🧵 /MTB/ Mountain Biking General
Anonymous at Tue, 26 Nov 2024 02:23:40 UTC No. 216525
Night ride edition
>FAQ on buying a bike that nobody reads anyway:
> What good bike can I get for under $500?
a stolen bike. Possibly a newer used entry level hardtail but don't expect it to survive rock gardens, jumps, or drops. Or an older mtb which won't be as good as newer ones and will still have a front derailleur, but it'll be good enough.
> What good bike can I get for under $1000
Good used hardtail, new entry level hardtail
> What good bike can I get for under $2000?
New Hardtail, decent used full suspension
> What good bike can I get for under $3000?
https://www.yt-industries.com/fr/pr
Used full suspension, decent entry level full suspension but prepared to put more money into it.
> What are the excellent value brands?
Marin, Commencal, Canyon, Polygon, YT, Propain, Kona, and many more. Sometimes the expensive brands have an excellent alue bike
> What are the differences between an XC, Trail, Enduro, and Downhill bikes?
XC bikes are for going up fast, go down not as fast. Trail bikes are for going up and down. Enduro bikes are for going down fast, and slower up. Downhill bikes are for going down really fast, needs a ski lift, truck, or the rider pushing it to go up.
link to previous thread >>208371
Anonymous at Wed, 27 Nov 2024 04:45:49 UTC No. 216586
>>216533
my friend has one from Fly Racing that he likes
Anonymous at Wed, 27 Nov 2024 14:34:23 UTC No. 216613
>>216533
Why don't you just get any flannel shirt/jacket? They'll do the job. Mine are 100% cotton thick ones(and a thin one) you'd find anywhere. Only reason for mtb specific I could think of is that they aren't "ideal" for riding position(shoulders) but it's not the case.
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 01:57:22 UTC No. 216681
>>216613
I thought the mtb ones were some kind of polyester blend?
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 16:57:56 UTC No. 216694
Does anyone have recommendations for trail pants? I've been using endura singletrack trousers for the past few seasons and they are starting to wear our and not sure what to buy. I liked the endura ones overall, they were comfy and have faired decently well, weren't too hot however, they are just too baggy for me even with pads on. I would like something a bit slimmer so they don't constantly rub/bunch around my ankles.
Anonymous at Sat, 30 Nov 2024 17:17:18 UTC No. 216750
>>216533
Checked.
>Any good brands that make classic flannel shirts for MTB like pic related?
None that I'm aware of. I've worn one from tommy hilfiger riding and it was ight, but I prefer a hoodie if it's cold enough to wear more than a t-shirt.
>>216694
>Does anyone have recommendations for trail pants?
I just wear skinny jeans if it's cold enough for pants. I find american eagle makes ones that are a decent compromise between stretchiness and durability
Anonymous at Sun, 1 Dec 2024 05:04:09 UTC No. 216784
>>216694
my two favorites are NF lightweight trail pant and raceface indy. The NF pants are a bit nicer, super stretchy but expensive and always out of stock because they are made in Canadistan. Raceface are usually cheaper, more stiff, and have the best pockets in the biz
Anonymous at Sun, 1 Dec 2024 18:56:03 UTC No. 216807
>>216694
My favorites are from DFYRS but they're sort of overkill for the price. I have these great pants from Backcountry but I can't find them on their website anymore, too bad because they're great riding pants with zippered pockets
Anonymous at Mon, 2 Dec 2024 00:09:36 UTC No. 216825
I had a really fucking annoying and obscure issue on my bike that I just fixed today.
You know those One Up EDC tools? Well I keep mine in my steerer tube and have had it in there since 2021 on my trail bike, absolutely no issues. It has hex bolts through each end of the tool and that's what the tools pivot around. Every time you use them, they loosen just a little. It's not really an issue but after all these years of riding and being used, the bottom one loosened up enough that it expanded outward and made it nearly impossible to remove the tool since it made it too difficult to clear the stem. I had to turn my bike upside and beat it out with a dowel through the steerer tube. I tightened it back up and stuck it back in.
Very easy to prevent so don't let this happen to you. My only other gripe with this tool is that the 8mm is too short to apply enough torque to keep a crank on for a lot of pedalling and descending. Just check your crank every few rides because it is a pain in the ass to deal with on the trail. The Blackburn Wayside has a much better 8mm but you shouldn't let your crank get to the point where you need to tighten it back up on the trail.
Anonymous at Mon, 2 Dec 2024 00:09:52 UTC No. 216826
Forced myself to ride flats today, don't know how people do it. I can't even remember if its possible to unweight anywhere near as effectively as with clips. If there is I've totally lost it. The only thing I enjoyed was the ease of hopping off when things go south tech climbing, though it felt borderline unrideable going down the same tech
Anonymous at Mon, 2 Dec 2024 13:34:10 UTC No. 216853
>>216825
cranks are generally held in place by mechanical friction between the crank arm and a tapered or splined interface. a crank shouldn't come off if the bolt is loose or absent. if you have a square taper, the taper might be damaged or mismatched. otherwise idk but a crank or arm should never just like... come off.
Anonymous at Mon, 2 Dec 2024 15:53:20 UTC No. 216861
>>216750
>>216769
I assume you guys never ride in the wet/mud.
>>216784
Saw some decent reviews myself for raceface indy pants so have decided to try them out, found some on sale for £50 which seems like a good deal.
>>216807
I think generally a lot of cycling gear is incredibly overpriced, seeing all of these pants worth >£130 and wondering who is realistically paying this.
Anonymous at Mon, 2 Dec 2024 18:23:49 UTC No. 216869
You anons score any good black friday/cyber monday deals? I managed to get a DVO topaz for 250 europesos from bike24
>>216861
>I assume you guys never ride in the wet/mud.
Yeah the soil here is basically unrideable in the wet (i'm >>216750)
Anonymous at Mon, 2 Dec 2024 19:04:38 UTC No. 216872
What did you consoooom on the recent deals. I got a set of this bad boys. Finally my bike will be silent, crankniggas pedals will finally be put down. The pins are long, with the washer they have the same length as my old ones at max length(5mm) and are thinner. If I remove them they'll almost be 7mm long. It'll be very painful to peel my skin off, especially when its freezing outside.
>>216826
>don't know how people do it
Alot of body movement. Push down and hop while scooping them. Good rubber(5.10 stealth) and good pedals help alot.
>felt borderline unrideable going down the same tech
Wide stance and be active with the pushing and scooping, dont just be a passenger like on clips. Like on jumping, you move or something to remain in control to prevent dead sailoring.
Seems like skillz were lost. Though I admit I don't know how street BMX riders on literal plastic sheets as pedals and sandals are able to hop 3ft easily. I can 1.5 ft (english) at most.(<1ft american)
>>216694
Pants seems really useless to me.
>rain/mud
Shorts dry themselves faster or water resistant. I'll be taking a shower either way post ride.
>cold
Legs don't feel cold
>protection
Socks
The rest of "pros" are all negatives for pants.
Anonymous at Tue, 3 Dec 2024 00:19:18 UTC No. 216885
>>216872
>dont just be a passenger like on clips
That's the thing, it feels like I'm forced to be more reactive instead of proactive on flats. "Unrideable" was a bit hyperbolic, I still rode one of the jankiest double blacks I know of just fine but it felt sketchy and limiting. I think I'll just save em for jump days, 'proper technique' be damned.
What prompted me to try is getting a pair of ride concept vice shoes for $36, which have a vans-style waffle sole that I much prefer over the typical bubblewrap pattern that 510s and everything else have. Got a springdex, some rims, tires, brake pads. Backup float X that was literally cheaper than servicing the damper of my current one.
Anonymous at Tue, 3 Dec 2024 03:58:21 UTC No. 216892
>>216861
>I think generally a lot of cycling gear is incredibly overpriced, seeing all of these pants worth >£130 and wondering who is realistically paying this.
These brands are always having sales and sending me promo codes so I rarely ever pay full price
Anonymous at Wed, 4 Dec 2024 06:11:54 UTC No. 216957
>>216885
My favorite riding shoes of all time are (now discontinued) fiveten freerider contacts, they literally are built wil a massive flat bald spot in the tread where the pedals go, they’re so fucking amazing. Fiveten trailcross and rideconcepts vice don’t compare at all, and apparently the fiveten contacts were already discontinued when I bought them at a shop in 2019 (because I accidentally drove 3 hours to a bike park in my flip flops)
>>216872
I don’t wanna hate on pants but yeah I’ve ridden through multiple winters with regular XC shorts. Literally every other article of clothing has to be cold-specific for me, especially shoes, but for some reason I can get away with shorts every winter
Anonymous at Wed, 4 Dec 2024 14:27:39 UTC No. 216985
>>216872
>>216957
It's not being cold from wearing shorts in the moment which is the issue, due to it being so muddy and wet on the trails that if you don't wear pants the chances of water getting into your shoes and socks is that much higher and it just makes your ride suck.
Anonymous at Wed, 4 Dec 2024 20:01:30 UTC No. 217023
>>216985
i usually have water or ice crossings depending on how cold it is in my routes in the winter. I find that once its below -7°C in the winter shorts are not an option any more, unless you are wearing a thick baselayer underneath.
Anonymous at Thu, 5 Dec 2024 06:11:07 UTC No. 217046
I've been doing more night riding than day riding lately. It's harder to push it when I can't see what I'm pushing into even though I know these trails like the back of my hand.
Anonymous at Sat, 7 Dec 2024 02:38:01 UTC No. 217151
one of the pogo pins in my GX AXS derailleur is fucked so it only works if the battery is firmly pressed on. Apparently this is caused by oxidation, if taking off the plate and spraying it with Deoxit doesn't work, I may go back to mechanical so this doesn't happen again in 4 years.
Anonymous at Sat, 7 Dec 2024 14:00:36 UTC No. 217173
>>217161
Start small and work up to bigger/harder ones. You could try something like this: Bunnyhops > small jumps > bigger, trickable jumps > one hander > no hander
You could also see if there are any bmx/mtb parks that have a foam pit, resi-ramp, airbag, or wood-chip jump so you can try things without as much risk. Practicing things like flips on a trampoline can help with getting used to moving in the air as well.
Anonymous at Sun, 8 Dec 2024 22:04:31 UTC No. 217244
How do you anons cope with knowing that mtb tech is a completely solved problem now, and we will never get to experience being among the first to use a truly new and cool piece of kit? What would it have been like to be riding during the 90's and 00's when actually interesting experimentation with design was going on?
I'm so sick of shit like DUB, supermeganiggerboost hub spacing being peddled as some revolutionary tech like the introduction of suspension forks or dropper posts.
Anonymous at Sun, 8 Dec 2024 23:44:23 UTC No. 217245
>>217096
2 storms within the past 2-3 weeks which have absolutely ruined trails. All of the top soil has been washed away making everything rough as possible, rain ruts formed along with fallen trees. Only 4 months or so left of this shit.
>>217244
Don't worry you will have electronic seatposts soon which look retarded and increase their stack height which was basically the only issue with a lot of current droppers.
The only frame design which will probably change will be weight, compliance, headsetcups/flipchips and front-rear balance with longer chainstays. Otherwise it will just be minor gimmicks such as specialized genie shock which could just be achieved with a coil shock with HBO.
Anonymous at Mon, 9 Dec 2024 02:19:02 UTC No. 217266
>>216826
You're riding "wrong" and you were riding "wrong" in the past with clips too. You didn't notice that you were doing stoppies or getting close to doing stoppies under hard braking because the clips were locking you in. The riding technique I learned from my coach is hard to explain through text but the balls of your feet should be just ahead of the spindle, you should be dropping your heels and engaging your posterior chain. Since learning that way of riding, I've stopped bouncing on descents and I can't get knocked off the bike when riding through big obstacles/
Anonymous at Mon, 9 Dec 2024 19:35:22 UTC No. 217304
>>217266
I used to ride flats and I still know *how* to ride flats despite a bit of an adjustment period. It was just a bit jarring to suddenly give up that extra dimension of control you have clipped in. When I switched a while back I was immediately converted and stopped accepting that its somehow bad or wrong to ride in the way that being clipped in affords you. Note that I'm not talking about noobs not learing to bunnyhop, everyone should still start on flat pedals.
Personally, For me, pour moi, its analogous in many ways to skateboard griptape and snowboard bindings
>>217244
ebikes
Anonymous at Mon, 9 Dec 2024 21:27:22 UTC No. 217311
>>217244
It’s funny because the mid-2000’s were considered the dark ages of mtb, where successful brands were pulling out of the market, the remaining brands were doubling down on average marketable trash, and the market was so thin it was impossible to start a frame company yourself. We are in, like, the exact opposite situation today
Anonymous at Tue, 10 Dec 2024 06:16:02 UTC No. 217334
>>217244
I want to see where gearboxes and split derailleurs go.
I was hoping linkage bikes would have caught on but they haven't caught on with motorcycles either despite the benefits. Even though brake dive is a negative, it is a feeling people are used to. It's not like Big Fork killed them, they just use rear shocks in the front.