals for clients, I decided to buy a mountain bike and get a little exercise in between work and working on the T-Bird! I bought a Cannondale F5/16" frame! I know nothing about mountain bikes and, from the little I've been able to distill from friends that do, they tell me I should have bought the Giant bike(better components!)but I'm pretty happy and I like the way it rides! Besides, I figure once I get good enough to tell the difference I can always sell it and upgrade or just upgrade the parts that need upgrading since the frame seems to be pretty well built!

What do you think?

John

LateNight72 · #2 09-08-2007, 08:49 PM

Defintely think you should have gotten a taller bike, unless you're 5'0"?

Cannondale is(was?) made in the USA, and I believe Giant is foreign made, so that's not a bad deal, there. Components are upgradable, if you really need them. But unless you're competitively racing, I doubt it.

My brother used to race MBs for a while, was ranked 1st in the nation (in his class) for a couple years running. He then raced two seasons in college, and is now taking a leave of absence from the sport for a while..

-Todd

novanutcase · #3 09-08-2007, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LateNight72

Defintely think you should have gotten a taller bike, unless you're 5'0"?

Cannondale is(was?) made in the USA, and I believe Giant is foreign made, so that's not a bad deal, there. Components are upgradable, if you really need them. But unless you're competitively racing, I doubt it.

My brother used to race MBs for a while, was ranked 1st in the nation (in his class) for a couple years running. He then raced two seasons in college, and is now taking a leave of absence from the sport for a while..

-Todd

Still need to adjust the seat post and the frame was made in the USA! I could have opted for the 18" frame but since I'm not going to be doing a lot of downhill I felt the smaller bike would be easier to throw around on the trails! Giant is a Chinese company that OEM's for everybody else! I already went for a little ride and I like the bike but what I don't like is the way the gear shift is set up! I hit it sometimes with my thumb and it downshifts! I guess I just gotta be careful!

My roomate from MANY years ago used to be the marketing director for Mongoose and I remember her buying her husband one of the first chrome moly frames! John Tomac model or something like that!

John

mazspeed · #4 09-10-2007, 10:45 PM

Hey John. That frame looks to be a 16 or 15 inch. How tall are you? Ok here is what I do when I ride. I jack the seat way up on straights or uphill climbs as you want 90 percent full extention on your legs. Downhill you put the seat farther down. The bike is as good as you need it too be. If you get serious you can get another one, or upgrade parts as you need. I'm not a fan of the Giant bikes as they tend to ride crappy for me. If you have a question on anything mountain bike related, fell free to ask. Also if you need some parts I just may have something that would fit your bike. On a side note, I would have the Cannondale frame over the Giant any day of the week. Plus it's US made.

novanutcase · #5 09-11-2007, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazspeed

Hey John. That frame looks to be a 16 or 15 inch. How tall are you? Ok here is what I do when I ride. I jack the seat way up on straights or uphill climbs as you want 90 percent full extention on your legs. Downhill you put the seat farther down. The bike is as good as you need it too be. If you get serious you can get another one, or upgrade parts as you need. I'm not a fan of the Giant bikes as they tend to ride crappy for me. If you have a question on anything mountain bike related, fell free to ask. Also if you need some parts I just may have something that would fit your bike. On a side note, I would have the Cannondale frame over the Giant any day of the week. Plus it's US made.

Apart from the fact that I really liked how the frame was built, I also like the idea that it is US built but even Cannondale is building frames in China!

My friend Jon, who is a member on here but lurks mostly, is a pretty good MBer as I've heard stories from other friends of mine of him hucking off of 20' cliffs! I can't even imagine hucking off a 5' cliff!

Jon tells me that was when he was REALLy into MBing and he's now getting back into it but he wants to build a downhill bike:

Beautiful bike but DAMN the frame alone is $2,500!!

I can't imagine what the bike will cost after he has all the other components on it which, I'm sure, will be the best of the best!

Jon came over and showed me the proper seat location(Just like you said!) along with readjusting the brakes and gear selectors so now I don't hit it accidently! He also thought that, for the money, the bike was a pretty excellent deal and perfect for me to grow into!

Thanks for the offer of help! I'm sure I'll be taking you up on it at some point but for now I just need to be able to get up the hill without thinking my heart is going to fly out of my chest at the top!

John

mazspeed · #6 09-11-2007, 10:51 AM

Yeah that Intense is about 7k. I cannot believe how much this stuff costs these days. Great downhiller, but not a great trail bike or street bike. Too heavy, too much suspension travel and built for abuse. This is the one I built up. It has 6 piston front calipers. That's more then my damn car. This is my trail/street bike.

novanutcase · #7 09-11-2007, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazspeed

Yeah that Intense is about 7k. I cannot believe how much this stuff costs these days. Great downhiller, but not a great trail bike or street bike. Too heavy, too much suspension travel and built for abuse. This is the one I built up. It has 6 piston front calipers. That's more then my damn car. This is my trail/street bike.

Try fixing the pic! I just got a little red x!

John

mazspeed · #8 09-11-2007, 01:42 PM

I think it's working now.

novanutcase · #9 09-11-2007, 11:59 PM

WOW!!! Totally worth the wait! BEAUTIFUL bike!!!

I actually got to see the frame that Jon bought and it is impressive to say the least! He took all the stickers off the SOCOM frame so it looks pretty stealth. He told me he should be receiving the front fork/shocks and stem in the next few days. Marzochi or something like that! He also said something about Hope hubs and building his own wheels?

John

mazspeed · #10 09-12-2007, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by novanutcase

WOW!!! Totally worth the wait! BEAUTIFUL bike!!!

I actually got to see the frame that Jon bought and it is impressive to say the least! He took all the stickers off the SOCOM frame so it looks pretty stealth. He told me he should be receiving the front fork/shocks and stem in the next few days. Marzochi or something like that! He also said something about Hope hubs and building his own wheels?

John

Yeah Hope's are good as are King's, but pricey. Marz forks are great. I'm waiting for my revalved Fox's to come in right now. Building your own wheels is the way to go, but I'm real happy with the Crossmax, stiff, good hubs, and strong. It needs to be to hold my 220 lbs of fat. heh.
Nothing beats going on some killer trails and having a blast.