Hello all, as evidenced by the fact that this is my first post, I'm a bit of a noob in terms of serious biking. So here's my situation: basically I got laid off a few months back and shortly thereafter my car decided to blow up on me, so that left me with my old (and I mean 10+ years) mountain bike (admittedly a Wal-Mart special, it's called a Rhino) as my primary mode of transportation.
This bike has been ridden sporadically aside from when I've been enrolled in school (then it becomes a daily rider) and recently due to the lack of a car. It's been laid down and wrecked several times, it really only has one operable gear setting (so I've never really known the benefit of proper shifting), the front rim is missing two spokes and is bent so it wobbles when ridden, but not so much as to make it unable to be ridden. I've also replaced the pedals (one was broken and all the reflectors were missing) and the saddle with a gel/pseudo-suede one.
I've ridden this bike almost daily for the past few months at least 8 miles a day, sometimes as much as 30+ miles but it has finally given up on me and I can't justify putting more money into a bike that's this old. So I've done some homework and come to the conclusion that I need a fairly decent all-terrain bike (just to give you an idea of the terrain I'm traversing: Phoenix is not a "clean" or "rider-friendly" city and the typical landscaping consists of rocks, dirt, cacti, tumbleweeds and other plant matter that can and often does have burrs/thorns so if they make kevlar tires that'd be awesome...as it is I've taken to using the "slime" filled tubes almost exclusively).
Also please note that weight is not an issue for me, I'm 170lbs myself, usually carry a 15+ lb backpack and my current bike prob weighs 35+ lbs. itself. I do however have an affinity for the "grip" shifters as opposed to the "trigger" shifters found on most bikes. Aside from those predilections my only stipulation is that it has to be relatively cheap, I could go as high as $400 but I'd prefer to stay in the $250 to $300 range. Now, I've already read the sticky about beginners and mega-store bikes such as Mongoose, etcetera, however it seems to me that the universal gripe about these bikes is that they require a fair amount of fine-tuning which should be expected of any mechanical product anyway.
My current top-pick is the Mongoose Blackcomb (priced at $270 from Wal-Mart) but I'm open to any and all suggestions, but please keep in mind that I simply cannot afford anything over $500 and am looking for something rugged that will withstand Arizona's less-than-forgiving terrain and still serve me well 5 years down the line (with proper maintenance of course).
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to reading your responses. =)
This bike has been ridden sporadically aside from when I've been enrolled in school (then it becomes a daily rider) and recently due to the lack of a car. It's been laid down and wrecked several times, it really only has one operable gear setting (so I've never really known the benefit of proper shifting), the front rim is missing two spokes and is bent so it wobbles when ridden, but not so much as to make it unable to be ridden. I've also replaced the pedals (one was broken and all the reflectors were missing) and the saddle with a gel/pseudo-suede one.
I've ridden this bike almost daily for the past few months at least 8 miles a day, sometimes as much as 30+ miles but it has finally given up on me and I can't justify putting more money into a bike that's this old. So I've done some homework and come to the conclusion that I need a fairly decent all-terrain bike (just to give you an idea of the terrain I'm traversing: Phoenix is not a "clean" or "rider-friendly" city and the typical landscaping consists of rocks, dirt, cacti, tumbleweeds and other plant matter that can and often does have burrs/thorns so if they make kevlar tires that'd be awesome...as it is I've taken to using the "slime" filled tubes almost exclusively).
Also please note that weight is not an issue for me, I'm 170lbs myself, usually carry a 15+ lb backpack and my current bike prob weighs 35+ lbs. itself. I do however have an affinity for the "grip" shifters as opposed to the "trigger" shifters found on most bikes. Aside from those predilections my only stipulation is that it has to be relatively cheap, I could go as high as $400 but I'd prefer to stay in the $250 to $300 range. Now, I've already read the sticky about beginners and mega-store bikes such as Mongoose, etcetera, however it seems to me that the universal gripe about these bikes is that they require a fair amount of fine-tuning which should be expected of any mechanical product anyway.
My current top-pick is the Mongoose Blackcomb (priced at $270 from Wal-Mart) but I'm open to any and all suggestions, but please keep in mind that I simply cannot afford anything over $500 and am looking for something rugged that will withstand Arizona's less-than-forgiving terrain and still serve me well 5 years down the line (with proper maintenance of course).
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to reading your responses. =)
