Looking to buy an MTB...

Just bought a new (to me) bike today.
I previously had a Cannondale Quick hybrid which I used as my commuter bike, but that got stolen over a year ago, and I've barely ridden anything since. My road bike ('96 Cannondale R900) is too aggressive for me to ride around Darwin at the moment, and my MTB was getting long in the tooth (even if it had deore gearing on it) so it recently got sold.
Now Darwin is the place to sell, rather than buy - I've seen many second hand bikes for sale on Gumtree for more than they cost new, so I shopped around other regions, and found a 2 year old Orbea scarpe 30 for sale in Cairns at a very nice price. It is the older version, so no hydraulic brakes, but my mate who went and bought it for me said it had barely been used, and he would believe the previous owners assertion that it had done less than 40km in its lifetime.
So he is sending it across to me via greyhound bus ($100) on top of the $200 I paid for the bike. All up $300 for close to $1000 of bike new.
 
Might have to get one of you guys to buy me a bike - what sort of commission do you charge?
 
Depends what bike you're after...
 
Hydraulic brakes can be added easily if you feel the need for way less than $100 per end so I'd not worry unduly about that.

I'm still looking for a CX bike (well, I'm now on the prowl for a decent discount actually... Hopeful that will happen by the end of March given the dealer's past activity pattern for the last 5+ years) - the tanking of the € is helping though (buying from Ireland is suddenly quite attractive (8% drop) even at full ticket price)
 
borked said:
Depends what bike you're after...
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You mean there are different types ? :)

I'd not ridden a bike since I was a kid but hearing CBR was a great place to ride and wanting to change my lifestyle before we left Sydney I got myself a bike. Knowing nothing and not wanting to spend a lot in case I didn't ride much it was a second hand eBay cheapie, a 'racing' bike that was very similar and the same brand as the one I couldn't afford as a kid but my friends had.

In the first few months here I was riding to (but not from) work 2 - 3 days a week starting from scratch to making the 8 km comfortably (I know, I know) and was about to embark on the return trip as well.

Then I started travelling.

Then we moved offices to the other side of town, at least double the distance and with much more traffic. The new office doesn't have a shower either.

The bike frame was really too small for me too.

The seat was uncomfortable

Canberra was too hot or too cold

I stopped riding ...

[But if I could get a great deal on an amazing bike I can dream that I would start again ...]
 
hunnymonster said:
Hydraulic brakes can be added easily if you feel the need for way less than $100 per end so I'd not worry unduly about that.

I'm still looking for a CX bike (well, I'm now on the prowl for a decent discount actually... Hopeful that will happen by the end of March given the dealer's past activity pattern for the last 5+ years) - the tanking of the € is helping though (buying from Ireland is suddenly quite attractive (8% drop) even at full ticket price)
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I've never ridden a bike with hydraulic brakes, so the fact my be bike still has cantilevers is fine by me. But interestingly the older version does have the disc brake mounts, so maybe, one day in the future.
 
Ah. Still on heritage brakes... Thought you had mechanical discs (cable pull discs)

@Mark1966 there is a bike out there suitable for everyone ;-) First you need to work out what you want it to do and invest in a pair of shorts with padded undercarriage - my early forays were limited by my discomfort tolerance in the arse/saddle interface. Addition of padded shorts and that barrier was smashed.

Getting a bike that's vaguely the right size is a big thing too - you can't say x size frame is the one across brands and bike types - you need to look at the sizing chart &/or the relative position of x size in the range (I have a 51cm framed mountain bike that fits perfectly, but was on a selection of road and CX bikes yesterday ranging from a 63cm that was too small to a 58cm that was just right & many in between)

Best head off to zzzz land - I have some roadies to abuse tomorrow (out for a road ride with the lads here, they on road bikes, me on a MTB - they hate it when I buzz past :))
 
@hunnymonster - I'm sure that there is but I'm a cheapskate too - I want the perfect bike at a bargain price!

I have the padded undercarriage lycra from when I was riding to work - the skinny seat and tyres and overall harsh ride made them essential. Without a shower at the new office though and with my travel schedule regular commuting would be problematic. When else would I ride it?

So many options, so much money - maybe all too hard!

EDIT: This is the sort of bike I had -
$_20.JPG


Wasn't aware it was 'vintage' and worth this much...
 
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What about an electric bike ?
A guy where I work is a distributor I believe for one of the brands, will inquire monday if possible.
 
borked said:
What about an electric bike ?
A guy where I work is a distributor I believe for one of the brands, will inquire monday if possible.
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Kinda defeats half of the purpose!
 
Mark1966 said:
Kinda defeats half of the purpose!
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You still can peddle the things and if anything, with the extra weight, will leave you working equally hard :)
 
I found recently that taking electrolytes (in effervescent tab form) seemed to help me no end on my last ride. The product in question was High5 Zero Berry - a freebie from my last CRC order. Whereas before I had been cramping significantly and generally unable to keep hydrated, lactic and acidosis building up due to my general unfitness, the electrolytes helped the absorption of the water and kept me going. I actually felt pretty good after 30km which is my longest ride yet.

While the High5 and SIS brands are priced well via CRC (at about $6 per 20 tabs), I was not going to be placing an order this month or anytime soon really - so the $99 free shipping really wasn't going to happen. After asking around, I heard that the Nuun brand of tablet seems to be better in terms of flavours available but they are much more expensive and less tablets per tube (12). Local sellers charge heavily (big local distributor markup), and overseas prices are okay but the shipping kills the value for most sellers on eBay or Amazon.

I ended up finding stock at a reasonable price through iHerb.com, just AUD$6.50 per tube. They offer a discount on multiples of the same item (10% off if you buy two of one flavour), plus a first order offer with code RFG857 to get either $5 or $10 off your order depending on spend. With this in mind, I loaded up the shopping cart to see how the discounts would go. I ended up with 11 tubes in the cart for about AUD$67 delivered which is cheap compared to the $10-$15 per tube charged locally. Then I added a 12th tube and the postage cost dropped to a flat $5 via Bulk shipment then AusPost locally. There was some other "over $X" discount that kicked in and I ordered 12 tubes for AUD$52 delivered. That works out at $4.99 per tube, to my door.

By all means, please have a look at them if you want some of these sorts of things as they seem much cheaper for many items. Most of the deals online were $100 for 8 tubes via eBay, and I did find a 6 tubes for USD$36 via Amazon but the postage was $43.
 
@Mark1966
http://www.ridenowplaylater.com/
f21953_dfa41e4e32384584914f689623ccfa5c.jpg


Had a crack in the works car park upon their bumble bee demo.
Got up to 65km/h in 5th gear (it's a 9 speed by memory).
Great fun, stable too and good brakes.
If they were affordable for me, I'd seriously consider one to commute to/from work.
If you've the coin and also want to have the best of most 2 wheel worlds, I can not recommend this option highly enough.

@Monsta_AU how's your MTB going ?
 
Yes mate, not sure whst capital is required for the optional extra.
Might be prudent to inquire with swmbo first though.
 
Easy, offload one in lieu of it :)
 
Yeah, some sacrifice goes a loooong way.

Meantime CRC has free postage on everything* sale going on right now, so it makes it tempting to get the couple of small things I wanted.

Off for a service in the morning. Will take the train to Glenfield and ride from there.
 
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