Originally Posted by CelticSkyhawk
Hello everyone! I've just joined up and I apologize if I fail to meet etiquette on my first couple of posts, I'll try to get it right quickly.
I'm interested in getting into cycling but I'm not sure where to start. My first reason is because I always enjoyed it growing up, and I'd really like to hit some of the great trails I've heard about around here. My second reason is that I'm horribly out of shape and I'd love to use this to build up cardio and muscular systems. My one concern is that I'm pretty heavy and I'm not sure what bike will work for me or if I'm too heavy or not. I'm about 6' and weigh in at around 280 - 290.
I don't have much money, so I'm looking for a fair beginner mountain bike that can handle my weight and will allow me to ride streets for now but can get me down a few of the easier trails in upcoming months. I'm hoping to spend under $300, which I think should be possible. Could anyone provide suggestions of where I might want to start looking (beside Jenny Craig)? I appreciate any help that anyone can provide.
Easy enough, go to your local bike shop, get the most basic mountain bike you can, and a helmet that fits and is comfortable (think of ventilation too). This should be all within your $300 with change to spare.
After putting on a 100miles or so, find out what you don't like offhand on the bike, the things I changed out on my old MTB was in this order: pedals, saddle, grips. Pedals since the plastic ones were kinda slippery, so I went for some alloy pedals that were far more grippy. Saddle since the one that was on the bike wasn't very comfortable...it was just shped wrong for me...so I got a serfas Rx saddle (cheesy looking and a bit pricey, but man is it nice), and for grips I wanted longer and slightly softer (the grips that were on it were like concrete)...and those were about $9. Those mods together were less than $80. BUT....I would never advise doing this until you have put on some miles on that bike to know for sure what works for you, and what needs improvment, after all, it's about what fits YOU, and not what fits anyone else here
