Sooo I (28F) live in a fairly flat area of England but we have a fantastic national forest nearby with some great trails.

I got a hobbyist mountain bike a few years ago on sale. A really good bike for a novice like me and a bargin for what it was. Front suspension that can be locked or unlocked, has a hard tail. I'd say XC rather than heavy duty.

I've had it for years now and I'm big on DIY with anything I do, but I never used it often enough to do much in the way of repairs or (probably needed) maintenance.

I'm going on a bikeride today and put together my bike rack, haven't used the bike for a year or so and noticed tyres had perished with deep looking cracks that I imagined wouldn't last a bike ride.

I thought "Ah this won't take me very long at all" I have 29 inch rims and the original width of the tyres were 2.25. As I was doing it slap dash, I got some premium tyres a little on the narrow side 2.10 but the shop assured me it would be fine.…