Mountain Biking Guide

There's a lot of history and info out there with reference to the history and origins of mountain biking, with some being recognized and some that relies on who has got the best firm of press. Some say that mountain biking started with the Buffalo Infantrymen , which was a turn of the century infantry who customised bikes to hold gear over the coarse and troublesome terrain. They started in Aug of 1896, over the course of eight hundred miles. Their mission was straightforward - to check bikes for army use in the hardest of terrain. Others say it was actually the Velo Cross Club of France that started mountain biking.

The club was composed of twenty young bikers from Paris, who between 1951 and 1956 developed a sport that is like present day mountain biking. It might have also been John Finley Scott, who was the 1st mountain biker in the U.S. In 1953 he assembled what he called a "Woodsie Bike", employing a diamond frame, balloon tires, flat handle bars, and cantilever brakes. He was more than 20 years before his time. Although he stayed an off road fan, there were numerous at that point who failed to share that very same fervour.

Today, we suspect the history of the mountain bicycle is most obvious in Northerly California. There are some areas that claim to be the 1st community for mountain biking, though each history book will tell you Marin County.

The game of mountain biking has taken many twists and turns over the last many hundred years. Although there are several that say different things about the history and the start, we all know one thing for sure - one thing has led straight to another and the game of mountain biking was born.

Wheel truing is really something that's so easy to do. Even if you have no familiarity with mountain biking or truing a wheel, it does not take a genius to do it. The very first thing to do is ensure that none of your spokes are loose. To test, grab each spoke in turn and try to shake it back and forth. If the spoke wobbles, or makes pinging and grating noises, it's loose. If it is loose, add strain to the spoke by turning the spokey anti-clockwise with your finger and thumb pressure. Keep turning and shaking till the noise is gone and the spoke doesn't wobble or move. Move on to the subsequent spoke till you have gone all of the way around the wheel and checked them all. Now, it is time to see just how correct the wheel essentially is. Turn your cycle the wrong way up then spin the wheel to see where it comes nearest to rubbing on the brake.

You might need to revolve the wheel backwards then forwards to find the middle of the bulge on the wheel. Tighten the spokes which run on to the opposite side of the edge. If those spokes are tight, you must loosen a couple of the spokes which run to the bulge side of the heart.

Truing a wheel is simpler than you might imagine, even though it could be a small tricky with some wheels. If you want to loosen spokes, be extremely careful that you do not break them. They can be tough to loosen on older mountain bicycles.

When you make a decision to go mountain biking on a long days ride, there are a few things that you must take with you. Below, you may find the necessities that you should have with you.


1. Back pack - a camelback or mule is a brilliant idea here.
2. Water-resistant - the type that packs down minute is the best to have.
3. Water - you want at least two liters for a long ride.
4. Food - sandwiches and energy bars are the best to have with you to eat.
5. Pump - take a good one with you, as the little mini pumps are a waste of your time and money.
6. Tire levers if you want them.
7. 2 spare inner tubes.
8. A bit of medium emery paper about three inches long and an in. wide.
9. A cut up tube of Crest for pinch punctures or to use as a tire boot.
10. A carpet needle.
11. A card of linen thread to correct torn tires.
12. A good chain splitter.
13. At least 2 black pins. You must tape these to the interior lid of your puncture correct kit.
14. A group of allen wrenches. The penknife style is the best to get.
15. A tiny screwdriver.
16. A first aid kit that includes an elastic bandage.
17. A Spokey spoke key.
18. A felt tip pen which will show on inner tubes.
19. Some lunch and telephone money.

If you take the above with you, you shouldn't have any issues with long trail bicycle rides. Everything on the above list will serve a purpose, all you have got to do is give them an opportunity. If you have ever been mountain biking and ran into issues during the past, you need to know first hand just how crucial the correct supplies can essentially be.

The price of a mountain bicycle frame is proportional to its material, as well as the treatment that material has received. Now , there are 5 kinds of material utilized in trail bikes - high tensile steel, chromoly steel, aluminum, titanium, and carbon fiber. Outsized diameters, heat treating, and butting are tubes material treatments which will increase the price of a frame too. High tensile steel This is a particularly sturdy amalgamate that is found in lower priced trail bicycles. It offers a high carbon content which makes it less stiff than chromoly steel, so more materials are wanted to make it stiff enough for bike frames, that will in turn make it that much heavier.


Comparatively cheap to supply, you will find this material in trail bikes, town bikes, and even entry level mountain bicycles. There are some bikes that come with a chromoly seat tube, while the rest is high tensile steel. Chromoly steel Short for steel amalgamate, chromoly is best described by its major additions - chromium and molybdenum. This is perhaps the most refined framing material, giving over a hundred years of dependable service. Relying on the sort of heat treating and butting, you'll find this material in bikes as low as four hundred greenbacks all of the way up to 1,500 and beyond.


The chromoly steel material offers superb sturdiness and a compliant ride characteristic. Aluminum For the past fifteen years, aluminum has been refined in just about the same way as chromoly. there were varied alloys developed, as well as heat treatment, oversizing, and butting. With twin suspension bikes, aluminum is the preferred material as it is the stiffest and most inexpensive. Aluminum is stiffer than chromoly, and so it'll crack before chromoly. Naturally, this relies on how you ride and how much abuse you give the frame. The benefits of aluminum is that the frame is extraordinarily light and very stiff thru oversizing or butting.

Titanium Even thought it's somewhat exotic, the costs for this material have come down over the previous few years. Frames made from titanium remain costly as it takes more time to weld the tubes to the frame.

Titanium is regarded an amalgamate, typically mixed with small quantities of vanadium and aluminum to give it better weldability and ride traits. More compliant than chromoly, it offers better fatigue and corrosion properties.

The material you select for your cycle, all relies on where you ride and what style you use. Virtually all materials will last you for a while so long as you look after your cycle and treat the frame with some respect.

With giving you a better selection and expert recommendation, bike shop staff are you able to help you to get fitted to the proper size bike. You can get the bike either too large or too tiny, that will cause your pleasure to suffer. Follow the advice below, and you may have the ideal fit for your trail bicycle. Standover height When you check the fitting yourself, the very first thing you need to check is the inseam clearance, or the standover height.

You would like to have masses of room between yourself and the top tube when you come to a stop. There should be around 4 to six inches of clearance from the pinnacle of your inseam to the head of the top tube. Leg and feet position there is a clever formula for deciding the leg position for riding an off-road bike.

When riding a trail bicycle, the terrain consistently changes, raising you off the seat continually, sometimes just a touch, other times absolutely off. , you will have to sit your saddle a little lower than you would on any other type of bike. Be certain you're taking this a touch lower seat height position into effect when you factor the scale of the frame.

Riding compartment - the next thing you will need to check is the rider compartment layout ( the space between the saddle and the handlebars ). Once the correct leg extension has been determined, be certain the handlebar is 1 to 2 inches below the peak of the saddle. You should not have the handlebars higher than the seat, unless there's some kind of higher body problem.

Twin suspension bikes With suspension being at both ends, you can need your weight more in the middle of the bike so that your weight is distributed uniformly between the front and rear suspension units, therefore permitting the rear and front suspension to work as a unit. This will be done quite simply by trying either a higher or shorter stem to raise the hand height, that may in turn move the higher body up and the weight towards the rear. The rise in rise should not be only 2 inches, then the decline in reach should not be any more than 2 inches.

Test ride when you have taken all these steps into account, go out and test the bike. Ensure you wear a helmet, even if you're going to be testing for a short period.

Be certain the tires are ready to the right pressure, and the store has altered the bike for you properly. You need to have a store worker observe your body position and ride height while riding, to establish is any farther adjustments have to be made. Ride the bike around for a bit to become used to its handling and new gear. Start off slowly, then give the bike a little bit of time to present its personality. After a couple of minutes, you might notice that something isn't working properly or simply does not feel right generally. If this occurs, return to the store and have the problem corrected before you disqualify the bike.

The more you ride on bicycles, the simpler it's going to be to notice the difference in the ride types. Bear in mind, it could take months and even years to understand the way a bike handles. Talk to those that ride, and ask them if they ride the bikes they sell. This way, you can find out more about the trail bikes you like so much!

As a sport or a hobby, mountain biking can be split into nine different classes. These classes are terribly versed in what they offer. They're :


1. BMX - BMX is a style where the bikes offer twenty in. wheels. These bikes are frequently used at skate parks or with mud jumps. Due to their smaller wheels and shorter wheel bases, BMX bikes are way easier to perform tricks and stunts with.


2. Cross country - this kind of mountain biking involves riding your cycle up and down hills. While it's the least acute form of mountain biking, most cross country riders are very fit and go on long rides.


3. Cyclo cross This is a mixture of road and mountain biking. These riders have to go over obstructions, cross thru brooks, and race off and on the course.

4. Dust jumping - Dust jumping involves jumping the bike over massive man made dust jumps then doing tricks while they're in the air. These jumps are normally close together so riders can go over 6 or more jumps in one run, gaining a flow to give them more speed for bigger jumps.

5. Downhill - Downhill mountain biking involves racing downhill as speedily as possible. This kind of riding is extremely intense and intense, offering riders the possibility for final thrills and excitement.

6. Freeride - Free riding involves finding the ideal line down the mountain using all the terrain to share your thoughts. These competitions are extremely popular, as riders can express themselves any way they think acceptable.

7. Single speed No to be confused with fixed gears, this is a kind of cross country biking that is done employing a bike with only 1 gear and less elements. The concept with single speed is simplicity. The straight chain line will provide efficient pedaling, and the absence of elements mean less mechanical issues and a lighter bike.

8. Street and urban - this kind of riding involves riding in urbanized areas, ledges, and other kinds of man made difficulties. Riders of street and urban biking will do tricks as well , for example stalls and grinds.

9. Trails - Trials are thought to be a facet of mountain biking, though the bikes used look nothing like trail bicycles. They use twenty or twenty-six in. wheels and sport tiny, low frames. Trail riders will hop and jump their bikes over hurdles, which needs an extraordinary quantity of balance and concentration.

Once your trail bike chain becomes damaged, you must right away replace it with a new one. It is possible to correct a damaged chain employing a chain tool.

For this very reason, most mountain bikers travel with a chain tool. Your chain has 3 basic parts - the metal side plates, the rollers between the side plates, and the bolts, or pins which go thru the rollers and help to hold the plates together. These pins permit the rollers to openly turn as the chain moves round the cogs. If your chain happens to break, you will have to take away the damaged link and replace it with a spare link. To try this, simply reattach the 2 ends of the damaged chain and ride on a shorter chain till you can get it replaced. To get rid of a damaged link of chain, place it in the chain tool. Now, turn the tool counter clockwise till the rivet pin of the chain tool touches the chain bolt. Continue to turn the tool till the pin pushes out of the roller. Be awfully careful, as you would like to stop turning when the pin is right at the edge of the roller, before it moves thru the outer side plate. Now, turn the tool in the other direction, and back it out of the roller. Set the tool to the side, then work the chain very carefully from side to side and take the inner side plates and roller. Now could be the time to re-route the chain thru the bike. You may wish to have a chain maintaining tool or some to help hold the chain in the right spot as you route and repair it.

Now the damaged link has been removed and you have re-routed the chain, you are prepared to insert a new link or connect the links that were beside the damaged one. The process here is the same - align the 2 ends so the link with the inner side plates will fit within the link with the pin and outer side plates. Now, use the chain tool to bump the pin inward till it's positioned uniformly between the side plates. The simplest way to find out how to do this or feel cushty doing it is to have somebody show you, then really practice with a chain and a chain tool. You could have no difficulty at all making a non-permanent fix in a trail bike chain once you have seen it done by a pro and practiced it yourself a couple of times.

A trail bicycle is the sole thing you want before you go mountain biking.

A mountain bicycle contains many parts, which will be covered below :

One. Bottom bracket - This attaches the crankset to the body of a bike.

Two. Brake cable - This is the wire that connects the brake lever to the brake mechanism.

Three. Brake lever - The lever on the handlebar to turn on the brakes. The left side is the front brake and the right side is the rear brake.

Four. Chain - The circular set of links that transfer power from the chain ring to the parts.

Five. Chain ring - The toothed rings that fasten to the crank to hold the chain.

Six. Crank - The lever that extends from the bottom bracket to the pedal, transferring the power to the chain rings.

Seven. Derailleur - The mechanism for moving the chain from one gear to another.

Eight. Down tube - The section of frame that extends downward from the stem to the bottom bracket.

Nine. Front shock - The shock absorber on the front fork.

Ten. Handlebar - The horizontal bar attached to the stem with handgrips on the end.

Eleven. Headset - The mechanism in front of the frame that connects the front fork to the stem and handlebars.

Twelve. Hub - The center part of the wheel the spokes are attached to.

Thirteen. Idler crane - The bottom crane of the rear derailleur that provides spring strain to keep the chain tight.

Fourteen. Nipple - A threaded receptacle that holds the end of the spoke to the edge.

Fifteen. Pedal - The platform to pedal on ; attaches to the crank.

Sixteen. Rear shock - The shock absorber for the rear tire on twin suspension type bikes.

Seventeen. Edge - The metal ring that holds the spokes on the inside and the tire to the outside.

Eighteen. Saddle - The seat.

Nineteen. Seat post - Offers support for the seat.

Twenty. Skewer - The metal rod that goes thru the center, attaching the wheel to the dropouts of the frame.

Twenty-one. Shaft - The free revolving spindle the crank arms stick to ; also part of the bottom bracket.

Twenty-two. Spokes - The thick wires that join the heart to the rim.

Twenty-three. Stem - A piece that attaches the handlebar to the steering tube.

Twenty-four. Wheel heart - the middle of the wheel the spokes are attached to.

Cross country mountain biking is cross country at its best. Where free riders and downhill bikers use 4 wheel bikes and ski lifts to make them their destination, cross country bikers get to the pinnacle of the mountain by the ride. Though free riding is hot, the life vein of the game has usually been cross country biking. Just as cross country riders are a different breed, the bikes they ride are also. The cross country bike is totally different in some ways from other sorts of mountain riding bikes. The grounds for cross country riders is speed. Everything about their bikes revolve with the concept of making the bikes quicker and quicker. Bikes employed in cross country mountain biking can be entirely stiff frame, hardtails, or perhaps full suspension frames.

Thru the years, the cross over to full suspension has become extraordinarily popular . The weight difference between free go bikes and cross country bikes are substantial.

You will be very tough pressed to get a bike that weighs more than twenty-four pounds, and even that weight can be heavy. Complementary ride bkes weigh close to forty pounds, which makes the difference in weight fairly close. If you have never attempted cross country mountain biking, you may potentially find it to be a break from the standard. Although this kind of biking involves trails, it's typically the sort of terrain that amateurs would not need to ride. Concerning hills and coarse terrain, cross country biking offers quite the rush. For mountain bikers everywhere, cross country is the way to go. It can offer you a new collection of bikes, new areas to bike, and a novel twist to mountain biking as you know it. If you have been looking out for a mountain biking rush, cross country mountain biking is what you want to be experiencing.