Bike Advice!

[Callista]

Pretty sure I should just put Marcus's name in the title :P

But in case there are other's knowledgeable!

I am looking to buy a mountain bike. I don't have that much money for one, so I'm not really looking for advice on what model to get. What I need to figure out is what size frame for myself. I've been looking at getting a used bike on Craigslist, but am unsure on what size would best fit me and I'm afraid to go out and try something once and buy it and then realize that it's not comfortable.

So what do I need to know to figure out what size of a bike to get? I'm 5'10" and 190 lbs. Thanks!

[Xavier Synik]

I can't really speak to anything other then advice from personal experience.

And that is, that depending on what kind of riding your going to do you should try and get the right type of tire. I bought a new bike at the end of the season last year, and it has aggressive off-road tires (d'uh it is a mountain bike), but most of the riding that I found myself doing before it got too cold and since it warmed up has been road work/paved trail riding and the tires while not terrible were somewhat uncomfortable to ride on.

Thus planning to get a set of less aggressive tires (hopefully on their own set of rims)...

But yeah if your not going to do a lot of dirt trail and off-road work, then you probably want to avoid those types of tires. Some of the shops I went in last year when I was looking offered to swap out the tires for free, but that's likely not to be a standard practice.

[Darth Turbogeek]

Mmmm yeah, you probably need to say what kind of riding you want to do, as that will change greatly the actual bike.

IF you dont really go offroad, a hard tail would be best as you wont waste power and the gearing tends to be higher, so you can get going faster. A hard tail is lighter too. A genuine MTB has suspension front and rear, they are heavy, they take more effort to ride due to power beign wasted compressign the suspension, but they will handle dirt and rough far better.

The other option for general riding is a flatbar road bike, which is lighter again, no suspension and can have genuine slimline road wheels like a proper race bike.

Brakes also are different on a bike generally meant for road or a bike for dirt. A bike for dirt will be discs. Road, it's calipers. Discs do stop much better but have a weight penalty. They also do cost more but I personally like them - they are more difficult to use however as they arent as progressive as calipers.

Frame size, I would be thinking 19". You are about my height (I'm probably somewhat more leggy tho) and that's a pretty standard frame size.

Tyres as stated - knobbies are for dirt. Now you can get a crosstrail tyre that will be okay for general dirt and road which are okay. For road, do a road tyre only.

One thing I would say is somethgn I do is do not skimp on the tyre or the tube. I get Kelvar laced tyres and strong tubes so I get less punctures. Which is ironic that the first time I used my new Kelvar armoured tyres that should shrug off glass and thorns, I get a huge dirty big nail instead.

[Callista]

Thanks for the info!! I think it'll mostly be trail (cement and hard packed dirt) for now and then when I move back to CO a bit rougher, but by then I might have more money to get something better. I'm looking at a Mongoose I found on craigslist tomorrow...the guy isn't sure on size, but we'll see, I guess! Definitely want to use it for leisure and workout.

[Darth Turbogeek]

Yes, you want a hardtail MTB with hard gravel / tarmac

[Dasquian Belargic]

Every time I look at this thread title I think it says Bible Advice o_O