For those into MTB's how anal are you about them?

[Stevo135+]

Well since i brought my Giant Talon Hardtail over a year ago, i had my first big off on tuesday night. I was playing on a demolition site of an old Sugarbeat factory, where there used to be two big Silo's and lots of stuff laying around either as obsticles or just to have a nose at. The twin towers have been knocked down, and the land has been shifted, leaving banks of earth and rubble that were not sufficiantly compacted to ride over really.

I came off the bike on a steep bank of earth and mixed rubble and it took a bit of a bashing tbh! I know mountain bikes are designed to be used on rough stuff, but my favourite type of riding is short technical and rocky ground, which isn't probably what my bike was ideally made for. I've took a small chunk out of the LHS crank arm, and put 2 nasty scrapes in the paint on the top tube. It's left me a bit pissed off really, as the bike is normally always gleaming after a clean, and it lives in my living room some of the time as well.

I just wondered really about those folks who are into serious mountain biking, how much do you try and keep your bike's looking mint as much as possible, or if you regard them as a tool that will inevetively get crashed, bashed and scratched to logger? My bike wasn't mega expensive at just under £700, but it does mean alot to me, as it's the first and only brand new toy i've been able to afford in the 2years since buying my flat, and i obviously wanted to really look after it as much as possible. Do i just need to man up and accept that any serious mountain biking is going to leave my bike all scratched up and looking a bit tatty fairly quickly?

[stefaclese]

Man up, shows it's being used!

[Berger]

I just manned up.

Kept it clean and running well but scuffs and stone chips are battle scars.

I have a road bike for looking nice

[Geo_coupe]

My old bike was pretty battle scarred, New one is covered in frame protector tape to cover the bits where cables rub and rocks hit to try and keep it looking respectable a bit longer. If an mtb doesn't have a few chips in the paint and scrapes its not being used properly though!

[Punx0r]

You mean you're not supposed to keep a MTB in a vacuum bubble out of direct sunlight and only look at it for fun?

Bikes are functional items. Who cares if they're scratched and muddy, as long as it's in fine mechanical fettle?

You could not ride it for fear of getting it dirty, but then what would be the point of buying it? It'd be a waste of money.

As a theft deterrent, I've seen it recommended that you file the names off any decent components on the bike.

[Stevo135+]

Ok thanks for the reality check, i'll stop being such a Girl about it now!

Only possible excuse for it was that until i changed home insurance it wasn't covered being in a shed etc, so i put it in the living room, and when it was all clean i saw it as a kind of trendy ornament, some people have a plant or picture's or old plates stuck on the wall, so why not a mountain bike? That was my downfall.
I'll be replacing it with a motorbike engine as my next bit of home art, well actually knowing me the whole damn bike will probably be an ornament, and yet it was designed for muddy enduro's or living rooms!

[rover220]

When I first had mine, I was overly anal. The more you ride it though the more you accept it's a tool that will end up battered.

I've justo heli taped mine to protect the most vulnerable areas.

[Beaker]

I wished I lived in a world where £700 wasn't expensive for a bike.

Mountain bikes are supposed to be ridden and abused.

[vinny19791]

I just manned up.

Kept it clean and running well but scuffs and stone chips are battle scars.

I have a road bike for looking nice

Yeah but in oz you look cool on a bike and can ride off mountains etc

[stefaclese]

I just hope none of the posters on this thread have the stereotype Pet Shop Boys-esque spandex outfits to go with their overly expensive bikes

[zrchris]

I used to be mad about them years ago. I bought a muddy fox for 1200 then sold bits and built a scott high octain fr that stook me at about 2.3k n then sold that n got a 24 7 n then got lazy haha

I know someone selling a 24 seven dirt jump bike just be rebuilt powder coated ect 150!! Bargin

[harland292]

Im not into MTBs although id love to have a go at downhill.. But my mate who does it Danny Hart - You may no of him - Won the world downhill championships i no he is extremely Anal:

But have a watch on youtube you may see why

[shaggy]

I've changed my mtb every year for the last 3.

All of which have been crashed at some point.

Current Boardman is a keeper though.

My care program includes jet wash - sponge - rinse - WD40

[d1ng27]

I used to get pissed off when i stratched mine, but now i come off so often i'm used to stratching and denting the thing. So i'm not botherd any more.

It looks well used and abused, which it has been, and i enjoy nothing more than people with higher spec shiny mint condition bit's thinking their better than me, untill i show them it's the rider and not the flash clean new shiny bits/bike

Couple of mates of mine are anal as fook though. A FULL STRIP down after every ride, then new lube, grease etc and new bit's even though they still work perfectly fine, just stratched

[cas_uk]

some seem to not understand what mtbs are for......going up mountains and getting dirty



the following images may be disturbing to some (due to their shear dirty-griminess)
mechanically my bikes are spot on-and tbh i have been guilty of getting them gleaming for pictures,but sometimes it just dont need to be spotless (i have come back from some rides and not even recognised which bike is mine in the van as all the lads`s bikes are the same shade of brown joys of living in rainy old britain aye

anyway.....pictures of battlescars---





This was from a rock as big as a 2yr olds head on whites level descent in afan, hit a berm carrying lots of speed and the front tyre scooped this rock up and wanged my frame with it, the noise made was horrendous so i got off the bike to have a look was the first big scratch my frame had taken too (has many more little ones now though,especially after riding snowdon )