What does it mean to you? Do you care?

I want a bike that is fun to ride – being light helps, having grip (but no rolling too slow) and suspension too, I’m happy with a slack head angle also.

I just wonder why so many weekend warriors worry about having a fast bike when all it seems they do is ride with their mates on a Sunday…is it not better to have fun?

Anyway seems most folk think such and such a bike is “fast” because it has a stiff frame and steep head angle LOL! noobs!

Speed is all about the rider, not the bike.
I’d rather enjoy my ride by making it about how I want to ride, not what the bike determines it should be.
I’d take fast as some sort of XC racer bike. no thanks

I just wonder why so many weekend warriors worry about having a fast bike when all it seems they do is ride with their mates on a Sunday…is it not better to have fun?

Fun? FUN?! Riding fast on a fast bike is a serious business and I remind you not to forget it.

You might ride with your mates, but you’ve got to be first to the top of the climb 😉

I don’t really care to be honest. Being fast is more about the riding really, not the bike. Anyway, unless you measure it with a maximum “fast” on a fully rigid bike might be 15mph and on a full sus 20mph.
I certainly don’t want to have a bike that I think may hinder me, so I have to keep my speed down due to the design or my choice of bike. For example bars that are too narrow, ouf of control suspension, poor brakes – or even poor maintenance.

A fast bike to me is loads of suspension, slack, loads of grip, don’t care about weight, don’t care about fast rolling. Point me at berms, jumps and tech stuff I’ll ride as fast as poss. (whilst being overtaken by the bloke on a GT zaskar with road tyres)

You might ride with your mates, but you’ve got to be first to the top of the climb

In fact, when I read statements like this above, I dunno why I ever come on here..

Is it not more a characteristic of “noobs” to be concerned about slack angles, or any other fashion?

As long as you like your own bike what difference does it make to anyone else? They haven’t got to ride it. Personally I just like a bike that feels good most of the time, including going up and just riding along, so I wouldn’t bother with overly heavy or slack, because that bike only comes alive under certain circumstances and it a drag the rest of the time – but each to their own.

Fast is about the sensation and the adrenaline

An MTb you don’t go fast in absolute terms at all – how often do you top 30 mph? However an MTB at 30 mph has the sensation of speed similar to a motorcycle at 100 mph – therefore it is fast as ****!

You might ride with your mates, but you’ve got to be first to the top of the climb

See:

Speed is all about the rider, not the bike.

EDIT toys19 said it better actually.

I’ve got three quite different mountain bikes and my riding times are pretty much the same on all of them, it’s just one usually performs better than another on different types of terrain.

Kev

I’d take fast as some sort of XC racer bike. no thanks

DH bikes aren’t fast then?

In fact, when I read statements like this above, I dunno why I ever come on here..

You don’t want to come on here because people may have opinions that differ from yours…?

its not about fast as much as its about fun

obviously going insanely quickly can be fun, but so can bimbling along looking at the view

I understand what he means by “you’ve got to be first to the top of the climb” Mid week night rides are intentionally a bit fast for the mob I ride with. We’re mostly about the same fitness and we try to push each other, not to the extent of a roadie chain gang or anything, but just so it’s a bit uncomfortable. Weekend rides are more sociable and slower.

You don’t want to come on here because people may have opinions that differ from yours…?

I think other some other STW’ers might say you have defined the main reason why I do come on here.

Fast ? To ride as quickly as possible (for 60 seconds)whilst wearing a helmet,a large back pack,the current must have kit and mounted upon a £4,500 full sus steed.Directly from the trail centre car park to the trail head shop to purchase more shite.

Fast ? All single speed riders YAHOOOOO !!

Beating your mates is fun.
Seeing others suffer on climbs is fun.
Being the slowest & suffering at the back of a group is NOT fun.

Just ask Conan the Barbarian what is best in life, he knows 🙂

As long as I ride as fast as I’m capable of, then I’m happy. My bikes are fairly light, but then I’m under 10 stone so can get away with it. I remember racing a few years back, the winner kicked everyone’s ass, winning expert/elite on a knackered fully rigid bike with v brakes, wearing a yellow oilskin jacket.

You then see people racing open category on 5k bikes, and getting lapped – seems a bit strange having a quick bike if you’re not very fast yourself.

Guess as long as you enjoy riding, it doesn’t really matter what you ride.

Surely everybody has their own individual definition of fast, both climbing and descending. I’m happy as long as I’m riding to my best capability, getting a buzz, and at least not holding my mates up

It’s not about winning, it’s about beating your mates.

Being first to the top means first down the descent unimpeded. Very serious business that.

feels fast, or feels on the limit of what you can do on that type of bike? fast is relative to bike and terrain, i go slower on my cross bike on wet rooty trails, but it can feel very on-the-edge and fast is a similar feeling. my 140mm trail FS feels ‘slow’ on the same trails, even though i’m going faster. it feels more safe, so it’s not always fun in the same way.

top speed downhill on my road bike feels proper ‘fast’ as in a real speed-buzz, tbh my mtb rarely if ever matches that for feelings of speed (in most of the UK at least – Alps can be different!), it’s more like a felling of being near a limit of what i can do when riding the MTB.

faster for a given effort level is probably more important to regular group riders or event riders / racers who have a competitive element beyond just racing your mates here and there.

yeah good point Gary – nothing worse than being beaten into the start of a good ST descent by a competitve, fit but technically lame rider in events! 🙂

Riding different bikes is a great way to keep things fresh IMO. An arse-up, head down, narrow bars, superlight bike can be awesome to ride at times, and also a right **** handful on technical stuff. It’s good to experience.

It is true that w/e warriors, like me, almost never ride fast. Not in any sustained way which is the essence of racing. Leather it up one hill, down the other side, and then full speed ahead up the next one – just not a style of riding I’m capable of. I guess it is pointless to worry about a ‘fast bike’ if you can’t go full tilt on it for longer than 30 mins.

poor troll

Its all relative.

Some bikes are faster, and feel it when you ride them. I was lucky enough to have a go on a S-works Epic at a demo day, it was an absolute bullet.

But I doubt it would keep up with a DH bike at Fort William.

My slicked up stumpjumper is fast on the way to work but would be pretty shite round Innerleithen.

Also a genuinely fast rider would be faster than me on pretty much anything!

Going fast is very important on a lot of the trail centre stuff – because a lot of the trails are vastly more fun if you can hit them at speed. Kind of makes them more three-dimensional.

I hate having to pedal to get my fun though.

On steeper stuff I’m not too bothered about getting down in the quickest time….great if you are a DH racer, but I’d rather take an interesting/fun line down and be at the bottom 30 seconds later.

So, in summary – It’s all about the fun. Some trails are more fun the faster they are ridden, others are more fun if you pick your way down via the most interesting bits 🙂

I’d never sacrifice descending ability (of a bike) for pedalling/climbing ability.

yeah good point Gary – nothing worse than being beaten into the start of a good ST descent by a competitve, fit but technically lame rider in events!

Very reason I made a point of getting a bit faster up the hills a while back… 😮

fast to me is more xc racer than DH bike, don’t matter how many seconds you can save going downhill you will always lose/gain the most time on the ups.
Was riding my SS lastnight, long, low and not as good for tech stuff as my other bikes but for storming through wooded singletrack, slightly muddy with a fair bit of squirm and drift going on it was awesome and quite probably “faster” than my other bikes.

it is pish on ICR tho.

a motorcycle at 100 mph

Thats not fast 150+up dual carriageways is fast

Thats not fast 150+up dual carriageways is fast

Yes, that feels fast to me too. It’s the speed where I start worrying about chains snapping or being caught speeding.

Then again, I’ve gone faster sat on an aeroplane choosing which wine to have with dinner. It didn’t feel as fast though.

I do know if anyone started talking to me about head angles and the like I’d ride away, fast.

well said samuri.

i concur.

or being caught speeding.

bedause if we get caught at that speed its a prison sentence

“fast” it’s about the look isn’t it? If you look fast, you must be fast.

Dual carriageways? I am talking about proper roads 🙂

Good point about aeroplanes tho – they don’t feel fast at all

Good point about aeroplanes tho – they don’t feel fast at all

But some of them do actually look fast.

samuri – Member

I do know if anyone started talking to me about head angles and the like I’d ride away, fast.

This is like some strange ubercool form of ludditism. Does this mean that you, glynp and tum-yeto wouldn’t consider what the head angle might be next time you buy a new bike/frame?

Planes feel fast when they take off.

I have four bikes – don’t know, or want to know, the head angle on any of them.

To a large point i do care about going fast, however riding fast only has an appeal if it provides the element of fun i want to experience.

If i go fast whilst solo riding it gives me less fun, therefore isn’t important.
If riding in a group i strive to be the fastest rider there, either to push myself or to push others a little beyond their normal comfort zones.

I’ve found when descending in a group i tend to go first, i begin to check behind me and either i speed up to try and loose the person chasing or i slow down to let someone catch up, draw them closer then try to get them to stay with me as i wind up the speed.

If i’m mid pack, it’s the chase, so if i catch someone i’ll slow up to let them get a few hundred metres on me, then go try and catch them up.

Not sure if all this is showing off, trying to push my limits.

It’s never been about the bike for me, it about how i ride. Some times the hardest line is more fun but slower option, but more FUN, other times riding smooth through an easier section feels more fun because it faster.

So yes, riding fast to me is important, but never has a bike made me feel to ride faster because of design.