I wanted to wait for a month and ride it before I write a review on my bike. It has been close a month now and I have ridden close to 300 Km on it till now.

The Lot: Before buying this bike I had considered Trek 3700 and 4300, Marida Sub V10 and V20, Cannondale F9 (All around INR 17 – 23 K) and finally settled on RockRider 5.2 because of the following reasons.

What’s good?

1. Suspension – it is better than most of the bikes I tried out.
2. Cost – it costs least amongst the lot I was considering.
3. Brakes – better than the rest.
4. Frame – I have absolutely no idea how people judge the quality of the frame. I guess you have to take manufacturer’s word for it. Decathlon claims to have same quality of frame as others.
5. Gear Shifters – I have seen trigger shifters, wrist shifters and thumb (push) shifters on a MTB till now. Of these 3 I personally prefer the thumb shifters because the fingers are busy braking, wrist is busy supporting me and thumbs are free, so it is great that 5.2 has thumb shifters.
6. Looks – If this is something that matters to you, 5.2 comes in a rocking grey and black and looks slick!
7. Chain Stay cover – 5.2 is the only bike of the lot to have a rubber + form covers over the chain stay to prevent scratches on the frame. To me this shows they have cared enough to bundle this essential but most often overlooked accessory along with the bike.

What’s not so great?

1. Gears – I tried playing with them and I think I screwed them a bit, but overall, I think the entire gear assembly could have been a bit better. It is a bit noisy.
2. Weight – it weighs around 13.5Kg and is a bit heavier than some in the lot but when I look at how much I weigh, I can’t complain

Everything else I guess is similar to the other bikes in the same range.

Overall: Great value for money (In Bangalore, India it costs INR 15.5K if you are a reseller)

I started cycling on 5th May (9 days ago), and I was expecting pains would crop up at a few places (like it happened with knees while running). So after around 7 days of cycling (aprox. 20 Km / day), It was the right Knee and both the hamstrings where it started hurting.

Relief: I went for targeted weight training for these two areas (although there wasn’t much that I could find for the knee) which made bit of a difference.

I think the major relief came from 2 things.

For the Hamstrings: adjusting the saddle (seat) height for my height.

For the right knee: It was interesting that I had pain only in the right knee and not the left ! I figured, the right knee is at maximum stress when I start riding from a stationary position. So guess what was causing the pain? It was the laziness of shifting gears !

I changed these to things for today’s ride! and guess what, not only did the pain go away, I had enough left in me to complete 1 mile running while at lalbagh !

CycloCross ! It is a nice concept and an amazing form of FUN

After a long research which I promise I will share with you guys soon, I finally bought a bike

It is Decathlon Rockrider 5.2 ( Size: L – 19″ Frame Size ). It costed me INR 15,499 for the bike and some 1,000 change for the accessories – lock + basic toolkit + saddle cover.

I bought it last Monday (4th May, evening) and it was fun taking it from the decathlon store to home. You guys can imagine 3 guys and a bike in one Maruti Alto We stopped at the food court at Total Mall on the way back to celebrate my new bike, Sandwiches there were great!

I took it for a ride the very next morning I rode 22.58 Km in 2 hours leisurely riding across the city. More than exploring new routes, it was more of getting comfortable with the bike. The bike is awesome!

I plan to compete in the Bangalore Duathlon (June 14), which is 20 Km Ride + 10 Km Running. I am not sure what is a decent time for it, but I would be happy to finish it in 3 Hrs (1.5 hrs each). And I would love to join the BBC (Bangalore Biking Club) on Sundays!

Burn fat not fuel – Byke along to a healthier life and a cleaner world! – (from the signature of One of the EMails on BBC)