New girl - so who's who and how's it work??

[Smileygirl]

Hello everyone,

Being a Mountain biker, I am a regular (well I'm addicted really) on Bikemagic.com, but its the only forum (or chat thingummy) I've ever used. I love the fact that Bikemagic-ers meet up, go for rides, help each other out etc etc.

With my boyfriend, I am planning to buy my first Landy (110 200 TDi Defender - very second hand!) in late summer (when my aged Fiesta finally breathes it's last). We've read the magazines (boy, have we ever read the magazines!), been and looked and driven, and decided what we want, so I just figured I'd give a Land Rover forum a go for general hints tips and supportive chats.

So if there anything I should know (apart from how to work the scary array of smiley faces etc etc!)

Thanks very much :p

[Zeaphod]

Come on in, the water's fine!
This is a very friendly forum, and even if people can't answer any technical questions themselves, they will usually try to point you in the right direction.
Mountain biking is a good introduction to landrovers - oily and muddy.
By the way - what about the new chainless bikes? Do you think they will be a success? The lack of a chain seems like a big bonus in mountain biking, considering how good they are at picking up any loose grass/brambles/trousers. I managed to get a full black bin bag wrapped around my sprocket last week. What a mess.

[Smileygirl]

Thanks for your reply....

Not sure about chainless bikes - the consensus seems to be that they're a bit of a fad. The thing at the moment is singlespeeding - bikes without gears being much more reliable (and much harder work - bit of a purist thing) off-road. But hang on, I'm talking about bikes again....!

And yes, I never mind getting soaked or muddy ... should stand me in good stead for offroading ;-)

So c'mon then - what are the good things, and the bad things about owning a Land Rover....

[fisha]

Yeah, but you can fix a snapped chain in minutes - doubt you could do that with chainless

welcome on board - were all quite nice really.

buying and looking after a landy is challenging - i know from experience

The 110 would be a good choice for lugging bikes around.

just make sure that when the landie breaks the bike works and vice versa.

have fun.

Don Fisher

p.s. - what kind of bike do you ride?

[Otter]

Welcome to the forum!

Good thing about owning a landy, being able to go anywhere.

Bad thing, not being able to go anywhere because you are underneath it fixing somthing.

At least you will now have an interesting new hobby and be able to chuck the bikes into the back of the 110 and still seat at least 5 people.


Oh, and you can clean it out with a hose.:hahaha: :yay:

[Smileygirl]

I ride a hardtail Marin - nothing that flash due to financial constraints (plus its my b/f who's into all the latest components and fettling with his bike - I just enjoy riding!)

Yep - we finally decided on a 110 over a 90 purely for the fact that we could just throw our bikes in the back and go - and the fact that it's big enough to sleep in the back. Apparently the fuel consumption on a 110 is not that different from a 90 - and neither is the handling offroad? We're thinking of getting a van (no windows) converted into a Station Wagon, to make finding a cheaper one easier.

My b/f is an engineer but with no background in car mechanics (and I'm a bit of girl when faced with an engine) but we hope we can work it all out - and learn as we go along (probably from bare necessity!)

[fisha]

I have a Gary Fisher Marlin ( frame is a few years old now - but going strong )

Downhill rims and spokes ( cause i kept snapping the spokes when riding about ).
Bomber Z1 dropoff forks on the front - set really soft to protect my wrists and elbows ( knackered from rugby )
and disc brake on front ( not pictured )

good fun and a good laugh when out with pals - although i've been told i'm not allowed to organise any more routes round Arran - the last time ended up in pushing the bikes 8 miles in the rain and nearly missing the last ferry off the island.. . . . oh well!!

:p

[Spacemutt]

Hi there, welcome to the site. :yay:


We're thinking of getting a van (no windows) converted into a Station Wagon, to make finding a cheaper one easier.

Do you mean fit windows to the sides or make it a 5 door? Windows will be easy to do, but a 5 door conversion will be very tricky. You can get ex-works or ex-mod 110 hardtops nice aand cheap. :)

[OldFart]

Lol .....lets have an off road mountain bike meet up, mine is a 27 gear jobby, (i need em cos i'm an old git) Scott Vail all American Aluminium frame and feels like a Rolls Royce in bike form :yay:

Welcome to the madhouse smileygirl :)


When you come to get your Landy put some thought into what type of bike rack you'll be using, ours fits on the tow bracket and allows us to still hitch the caravan and carry 4 bikes :goofylook

[Will Rowe]

Welcome to the end of any disposable income you will ever posess. I bought my first landy (110 csw) for lugging two 10' surfboards, a snowboard an loads of outdoorsy kit 4 years ago. I spent a load o dosh on landys ever since!!

They is the bestest trukk for abusing an playing about with.

Bikes wise....... A Scott Purgatory with a bitchin set of off roadin spotlights an a sadly now departed screamin Jap death machine ( yep I a biker in all senses too)

Enjoy the forum an there will always be a jedi master out there to correct any tech queries that you have.

:band:

[Alan H]

Is there another name for a hardtail Marin? Muirwoods maybe? I have one of those as well as the Landy and another vehicle which gets more mention in another forum.

[screwy]

By the way - what about the new chainless bikes? Do you think they will be a success? The lack of a chain seems like a big bonus ???????????

Not being a bikey anymore (I like my fat guts too much!), when did these come in? How do they work? Sounds mad....:dunno1:

[screwy]

Sorry, how rude, I forgot to say hello and welcome too! :blush:

So HELLO AND WELCOME!

:cheesey:

[andyb]

Hello ~wave~ and welcome.

MTBs are a bit of a thing with me too, but mine ain't as posh as some of the others around here :) Can't even remember it's name....erm.....Derek I think :)

Have fun.

[ammiescot]

mountain bikes was the main reason behind me getting a landy as it was a bit of a squeeze getting 2 bikes ,rucksacks etc and the dog into the back of my g/f's VW golf and its a bit slow at pulling our esterel folding caravan

dont ask what makes our bikes are cos I dont know thats Beckys (my G/f) dept
all I know about them is that it dont half hurt when coming off on gravel and trees dont move either when you hit them

[Smileygirl]

"Welcome to the end of any disposable income you will ever posess"

Yep, I can kind of see how it will work out like that - I can see that all my future borthday/Xmas/anniversary presents will come straight from Landy mags.... cool!

Yes - when I said 'convert' it into a station wagon, I just mean adding some sliding windows and a couple of seats - we figure we can handle the inconvenience of climbing in the back door, for all the money we'll save. Not entirely sure about seats though - bench seats are cheap - but not completely practical. We'd prefer proper seats that fold down but then they will take up space, and I understand they're expensive cuz of the requirement for seatbelts etc? I wasn't too impressed with the seating in Station Wagons proper though - it seemed like so much space was taken up with numerous small seats (all with minimal legroom). Mmmnnnn.

P.S It seems that Mountain Biking and Landys go together pretty well :)

[Big Sandy]

Welcome to the forum!

Just a thought........... ( being a Series Landy fanatic), why not go out and get a good 109 for your money, and have the change left from that coil-sprung thing to spend on, well, lots of things!

Series Landies are a lot more basic, and if you want a big meccano set to learn how to repair it, you will get a lot of practice:hahaha:

Big Sandy

[Audrey]

Hi Smileygirl
Nice to have another girl on board:yay:
Well what advice can I give you on purchasing a Landie - its a long story - but I would strongly advise you to bring with you a very large handbag full of money!!:yay:

[hingmy]

Just shoot the bank-manager and leave your sanity at the door.
Haven't had a MTB for a good while; got too lazy after getting the landrover, but good to hear of people coming into landrovers and off-road from bikes. Still have a hankering to take the hybrid down some of the firebrakes we used to ride up at Hamsterley.
Enjoy.

[Exmoor Beast]

Welcome smileygirl

As everyone says Landies and bikes go together well.

110 with a 200TDi is about as good as landies get. But then I am biased. Mines a 5door commercial station wagon with...err, oh, just look at my website...

Unfortunately my Mountain Bike doesn't get much of a look in nowdays. I have promised myself I will get it up and running next month though - Its a Ribble R4 with Deore lx/xt and a big suntour chainset for exmoors downhill bits. Hardtail and hardnosed with Kona Project 2 forks - why have heavy suspension when you have knees and elbows! besides with all the 1in4 hills here you don't need suspension sapping 15% of all the energy you put in!

Will :)

[Steve H]

Welcome Smiley Girl,
Where do you go riding? There are some good tracks up in the chilterns near Chinnor (nice n' muddy) if you are ever round this way. Good luck with the Landy, it will bring you hours of fun!
Cheers
Steve:p

[Smileygirl]

Sorry - very slow reply - so much chocolate that needs eating ;-)

Actually, we went for a 3 and a half hour ride in the Chiltons a couple of weekends ago ..... I was absolutely knackered! we don't really have hills in Oxfordshire so it was a bit of a shock to the system ... do you know Stonor Hill at all???

I guess you've all noticed that my chief mechanic (and other half) 'Serge' has tracked me down and joined me on here now ... he'll be asking all the sensible techie questions, while i concern myself with where to put all that shiny chequer plate and how many big spotlights to stick on the front ;-) Ahhh decisions, decisions....

[Penno]

Welcome Smileygirl
If you can afford it go and buy one of the TD range of defenders to match your flash bike,and next time your confronted with a big hill toss the bikes in the back,call into the local for lunch and think about you friends still hurting up the hill.
Cheers
Adrian

[JSG]

Welcome, there's no downside to a 110 as far as I can tell, just look at the usual places - chassis, bulkhead etc and go on condition rather than age.

My daughter's just pinched my bike (a mid 1980s Muddy Fox Courier) so I'm thinking about buying myself a new one this summer - but I might just by more beer.