Mountain biking is a massively broad activity. Back roads and back flips. No bike does it all well.
i've been both. And i prefer being under-biked. With that in mind, i have moved on my Chisel FS, will be moving on my Madonna and picking up something like a Tallboy or Optic as a one bike to do it all, which will make me underbiked at times. But i am happy with that. I had the previous gen Norco Optic and did the megavalanche on it, Ard Rock, BPW, then trail rides and xc missions.
For most of my off-road riding, the base-line is 'gravel bike'.
So yes, when I take my 29er out with 100mm forks and 2.25" tyres, I'm 'over-biked'. And yes, it's enabling me to do much longer days in more comfort. So I'm now on the side of over-biking 😎
I'm overbiked, and I do care a bit, because I'm dragging the overbikedness around (and up...) stuff which makes the ride a bit of a, well, drag, at times.
It's not like I'm on some massive Gnaarpoon (are they still a thing?), I'm on a Sonder Signal hardtail, but it's still built to be capable/fast on stuff that I'm not particularly capable on or am that interested in going fast down. It is a bit of a lump.
It's my fault, I bought it, but in hindsight I should have bought something less 'hardcore hardtail' and more 'XC', although at the time (2022) the XC stuff was still a bit short and steep, it's only in the past couple of years that the seem to have slackened a bit.
It's my fault, I bought it, but in hindsight I should have bought something less 'hardcore hardtail' and more 'XC', although at the time (2022) the XC stuff was still a bit short and steep, it's only in the past couple of years that the seem to have slackened a bit.
Massive tangent but I believe 'short and steep' is still relevant and good in places, my Superfly is positively archaic in it's geo, but it feels brilliant on faster smoother stuff and is transplanting my gravel bike for a lot of things. I don't think a slacker head angle would help with this at all.
For me... I can't be "overbiked" when it comes to forks and front tyres.... I can easily feel "overbiked" when it comes to rear suspension and rear tyres. Looking forward to the email...
Normal bike - most of the time probably (160mm/170mm)
Last e-bike - yes for travel (180mm/170mm with a 65mm stroke shock, 170mm/170mm with 62.5mm shock), no for power (35Nm, 250W)
Current e-bike - probably OK for travel (150mm/170mm), absolutely for power (130Nm, 1300W), but I've turned it down since the initial excitement of having the zoomies
I ride the same trails on - 160/140 FS, 150mm aggro HT, 160/160 ebike, 180/180 ebike. They all feel fine, I tend not to overthink it, but I've always erred towards the overbiked end of things I suppose.
I did feel like I was on the wrong bike recently though - out on the 180/180 28kg Kenevo the other week with the rest of the lads on exercise bikes - I was actually struggling to keep up in places
When on my Gravel and Hardtail = Underbiked mostly but enjoy it (my lower back may differ)
On the E Enduro = Overbiked, Massively. It overcompensates for my lack of climbing speed and with 170mm of travel soaks up the chunk like a magic carpet. But I don't care as its simply for fun.
eMTB: Depends on the trail/location I'm riding... some I'm over, some I'm under and some I'm just right. Always happy though.
Gravel: Pretty much always underbiked, as it should be.
I'm on a 150/160mm full sus or 130mm hardtail. If I'm on the full sus I'm pretty much on the right type of bike 95% of the time, if I'm on the hardtail I'm probably under biked half the time. I don't care either way as I'm out riding!
Varies on every ride. only when riding the xc fs have I considered myself underbiked. Even then it was still fun. Sometimes having too much travel takes the fun out of things.
But ultimately I don't really care, it is all riding and is good to let you reset your thinking occasionally
Both depending on which bike I ride and where I ride it. I don't really care because I can get off if underbiked and work harder if overbiked.
Most of the time when I'm on my Cube Stereo I feel over biked. I think I just prefer my hardtail. The Cube is much more capable than I am and I'm more wary of getting out of my depth on it. I had a go on my son's Spectral CF8 and I really liked how it felt, capable without feeling to safe but I still had the feeling of, "I could get into some bother on this".
I ride everything from bridelways to bikeparks.
I build bikes that look cool and are fun to ride.
I always felt quite fit compared to my riding gang (like, at least on par) but a bit lacking in technical skill, so I preferred to be overbiked as a hopeful skill-compensator to bail me out of trouble and just deal with having to drag it up hills and so on.
Now a few years on I'm feeling a bit less fit generally and wondering if I ought to rethink this, but then I'd have to buy a new bike.
For most of my riding, I'm overbiked. Would I like something shorter travel for local XC trails or weapon of an Enduro bike for the handful of trips to bike parks/UK enduro/Alps trip every other year? Sure! But I based my buying decisions on the way the bikes made me feel, rather than what would be best for me... after all, this is supposed to be fun for YOU, right?
FWIW - current stable is...
Santa Cruz Bronson (160/150)
Santa Cruz Vala (160/150, full fat eMTB)
Ragley Mmmbop (probably the perfect bike for most of my riding but is subjected to winter hack and nursery run duties)...
The biggest revelation to me has been how much difference tyres make to the feel and capability of a bike.
In general, on most things outside of bike parks in the UK and the Alps, my 140mm Ragley Marley is more fun than my Stumpjumper Evo (150/160mm). However once it reaches it's limits, the Stumpjumper Evo is more fun, less knackering, able to go faster, more confidence inspiring.
Having ridden the Peak District on both a gravel bike and a 160mm Enduro bike, both.
Do I care? Nope, just an old bloke playing about on bicycles, it really doesn't matter
I do both.
Either I am on my fully rigid steel 29er on rooty technical trails, or on my 160mm e-bike commuting to work on gravel and asphalt 🙂
Probably underbiked but also in ignorant bliss. I ride a 10 year old £600 Voodoo Bizango. I've never ridden anything more expensive and at nearly 40 years old I've never even ridden a full sus so I don't know what I'm missing out on (and I like to keep it that way otherwise I will be yearning for more expensive things). To be honest, I don't ride anything like often enough to warrant anything fancier.
On the gravel bike I'm under-biked on the odd technical trail I come across but they're infrequent enough to be a nice challenge when they appear. On the MTB (140/120mm FS) I generally only use it at trail centres on Blues & Reds so it usually right-biked but sometimes dips into over and under biked depending on the actual trail (or section of it).
I never used to particularly enjoy riding a HT on technical Blues and Reds as it just felt like survival rather than enjoyment most of the time, I get why it's appealing to some people though, especially those with decent skills.
I have 2 mountain bikes. A YT Capra 165/170 and a Scott Scale 27.5 XC hardtail.
I cannot remember the last time that I rode the hardtail.
On Sunday I rode at AE Forest on the Capra, fitted with a set of grippy tyres and inserts. Probably about the right bike.
Today I'm gonna be riding canal towpaths with couple of pub stops and I'll be riding the Capra again. This time with faster rolling tyres. Massively overbiked, but it works because of the wheel change.
In the past I've ridden a 140/150mm bike that I would class as underbiked and although it was engaging it was also very tiring, I felt beat up all the time.
In summary, overbiked works better for me, but it's all in the tyres.
Mostly neither as I select the "right" bike for the route. If anything I'm more likely to enjoy being underbiked as that brings a bit more of a challenge without the requirement for excess speed/risk.
I only have one bike and I’m probably overbiked a fair bit and only really feel underbiked on pretty serious downhill stuff. It can be a bit of slog at times especially on flattish undulating stuff but I don’t mind.
I am about right I think.
I don't ride such steep stuff anymore. I have never been a big jumper. My skills and bottle is the limiting factor on how fast I go on rough stuff - always has been.
A modern 29er, on modern 2.4 tyres, with decent damping is all the shizzles and basically means my 130/120mm bike is equivalent of older 150/160mm bike IMO from a capability point of view.
I ride local natural stuff and some trail centres, so Orange Stage Evo is just what I need.
"To be “underbiked” is to be on a short travel sub-14kg bike and attempting to navigate significantly rough and/or steep terrain.
To be “overbiked” is to be a long travel over-16kg bike whilst pootling around smooth and/or shallow terrain."
So is the point of this, that everyone should ride a bike that weights between 14.0 & 16.0 Kg?
Definitely overbiked with seven of the effing things in the garage + two tandems + four motorbikes, God know why as I can only ride one at a time.
Edit - by this measure I suspect I'm underwifed though.
I used to be overbiked but 've gone back to an xc bike (chisel fs 110/130mm) as anything else feels too slow compared to the emtb.
It doesn't make a huge difference though, on group rides theres everything from rigid singlespeeds to 170mm enduro bikes and everyone rides the same stuff at a similar pace.
If it's not too much climbing then I'm on the 26"-single-speed-rigid-no-dropper.
It (or rather I) can cope with the FoD stuff and a fair bit of natural Cotswold stuff, but for the big hills I need gears, so the Ti456 comes out.
When I look around at others, I feel under biked even on the 456, but when no one else is around then either bike is perfect for that moment, so I guess I'm in the 'don't care' camp.
I should add that although I ride the trails, it ain't quick, but it is fun.
Think I've finally got it about spot on with a 120mm XC FS, 150mm trail bike and 130mm HT?
The trail bike can cope with everything I have the skill to throw at it and the XC is as quick as my old gravel bike at the other end of the scale. At the XC's limit the trail is also capable so they overlap well. HT fits somewhere in the middle.
I happily have just the one bike, it is perfect for most of what I ride, but I might sometimes be over biked, sometimes under biked, but always happy to just be on the bike (and even happier at service intervals to have just one).
James
I dont know if Im under or overbiked. I just pick one of the 2 options I have and go ride it.
I only have older bikes, non of which have more than 100mm. I guess I might be under biked but I don’t really care.
Unless you are on a 100% fire road gravel ride, or doing lift served downhill; at some point on the ride you will be either under or over biked.
All depends on where your skills and interests lie. Just like the fabled one bike to do it all - you need to define what you want, and your answer will be different to everyone else’s.
Because I can only afford 2 bikes I’ve just got a 140mm full suss and a 140mm hardtail. As others have said, that means in the UK you can be over or under biked but I find that kind of capability gives a broad spread. I’ve ridden bike parks on the full suss and it’s been good - obviously a bigger bike would be better there but not to the point it’s worth owning a 170mm bike for the number of park days I do. I’ve done 25 plus miles xc rides on the hardtail and it was good - obviously an xc bike would be better there, but I’m not racing so it doesn’t matter. Everything else falls in the middle and my two are great at that!
Think I've got the sweet spot personally. 150/140mm trail full suss (privateer 141) and a Ragley Bigwig with 150 forks is spot on the local Calderdale tech with the odd enduro/bike park/Scotland trip thrown in. Though TBH it doesn't matter just ride what you want!
I have a 140mm hardtail and a 160mm full suss that cover most of my needs. The full suss gets is ok for occasional races and bike parks, though for the latter you could argue that a DH bike would be better, though I’m not bothered because it wouldn’t be good value. The hardtail gets most use for trails. Mostly I run fast rolling tyres on that in summer, but I do have a second wheelset with chunkier tyres I can swap in if needed, which is cheaper than having another bike, plus we’re short on space for any more bikes.
