Mountain Biking - First day on my new Specialized HardRock

So I took my new rig out for a spin. Went kinda intense today. From Blue Diamond to Las Vegas (my house) its roughly 22 miles. Thats the first time I have ever ridden that much mileage in my life. It was a fun experience. Very scenic route. Are all roadies overly friendly? Everytime I took a break on side of the road a roadie would ask if I was okay.

Anyway, the bike handle very well. I can feel the "lightness" of the bike when Im in every gear. The riser bar helped me alot too, lower back didnt hurt so much. I already swapped out the pedals for some Primo Tenderizers, they look sweet.

I need to take it to shop though, they need to tune the gears in a little bit. At 1-8, I can hear the chain hitting the deraileur. Shifting the left gear from 2 to 3 makes a jumpy motion, not very smooth. Brakes are awesome, good stopping power and not a sqeak. The seat was comfortable and narrow. I cant stand those wide seats. I dont see why everyone complains about RST forks, it handled just fine.

Ill be taking it on a dirt path next weekend to see how it handles off-road. Its a hardtail, so I was considering getting a seatpost with suspension. any suggestions?

The RST fork is, I believe, just a stack of elastomers being compressed. Without a coil the elastomer dampens itself pretty well. There isn't much travel on it, but then you don't want much travel on a simple elastomer type fork.

22 miles is just about enough to put your cables in a lot of stress and get them good and stretched. Stretching after this will probably continue, but not nearly to the same degree.

Roadies kill kittens.

Glad you enjoyed the ride!

Congrats on the new bike! Need the pics!

Congrats man, we are in the same stage, good luck :D

sounds good, troie.

I wouldn't bother with the suspension seat post. when you are riding off road, the only time you should really be sitting is when you are grinding up a long steep climb, or on a long flat section. otherwise, decending or going steep decents you should be off your seat anyway. The best I ever heard from a mountain biker was, " a table has four legs, not five". keep your arms and legs loose, and but off the seat, and you won't have any trouble with bumps.

Bought my Hardrock last month and have ridden it 4 times on an intermediate trail w\plenty of roots, rocks, drops, sand, twists, turns, uphills, downhills, etc. Twice in good dry conditions. Twice in the rain. The Hardrock did not let me down on any of the rides. It shifts kind of slow but it handled everything great! The trail I ride has TONS of roots! Some you can ride around (I choose not to) . Some you are forced to ride through. Last 2 rides, my back started to ache from all the bouncing around. I recently purchased a Thudbuster and will see how it handles these parts. If you're inclined to get a suspension seatpost, do it. It's your bike. You're riding it! Whatever makes you happy. BTW which Hardrock did you get (standard, comp, pro, what color?). I have the standard one in white. Best $350 I've ever spent! :D

PS - Post a pic of your new ride in the Post Your Rigs thread!:D

Congratulations! :beer:

Incidentally, about the gears rubbing in 1-8... that's a combination that runs the chain on the inboard gear up front, and the outboard gear in back, which makes the chain run at a significant cross-angle. Generally not a good idea to use that combo.

If you've driven a 4x4 that has a low-range and a normal range, well, running 1 x 8 on your bike is like trying to drive 30mph by shifting a 4x4 into low-range, and then using 5th gear. You'd be better off using normal range and 3rd gear, right? :) Low-range on a 4x4 is for mud-bogging, ultra-steep climbs, rock-crawling, etc, and you shift out of it when you're on normal terrain. With the bike, you use the "1" range only when necessary for steep climbs, mud, etc. :)

Have fun on your new rig, and don't forget to get your free tune-up after you've stacked up a fair amount of break-in time! :)