the Newbie

October 2004
Ongawi

Newbie's Bike!

Took a newbie out for a ride today. I must admit, it wasn't as simple as it seemed. It wasn't a straight forward "Here, I'll lend u a bike and let's go riding" kind of ride. With this newbie, or rookie as he prefers to be called, I decided to go a few steps further. At the risk of being called a pedalphile, I 'groomed' him over many months into the biking scene. Once the interest set in, we arranged to meet....at a bike shop. Oggling at catalogues and bike pics over the internet is simply poles apart from seeing, smelling and touching real bikes. From that moment onwards, newbie was hooked. He had to buy one ASAP.

Starter bike. What exactly is a starter bike? An entry level bike? Basically, it has to be a bike that is affordable but still durable enough to be taken into the trails. Something that will not be turned away at certain high-end bike shops in KL should you push it in for a service. Something that is worth upgrading should one get bitten by the upgrading bug or, if the bug bites are critical one can still sell it off for an OK price to another biker (and not to a scrap metal dealer). Mountain bikers have it good nowadays. Entry level bikes are packed with so much trickle-down technology from high-end bikes that they would have cost a bomb to purchase say 5 years ago.

Anyway, this newbie went ahead and bought himself a bike..without doing enough homework and without bothering to consult oldbies like me. I was furious at him but happy for him at the same time. He had a budget of RM1500 to RM3000 but he ended up purchasing a RM1400++ Raleigh MotionGear HydroPC800. Long name. Wrong size (bought a small frame ...too small for a 5foot10 newbie). Like I said, mountainbikers are a lucky lot nowadays..I was quite impressed with the bike specs when he rolled in today. (See below)...

Newbie got his first introduction to the dirty world of mountainbiking today and he went home all bruised but happy.....To be continued?...

Would you buy this bike?
:: Raleigh MotionGear HydroPC800
:: Cost RM1400.00 purchased at Bicycle World
:: Butted and gussetted Alu Frame
:: Disc ready!
:: Lightweight! sub 30lb! lighter if forks are ditched
:: Wellgo platform hybrid SPD pedals

Nearest branded competitor: entry level GT Avalanche

COCKPIT:
::fat no-name alloy riser bars
::SRAM grips
::SRAM X5 composite (plasticky) brakes (& SRAM V-brakes)
::SRAM 9speed(!!) X7 'trigger' shifters!
::No-name square 90mm stem
::Integrated headset

BOY BAND FORKS... the N'synch forks deserve to be treated like a boy band music album...DISPOSABLE.

Maxxis.com Exception series 2.0 tyres.. light! Not chunky enough...

Fakawi Ratings:

Ride: 3/5

Value: 4/5

-Ongawi