Mountain Bikes!


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So yeah, let's start a thread about this. Wussy road bikers need to stay outside! I guess this is going to be a generic talk thread and fork travel penis length contest.

Myself, I got back into it beginning 2009, mostly as a dietary exercise, but quickly turned into something rougher, namely plowing down descents, or in short, downhill. Sadly, geographically, I live in a bad region, although there's quite a few built descents close by, short however, too. Luckily, there's such things as bikeparks, the closest one is "just" 250km away, called Winterberg, and one of the larger ones in Europe. Even better, some closeby ski resort is going to turn their old slope, which already houses a 4X track, into sort a freeride/downhill paradise (lets wait and see if they succeed at that)!

Anyway, varieties of mountain biking include:

- Cross country (XC): Riding around through rougher terrain, focusing on tours and only slight technicalities.

- Dirt: Jumping across ramps in parks like some madman.

- Freeride (FR): Technical tours involving jumps, north shores and other variety of obstacles.

- Downhill (DH): Like freeride, faster but also less technical (i.e. height/width of obstacles).

- Four cross (4X): Descending smooth curvy tracks as fast as possible, four guys in a row, involving mostly large tables.

To the bragging...

Here's my ****ola stock Scott cross country bike (Scott Reflex 20 '07), currently on winter duty:

bikexc.jpg

And here's my flat iron for the tougher things (Scott Gambler FR '09):

bikedh.jpg

I wish I had more than a bunch of crappy pictures of my antics, but usually everyone in the group (if I'm out in a group) is busy riding and doesn't want to stay put to take some. And if, they're usually blurry and badly cropped.

grenztrailjump.jpg

But here's some impressions of Winterberg last fall.

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I'm a cross country rider myself. I like going through the trees, over roots and such. I'm still using my now quite old (but still a fantastic bike) Proflex 757 (Proflex renamed to K2 in case you were wondering who Proflex was)

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Nice bikes man! I used to be a huge mountain biker, I will be getting a new one after I get over this arthritis.

I love cross country with super fast single track, brutal climbs and exhilarating descents, so I've always been a hardtail guy.

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Glad someone else is into biking, i like off road (mountain) biking a fair bit, try and get out to a local place 2 times a week, i have got a hardtail bike with disc brakes (pads are going off a bit now) never let me down yet (well, The cable for front brake broke when i was about to start a descent but i was careful :p

I'm starting to prefer road biking though, Mainly because i want to do something like london-to-paris in the near future.

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Well, I can't wait until mid-spring. Bike parks will open and I'll be happy again. Current weather sucks. A lot of trails are iced right now and a goddamn pain in the ass to ride.

Also, my hardtail's going to be relieved of duty in 2010, the new all-mountain bike's already ordered.

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I have an old Kona hardtail laying in the garage somewhere. Haven't ridden it in about a year. I like hardtails, but here in AZ most of the trails are super rocky and bumpy, so it pretty much kills my back. On trails in the forest where the ground is all packed down and smooth, it works fine though. :p

This is what single track looks like where I live...

IMG_1917.JPG

3293020932_0ea458b3e4.jpg

It honestly drives me insane, since your tires are always sliding on the loose dirt.

Edited by PricklyPoo
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The right tire profile works wonders. Like this time of year, everything's muddy to boot. Had my fair share of issues riding in these conditions, until I've put an actual mud tire on the front wheel. It's more like on rails now.

I wish I'd live in a desert region flooded with trails, probably much more fun than riding in the forest, where you can't see far usually.

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Old Hartail too. I still have Mag-10 and STX. :(

I used to race quite XC a bit. Too bad I really don't have time to train anymore. I'm probably going to start XC running races in the next year.

When my income goes up, I'm hoping a new bike will be in the works. I live in Vancouver, so some biking in Whistler is in the works. IMO, you need a dual-suspension in BC though, all the damn roots make hardtail impossible imo.

I'd also love to go biking in the mountain bike capital of the planet - Durango, CO. And I think some biking trips to Cali are in order.

That said, I don't find it as easy to get back into mountain biking w/o a driver's licence.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi..All. I am not a big mountain Biker like all here, but do a little in summer holidays. Lat year I lost my mountain bike and planning to buy a new one. What would be the best one for a guy living in hilly area like vindhya mountains in India?? could you all guys here help me in this regard please??

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This is what single track looks like where I live...

3293020932_0ea458b3e4.jpg

It honestly drives me insane, since your tires are always sliding on the loose dirt.

You've gotta be kidding me!! :unsure:

That would hurt... a lot if you fell off or rode into one of those... ouch.

It looks spectacular though it would be too hot for me to cope with in Summer!

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  • 4 weeks later...

So Ive had stuck hydraulic disk brakes, Inside the two pieces of the rear brakes are two little containers with plastic cushions which press against the pads. One of the containers was wedged out and preventing the wheel from turning, ive knocked it back in and lost a slight amount of oil. How would this have occurred, it happened yesterday and i just realigned the pads on the rear but today its just got worse and worse. Ive now now lost pressure on my rear brakes, should i pay for someone to refill or do it myself / how could this have happened. Bike is only a year old and hasn't really been roughed.

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Here is my downhill bike.

IMG_0551Large.jpg

And this is where I ride it:

http://www.whistlerbike.com/index.htm

So Ive had stuck hydraulic disk brakes, Inside the two pieces of the rear brakes are two little containers with plastic cushions which press against the pads. One of the containers was wedged out and preventing the wheel from turning, ive knocked it back in and lost a slight amount of oil. How would this have occurred, it happened yesterday and i just realigned the pads on the rear but today its just got worse and worse. Ive now now lost pressure on my rear brakes, should i pay for someone to refill or do it myself / how could this have happened. Bike is only a year old and hasn't really been roughed.

I would have a bike shop look at it. You probably need the lines bled. You may also need a rebuild (stuck piston in the caliper)

Its probably DOT 3 brake fluid, not oil. Unless you have Shimano brakes with mineral oil. You need special tools to bleed the lines. You best leave it to a shop.

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Good to see some mountain bike action going on, to many of my friends round here are into the old fixedqueer or single speeds. With live in a foresty area of London and there's nothing better than popping off of dirtbanks or roots. While i'm doing that they're all peddling along the road... booooring!

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