As we all know from meeja mtbing is both a middle class pastime and the new golf and is bloody expensive therefore. A quick look at fresh goods friday clarifys this is indeed the case, so what are your top money saving tips for a more wallet friendly mountain biking life?

I’ll start, get clear safety glasses from b&q for £50 rather then spending £50 on crc, they do 99% of the same job

Let’s keep it tip first argument about the comments above after?

sell all your bikes and bike stuff.
then buy a on one and ride in jeans and trainers.

win win 8)

Theres lots of good soft-shell jackets in workwear shops for winter riding, usually has a bit of reflective piping too. As you say, theres nowt wrong with safety specs either, performance wise, and increasingly looks wise too – find a branch of Arco and you’ll have loads of styles to choose from too and be able to try them on for a good fit. Clear, yellow and tinted to pick from lenses as well.

If its your kind of thing, clothing wise, Paramo sell some heavily discounted stuff as seconds on ebay, if you are patient for the right thing to come up. I’ve got a few garments and can’t for the life of me see what the ‘problem’ is, I think some is overstock from cancelled corporate orders

Theres lots of clothing thats not cycle specific but works really well – I wear a wind stopper running jacket pretty much all through the (scottish) seasons, cost less than equivalent cycling top and made of the same material. I wear cheap merino sweaters (bought a size too small) as a base layer too.

Its only an expensive sport if you want it to be, budget bikes are better value than ever and riding them costs nothing. You can never run out of things to spend money on though and there is a generation of cyclists who have grown up with mountain bikes and as they’ve gotten older and wealthier they’ve found ways to spend more and more money, but well chosen cheap kit performs more than well enough and will usually outlast the pricer stuff.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking the latest parts are needed, the’re often actually far worse,

Only replace things you’ve broken or worn past working.

7speed, 100mm forks and v brakes are good enough for anything 99% of mtbers ride.

Helmets, gloves, glasses, armour and specific cyclin clothes are rarely actually required at all either.

Run rear tyres until you can see the carcus through the tread.

Decathlon
Aldi
Lidl
STW Classifieds
Last Year’s Technology

All much better value, but not for fashion victims.

PaulD

own lots of bikes stuff wears out less often.

get clear safety glasses from b&q for £50 rather then spending £50 on crc

you’ve not really grasped the whole ‘saving money’ concept here I feel.

Don’t read biking magazines or use forums.

Good point, and just out of editing time too! Should say £3

Only own one bike.

As GW – don’t follow fashion. If it works, keep it.
Shop around for tyres – particularly Ebay, where folk sell stuff off a new bike they’ve just bought.. tyre prices are nuts.

Go to Llandegla and steal some some smug middle class tossers 5 grand carbon full susser off the back of his Audi 😆

clean your bike.

I found that my first bike was pretty expensive as things kept wearing out on it, but once I had upgraded to XT levels things tended to last better.

Keep an eye on chain wear, if it gets too far you will trash your cassette – someone suggested having 3 chains on rotation to even out the wear on the cassette.

when cleaning your bike , brush up all the dirt and put it into a flower pot .
Eventually fill the pot with dirt from your cycle and see which plants/weeds grow.
Give the “flower” pot to someone as a gift !
Save money and the ecosystem! win win . 😀

sell all your bikes

IIRC that was an expensive way of mountain biking – when you did it 6 times a year!

Buy frames and forks 2nd hand. Singlespeed because drivetrains are bloody expensive.

Not as expensive as new knees

Bolle safety glasses
Army surplus goretex trousers
ebay for bikes
DX for lights
NHS for rider repairs

Only buy stuff thats in the sale, its not what you spend its what you save.

Rigid SS saves an awful lot of time and money on upkeep.

Aldi & Decathlon clothing here too.

I’ve got a nice waterproof, but it gets used for climbing and walking as well.
Alpkit rucksacs are good.
Patch until you can’t see the tube anymore.
Make your own energy drinks & flapjacks.
Ride from your door. Always something good to ride locally.

I need to learn how to fix my bike properly, still scared of a couple of jobs that would save cash.

And it’s Deore and cheap tyres for me at the mo.

Not as expensive as new knees

😀

Abandon “N+1” – anyway, I enjoy commuting on my full sus. By road.

+1 for washing the bike and keeping on top of chain replacements.

+1 for Decathlon for clothing, including gloves and helmets, sometimes for shoes. Watch out for after-sales support on bikes though – had a nightmare time trying to replace a bent hanger.

Just think about something else.

TooTall – Member

sell all your bikes

IIRC that was an expensive way of mountain biking – when you did it 6 times a year!

hence me selling them all, buying 1 cheap one and using the 10k i made on nice luxury holidays……… 😆

Buy second hand, from more ‘trusted’ STW regular forum people.
Stay with HT, and simple to service forks and gear.
Clean them regularly (buy a chain cleaner as well) and maintain them at home.
Accept that it is a fun sport, but this years BNG or latest-uber-damper will not make it more fun or is indeed needed.

Buy a full bike for one part (say the forks) split and sell the rest seperately for a profit

Ask mates if they have stuff they would sell. Often stuff goes VERY cheap like that because lots of people have no idea what decent OE kit that they don’t use is worth

Post vague forum threads asking about stuff to see if someone will offer something for sale. Again, if someone is doing you a favour, the price is generally low

Make offers on stuff on eBay. Especially local stuff that you can ‘collect tonight because you need it fast’

Be nice to people. Help them for free. Work on their bikes. This gets remembered and you get stuff in return. I call it bartering

If a job costs £50 for an LBS to do for you, spend the £50 on tools then next time it’s free. Tools and skill can also be bartered!

Look after your kit. Clean it. Store it securely where you can find it. No use spending £50 on tools then loosing them, is there?

Never sell complete bikes. They are ALWAYS worth more as parts.

Ask mates if they have stuff they would sell. Often stuff goes VERY cheap like that because lots of people have no idea what decent OE kit that they don’t use is worth

ie ‘rip your mates off’ 😉

Grum, no, just ask if they have what you want, and if they do, how much they want for it. 🙂

EG – a mate bought a Genesis SS an changed the rigid forks for Rebas. I needed
some rigid forks so asked if he would sell them. £20 later I had some nice rigid forks and he had money for something he thought was worthless. 🙂

You could use the STW users classic of not riding your bike.
It’ll last for ever then.

If a job costs £50 for an LBS to do for you, spend the £50 on tools then next time it’s free. Tools and skill can also be bartered!

Stand aside! 😀

1)Never assume that CRC,Wiggle or Merlin will be the cheapest.Many of my recent new purchases have been via ebay retailers such as Koo bikes,Absolute cycle,etc.

2) The German retailers are generally the cheapest for Shimano drivetrain,brakes and Schwalbe tyres.

3) Whole bikes generally work out cheaper than part upgrades in the long run.

Counter intuittive but I buy expensive new stuff.

After years of hoarding stuff off the classifides that wasn’t 100% what I wanted but was cheep, buying bargain second hand forks at ess than half price that ended up dying in 18 months or needed a service which made them as expensive as new, anodised bit’s that don’t match and end up being replaced, etc. I reckon I spend less on CRC/wiggle/merlin/rose/bikediscount than I usualy did buying cheep and twice. With the added advantage of the parts being in my hand the next day, not after weeks of scouring the classifides.

That and custom builds always work out cheeper than off the shelf bikes in the long run unless you really want all the parts on the stock bike and they’re all as good a quality as aftermarket bits.

I’ve had some 2nd/h bargains, but they’re getting fewer and further between.

ton – Member

sell all your bikes and bike stuff.
then buy a on one and ride in jeans and trainers.

what Ton said.

listen to Ton, for he is wise.

Do your homework. There’s a lot of rubbish info available and the mags will try to persuade you that you need X or Y. Buy what is proven and be honest with what you want/need.
I’ve wasted so much money on stuff I didn’t need or was wrong for me (tyres, gloves, tools, pedals, grips, frames).

do your home work – work out exactly waht parts you want and then trawl the internet and buy/sell sections of two or three forum’s over about a week. Then snipe that item on ebay untill you win it for the price you want to pay for it. Then sell the part that you replaced on ebay.

i’ve done it this way for the last 8 years and it works for me – my last bike had a rrp of £3500, cost me £1300 to build, all the parts were bought new and i sold it for £1300 after 2yrs of use – so two years of mtbing for free.

Also buy smart – black items sell for more and quicker than coloured items.

You might not need bike specific kit.

Wicking T shirts are cheap as in Decathlon. CLC/Kuny’s builders gloves are pretty good alternative to mtb gloves. Safety glasses can be as good as cycling glasses.

Choose where you spend you money.

You won’t get much better protection from a £150 helmet than you will from a £50 helmet. All front mechs work, buy a cheap one. XT BB are no worse than XTR. Get a good headset, it’ll last you forever. Get good service able hubs and wheels.

Look after your bike, prevention is better than cure.

Don’t upgrade unless it is broken.

The easiest way to lose weight off your bike is to eat less. The easiest way to make it faster is to ride more.

Some very sound advice here so far. My two-penneth worth is that that you should have at least 2 bikes…

My theory is around the classic 80/20 rule, in that you can ride 80% of stuff with 20% of capability/kit etc. etc. I know people will say you can ride anything on anything, but we don’t all have the necessary skill/confidence and so on, besides it is fun to get out on the old skills compensator now and again for some full on hooning.

Anyway, my point is, get a nice bike taking in the advice here as well as thinking about what appeals to you and what your aspirational riding style is, but only use it when you *need* it – big days out, trail centres etc. Try avoid using it through the winter when it’s going to get the most wear.

Secondly, get a basic (not cheap, they end up expensive) hardtail bike with fewer parts. Stuff that’s proven to last but might not be the lightest/latest/blingest. I’m thinking a second hand pair of Hope mini’s or maybe BB7’s. Simplify the drive train – e.g. singlespeed or if that doesn’t take your fancy 1×9 (maybe 1×8) so at least you can run a good stainless front ring. I like Hope hubs for their servicability, others will recommend Shimano XT etc, but as long as it’s well built kit that you can service easily/cheaply then you’re on to a winnner. Think about running some rigid forks, or maybe some lower end Rock Shox, and learn to do the interim servicing yourself. Get a square taper crank set with a Shimano UN54 BB – it’ll last an age. Use this bike most of the time, all through the winter and any time you don’t *need* your ‘proper’ bike. Make sure you get it set up right for you so it’s a nice bike in itself. Maintain it well, clean it, learn to do stuff yourself and get the appropriate tools.

The best bit of it all is, when you do decide to take your best bike out, you’ll really appreciate it!

To pinch an idea from Terry Pratchett…

You don’t go mountain biking to save money.
Mountain biking is what you spend money on.

You can do it comparatively very cheaply, but when it’s raining, or snowing, or cold, or windy or all four, having some good bits of kit and a bike that works well will get you out of the door.

Same advice for buying a road bike; anyone can go for a ride on a nice sunny day, but will you be out there in the grim if you choose the cheapset way to do everything.