What's up everyone,
Well, after many posts on the forums here, my wife and I finally got our bikes.
She got the 17" Specialized Myka Sport, and so far she likes it (except her butt hurts too, read my full review below). One thing I will say about the myka sport is that she kept up with the trails and the long haul pretty good for riding for the first time in about 8 years. Again read below to appreciate this. For her bike we paid about $380 +tax, that was good news for us because her bike made it through the following story:
I got my GF Cobia 29r, 19" Gunmetal Grey. I paid $830 +tax. For some reason my front derailler is a SRAM X-9, my rear is an X-5, and when i read on the specs on the website, it said X-5 throughout... did I get blessed out of the factory?
Well, the LBS adjusted the front fork, and tires pressures for my heavy 220lb butt, and that night, I rode the bike around down for about one mile awaiting the next day. Well, the next day came, and here is our story - Thursday 19Jun2008.
(When reading this, if you are a woman, especially a wife, you will realize it was not the trip that I survived, but the wrath of my wife)
This is the first time EITHER of us (my wife and I) rode in about 8 years, literally. I'm 28, and she is 30, sorry hun, she is living her 2nd 29th year. Anyway, we took a 3-mile road trip to Tobyhanna State Park from our house. All road. When we got there, we decided to run the trail around the bige lake (light gravel, some grass), well about 1 mile into this trip I saw a "yellow" off-road trail. I said,"let's try it," She said we should stick to the trail around the lake so we can get home at a reasonable time (we left around 10:30am), but she gave in. Well, half way into it, this rooty / rocky trail turned into boulders, and huge fallen trees... then it only got worse. Steep up hills, rocky downhills, and swamps! Yes, at this point my wife was Mad at me (to say the VERY least) for trying to be the adventurous idiot who got us into this mess. Well anyway, this turned out to be a 4-mile trail (which felt like 10 because of the rough terrain). At the end of this trail we were on the west side of route 196 (about 5 miles pass the PCP development). We had already traveled about 10 miles, 4 of which was terrible trail! Then, when we got to the road, I said "go left", she said "right", well.. right was the right answer, because after traveling about 2 miles, we found out we were heading AWAY from home. At this piont I was trying to keep a decent distance from her because I knew it was my fault we traveled about 15 miles and were about 10 miles from home (Honestly, I am usually vry good with direction, not that day). Did I mention route 196 was all up and down hill? I know what some of you hardcore riders were thinking at this point... cool! No dudes... not cool. My legs were jello, and my A$$ was numb. to be more precise, my a$$ bone felt bruised like I was one of those kids from "Dazed And Confused." Well, we back-tracked, and got to the exit of the "trail of woe" (that's what I called it after our 4-mile trip of horror through it). We knew not to go back through that trail because.. well just because. So we stuck to the road, up and down hills, and finally we saw a sign for our town (10-miles ahead). Yup, we had traveled nearly 20 miles already, and we still needed 10 more. Up and down hills the entire way, until finally we reached the State Park's entrance again. Don't ask how I managed to get us that far from home, but I did. So, to cut this long story short, we traveled about 30 miles, 4 of which through a VERY rought trail, and about 20 of them up and down large rolling hills. By the time we got home, we were spent. I went to military high school, and college,, I and I know what it feels like to push your physical limits, and let me tell you, this day, we did. She was in a better mood at this point ( I fired up the grill right away, and poured her some sweet iced tea - then got out of dodge). By the way, I forgot to mention I ran out of water in the middle of the 4-mile trail because i didn't expect (or pack) to be gone that long. By the time we got home we were parched. SO here, after this first day "break-in" of the bikes, I can honestly say I can give a good review of this bike. And before i begin, here's a bit of advice - unless you are in a VERY adventerous mood, do NOT go on trails w/o researching them first! We left the house at 10:30am, and didn't get home until almost 5pm! The experience, well gave us an experience, and something to talk abou, but we were seconds from hitching, or calling the police on our cells. I'm proud of my wife for sticking it out, and I'm even more proud she didn't hit my head with a rock, and leave me in the woods. We went to dinner that night, and had something to talk about (though it still hurts to sit).
OK, so here's my review of the GF Cobia.
The bike climbs like a champ. If you keep weight on the rear wheel, and peddle tough, the bike will pull, I never took the front gears to the granny, I kept her in 2nd, and used the full granny in the rear, and I think i climbed just about everything thrown at me that day from rocky uphill, to grassy, to muddy (though near the end of the trip I was running out of gas and walked the bike up a handfull of big hills).
The gears work great, I only had a few instances when the geared took more than 2 seconds to shift, other than that, I was shifting tough all day (literally).
The bike feels good and strong over the rough terrain, but well into the trip, my hands were getting numb. The handlebars were unforgiving.
The peddles always seemed to smack the floor. I was either smacking the peddles (while I was trying to peddle through rough terrain) on rocks, or high sticks, anything over about 4 inches off the ground. This got real anoying, and I got to the point where I wasn't peddling over these, I was trying to stand on the peddles, keep them equal and "coast" over this terrain, but i lost speed often.
The geometry of the bike is "sporty." I ride a suzuki GSX-R1000 (sport bike, croth rocket, whatever you like to call it), and it feels the same (almost). it gets tiresome over a period of time, but gives you a good feeling of control.
The tires and wheels are tough (so is the front shock). Consider a 200lb guy, thrashing up and down on rocks and boulders.. I put this bike through the test. I always hear people saying to upgrade to the X-caliber or spend Sub $1000 on a mountainbike is pointless, well I am here to tell those people they are full of S$%T. Get off of your ego, get on a decent bike and ride. I didn't feel like anything was lacking all day. I am sure small upgrades here and there make a difference, but again, I brought that bike through a lot and it held up just fine. I had a lot of fun on it, even at the end when i was dehydrated, and only 10 miles from home.
The bike corners wel, and has good traction, i think the loss on any of thise comes from the rider (me) losing balance, or not distributing my weight correctly.
It looks pretty. This bike is great looking. You sit high off the ground, I like that.
I would love to hear your comments or opinions, or constructive criticism, or whatever - thanks.
If you are even considering a 29r, and want to save $ - don't fall for the high number part names, or other peoples comments like spend a few hundred more get the X-caliber or something else. I got this bike for under $900 out the door, and it is awesome. If you tink you need a better bike, you better be competing and making money using it. If you're really into the sport and want more performance, fine, but if you're a noob, don't let your ego get out of control, this is a great ride for the $.
If anyone has any tips for me to save my A$$ bone the next time i ride, PLEASE giv eme some ifo... I usually don't sit too much, except when climbing and when i'm getting tired, but the seat was unforgiving as well.
i will update this thread as I get responses. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.
I WILL POST REPLY'S WITH PICTURES AFTER THIS.
Well, after many posts on the forums here, my wife and I finally got our bikes.
She got the 17" Specialized Myka Sport, and so far she likes it (except her butt hurts too, read my full review below). One thing I will say about the myka sport is that she kept up with the trails and the long haul pretty good for riding for the first time in about 8 years. Again read below to appreciate this. For her bike we paid about $380 +tax, that was good news for us because her bike made it through the following story:
I got my GF Cobia 29r, 19" Gunmetal Grey. I paid $830 +tax. For some reason my front derailler is a SRAM X-9, my rear is an X-5, and when i read on the specs on the website, it said X-5 throughout... did I get blessed out of the factory?
Well, the LBS adjusted the front fork, and tires pressures for my heavy 220lb butt, and that night, I rode the bike around down for about one mile awaiting the next day. Well, the next day came, and here is our story - Thursday 19Jun2008.
(When reading this, if you are a woman, especially a wife, you will realize it was not the trip that I survived, but the wrath of my wife)
This is the first time EITHER of us (my wife and I) rode in about 8 years, literally. I'm 28, and she is 30, sorry hun, she is living her 2nd 29th year. Anyway, we took a 3-mile road trip to Tobyhanna State Park from our house. All road. When we got there, we decided to run the trail around the bige lake (light gravel, some grass), well about 1 mile into this trip I saw a "yellow" off-road trail. I said,"let's try it," She said we should stick to the trail around the lake so we can get home at a reasonable time (we left around 10:30am), but she gave in. Well, half way into it, this rooty / rocky trail turned into boulders, and huge fallen trees... then it only got worse. Steep up hills, rocky downhills, and swamps! Yes, at this point my wife was Mad at me (to say the VERY least) for trying to be the adventurous idiot who got us into this mess. Well anyway, this turned out to be a 4-mile trail (which felt like 10 because of the rough terrain). At the end of this trail we were on the west side of route 196 (about 5 miles pass the PCP development). We had already traveled about 10 miles, 4 of which was terrible trail! Then, when we got to the road, I said "go left", she said "right", well.. right was the right answer, because after traveling about 2 miles, we found out we were heading AWAY from home. At this piont I was trying to keep a decent distance from her because I knew it was my fault we traveled about 15 miles and were about 10 miles from home (Honestly, I am usually vry good with direction, not that day). Did I mention route 196 was all up and down hill? I know what some of you hardcore riders were thinking at this point... cool! No dudes... not cool. My legs were jello, and my A$$ was numb. to be more precise, my a$$ bone felt bruised like I was one of those kids from "Dazed And Confused." Well, we back-tracked, and got to the exit of the "trail of woe" (that's what I called it after our 4-mile trip of horror through it). We knew not to go back through that trail because.. well just because. So we stuck to the road, up and down hills, and finally we saw a sign for our town (10-miles ahead). Yup, we had traveled nearly 20 miles already, and we still needed 10 more. Up and down hills the entire way, until finally we reached the State Park's entrance again. Don't ask how I managed to get us that far from home, but I did. So, to cut this long story short, we traveled about 30 miles, 4 of which through a VERY rought trail, and about 20 of them up and down large rolling hills. By the time we got home, we were spent. I went to military high school, and college,, I and I know what it feels like to push your physical limits, and let me tell you, this day, we did. She was in a better mood at this point ( I fired up the grill right away, and poured her some sweet iced tea - then got out of dodge). By the way, I forgot to mention I ran out of water in the middle of the 4-mile trail because i didn't expect (or pack) to be gone that long. By the time we got home we were parched. SO here, after this first day "break-in" of the bikes, I can honestly say I can give a good review of this bike. And before i begin, here's a bit of advice - unless you are in a VERY adventerous mood, do NOT go on trails w/o researching them first! We left the house at 10:30am, and didn't get home until almost 5pm! The experience, well gave us an experience, and something to talk abou, but we were seconds from hitching, or calling the police on our cells. I'm proud of my wife for sticking it out, and I'm even more proud she didn't hit my head with a rock, and leave me in the woods. We went to dinner that night, and had something to talk about (though it still hurts to sit).
OK, so here's my review of the GF Cobia.
The bike climbs like a champ. If you keep weight on the rear wheel, and peddle tough, the bike will pull, I never took the front gears to the granny, I kept her in 2nd, and used the full granny in the rear, and I think i climbed just about everything thrown at me that day from rocky uphill, to grassy, to muddy (though near the end of the trip I was running out of gas and walked the bike up a handfull of big hills).
The gears work great, I only had a few instances when the geared took more than 2 seconds to shift, other than that, I was shifting tough all day (literally).
The bike feels good and strong over the rough terrain, but well into the trip, my hands were getting numb. The handlebars were unforgiving.
The peddles always seemed to smack the floor. I was either smacking the peddles (while I was trying to peddle through rough terrain) on rocks, or high sticks, anything over about 4 inches off the ground. This got real anoying, and I got to the point where I wasn't peddling over these, I was trying to stand on the peddles, keep them equal and "coast" over this terrain, but i lost speed often.
The geometry of the bike is "sporty." I ride a suzuki GSX-R1000 (sport bike, croth rocket, whatever you like to call it), and it feels the same (almost). it gets tiresome over a period of time, but gives you a good feeling of control.
The tires and wheels are tough (so is the front shock). Consider a 200lb guy, thrashing up and down on rocks and boulders.. I put this bike through the test. I always hear people saying to upgrade to the X-caliber or spend Sub $1000 on a mountainbike is pointless, well I am here to tell those people they are full of S$%T. Get off of your ego, get on a decent bike and ride. I didn't feel like anything was lacking all day. I am sure small upgrades here and there make a difference, but again, I brought that bike through a lot and it held up just fine. I had a lot of fun on it, even at the end when i was dehydrated, and only 10 miles from home.
The bike corners wel, and has good traction, i think the loss on any of thise comes from the rider (me) losing balance, or not distributing my weight correctly.
It looks pretty. This bike is great looking. You sit high off the ground, I like that.
I would love to hear your comments or opinions, or constructive criticism, or whatever - thanks.
If you are even considering a 29r, and want to save $ - don't fall for the high number part names, or other peoples comments like spend a few hundred more get the X-caliber or something else. I got this bike for under $900 out the door, and it is awesome. If you tink you need a better bike, you better be competing and making money using it. If you're really into the sport and want more performance, fine, but if you're a noob, don't let your ego get out of control, this is a great ride for the $.
If anyone has any tips for me to save my A$$ bone the next time i ride, PLEASE giv eme some ifo... I usually don't sit too much, except when climbing and when i'm getting tired, but the seat was unforgiving as well.
i will update this thread as I get responses. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.
I WILL POST REPLY'S WITH PICTURES AFTER THIS.
