15 Ways To Spend Less On Mountain Biking

Ill fix #15 for you.

#15. You really DONT need 1x.  EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES.   See #1-14 about keeping the old clothes working.

Waterproofs – usually the most expensive bit of clothing, and the ones most likely to be prematurely damaged, even with large amounts of care – aren’t needed unless it’s actually raining.

You really DONT need 1x. EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES

New? Been 1 x since the 20th century, emperor’s old hand me downs more like

Well I saved money by reading the comments and not paying to read the obvious.

Fig rolls- this is the most wisest comment. Although I do like to call ‘em Fig Newtons, which can cause consternation among my ride companions.

Love fig rolls.

Other cheap calories for cycling and recovery…..
– Malt loaf
– Milk
– Hobnobs
– Flapjack
– Fruit and nuts
– Dried fruit like figs, dates, raisins etc
– Cheese and pickle sandwiches
– Marmalade sandwiches
– Homemade sports drinks, Rubena with a pinch of salt works fine.
– Garibaldi biscuits
– Yop
– Rice pudding

I’m sure there’s lots more but IME there’s no need to buy expensive sports nutrition and recovery foods/drinks unless you’re needing to make that marginal gain.

Save your expensive full Sus by riding your old shonky Hardtail/rigid/singlespeed throughout the filthy winter.

Don’t be tempted to build up a blinging singlespeed 🫣

Don’t be tempted to build up a blinging singlespeed 🫣

this is where is goes right off the rails for me. 🙂

Save your expensive full Sus by riding your old shonky Hardtail/rigid/singlespeed throughout the filthy winter.

I have to say, I never get this advice, you spend a fortune on a bike and yet ride a piece of s*it in the winter leaving your expensive, perfect for winter bike depreciating away in the shed. They’re not an investment, you bought it, just ride and enjoy the damn thing. Maybe buy a cheap £30 bearing press set off ebay so you can freshen up your bike for the dryer months.

#19: Changing frame bearings is really easy. You can get a bearing press sets off ebay for £30ish that is more than adequate for home mechanics like myself and will make the job of pushing in bearings REALLY easy. It will probably take you the same amount of time to do the job as it’d take to drop your bike to and from the bike shop. You’ll save a wedge of cash and have the satisfaction of working on your own bike. Plus, you don’t need to have a second “winter” bike taking up space. Look at youtube, people have posted great videos re every possible maintenance job.

But how else can you bore the pants off everyone if you don’t ride a HT in winter? Talking about micro-brewery boutique IPA’s and coffee can only do so much to send a glass eye to sleep.

This shows up the dilemma. A magazine like Singletrack needs advertising so you can’t say the obvious: don’t buy stupidly expensive stuff.

And this is why I will never be a full member of STW. They just don’t give real world reviews of kit. Yes review the stupidly expensive kit but also review it against the cheap kit.

LEt me know how that goes for you at a decent trailcenter 😀

LEt me know how that goes for you at a decent trailcente

Quite a few of us on here have ridden most of the trailcentres singlespeed.

#16 – don’t buy an unnecessary subscription to a magazine to read an article on how to save money

We really are delving into writing articles for the sake of it now aren’t we??

Quite a few of us on here have ridden most of the trailcentres singlespeed

Agreed. lack of gears isn’t a huge issue at trail centres. Full rigid isn’t greatly enjoyable though.

I only have one MTB now, a midrange hardtail which is not horrifically expensive to maintain.

Can’t see the article, but seems rather pointless on this site – people LIKE to spend their money. They LIKE to have branded, expensive clothing and unnecessarily expensive bits on and for their bikes.
I mean check out the “rack for a Passat” thread. I’ve got a £30 Halfords rack from the 90s that still carries 2 or 3 full sus bikes adequately when needed, but people WANT to spend upwards of a grand getting roof-bars, tow balls, light bars and fancy name branded racks hanging off their cars.

AndThey just don’t give real world reviews of kit. Yes review the stupidly expensive kit but also review it against the cheap kit.

Don’t agree with this. Their reviews/ articles are always very balanced and nothing compared with other sites/ magazines in terms of paid for promotion etc.

Indeed. And on those occasions they do review stuff from decathlon or the like those who moan still point out they ride in waterproofs made from old carrier bags they collected before the charge came in then sellotaped together and they’re just as good as the decathlon & gore kit in the review, and how come ST don’t review homebrew waterproofs that everyone actually wears.

Don’t buy yourself a big, long travel bike just to make the tough stuff easier. In the 20 years since I got back into mountain biking I’ve noticed an odd arms race – a desire to ride tougher trails (or the same trails but faster) and then an equal and opposite desire to buy ‘trail crushing’ bigger and burlier bikes to pacify them back to the same level of technicality to make them accessible to mere mortals level of rideability. Result, same levels of adrenaline for higher cost….with an added side portion of making every other bit of countryside less enjoyably challenging to ride and bigger more hurty offs.

You are an enemy of The Industry! Silence!

(I agree)

^ maybe? Some people do like to spend oc, but to say it’s a rather pointless article on this site seems dismissive of those who aren’t spending £ as if it’s a hobby.