Mountain Biking Tips

by: Barbara Miller

If you're looking for a truck or SUV to explore the countryside, you're thinking two wheels too many. To get really close to nature, have a blast and keep in shape, grab a mountain bike and head for the hills.

The popular "mountain bike" style was developed, as the name suggests, from bicycles designed for cruising up and down a mountain. Obviously racing down a mountainside can be a real adrenaline rush, but it can also be quite dangerous. Anyone actually considering taking on a mountain pass is advised to invest in a bike designed to accomplish such a task. With the right equipment and some common sense, mountain biking is a fun sport for the entire family.

Find your Style
There are three basic styles of mountain biking: cross-country, freestyle, and downhill. Although the styles vary in many ways, each demands a great deal of skill. Choosing your personal riding style will determine the type of mountain bike you should buy. In other words, don't buy a heavy downhill bike if you plan on busting moves with your buddies. A lighter freestyle model is better suited for trick riding.

Hone your Skills
Every great mountain biker needs endurance and stamina. It takes ambition and, sometimes, courage to be able to conquer nature's courses successfully. Like any sport, mountain biking also involves time and practice. Lots of practice. You can't expect to go from riding your bike around the block, to scaling rocky hills and maneuvering through winding trails. Anticipate getting a few bumps and bruises before you're ready to ride with the big kids.

Location, Location, Location
Thinking of mountain biking as riding an unpaved surface. Your bike is ready to take you virtually anywhere you want to be, and many North American parks offer designated biking locations. Before hitting the trails in a park or conservatory, check for rules and regulations. There may even be trail maps available for you to bring along on your trek. Ask about local mountain biking clubs and group trail rides and competitions. You can easily find this information by asking at a local bike shop, checking the papers or searching online. Beginner to advanced groups are available, so be sure you're joining a club that matches your skill level.


Choose your Ride
Once you've narrowed down your mountain biking style--cross-country, freestyle or downhill--the bike you select basically comes down to personal choice. There is a huge variety of makes and models on the market today. Compare styles, shapes and price. Be sure to consider the quality of the bike and the reliability of the manufacture, but don't be fooled into thinking the most expensive models are necessarily the best bikes. The Internet can be a great tool in shopping for a bike, as some compare quality, features and prices for you. When you find a bike you like, ask for a test drive. A great mountain biker needs to feel as one with his or her own bike. Check for a comfortable seat and position, and be sure that the brakes and gears are suited to you.

A mountain bike can be a big investment, so ask around and do your homework before you buy.

Keep it Safe
Mountain biking on unpaved roads and through unexplored territories can be very dangerous. You literally do not know what's lying around the corner. Always wear a helmet, wherever you ride. Elbow and kneepads and riding gloves are also good choices to help keep you safe and comfortable, and goggles should be worn if you're riding in the woods or following a group. Finally, keep a few band-aids in your pack--just in case.

Whether you're riding across the county, or across the country, mountain biking is a great way to see the sights and stay in shape. Wear a helmet, proceed with caution and have fun!

Mountain Bikes Buying Guide

by: Alastair Hamilton

How to choose a mountain bike depends on what you are going to do with it, if all you want your new mountain bike for is going for a nice leisurely ride on the canal path or a ride in the woods with the dog, well you wont need a full suspension downhill machine with 4 inch travel on the forks and a fully articulated rear end with damping and rebound control.

+ Where to Start From.

If you do want to go for an easy ride in the park you don’t need to spend too much, if you think you will do any off-road riding then big tread tires maybe all you need, but if you think you might try some rough stuff then you will need suspension. Gears will probably be Shimano, brakes must be V-brakes, but could be made by a few different manufacturers, all the rest of the MTB components will depend on how much you can spend. If you go to your local bike shop or big sports store and see what they’ve got to offer, then buy it or have look on the Internet and maybe you’ll find the same thing at a better price.

+ The Next Step Up.

So maybe you want to be a bit more adventurous, more off-road, more forest tracks and dry boulder river beds, then you’ll need something a little lighter, with suspension forks. All this will cost you more money, but will be worth it for the extra enjoyment and adventure. With a better mountain bike it will have a sportier handling and because it is lighter, it will be easier to struggle up the hills before you come flying down the other side. The components will again be Shimano and the quality will depend on how much money you can spend. V-brakes and Rapid-fire gear shifters, along with Shimano chain set, bottom bracket and headset. Handle bars, stem and seat pin should be alloy and along with a comfortable saddle you’ll be set to take to the hills.

+ More Money, More Bike.

The next rung up on the mountain bike ladder would be good enough to race on. There are many to choose from, get on the net and surf the bike manufacturers sites and all the shop sites along with the magazines for juicy photos of the bikes. The top manufacturers in this price range, I would say are: - Trek, Giant, Specialized and Cannondale, these companies make the nicest frames with the best mountain bike parts available at the price, gears will be either Shimano or SRAM, brakes could be V-brakes or cable disc brakes, both are very good and light, most of the other MTB parts, of course will be Shimano and as usual get the best you can afford. There are many combinations of hubs and rims to make up your wheels; hubs from Shimano and rims form Mavic are the usual mix. Then you have to choose which suspension forks to put on you bike, you may not get a choice, depending on which bike you buy, the main ones are Suntour, Marzocchi, Manitou, Fox, RockShox and RST, buy any of these and you wont go far wrong.

+ Top Bikes…. Top Money.

If you want what the professionals ride you will have to pay a lot of money a professional MTB. As with road bike at the top of the range, you can specify what you want to build up your dream bike. Top bikes frames to spend your money on could be Klien, Scott, Rocky Mountain, Gary Fisher, Santa Cruz and K2; these are some of the most sought after bike frames in the world and would be the envy of your friends. Probably the best forks to put on your frame would be RockShox SID’s these are light and do all the things you need with control of all functions, there are many other to also to consider, look at how much travel they have and the rebound and damping systems. Gears again will be either SRAM or Shimano Rapid fire, XT or XTR, more money could be spent on carbon or very light alloy cranks, the brakes should be hydraulic discs from Hayes, Pace or Magura or stick to the trusted V-bakes. Wheels from Shimano or Mavic or some fancy carbon wheels, but remember they will have to take a lot of punishment, so maybe better to go for reliability over light weight expense. Carbon handle bars, stem and seat pin and a light weight race saddle and Time or Shimano SPD clipless pedals, then your choice of tires will depend on what terrain and ground conditions you are going to ride on.

+ And Downhilling?

Downhill bikes are very different, more like a cross country motor bike, but without the engine, low center of gravity and a lot of travel on the suspension on the forks and the rear end, disc brakes, wide rims and fat tires, gears are only at the back as usually a single chain set is used. Unless your going to do a lot of downhill racing then there isn’t much point in buying one as you have to get up the hill first before you can come down and as light weight is not an issue with downhill bikes, they are very heavy to get up hill with out the use of a tow rope or a ski lift.

Thinking About Buying A Mountain Bike?

by: Luke Cameron

Are you a biking enthusiast? If you are, then you probably know how problematic buying the perfect mountain bike can be. If you are a newbie and wish to buy your very first mountain bike, you have to be prepared for a tough hunt. You should never settle for anything less than satisfactory. If it is anything to go by, you should settle for the best there is in the market. Quality and price do come hand in hand, however, and it is a reality that we all have a specific budget range. But that is of little consequence. There are so many quality mountain bikes that you can afford. It's a matter of looking for the best deals.

First thing to consider when buying a mountain bike is your budget. Do some research on the different price levels of available mountain bikes. You need not go inside every sporting goods store to compare prices. The internet will do just fine, maybe even better, as there are countless of online stores and biking websites from which you may get the information you need. When you have an estimate of how much a mountain bike costs, you can set out and begin looking for the bike that you want. Here's a little tip - try buying from a local community sporting goods or bike shop. The prices are considerably lower than those from mass merchant stores like Wal-Mart.

What is your style? Mountain bikes are manufactured differently from one another. The reason for this is that there are different specifications and requirements on mountain bikes depending on your riding style and the terrain types that you will be conquering. Among the different styles of biking are - smooth riding, cross country racing, mountain cruising, or lift accessed downhill. You need to know which of these styles you will be embarking on. This is very important in finding out the right mountain bike for you. Here's another tip - salespeople are in it for the commission. Don't listen to their tiny voices which say you need to buy this or that bike because they are top of the line. Buy according to your needs and style.

There is another very important point that you need to consider when buying a mountain bike. Full suspension or hard tail? To be honest, a full suspension mountain bike is the best choice. That is, if you can afford it. However you can still choose a hard tail. If you opt for the hard tail, which means the bike has no rear suspension, the bike will be much lighter and pedal more efficiently. Full suspensions are of course the most comfortable. However, since there is a satisfactory alternative in the presence of the hard tail, this decision will be based on what you really want and what your budget is.

Don't forget to take the bike for a test ride. Try testing out several different bikes, so you will be sure which one works best for you and with you. Also, try checking out seasonal sales and promos. This way, you will be able to save some money and afford the best possible mountain bike within your price range.

I hope that this little guide was able to help you. With the tips given, I am sure that you and your new bike will work together for that ultimate mountain biking adventure

Learn Mountain Biking

by: Christopher Johnson

Riding a mountain bike is pretty much the same as riding any other type of bike. Except for the rocks, the fallen trees, the streams and the occasional mountain. In other words, mountain biking is the extreme version of two-wheeling around the neighbourhood. It can be dangerous, so should be respected and even a little feared. If you want to hit the trails, you need to learn mountain biking skills.

Mountain biking skills involve agility, balance and stamina. Review the following list of exercises, and find a suitable place to practice. These can be don at home, at a school or park, on a bike path and ideally, at a place with a steep hill.

Sit and Spin
In other words, just go for a ride. Get on your bike and cruise around to find the best position for mountain biking. Your arms should be slightly bent. Your legs should be 70 to 90 percent extended at the bottom of every stroke on the pedal, so it may be necessary to adjust your seat higher or lower.

Get used to keeping your body relaxed because when you're on the trail, your knees and elbows should never be locked.

Feel the Pedal
While on your bike, practice moving your foot away from the pedal. Do this first while sitting on your bike with one foot on the ground, then try releasing and replacing your foot while pedaling around. If you have toe clips on your pedals, you'll need to spend a little extra time with this exercise. There will be times on the trail that feet will have to leave the pedals. Make sure you're comfortable with this move, before you have to use your feet to balance yourself over a bumpy path.

Switch Gears
Get used to shifting gears. You'll use them a lot on the trails. Higher gears make the bike go faster, but it's harder to pedal. Lower gears make pedaling easier, so you'll use these gear positions when climbing hills. Be sure to shift to a low gear before you reach the hill, rather than when you're already climbing it.

Drop a Curb
Ride down the sidewalk, and then find a curb that's easily accessible. Approach the curb at moderate speed, stand up and coast right down onto the road (look for cars first!) If you want to learn mountain biking, you need to know how to handle sudden drops. Try this exercise at different speeds until it becomes second nature.

Coast is Clear
Coasting on a bike can feel like flying. Get your bike up to a reasonable speed, stand on your pedals and just cruise without sitting down. Keep your arms bent, don't lock your knees, and try to lean your body towards the rear end of the bike. Mountain biking involves very little sitting, so spend some time coasting to get used to the feeling.

Stand and Pedal
Just like coasting, you'll also spend a great deal of time pedaling while standing. While pedaling, simply lift your body off of the seat. Or, start off standing on the pedals then start cranking them. After you've mastered standing and pedaling on flat ground, practice while climbing a hill in lower gear. It's easy to learn mountain biking. You already know how to ride a bike, so now it's time to master these additional techniques. Once you're comfortable coasting, dropping, standing, pedaling, spinning, and switching gears, you'll be ready to hit the trails, and tackle any challenge along the way.

Bike: Finding The Right One

by: James Brown

It is incredibly important that a person purchases a bike that meets all their wants and needs. First of all you want to decide if there is a specific reason why you are looking to purchase a bike. For example are you going to use your bike to get to work? Perhaps you are planning to do some off road biking or plan on purchasing a bike in order to ride long distances. If you are made well aware of what type of bike is going to meet your personal needs you are going to be able to avoid a common problem faced by many looking to buy a new bike. This dilemma is not being well informed before making a bike purchase and ending up with a style of bicycle that does not meet your needs at all. Bikes are available to consumers in a number of different styles in order to accommodate for different body shapes, a wide assortment of accessories that can be used to mold the bike to your individual needs and a wide range of prices for different styles of bikes.

There are a few different styles of bikes available to consumers and each style has its own features and benefits.Here is a brief description of each bike.

Road Bike: A Road Bike is very striking and lightweight. Road bikes were outlawed in the year 1934 because they were considered to be too fast. However over the years they began to make a real comeback. The style of a road bike makes it perfect of recreational riding, traveling to work in the city or enjoying a leisurely ride down a country road.

Mountain Bike: Mountain Bikes are made to be able to keep up their power while being lightweight and well built. The simple, straight forward riding position of a Mountain Bike makes it an excellent choice for recreational riding as well as riding on advanced trails lots of rocks and dips along the road.

Touring Bikes: A Touring bike is made for those planning on traveling on more intense terrain. A touring bike is very similar in appearance to a bike built for racing however touring bikes are a bit sturdier. Due to advances in bike building technology, touring bikes are manufactured to be very light in weight while being able to hold up while being ridden over very intense roads.

City/Commuting Bikes: A Commuting bike is built solely for use on the asphalt. A City Bike is ideal for those looking for alternative means of transportation to their job as long as you do not have a lot of items to transport along with you.

Cruiser/Tandem/Comfort: A Cruiser Bike is the perfect choice for those looking for a bike simply to ride along easy terrain. This style of bike is a wonderful choice for families that wish to bike together. A tandem bike is also a fantastic choice for families or even couples that wish to enjoy a bike ride together.

So before you purchase a bike make sure to consider your specific desires. Once you are sure of where you will be going with your bike you will be better informed and able to select the bike that is perfect for you.

Major Bicycle Parts

by: Alastair Hamilton

Bicycle is one of the oldest vehicles used by man. It consists of a light casing built over two wheels (one following the other, with each of them being pierced with wire), a seat, handlebars (which are counterpart of steering wheel), brakes, and a couple of pedals or a small motor to propel the bicycle. To know and learn about a bicycle, one needs to understand the basic bicycle parts as they work in combination.

Brake – They are used to speed down the bicycle. They can be controlled by brake levers that are mounted on the handlebars (as is the case with disc brakes and rim brakes) or they can be functioned by backward pedaling (as is the case with coaster brakes).

Handlebar – This is the part where a rider places his hands to provide balance to the bike. It can be straight, cylindrical or curved. It has a handle at each end, each of which is fitted with grips to provide firm hold of the bar. It also helps in steering the bike by providing the necessary leverage. Latest handlebars also enable the biker to change body stance during a long ride.

Chain – It provides the propelling action in the bike by transferring power from the pedals to the wheels. Chains have increased biker safety by allowing the manufacturers to cut down on the wheel size. Recently, breakthroughs have been made to have chains that could provide gearing mechanism to the bikes. In order to achieve good speed, one needs to lubricate bicycle chain from time to time, or else they get rusted.

Wheel – Bicycles ride on wheels. The wheel pair consists of an outer rim that is connected to the central focal point using spokes. A nut is used to tighten the spokes at both ends.

Tire – It covers the outer circumference of the bicycle wheel and is inflated with air. Because of its shape (usually circular) and air filled inside, it allows the bike to sail. Right amount of air needs to be filled inside the tire so that it provides optimum friction to the ground, thereby transmitting maximum speed from the pedal to the wheel.

In order to buy and maintain a good bicycle, a person needs to understand what each bicycle part does. Although they might seem trivial when seen separately, but when running in combination, they produce a thrill and experience, one cannot afford to miss.

The History of Mountain Bike

The history of mountain bike was not really clear.

There was a believe that the first mountain bike was invented by Buffalo Soldiers, a turn-of-the-century infantry who customized bicycles to carry gear over rough terrain. They rode from Missoula, Montana, to Yellowstone and back, an arduous 800 miles in 1896. Their mission was to test the bicycle for military use in mountainous terrain.

There was another believe that it was a group 0f 20 young bicyclists from the outskirts of Paris, who between 1951 and 1956 developed a sport that was remarkably akin to present-day mountain biking. These riders juiced up their French 650-B bikes with an extraordinary degree of technical sophistication.

Some believe that it was John Finley Scott who was probably the first mountain bike enthusiast in the United States. In 1953 he built what he called a “ Woodsie Bike”, using a Schwinn World diamond frame, balloon tires, flat handlebars, derailleur gears, and cantilever brakes. John was more than twenty years ahead of his time, and while he remained an off-road cycling enthusiast, at the time there were not many others who shared his passion.

Another believe, the first successful high quality fat-tire bicycle was built in Marin County, California by Joe Breeze, who with others rode down the rocky trails of nearby My Tamalpais. They used balloon-tire one-speed clunkers from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s to descend these trails with coaster brakes. In that pursuit, one of these trails got the name "Repack" because one descent was enough to vaporize the bike's grease, requiring the hub to be re-packed.

The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame believes that the inception of mountain biking needed to be a continuous series of events that connected with one another as opposed to an isolated incident. Another example, in the early 1970s there were a band of cyclists, The Cupertino Riders, aka. the Morrow Dirt Club, from Cupertino California, 75 miles south of Marin, who were modifying their bikes. They were grafting thumbshift-operated derailleurs and motorcycle lever-operated drum brakes to their klunkers to help them get up and down the south bay hills. They competed against some future hall-of-famers at a Marin County cylcecross race in late 1974, where their technology was noticed.

Bicycle History Timeline

1817 - Baron von Drais invented a walking machine: two same-size in-line wheels, the front one steerable, mounted in a frame which you straddled. The device was propelled by pushing feet against the ground, thus rolling yourself and the device forward in a sort of gliding walk.

1839 - Two-wheeled vehicle was designed by Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith. It was the first of its kind that allowed people to ride without touching their feet to the ground.

1860 - A two-wheeled riding machine with pedals applied directly to the front wheel was invented by France's Pierre Michaux . It was still made of wood.

1870 - The first two-wheeled all metal machine was invented. The pedals were still atttached directly to the front wheel with no freewheeling mechanism. This machine was the first one to be called a bicycle ("two wheel").

1876 - The first tricycle mass-produced by Coventry Lever, it was equipped with a Lever gear built by James Starley. The three-wheeled Salvo built by Starley, incorporated innovations such as a lighter frame, spoke wheels, and a highly advanced chain drive.

1878 - Otto and Wallace invented the Kangaroo, with the world's first gear system, added brakes to the ordinary cycle which had become more and more dangerous due to the increasing diameter of the front wheel for riding at faster speeds.

1879 - Bayliss Thomas invented "The Bayliss Thomas", which was the climax of ordinary bicycle beauty and the most complete model to date. With this model, the once solid steel frame was replaced by hollow tubing including the front fork.

1879 - Harry John Lawson, an Englishman, produced the first bicycle driven by a chain to the rear wheel. He positioned the pedals in between the front and rear wheels, and had the pedaling motion conducted to the rear wheel via a chain.

1880 - The most successful dicycle was invented by the Englishman E.C.F. Otto during the heyday of the ordinary cycle. Its two large wheels placed side by side were driven by a left and right pedal. The vehicle enabled smooth turning by relaxing the pedal on the side of the turn so that the wheel on the other side spun faster.

1885 - John Kemp Starley, a nephew of James Starley, the man who built the Ariel in 1870 and subsequently designed a number of safety bicycles, built the Rover with equal-sized wheels. This was the prototype of the modern-day bicycle.

Two or three years thereafter, the bicycle's components such as the frame material, tires, variable speed gears, saddle, and chain were rapidly made practical.

1896 - It was believed that the first mountain bike was invented by Buffalo Soldiers, a turn-of-the-century infantry who customized bicycles to carry gear over rough terrain. They rode from Missoula, Montana, to Yellowstone and back, an arduous 800 miles. Their mission was to test the bicycle for military use in mountainous terrain.

What is Bicycle (or Bike)?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bicycle, or bike, is a pedal-driven, human-powered vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other.

First introduced in 19th-century Europe, bicycles now number over one billion worldwide, providing the principal means of transportation in many regions, notably China and the Netherlands. They are also a popular form of recreation, and have been adapted for use in many other fields of human activity, including children's toys, adult fitness, military and police applications, courier services, and cycle sports.

The basic shape and configuration of a typical bicycle's frame, wheels, pedals, saddle, and handlebars have hardly changed since the first chain-driven model was developed around 1885, although many important details have so far been improved, especially since the advent of modern materials and computer-aided design. These have allowed for a proliferation of specialized designs for individuals who pursue a particular type of cycling.

The bicycle has affected history considerably, in both the cultural and industrial realms. In its early years, bicycle construction drew on pre-existing technologies; more recently, bicycle technology has, in turn, contributed ideas in both old and newer areas.