I’ve seen people on here describe themselves as feeling ‘over biked’ on various steeds, and I’m curious as to what this phenomenon is. Having spent most of my biking career on fairly unimpressive bikes it’s not a feeling I’ve ever encountered.

Is it because you feel that said bike is making the trails feel too tame? Is it that you feel self conscious riding straightforward trails on a gnarly bike? Is it something else entirely?

This isn’t a snarky way of saying I think it’s a stupid phrase – I’d just like to know what people are getting at when they say it.

steed?

160mm all mountain machine for a canal path

A bike too capable for what it’s being ridden on.

Implication is it’s either a skills compensator or that the rider won’t enjoy the terrain as much as they would on an ‘inferior’ bike.

Steed?

And who cares. Ride what you like and have a larf.

I think it means that you are riding a bike that is designed for much bigger and nastier trails that it is being subjected to.
Like riding a 7 inch travel downhill bike on a XC trail.

Overbiked – Good example above 160mm trail bike on a canal path

You can also be ‘Under biked’ an example of this would be my mate riding the Cwm Carn DH on a 1997 Specialized Rockhopper.

I think the rule with both is that you can do the ride on chosen ‘steed’ but you would be a lot faster on something else

Apparently I was UnderBiked in the Quantocks. 😐

I never feel overbiked when I’m on my steed, that only ever happens when I break out my rig.

Must buy hardtail 😳

Nah, buy a sled.

Anyone not riding a fixed cx bike.

Overbiked is a term used exclusively by web forum belmos to describe anyone with a bike better than their bike. See also Ego Chariot, Skills Compensator.

Sometimes used as a self-deferential tool, IE “I felt overbiked” or “look at my new ego chariot”

Carbon road bike for a trip to the shops

Full on tourer to ride to work

etc etc……

This is overbiked

or maybe this?

Carbon road bike for the turbo trainer, that’s why I’ve had a serious word with myself and need to sell it. 😆

You’re riding along pretty smooth and fast and think: “this would be more fun being leaping around on my hardtail”

That’s it really [felt it today]

I road a tow path as part od a ride 2 weeks ago. I was o a 5″ trail bike.

I suppose thats over biked but I think its a phrase with to much time on there hands and who are more concerned about other people lives than their own

So what most people are implying is that they feel silly on a high-spec bike if they’re not doing something quite hardcore. A little bit daft if you ask me.

Oh, and yes, I used the word steed. I regret nothing.

My Iron Horse 6.4 was pretty sweet round Glentress when I got it but after getting used to it the trails just felt too easy. 180 upfront and 160 at the back turned it into a very easy trail. That defined overbiked to me.

Orange 5 at any trail centre in the UK.

It’s a term only really used by people who have dozens of bikes.

When you have an XC hardtail, a ‘hardcore hardtail’, an XC full suss, all-mountain full suss, DH bike, ‘play’ bike, 29er – you can select exactly which bike is appropriate for each trail, and sneer at anyone who doesn’t do the same.

Easy.

1. Overbiked = you are slower than me and you have a better bike than mine.

2. Underbiked = you are faster than me and you are riding a bike not as good as mine.

I am just right so obviously all else is judged by reference to me 😉

Yeti 575 overkill in surrey hills, swinley forest.

Overbiked will be me if I do the CRC marathon next weekend – only mtb at the minute is a Bullit with Boxxers and quite a dh build!

Overbiked = magazine speak bollocks.

So what most people are implying is that they feel silly on a high-spec bike if they’re not doing something quite hardcore

More type of bike than value I’d say. As above, people riding DH bikes around the Surrey Hills and what not, the terrain doesn’t justify it and it’ll just make it a proper slog!

Overbiked =

+

take two “Ride what you like and stop analyzing it” and call me in the morning

randomjeremy – Member
Overbiked is a term used exclusively by web forum belmos to describe anyone with a bike better than their bike. See also Ego Chariot, Skills Compensator.

But it seems you have misundestood the terms and the distinctions between them.

Skills compensator – a bike which makes up for the rider’s lack of skill. (I’m just about to buy myself one!)

Overbiked – using a bike which is designed to be ridden over much tougher terrain than it is currently being put to, which results in a loss of performance/enjoyment. The term is mutually exclusive with skills compensator – one is implying the rider doesn’t have enough skill to ride the route without it (or as well/fast without it) the other implies the rider would actually rider it better/faster on a less “gnarly” bike.

Ego-chariot – a bike which makes the rider feel better about themselves. This may be because it is ultra-niche, uber-expensive etc. It need not mean you are overbiked although these terms are not mutually exclusive.

The term “underbiked” essentially means that if you had a better bike you would be able to ride tougher stuff or better/faster/with more confidence.

Oh, and I don’t agree it is used only on web forums. I heard skills compensator used by people who don’t frequent web forums long before I signed up here. I’ve heard the phrase “not enough bike for you” (i.e. underbiked) in a respectable LBS.

I’m always over-biked.

A bike with more performance capability than its rider can dish out is a safer bike.

Learnt that lesson painfully on motorbikes. 🙂

Edit: just seen Poly’s post, maybe ‘skills compensator’ is a better term.

Call it a “skills compensator” if you must, but my 160mm bikes is giving me that (psychological?) safety margin to try stuff I wouldn’t on the 100mm carbon one. Once I can do stuff on the 160mm one, hopefully the ability will transfer back onto the 100mm one, but I sure as hell ain’t practising any 4 foot 4 inch drop offs on anything other than the big bike.

Does that make me overbiked? I’m not 100% sure I give a hoot.

I agree with randomjeremy, its a term used in a derogatory way by people who are insecure about their own bike or riding ability and need to project that onto others to bolster their fragile self esteem, and has been adopted by riders of nice/big bikes who are happy with themselves and their choices in order to undermine the former.

A source of regular tedious trolling, “oh I saw someone on a 6″ bike in swinley/surrey/etc and I totally pwned him on my rigid singlespeed, he must be a right w@nker”, rather than “there was a really great variety of bikes out today and guess what we all had fun riding whatever we happened to have”.

Seems to be more prevalent with anonymous keyboard warriors (twas ever thus) than in real life. Our informal riding group regularly contains rigid 29er singlespeeds and 160mm full sussers on the same ride, and I’ve yet to hear “overbiked”, “skills compensator” or “niche geek” uttered.

Good to see some more balanced answers on here this morning.

Next time I see/hear the phrase ‘over-biked’ or ‘too much bike for me’ I will scoff at the perpetrator.

Over biked to me simply means I would have more fun on a bike with less travel.

Overbiked is a term used exclusively by web forum belmos to describe anyone with a bike better than their bike. See also Ego Chariot, Skills Compensator.

Nail. On. Head.

More type of bike than value I’d say. As above, people riding DH bikes around the Surrey Hills and what not, the terrain doesn’t justify it and it’ll just make it a proper slog!

A/ What if it’s their only bike? Should they sit at home and not ride it apart from on an uplift day?
B/ There’s probably some drops/jumps around that you don’t know about that could warrant a big bike
C/ Who cares?

Skill’s compensator I think is slightly different term. I think the term ‘over biked’ is used to compare someone’s lack of skill / performance against others who are riding the same thing better on a ‘lesser bike’.

If you rode an XC loop on a 160mm ‘all mountain’ bike in a record time and beat your mates when they were riding XC bikes then you wouldn’t use the term. If you struggled to complete an XC loop on your ‘all mountain’ rig when they whipped round, then you would use the phrase.

Same applies to a DH run on an XC bike, if you beat your mates on DH bikes, you’d call them lame or ‘over biked’, if they beat you, you’d say I am ‘under biked’ and could be better on a DH bike.

However if you are riding something with more travel than what is required and using the bike to compensate on your lack of skills (i.e using you suspension to stop you crashing after coming up short on a small double) then your bike is a skill compensator – which isn’t a bad thing.

I found my full on 200mm DH bike gave me the confidence to try bigger jumps / drops which I now do on my 160mm / 130mm ‘play bike’.

However, I do also agree with stop making up phrases and just ride a bike.

Over biked (and under biked) are perfectly reasonable ways to express an opinion on the choice of a bike for a particular situation. Ego Chariot, Skills Compensator, etc are purely ways of insulting someone.

Next time I see/hear the phrase ‘over-biked’ or ‘too much bike for me’ I will scoff at the perpetrator.

As is evident from the replies in this thread, the terms mean different things to different people. Perhaps you would do better admit your own ignorance and ask the ‘perpetrator’ to clarify what they mean.

Overbiked is a term used exclusively by web forum belmos to describe anyone with a bike better than their bike. See also Ego Chariot, Skills Compensator.

This is correct.

You will never hear anyone with a good bike use the term ‘over-biked’.