ok ladies... talk to me about mountain bikes, please!

[caligurl]

i saw that one corsair!

ya... i know i'm gonna look at the more expensive ones and think: "NICE!" but i so need to be reasonable! plus i made that "mistake" with my road bike... i bought a mid-range instead of the entry level.. and within a month i was already looking to upgrade!

PLUS..... i REALLY think.. ok.. i KNOW i'll ride my road bike way more! so i just need to remind myself that i don't need to spend a lot of money!

and tlkiwi... i totally agree.. i know that i, personally, need to like the LOOK of the bike or it will irk me! and i'll be wanting something different! (i buy my cars the same way... they HAVE to LOOK good! hubby just rolls his eyes when we are car shopping and always has to stop the sales people with "if it doesn't "look good" she won't buy it.. don't waste your time!"

lol!

[SadieKate]

This is the way I'd more likely stack them up.

XTR = dura-ace
XT = ultegra
LX/Deore are next = 105
Alivio/Altus/Acera = Tiagra/Sora/etc.

LX gives you excellent quality and durability for the money. It's not the lightest stuff out there but it is certainly very respectable equipment. The front shifting is not as crisp as XT and the shift lever used to take a longer throw but they may have fixed this. I couldn't make it work with my small hands (I'm 5'3 3/4" and wear women's size 6 with the small hands to match). The front dereailleur used to wear very fast also. If you are used to Ultegra shifting pay attention to the shifting when you go look at bikes. Do a LOT of shifting in the parking lot. As you know, the drivetrain stuff can really impact the cost of the bike but you sure don't want to be retrofitting the bike because you discover you're really, really picky.

Can you rent some bikes first and see what you like?

Sadie "the drivetrain princess" Kate

[mtbdarby]

I just got the Specialized Rockhopper last month. Of course, I prefer mountain biking Mine's in a "purty" blue as you call it - not the one attached to your link. I highly recommend getting measured for your bike. I ended up with a 15 " frame and customized handle bars (they cut off 2" on each end) because I'm so narrow in the the shoulders. Compared to my 18" road bike, I feel like I'm flying on the trails.

I second the shifting thing. The specialized shifts just the opposite as my diamondback and I still get it mixed up so make sure you're comfortable with what you get.

Have fun shopping - let us know what you end up getting!

[Irulan]

go for fit and component package over just a brand name. Specialized/Giant/Trek is irrevelant if they aren't a good fit. As for women's specific, follow my sig link > ride tips > comments on WSD.

Veronica is not imagining it, starting out on a Hard tail or rigid does give you better bike handling skills than going straight to a full suspension. Get at least Front suspension tho. You need to spend at least 2K to get a FS that is not heavy and poorly componented.

Pink, titus makes a pink bike as does surly.

[Irulan]

You will need a smaller mountain bike than road bike as you generally want a bit more standover height and it's really hard to get the front wheel off the ground if the top-tube is too long. Most companies go down to about a 15 inch frame: if I remember correctly, you're not that tall, but if you're a real shortie you might want to look at Gary Fisher, Giant, Kona and Marin as they are all decent enough brands that make extra small frames. You're shopping at a good time of year - the sales should be coming up!

top tube lenght is critical, she is right about that. You do not want to feel like you are in a road position in terms of being laid out. There are 13" mtb's out there too.

[emily_in_nc]

Caligurl ~

I bought a Novara Bonita back in February for riding the trails around our property. I doubt I'll ever be into mountain biking in a big way (I'm too much of a roadie), but I wanted to be able to stay in shape during the winter when it's so cold on the roads with the wind, or to do a quick after-work ride when there wasn't enough time or light for a road ride. The Bonita is not a light bike, but it's fun to ride, easy shifting, and I lucked into a 2004 model for $150 off. I find it very comfy. My inseam is 28", and I ended up with the very smallest WSD size (12") to get any standover at all and a short enough effective top tube. It fits me very well.

Novara is the REI house brand, by the way. Here's a picture of my 2004 model (the 2005 is all silver):


Just another data point - good luck in your search!

Emily

[amg]

so can i maybe "compare" mtn bike stuff like this:

XTR/XT is top notch = dura-ace
LX/Deore are next = ultegra
Alivio/Altus/Acera = 105

i've noticed SRAM in some of the specs but have no clue what i'm looking at

i'm 5'3" and i think my inseam is 28" (i've grown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

hubby and i may be sorry we started to look at mtn bikes... we're both so impulsive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but i'm NOT gonna spend a lot of money.. i'm NOT i'm NOT i'm NOT i'm NOT!!!!!!! (ya right................)

SRAM is a different brand of components - LX, XT, XTR are all Shimano. So the SRAM equivalents (rough guess) woud be LX= X7, XT=X9, XTR=XO.

I just put SRAM shifters on my new hardtail and I like them much better - the trigger shifters just use your thumb rather than thumb and finger for shifting like the Shimano. It's hard to explain, but if you test ride a few bikes with both kinds you'll see what I mean. However Shimano has been around for a long time, so you can't really go wrong with them.

My current hardtail mountain bike is a Santa Cruz Chameleon and I absolutely love it - they fit small, but I'm not sure if it would be small enough for you. You could try one with a super short stem on and see what you think. The Giant STP that you put a link to would probably be fairly heavy, but because of what it's designed for, not because it's cheap. It's a park bike designed for dirt jumping and skate parks, so it's burlier than a cross country hardtail.

If you're just starting and want something light but don't want to spend a lot of money because you're not sure if you'll stick with it, look for an xc (light) hardtail rather than a full suspension xc. That way you'll get better components for the money.

[Irulan]

If you're just starting and want something light but don't want to spend a lot of money because you're not sure if you'll stick with it, look for an xc (light) hardtail rather than a full suspension xc. That way you'll get better components for the money.

That is excellent advice.

~I.

[xeney]

I just bought a Specialized Rockhopper, the base model, this spring, under just these conditions: wanted to get out on trails, wasn't sure I would like it, didn't want to spend a lot of money. I test rode a lot of bikes and I liked the Rockhopper best for the price range. Actually I really liked the higher-end Rockhopper better than the base model, just because of the components (the ones I was riding had the exact same frame), but eventually I figured out that it was the fork on the low-end model that was bugging me -- and after two days of test-riding the only one the shop had in my size, my husband and I finally convinced the shop that it had a bad fork. (We had to hunt down a mechanic because the sales people just blinked at us.) They swapped it out and I bought the bike.

I like it okay although I will never be a mountain biker. I had pictured tooling along dirt trails looking at nature, but my husband would like me to do crazy things involving steep hills, and I don't know that I will ever have that kind of confidence. I fell a lot on our last ride out, on steepish hills with lots of deep gullies, and somehow kept finding the biggest rocks on which to bang my knee. It's been two months and I've still got some lumps.

If I had it to do over again and really thought I would like this, I would have paid for the Rockhopper Comp. It was the one I liked the best, and I am not really happy with the brakes and shifters on my bike. It took us forever to get the shifting dialed in and it's still pretty sticky sometimes. And that is a big pain, because while I rarely shift my road bike, I shift constantly on the mountain bike.

If I stick with this I am definitely upgrading the brakes. I don't know that I needed disk brakes, but the Tektro linear pull brakes inspire no confidence whatsoever.

In some ways I wish I'd bought a used bike instead. My bike weighs more than my husband's old steel Bianchi hardtail, which originally had no suspension but he added a suspension fork a few years ago. I really love his bike and borrow it when I can, although it is too big for me. I like the Rockhopper but I think I might have been happier on an old steel hand-me-down.

[Irulan]

I like it okay although I will never be a mountain biker. I had pictured tooling along dirt trails looking at nature, but my husband would like me to do crazy things involving steep hills, and I don't know that I will ever have that kind of confidence. I fell a lot on our last ride out, on steepish hills with lots of deep gullies, and somehow kept finding the biggest rocks on which to bang my knee. It's been two months and I've still got some lumps.

if you think you *might* like it, find a beginner's or women's group to go with, and learn some skills. There are lots of ways to facilitate the learning curve, but thrashing with the hubby is not usually one of them. BTDT.

~Irulan

[SadieKate]

Xeney, we should meet out at Granite Bay sometime or go ride Fleming Meadows. Good places to learn without the steep hills and gullies.

[SadieKate]

if you think you *might* like it, find a beginner's or women's group to go with, and learn some skills. There are lots of ways to facilitate the learning curve, but thrashing with the hubby is not usually one of them. BTDT.

~Irulan

Hey, Irulun, you got strong ESP!

[caligurl]

I had pictured tooling along dirt trails looking at nature, but my husband would like me to do crazy things involving steep hills, and I don't know that I will ever have that kind of confidence. I fell a lot on our last ride out, on steepish hills with lots of deep gullies, and somehow kept finding the biggest rocks on which to bang my knee. It's been two months and I've still got some lumps.

oh.... that doesn't sound like fun at ALL! i think you need to start out easy (on the dirt trails!!!)

[xeney]

I think Irulan and SadieKate are right -- he swore this was an easy trail but his definition of easy is not the same as mine. He also said the trail was a lot more rutted than he'd remembered. (To be fair to him, he hadn't done any real mountain biking since before he broke his leg in 2003, and he didn't have any fun on that trip either -- he learned the hard way that his new patched-together titanium knee is too inflexible to deal with the cheap old clipless pedals he had on that bike, or at least too inflexible to reliably unclip from a muddy pedal. I got to see him fall almost as often as I fell myself -- he's going to have to get some of those Speedplay pedals you all love so much, I think!)

SadieKate, that is an excellent idea, thank you! We do have an easy to moderate trail near our house where I can practice, but it is not much fun right now because there is starthistle all over the place and it is too hot to wear long pants. I actually looked for some women's clinics when I first got the bike but I could not find anything in Sacramento.

The parts I like are the mud, the easy hills, and the little bounce you get as you land. That's fun. I fear speed, though. Speed is scary.

[SadieKate]

Xeney, where did you go for a ride?

New mantra for you = "Speed is my friend." Treat speed kindly and judiciously just like you would your friends. Sometimes fast is better than slow. Also, go do some thread searches and look for Irulan's comments about braking. By learning to brake properly (which the typical roadies doesn't REALLY learn) you'll ride faster.

Sue Fry, VP of FATRAC, sometimes leads women's only rides at Granite Bay. Check out the schedule (www.fatrac.org) and I'll email her also. I'll be more than happy to take you out on the trails also. I'm a big proponent of not learning from hubby (he messed up my flycasting technique for years ).