Mountain or city bike?

[gentlegreen]

I shall post a pic of the bicycle when I get it as a gift to all you lovely helpful people - I could do with a hand knowing what all the different bits are called

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/home.html

 

[5T3R30TYP3]

You're not safe going round corners in the wet on knobblies.

Too right, you should see the scars on my hands and knees!!!

can I safely pump my tyres up on a garage airline ?

Definitely. Only problem is it might not be set to achieve high enough pressure for road tyres.

Nah, you should have no problem, my BMX tyres are rated at 85 and 120PSI and I've never had any trouble getting them up to the pressures that I use (mainly 60-80PSI) at garages. A few of the garages I've been to have had 80PSI limits but that isn't much of a problem, that's still hard enough for me to be able to go as fast as I need to go...

I also vote No! for any sort of suspension around town. As others have said, you just don't need it, and they absorb too much of your energy, that could be better used making you go faster.

Although I agree that on a cheap bike the suspension is invariably going to be crap, if you know how to pedal properly while standing up (in smooth circles rather than hacking up and down) then you won't compress your suspension while pedalling and therefore you won't waste pedalling energy...

 

[5T3R30TYP3]

I have to advise people not to buy that green SLIME tyre sealant crap! It works well for a short period of time and only for small thorn-punctures, but wait a few months until for some reason you have to take your tyre off and you find that the slime's been leaking and there's a shitload of it between tyre and tube! And for large punctures like those caused by big pieces of glass it's absolutely f--king useless. And it increases the rotating weight of your wheels. I don't remember how significant that was because I was 11 last time I used it. I will never make that mistake again!