Rocky's New Bike Day!

I bought a bike! I'm riding it home, RIGHT NOW!!!

 

Yay! Looks awesome!

 

I can't believe @mtnbikej didn't mention the routing of the front brake line.

Congratulations, Rocky! Go get some Floop dirt... And be careful out there...

 

That shop is employing hacks. I expect more. One more reason I do my own work.

 

Thanks a bunch Faust! I need to buy a good seat, a few other things and I'm off to the floop lol! Dang I hope I can find a more cushy seat! So I should reroute my front brake line?

 

Softer is not better. You need to break your body into the saddle, not the other way around. You'll get used to it.

 

Good quality shorts help too.

 

Ooof... I got no ass... :/

 

Congrats. That will take you many places and many miles. Feel free to join on FLoop rides, B* rides, any other rides. And if you get dropped, well, just think of it as "incentive."

No really, looks great and now go ride the crap out of it.

 

Invest in a good pair of padded shorts, or liners and shorts. It really does work better if the seat is very firm and your shorts are padded. Takes some getting used to.

 

Ha-Ha... And I got too much!

You might want to play with the positioning of the saddle. I haven't run a normal saddle in years, mostly because the nose conflicts with, uh... stuff. Maybe drop the nose a hair, so it's putting less pressure on the junk.

Looks like a solid bike to start on... threaded bottom bracket, 1x10, hydraulic Shimano brakes, Recon silver fork... Not bad.

 

That actually looks like a nice seat. As others have said it's in the shorts. Comfort that is. BTW don't forget to remove the reflectors and the dork disc.

 

Thanks man! The 1x10, and hydraulic brakes clinched it for me.

 

Nice... Did they check the pressure in the fork and set it up ballpark for your weight? Unlike some of the other entry level bikes, that's a real fork...

 

I asked them to. I told them I was riding it home. Not real confident in what they did though. First they said it was an air fork, then said it's a spring. I asked about the lock out mechanism, I don't think the fork completely locked out, is it supposed to give any when locked out?

 

Most forks will bounce a little even when locked out. Try the different settings and see what the difference is.

 

I will. The fork felt on the squishy side, I thought the tire pressure was a little lower than I would've put it too.

 

@-ROCKY-
OK, now that you've got the bike, please do not make the mistakes that most new riders make.

Saddle. It's not a seat, it's a saddle. It's one of three important contact points that share the burden of your weight, the other two being your feet and your hands. DO NOT seek out the cushiest seat you can find. DO spend time getting the bike fit right. Your ass will hurt like hell on and after your first ride, and will be nearly unbearable on ride #2. You'll be fine after that - assuming you get some proper padded shorts. Recommendation below.

Bike Fit:
Saddle height is first. You want your leg almost fully extended when the pedal is in the 6 o'clock position, assuming you understand that you pedal on the ball of your foot and not your arch. Performance should have helped you with this before you ever left the shop. If not, you can certainly look at YouTube videos about setting your saddle height.

Handlebar height. There are spacers between your stem and the top of your steer tube. You (or the shop) can add or reduce spacers to adjust handelbar height. The second-most common error beginners make is trying to get their body position too upright. I recommend that your hands and hips are about the same height. Aggressive riders ride with their hands about 2"-4" lower than their hips. You want weight on your hands. No it won't make you endo.

Saddle location and angle. The saddle moves forward and backward on its rails, and the nose can angle up or down. I would start with the saddle completely neutral - centered on the rails and flat. Guys who climb a lot tend to angle the nose down a little. That's great while climbing, but puts more weight on your hands while riding on flat ground or down hill. Badass downhillers and dirt jumpers ride with the noses pointed up for some dumb reason. Don't do that. As for fore-aft orientation, if you move your saddle too far back to get more room in your "cockpit" you change the angle of your hips and legs relative to the pedals, which can cause hip, knee or back pain. Ask me how I know.

Brake lever location. You want to actuate your brake with one finger. Maybe two. You do not use all four. You can move your brake levers inward to give you more room and to have your index finger grabbing the most powerful part of the brake lever (the end of the lever). Most brake levers also have an adjustment for how far away from the bars the brakes engage. You will get picky about this later.

If Performance did not help you with all of this, go back there and make sure they spend time with you getting these things right. They may need to change out to a longer or shorter stem, or one with more rise. This is their responsibility.

As others have said - spend for a great pair of shorts. I highly recommend the Fox Rangers. They come with a top quality padded chamois liner, and they seem to be cut right for mtb. Go commando when you get a padded liner. And for God's sake, wash the liners after every ride.

Tire pressure. 30 psi is a safe starting point. I am certain your bike has inner tubes, so you may want to run a wee bit more. Maybe 36 in back and 34 in front. You won't need more than that. Tire pressure is about finding a balance: low enough for comfort and traction on our dry dirt, but enough pressure to prevent flats and roll easily.

Congrats and welcome to the sport. Get set up right and you will love it. Get set up wrong, and you may hate it.

 

Wow thanks herz, this will help out A LOT, I'm happy with what I got, but it was a couple of youngsters that helped me, we missed most of this.

 

I see what you did there!

 

@herzalot is spot on...but ride the bike first, see what doesn't feel right. Sometimes you don't need to mess with it. I ride much more upright than is "recommended."

I'll be honest, I bought my XTC and didn't change one single thing on it, not even saddle height or orientation. It has worked awesomely for me. But that's me. Make sure the bike is comfortable, and as you hit longer rides it may not be. Figuring out why can be fun. Or it can be aggravating. Make it fun, and you'll enjoy the heck out of this sport.

 

Is that where they put the seat height? Or did you lower it?

Seems awfully low. If that is where you need it to pedal, then the bike may be too big for you.

What size is it? How tall are you?

 

Thanks Runs, I'm looking forward to making adjustments. I do feel like I should be lower maybe a tiny bit more reach.

 

They put the seat there. It was originally really high, so they cut it. How they sized me was how high my knees came while pedaling. I'm 5'10. I think the bike is a large.

 

An we please get back to “I’m riding my bike....”

 

Eventually. Maybe.

 

HASHTAG Poser...

 

Lets see if @Mikie will change my user name to this!

 

You joined imtbtrails... you got plenty of azz!

 

I've ridden with @SnakeCharmer ... he aint no Poser...