Is mountain bike choice a bit of a D'ick swinging competition?
Most of us all wanna have the biggest. 🙂
I'm on a 150 fork and 130 shock. And it seems to be great . But I do sometimes think I'd like something bigger.
What do you ride why?
Do you prefer something fun and poppy or something plush?
Do you really need more suspension?
Yes
No
Who cares
Yes
No
Who cares
Five pages at the very least 😂
I submit it's an inverse dick-swinging competition. What, you need FS for this ride?
I have a 170mm full sus ebike or a rigid 29er xc bike, so.... Sometimes?
Yes ,170mm enduro rig/sled
Bike . Actually went to buy a 150mm trail bike but the sizing was wrong.
Sat on the enduro and boom great fit. It's chuffin ace to ride and I seem to be faster on the trails!
Don't give a shite on other people's thoughts about it. And it's got a motor 😁
Lol I see a lot of people riding big bikes on not very demanding trails. But sometimes I ride a bike park and then fancy something bigger even if I don't really need it.
”Pick an amount of suspension travel and be a dick about it.”
Lots of longer travel bikes pedal really well now.
Lots of shorter travel bikes have proper good geo now.
Lots of medium travel bikes are actually only marginally lighter than longer travel bikes for a given price/spec level.
My point is I don’t think it matters as much as it used to…
Rigid (but sometimes front Sus) fat bike - so no, but it may depend on the riding you do. In terms of cost, I'm cirtainly over biked - but not in travel.
Vast majority of people I see in trail centers have lots of mm of travel but that just means that the built trails (reds and blacks at least) will/have evolved as well... Also see the same people riding the blues, doesn't mean they are over biked, just having fun on a tamer trail.
Trail centers have cirtainly progressed in the last 5 or so years, to the point where riding a full rigid bike can be, well er, challenging at times & I can definitely be underbiked. But most of my riding isn't like that anyway.
Not very often I see a 150+mm travel bike out on the bridalways and byways.
Happily ride my 130mm LLS HT on most stuff, Y DU at Stiniog, the reds at revolution and a couple of the Pearce tracks (Hopton/bringewood)
Might not be the fastest but it puts a big grin on my mush.
90% of my riding is local woods/BWs, I sometimes feel overbiked.
I think there's so many factors that go into modern bikes now that suspension travel has gone down the list.
More about geometry, fit and even what type of suspension platform the bike is based on now. Also not forgetting tyre size, wheel width, what type of riding you mostly do etc.
One of the best all-round bikes I've ever ridden was my 2020 Trek Slash 8 Alu. Was marketed as an "enduro bike" when that model first came out, but by today's standards it's firmly in the "trail bike" category if you look at suspension travel.
I like a poppy, nice pedalling bike and I'm willing to give up a bit of plushness on suspension to achieve this. Modern bikes are so good now though that the only thing you seem to give up these days with going for a longer travel bike is a bit of added weight.
Yep my main bike is a 160/150 enduro bike
I do have a hardtail but that's used mostly for family rides
But I use the 3 position lockout, tho it pedals well anyway, steep seat angle and decent reach so it climbs great. Lightish wheels means it accelerates quick.
Shortish chainstays so it jumps and turns great too.
I can ride it at trail centres or dh tracks and it's fun on both
Mostly yes.
Mid travel 29ers are my 'do everything' happy spot.
I don't know about 'over' biked, but I do think a lot of people are missing out on the fun of a winter CX build/gravel build.
Most fun I've had in the last couple of years has been skiting about on local muddy trails under my own power, no gravity required which means no massive brakes, tyres, or suspension.
Once you embrace the mud it rewards you with all the shits + giggles of a good MTB ride, in fact I've never spent so much time riding out two wheeled slides than I have over the last couple of winters.
Trade off seems to be moar pedalling but moar fun, and all from your front door.
I do think a lot of people are missing out on the fun of a winter CX build/gravel build.
Christ no.
full rigid fat bike here. so i am not.
I've only got one MTB, so would rather be overbiked for some trails than underbiked.
Saying that I ride a 140/130 travel 29er, so pretty middle of the road really. And I've got a gravel bike for flat off road rides.
I try to be appropriately biked, but sometimes it’s fun to bring a Gatling gun to a knife fight, and vice versa.
Christ no
😆
Think you focussed on the wrong but of my post, unless you no longer enjoy elbows out muddy twisty single-track? There's a lot of stuff on the doorstep that's more fun sans 800mm monkey bars and 150mm forks
It really doesn’t matter what bike you have, it’s all about preference.
I’ve recently put some gears and a dropper seat post on my rigid single speed. For the riding I’ve been doing it’s been great, some days I don’t need either, some days I’ll think that I should have fitted the suspension forks.
TBH if I had a “big bike” I’d end up hurting me self because my talent tends to be overshadowed by a rigid single speed.
Over biked. Over car'd. Over telly'd. Over phone'd.
Because we / they can.
What bike ISN'T over-biked for Glentress? Or are just under-trailed.
It's a toy. For messing about in the woods. Stop over complicating it in your head. No one gives a shit about what bike you ride.
If you can only afford one bike (I know owning a single bike is a strange concept on here), then you might as well get one that can do everything you might want it to. Especially as most enduro bikes pedal really well and (as said above) don’t weigh a lot more than their trail counterparts.
Also who cares what people ride?
Unless you have a bike for every circumstance then you're likely to be either over or under biked at some point. Given most people won't have a bike for every circumstance, they choose one to fit a variety and would rather have too much than too little.
full rigid fat bike here. so i am not.
Are the tyres unnecessarily large though? If you could ride it on the same bike with normal width tyres does that mean you're actually over biked? 🙂
Riding a 100mm xc bike on 2 hour local blasts in the woods is overbiked as well, as you only need that additional pedalling efficiency on long days or xc races. May as well be climbing slower on a trail bike.
Or take a 160mm ebike, and do it in an hour. 😀
Unless you have a bike for every circumstance then you’re likely to be either over or under biked at some point.
I'm fortunate enough to be in that position.
I still ride the wrong bike for the wrong situation on purpose because reasons.
As others have said does anyone really care?
I submit it’s an inverse dick-swinging competition. What, you need FS for this ride?
This. See also "skills compensator" etc.
I don't have much of an eye for full sussers and the latest tech, but I'll spot a nice classic proportioned hardtail from a mile off, singlespeed rigid for extra beauty. Less is definitely more in my eyes, even though some of these handbuilt frames cost more than a mid range susser 🙂
Took my 100mm forked hardtail down the ft William world cup course the first time I was there. Terrifying!
Since then I've been on a 150/150mm, 200/200mm and 160/135mm.
Its still terrifying and still takes me 10min+ on any bike as I don't ride that stuff often
rigid 29+ and yes, im overbiked.
I see all kinds of bikes ridden by all kinds of people in our local woods which have fire roads, cheeky trails and dug out jumps, without exception they are all laughing and giggling from 3 year olds out with Dad to teenagers arsing about and old folks bimbling, nobody seems to give a fyling **** what bike they're on, what sh1t are you trying to stir OP ?
I have a few different bikes, gravel bike, rigid 29er MTB, 140mm hardtail and 170/160 full suss. I can be under or over biked on any of them depending on where I choose to ride them!
Pick an amount of suspension travel and be a dick about it.
Pah! Amateurs… 🤦🏻♂️
Pick several bikes with all differing levels of suspension travel, geometry, one with a motor too etc… Then be a dick about always having the right bike for the occasion.
Only then of course always make sure you’re on the wrong bike so you’ve got a multitude of excuses ready for when you’re the slowest up/down the trail or you’re not nailing that jump that you usually would on one of your other bikes when nobody else is around…
At some point in every ride, on any bike, we will be ‘over biked’. By how much depends on terrain, ability, fitness and conditions.
Over confident, over nervous, over ambitious and over budget are far greater issues.
Under smiled is a bigger problem still.
Never knowingly underbiked
None of my bikes have more than 120mm of travel.
I wouldn't want more and could quite happily drop a little for most of the riding I do.
I think my tyres are burlier than I need, but, whatever...
I certainly am, but on one level it's because I bought frames discounted plus it's a bit of skills compensator.
Road bike, 100mm Modern xc geometry hardtail here. My Fuel ex 9.8 trail bike has been in the roof space the whole year, building it up this week to sell. I'm preferring riding bikes with less at the moment, much more fun, versatile and can travel more ground faster.
Seeing so many people on e-bikes annoy me, not necessarily big travel bikes. I gather you can 'do more runs'. I ultimately see it as a lame excuse not to get fit. Quite a few fat blokes who ride e-bikes could do with dropping a few lbs in the first place. I hate to think how much waste the e-bike industry as well. Rant over.
To answer the op question I think the answers is probably yes but as long as they are enjoying them selves who cares
Most people are over biked at least some of the time.
Who cares?
But if someone being overbiked, underbiked, using an ebike etc annoys you then you need to have a word with yourself, the problem is yours no one elses.
According to some I probably am. 160mm enduro bike, coil shock, dual ply tyres.
It's my one MTB, handles everything great thanks to modern geometry so pedals well, dual ply tyres mean less risk of punctures and suspension is bang on. Funnily enough, have set some of my fastest times on local xc loop on it, so guess it's fine. I'd rather be on a bigger bike with better geo, suspension and tyres than something smaller or more fragile - with a young family time is at a premium so bombproof performance with less risk of mechanicals comes into play too.
180mm superenduro incoming though in Feb to really piss off the "you're overbiked" zealots 😂😂😂
Nikc is of course correct. Essentially it is a toy and we are discussing whether it makes sense to be over-toyed, or under-toyed.
I think there is a legitimate argument to have about the right toy for the right job, mind.
Tyres more important than travel nowadays as an indicator of what is appropriate...
I hate to think how much waste the e-bike industry as well. Rant over.
Most ebikers I know have one bike, maybe some folks should turn the looking glass back on themselves now and again, intead of having so many bikes they need to use the loft.
Undoubtedly in all aspects of cycling. I see the same in motorcycle enduros as well . Pure novices doing absolutely terribly compared with more expereinced riders 40 years ago. Plenty of trail park heroes pottering down blue runs when tougher stuff was ridden in the 80s. Skill (lack of) compensators and nothing more. If thats your choice, well, meh.
It's the same everywhere, roadies on dogmas, folk driving stupid powerful cars, dog walkers dressed in North Face stuff blah blah.
Its not a MTB thing.
I also prefer the olden days when everything was worse.
Lol 😆
: deletes long post:
Essentially,
It’s a toy. For messing about in the woods. Stop over complicating it in your head. No one gives a shit about what bike you ride.
Who cares?! Unless your on an internet....
I think its more the belief that more plush = safety, when it really doesn't.
so you’ve got a multitude of excuses ready for when you’re the slowest up/down the trail or you’re not nailing that jump that you usually would on one of your other bikes when nobody else is around…
No one really cares or even notices you so you don't have to make excuses to anyone.😉
I have never heard of anyone having safety as a priority buying a bike? 😀
What @Nickc said. Some of it is who you ride with. Most of us are on what would be called 'big bikes' and we're riding FoD/Staunton most of the time. But those same bikes go to Finale/Malaga/etc.
There's also something about riding the same bike all the time. Definitely a benefit to serial bike swapping. I find my Rascal (140/130 29er, not stupidly slack) fantastic for round here. But that didn't stop me riding my RipMo and hardtail interchangeably where the mood took me.
And now I bought a Giga. So what do I know 😉
Up until recently if one wanted a bike for riding 'gnarly' trails, geometry dictated that one had to buy a mini-DH, Super-D, Enduro etc type bike, which meant fairly long travel. 'All Mountain' was terrible and resulted in short-shocking, angle-sets, offset bushings etc to get a reasonable head angle.
Only recently are we finally getting bikes with proper slack head angles yet shorter travel. My ideal 'one bike' would probably be 29 front and rear, have 63-64 HA, 150 up front, 120ish in the rear with a coil shock, 480-490 reach, medium length stays and a fairly high rise bar. Then a beefy set of wheels for Park type riding, and a lighter set for longer rides. No idea if such a bike exists though.
Never something I'd heard about til I started using this forum, I do understand the argument that a big, plush bike (I have one) can make trails a bit tame and lacking in challenge, but the fact is that sometimes I want to ride a big, plush bike. I won't be overbiked, I'll be having exactly the experience I wanted.
But it was also a great excuse to buy a hardtail too!
I'll you what though, that bike you describe, with a very progressive kinematic, sounds like a total bomber.
Never something I’d heard about til I started using this forum
Good point - it does seem to be something discussed here more than any other mtb site that I know of. Not sure why, maybe a demographic thing or something?
Hows a 130 trail bike with a shock? I'm tempted might try megneg first!
Loving the comments!
It's a just a fun debate.
I certainly don't care what people think about what travel of bike I'm on. I'm always having a grine on my face
I find people who say:
Nobody needs more than 1 gear/front suspension/rear suspension/dropperposts/<67 head angle/more than 120mm travel
for
riding in the south/trail centres/anywhere in the Uk
Fit in to one of two categories
They either absolutely rip the trails up down and around while ‘under biked’.
Or more commonly, are slow as snailshit but love to poopoo anyone who is faster than them magically because they have bought a more appropriate bike.
There’s more than one way to enjoy a trail, and so there’s more than one ideal bike for any given situation. Ride what makes you happy, and find some friends with a similar outlook.
Didn't feel overbiked today at the Golfie when I was rolling down right side clyde on my back . Ideally i'd like a trail bike but why makes trails harder than they need to be with short travel forks. My local trails are fairly tame so hence the reason I bought a gravel bike.
Good point – it does seem to be something discussed here more than any other mtb site that I know of. Not sure why, maybe a demographic thing or something?
Never been to pinkbike?
Most ebikers I know have one bike, maybe some folks should turn the looking glass back on themselves now and again, intead of having so many bikes they need to use the loft.
Hence why it's going up for sale lol🎣🤡
Nikc is of course correct. Essentially it is a toy and we are discussing whether it makes sense to be over-toyed, or under-toyed.
I'd like to see this argument taken further. Perhaps you could say they're a child's toy or a toy for idiots, for the immature? What do you think? #onlylosersridebikes
Definitely a toy and a fun one
if you race it becomes sports equipment.
Never has bothered me what other people ride , ….as long as I can keep up with those I ride with! I’m still enjoying my 26in wheeled bikes although I do have a 27in full suspension trail bike that I use in summer.
I’m still happily using 10speed too as it works well for me and don’t want to spend ££s for little benefit.
OK lol
You're missing the point
An individual is only over biked if they themselves think they are over biked.
If an individual is happy with their (current) bike and enjoys riding it then they are right-biked. If anyone else thinks said individual is overbiked their opinion has precisely zero relevance.
I ride a G170. So 170mm both ends.
Why, well because sometimes I need 170. The times I don't, sure I'm over-biked, so what? My choice.
I feel safer, secure, happy, whatever in a big travel bike, so that's what I own.
Do I justify it, nah I doubt it. But I try to.
I only have 140mm out front but it’s all I need and I’ve never been disappointed with it’s performance.
Some folk need more 😉
Over biked, nah. Thats what climb switches are far and nothing a bit more psi or a 2nd firmer spring can't fix, and stroke differences on a super deluxe coil are just a spacer under the bottom out bumper after all, 😏
You’re missing the point
Which is?
Dunno about bikes, but this thread is well over-nobeerinthefridged
Pleasure. 😄
I certainly am - but I prefer to think of it as "under-skilled".
If you're happy with your bike and what you feel comfortable riding on it, then does it matter? Why does anyone care what anyone else is riding? So my enduro rig helps me cope with the occasional errant stone on the canal tow path? What difference does that make to anyone else?
Bikes are like dogs - you should get the type that you like best, and neither care what others think nor judge others for their choice. They're all ace.
ETA: Unlike dogs it's perfectly OK to get bored with what you've got and decide to change it 6 months later. Do not do that with dogs.
If you’re happy with your bike and what you feel comfortable riding on it, then does it matter? Why does anyone care what anyone else is riding? So my enduro rig helps me cope with the occasional errant stone on the canal tow path? What difference does that make to anyone else?
That.
A side note, especially on group rides, some might want to session a feature or whatever. Whilst a skilled rider could do it on a rigid ultra light xc singlespeed, there's probably a finite number of times you can do something daft until it breaks.
Unless they're a racer, I reckon very few MTBers ever have the bike/trail relationship 'right' unless they ride the same trails on the same bike every ride.
Riding round my local flatland woods, I'll take whatever bike I fancy that day, and so could be stupidly overbiked (RocketMAX), slightly overbiked (140mm forked Transmitter), or aboutrightbiked (120mm Epic 29er).
Heading up to The Peak for an away day, that relationship changes totally. The RocketMAX is probably still a bit too much, but potentially a better match than the other two options. Someone with better skills than me would possibly be happier on the HT or the XC bike though.
TLDR. Who cares? Ride what you feel happy on, whatever you have, what's cleanest/dirtiest, what's safest, what's fastest, what's not currently broken, whatever...
140/130 trail bike 29er, it's right-biked for me, having tried out more and less before. Tried out more and less before choosing it. I run out of bravery before the bike runs out of capability, which I prefer to the other way round. Don't really pay much attention to other people's bikes on the trails, but I sometimes spot 160mm somethings and wonder where they might be going, what kind of pace they are doing on the way down, or where else they might ride that bike on another day.