On this edition of the Ask Coach Parry Cycling podcast we chat to our cycling coach Devlin Eyden about how to make the right choice for your first mountain bike when you are starting out in the sport.  Do you go lowest entry level bike or spend a bit more cash on an upgraded bike, or is pre-owned the way to go.  We get some serious thoughts from this podcast.

Transcript

Brad Brown:         Welcome back to this edition of the Ask Coach Parry Cycling podcast, my name is Brad Brown, we’ve got our cycling coach, Devlin Eyden with us once again.

Devlin, this is a pretty tough question to answer in a forum like this, but a question coming in from someone who wants to take up mountain biking. They want to know what’s the best entry level bike that they should be looking at and are there any injuries they should be aware of to avoid when they first get started?

Things to consider when buying your first mountain bike

Devlin Eyden:      So, it is quite a tricky question. I think the first thing to ask yourself is, what sort of style of riding, or what kind of rider are you?

I ask that purely in the sense of, are you someone that’s looking at a little bit more elite racing and getting into the racing team? Your riding preference, so also are you out for more of a slow enjoyable kind of ride? That’s going to largely determine, firstly, are you looking at a hard tail or are you looking at a dual suspension. Obviously a dual suspension bike, looking more for the comfort, longer kind of riding. Hard tail, something that’s a lot more rigid, a little bit more uncomfortable and obviously aimed more towards the racing side of things. So that’s the first thing.

Secondly, your bike obviously is going to largely determine what bike brands, determining entry level bikes. My suggestion though, and I can be quite confident in saying that if you start mountain biking, the bug is going to bite and as true mountain bikers, we’re always looking for the next best bike and the next best upgrade.

Do yourself a favour and if budget is an issue, try your best not to buy something that’s completely entry level, that you’re going to feel you’re going to want to upgrade in six months’ time as well. I’m talking not necessarily from the frame point of view, more the components.

If you go completely entry level and you feel in six months’ time you’re really enjoying the sport and you’re going to have to upgrade, is it not then potentially worth looking into spending a little bit more money right out from the outset.

How can you avoid injury on the bike?

From the injury point of view to avoid things, is making sure that you are set up correctly on the bike, that you’re comfortable in the bike setup for your body’s limitations. That’s going to stop any sort of prolonged injuries and niggles. And then the usual thing, making sure that you have the right equipment, making sure you’ve got a good pair of gloves for protection on the hands, using a good quality pair of cycling shorts with chamois cream, so that you’re making sure you’re eliminating potential saddle sores and chaffing.

Obviously then there’s always the side of potentially crashing and falling and hurting yourself. Unfortunately that’s not always something you can avoid and those unforeseen things that do happen, so that’s the side of things that unfortunately you can’t predict.

BB:         Absolutely. Devlin, when you’re talking budget, if somebody does have a, I don’t want to say ‘tight budget’, but if they are budget conscious, would it be advisable, particularly when they’re starting out, to look for a second hand bike. A better speck second hand bike as opposed to an entry level brand new bike?

DE:         Brad, it’s actually a good point. From a mountain biking point of view, my suggestion would be not necessarily to look at second hand. Purely because you don’t always know how hard that bike has been ridden.

When we’re talking road bikes, for instance, there’s only a certain amount of load that that bike is undergoing, so you’ll get away with a pretty decent bike second hand.

From a mountain bike point of view, unless you actually know the person that you’re buying the bike from, you don’t always know what that bike has gone through, is there a hairline crack, potentially if it’s a carbon frame, is there a hairline crack in the frame.

I always tend to try and veer away from the second hand mountain bikes. Look, there are always great deals out, but again, you don’t always know what the bike, the paces it’s been put through.

BB:         Good point, Devlin Eyden, thank you very much for that.

Don’t forget, if you’re planning on riding this year’s 94.7 Cycle Challenge, we’ve got a free online seminar coming up that will help get you to race day in tip-top shape. Just head over to coachparry.com/947.

If you’re also looking for individualised training programs, Devlin is your man. You can get all the details on the website, in the navigation bar, just click on the coaching packages tab and you can get all the details there.

Until next time, from myself Brad Brown and Devlin Eyden, it’s cheers.