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I sometimes wonder if over bikes is confused with undersprung.
This is one key factor - how well the suspension works for the intended use. A long travel bike can work almost as well as a short travel one in pedally trails if it was designed to. The amount of travel is not the definitive limitation in making that work.
A lot of the 'downcountry' bikes that I see, in terms of the basket/trolley analogy, are like having the capacity of a basket, but with the weight and size of a trolley. I think underbiking is much more likely now driven by trends - having too little travel but with otherwise the downsides of a big bike in terms of geo, weight and drag.
I rode a 29er To HT most of the time on local roads and lanes , just think of all that resistance training 💪💪💪
Roadies fly by me like I'm stood still 🙄
I keep promising myself a pair of Gravel Kings to make life easier but I need to wear out the knobblies I've got first 😔😔😔
I think it means that you had a bike that was so big/heavy it sucked the fun out of the ride, such as a DH bike on a flat trail whereas a hardtail or short travel full sus would have been fun.
But in reality it’s usually people being elitist or snobbish.
Run what you have and like. Prior to switching back to a hardtail (for financial and family reasons) I rode pretty much everything on a 170/160 Orange Alpine as it was what I had.
Unless you're doing uplifted riding then a proper XC race bike is probably the fastest bike for any given ride (a bit slower downhill but much faster uphill). However most typical riders would probably feel under-biked on such a bike. So is being over or under biked about speed or fun?
Who cares what OTHER people ride.
All of us presumably as we're using cycling forum!
mansplaining to other men is just as common IME
Are you mansplaining mansplaining here?
I live in the countryside and drive i3, one of the lightest, smallest electric cars which will take 4 people (which happens several times a week) comfortably . I also ride a Spur. I could buy a 4×4 for the two days a year where it’s snowing/flooded or a Sentinal for the one local descent that it might make a difference for, but why? I practice what I preach. 🙂
Delighted for you. It sounds like the perfect choice for you. But probably not for someone else. The same applies to bikes.
It doesn't mean you don't have fun or you're not allowed to do it, it just means you're not on the best tool for the job in hand. It's not gatekeeping, it's simply an observation.
I demo'd a Spec Enduro. Absolutely loved the thing, but I didn't buy it because once the gradient mellowed out it felt dull. It ate up bumps and didn't carry momentum like a smaller travel bike. Too much bike for the majority of my riding therefore being overbiked would be less fun.
Likewise with being underbiked. I'd still ride everything at Dyfi, Revs (rip) etc on my trail bike. But it would be slower, more dangerous and less fun than DH bike. I'd be knackered sooner and do less runs.
I think underbiking is much more likely now driven by trends – having too little travel but with otherwise the downsides of a big bike in terms of geo, weight and drag.
Interesting. I've not tried a 'downcountry' type bike and had pondered if they could live up to the hype. Rare to see anything critical on the current flavour of the month.
@doc1988 - we used to do that but got fed up with trashing all the XC bikes and components because they just weren’t up to being battered over rough trails, jumps and drops better to have a bit mor3 weight and set your suspension up for whichever type of riding you’re doing that day. I mean everyone goes out and buys the top end forks/shocks with 42 different adjusters on them so why not pop a bit more air in for an XC day and add a bit more compression or rebound to suit an XC or DH day?
I love riding short travel bikes and hard tails, but if I could only have one bike to do everything (unlike now where I’m not doing anything more than family and trail centre rides) I’d have more travel rather than less.
Overbiked means that I can ride a red trail without too much walking and enjoy every minute of it rather than struggling round in a state of trepidation with risk of major injury 🙂
I often ride the same trails on my HT as I do my 180mm FS ebike and did on the Capra I had before that.
Enjoyment is similar whichever bike, just ridden slightly differently.
Sometimes you can just overthink things
DP....
It’s mainly people talking shite! Of course there’s probably a better bike for the job sometimes but why would you let it bother you! I think most modern bikes are pretty decent all round except the extreme ends of the spectrum. A random bloke sitting on a bench on the ride home once told me how over biked I was and knee pads were excessive! How the flying F did he know where I been or what I’ve been doing. I bit my lip and carried on 🤣
Delighted for you. It sounds like the perfect choice for you. But probably not for someone else. The same applies to bikes.
I'd imagine that the same is true for a lot of people when it comes to cars AND bikes and possibly even houses. Many people buy a bike or car based around the extreme cases of what they do/think they might do, but then end up with something compromising for the 95%+ of the nominal usecases. That loss of optimality has a cost. Surely, that cost would be better served by being the other way around? 95% optimal, 5% compromised?
My point with the Range Rover was that having an enormous, heavy, 4WD, luxury limo means that in most usecases it's carrying a shed load of gear which makes it compromised in some way to the other usecases. Going off road is messy, why does it have shagpile, double glazing and full leather. Doing 80mph on the motorway with something that has the aerodynamics of a portacabin is expensive. Carrying and using a full 4wd system for something which will possibly never go off road is expensive, etc. In a car, the cost of that is just cost (maybe enjoyment depending on where you sit on driving fun), but on a bike, that's often the other way around, you pay with enjoyment (that sludgy, sappy felling) and a lesser extent cost. Maybe these days, with ebikes, that's also swapping more to the RR side of things where the cost is just cost, not enjoyment.
In both cases, you're paying a price for carrying unused capability based on a possibility of those more extreme cases. We do this in Aerospace for safety and those extreme cases really drive the design and heavily compromise the rest of the operational spectrum.
A random bloke sitting on a bench on the ride home once told me how over biked I was and knee pads were excessive!
Yeah, I've had this a few times over the years. One young bloke who joined us for a ride started criticising some of the boys for wearing elbow pads, and then later having a go at all of us for wearing MTB helmets. He was wearing a skate helmet and cotton tee, the rebel!
I still remember a ride in FoD. One rather large bloke, standing at the side of a climb, told me that I should have bought the carbon version of the bike I was riding. He was sitting on one, sweating profusely and about to have a cardiac. I can't remember whether I replied, but I was still moving and he wasn't, regardless of frame material.
For a year or so, I rode a Trek Scratch. It was bought specifically for a trip to Whistler and was a perfect bike (to me) for that purpose. The rest of it's time spent riding the Surrey Hills, I was definitely over biked. It felt like I was riding an arm chair and made rides a little dull/too easy.
My happy place is around 140mm on the back, 160mm up front, but I enjoy getting a bit twitchy tech. I've not been back to Whistler but plenty of BPW laps with the big bike boys, some burly Alpine riding a couple of summers back, and all but the lumpiest Surrey Hills has to offer (I've kept away from Northern Monkey, not my bag), I'm happy that I'm now justrightbiked.
Oh, and run what you brung. Be happy. And don't believe anyone who tells you what you should be riding. It's your ride!
My current MTB is a 100mm travel (well think its about 20mm at the front currently) 26" wheeled. Its definitely left me under biked at times, but that could be more to do with the Geometry ?
Ive been looking at ebikes and cant understand why they are all predominantly 150mm travel + maybe the extra weight means you get through more travel, or its the aspirational sales thing of more travel = more gnar sales even if it gets used on a canal tow path?
I would love to ride a modern 120mm / 140mm / 150mm / 170mm and see where the sweet spot is for the type of riding I do.
170mm must trade off going uphill and single track, or maybe it doesnt?
I guess back to op, if he uses all 170mm of travel most rides hes not over biked. If hes only half the travel then yes over biked and compromised.
Mmmm, over biked; IMHO it means that you've got a bike that is outwith your skill level to fully utilise at the present time, however if it helps you progress to be a better rider then crack on and you'll soon be justrightbiked as stany says above.
I can highly recommend a 160mm singlespeed 29” hardtail as it allows you to be simultaneously overbiked AND underbiked in almost all situations!
^^^^^^ 😂😂😂
My bike is 170/170, I'm probably "overbiked" 75% of the time.
I value downhill performance so I'm happy to work a bit harder on the uphills.
Where it does suck is flatish undulating terrain but I think that's down to the tyres I run more than anything.
Having one bike is always going to be a compromise, it just depends where your priorities lie. It's nice having a bike that can do a xc ride one day and downhill the next. Is it optimal at either of those things? not really but it's far from terrible.
If you're having fun you're on the right bike.
In my yoof I worked in a Halfords Bikehut, I remember a bloke wanted the heaviest, worst made bike possible (think fake triple clamps and 25kg of steel) for the reason that: It gave him a better workout on the road.
No amount of my trying to persuade him toward a hybrid worked. I'm pretty sure the same bloke came back months later after said terrible purchase and wanted a 56(!) outer ring as well so he could buzz across town. I must have quoted him for a DA TT ring or something for a laugh.
Ebikes tend to have more travel because they’re heavy already so there’s not really any downsides to more travel. You want it less wallowy? Then set it up with less sag.
I totally get longer travel ebikes, the only reason I'd own one is so I could get an many runs as I could without needing an uplift. And the motor compensates for the chunky tyres and extra mass.
A term use by some to judge and pigeon hole you as a individual to a 'norm' and conformity of expectation. Often added is skill compensator or steamroller.
But this post
Oh, and run what you brung. Be happy. And don’t believe anyone who tells you what you should be riding. It’s your ride!
This!
Personally I have ridden 100mm full suspension on a Fred whitton, ridden a full suspension up col de tourmelet, ridden a rigid fat bike downhill ( very slowly) all the time being told I was on the wrong bike by 80% of people, the other 20%got it
What you ride is up to you, I have had significant skeletal issues and sometimes needed a sofa or skillzz compensator to feel.ok riding. So the person out on the road with the 170/160 mm full suspension maybe recovering from something, o only have one bike or is wonderfully and blissfully happy.
Overbiked: When the weight, travel or drag factor of your bike is detrimental to your own enjoyment of the ride you are on.
I think of it thusly:
Too much travel for the terrain.
A bike that massively outperforms the rider.
It means that having ridden Laggan on my old Cube 26" wheeled XC hardtail, and subsequently having built up an Ibis Ripmo AF, which I now ride exclusively (commuting, local blue & reds at Haldon, bridleways etc, plus summer hols in the Cairngorms or Inners, (often pushing up, then riding down), I am over-biked. Am I riding it to its limit? No - I'm a 55 year old with a healthy dose of The Fear after almost breaking my neck in an xc race 10 years ago. Do I care? No. I enjoy riding my bike thanks, if you're offended/concerned, that's your business. Over-biked? No, probably just over-thinking it.
"IMHO it means that you’ve got a bike that is outwith your skill level to fully utilise at the present time,"
Never ever thought of it like that.
"When the weight, travel or drag factor of your bike is detrimental to your own enjoyment of the ride you are on."
This is how I've thought about it.
My two thoughts - Firstly, I'd say it's harder to have a ride ruined by a 'big' bike now than it used to be. I bought a 140/130mm FS in 2022 and have some regrets - On some of the nurdly natural stuff I ride a bit more travel would probably make sections ridable that aren't and I honestly don't think the extra travel would impact my enjoyment of the rest of the ride like it used to. It might just have made the bike a bit more 'will probably tackle the unknown that might be ahead along this mystery path".
Secondly - A lot of folk have bought gravel bikes in the last few years and use them (in part) to ride what they used to use a mtb for. That has to be an example of acknowledging they'd have a bit more fun with a bit less bike.
edit - the site's naused up again inst it? It's doing that thing where the quote tool only appears when you edit and not when you initially post.
‘A bike that massively outperforms the rider’
Pretty much any bike for me, never mind the 200mm DH midlife crisis bike I’m planning.
‘Over bagged?’
My lunch won’t fit in anything smaller.
Not sure what triggered this thought 😉
But overbiked could mean a bike that out-performs the purchaser's wallet.
These days.
A lot of folk have bought gravel bikes in the last few years and use them (in part) to ride what they used to use a mtb for. That has to be an example of acknowledging they’d have a bit more fun with a bit less bike
Or have bought into marketing hype....which could be said about all the bike industry from freeride to enduro, xc to down country. To ebike or not.
Know plenty of riders who bought gravel bikes and do not get on with it.
The types of bikes we ride are driven by marketing, either buying in or rejecting the mainstream see single speed or lovely handcrafted bikes.
As above ride and enjoy whatever your bike of choice is.
Over biked- the bloke commuting, on the flat, on the road, with 3 inch tyres on a norco A line with full marazzochi super monsters 😃
He looked like he was having fun, slowly.
Something like this
I admired his commitment and was tempted to try and buy the bike, mostly for the forks.
"Overbiked" for me = STFU. I dont want to hear such bullshit judgemental opinion on what someone should or shouldnt ride.
Ive got 2 bikes - a steel 650b gravel bike i use for commuting and a custom 180/180 steel enduro bike with dual plies, mullet and almost identical geometry to the Grim Donut. I bloody love riding it, even on the 530am "before the kids are up" 45 min spin from the door which is a loop of road, gravel, singletrack and a few steep steps. When the terrain is flatter, its draggy and harder than the gravel bike or an XC bike, but thats great as it means I get a better workout in the same timeframe.
IMO, overbiked is a derogatory term from someone who thinks they know better.
Sometimes I'll do the school run on my bouncy bike, sometimes I'll ride Dunkeld on my hardtail.
I tend not to jump my road bike as the wheels break 😂, but otherwise I'll ride the bike I feel like on any particular outing.
IMO, overbiked is a derogatory term from someone who thinks they know better.
To honest some of you come across a little thinned skinned. Personally I've mostly heard it used by someone about themselves.
For the past decade I’ve occasionally passed a guy commuting on an old Kona downhill or freeride bike, dual crown forks and all. He wears a full-face too. I don’t think he’s going MTBing on it because it’s suspiciously clean. Not that I can pass judgement, I’ve only got about 40mm less travel on my commuting bike, slacker angles, longer wheelbase, etc etc.
A lot of folk have bought gravel bikes in the last few years and use them (in part) to ride what they used to use a mtb for. That has to be an example of acknowledging they’d have a bit more fun with a bit less bike.
Yeah, I had sort of assumed that the whole "Over/under-bike" thing was more of an MTB trope.
But Gravel bikes manage to be simultaneously "under" and "over" often in a single ride; being a bit 'under' off-road, and a bit 'over' and less efficient (than a road bike) on tarmac. Yet that can make it them the perfect machine for a certain sort of riding.
Back to MTBs, I do find myself looking at the latest Epic 8 and start thinking is that more like the sort of FS bike I want. Something a little more on the "under" side travel and weight wise, but with more modern trail geometry and thus handling that encourages you to get a wee bit out of the bikes depth, but also an efficient pedaller compares to trail bikes like my current stumpy? Isy the current marketing spiel "down-country"? I just don't like it, but I think it's what would suit me.
I certainly don't feel a burning desire for a bike with more than about 5" of rear wheel travel any more, where younger me wanted all the suspension I could afford, but never really had the talent or bravery to make good use of it TBH.
To honest some of you come across a little thinned skinned. Personally I’ve mostly heard it used by someone about themselves.
I'm a prick vs. You're a prick.
“Those who say overbiked do you also say overcar’d, overvanned, overphoned, etc?”
No. It’s only used in to refer to hobby equipment. See also, all the gear and no idea. It’s mainly used by people who are jealous of the things you have and use the phrase to judge you negatively.
But what it actually means to me is that you’d enjoy the trail you’re currently riding on a bike had less suspension and weight.
That said, if you only have one bike you’ll likely find yourself over biked at times and under biked at other times. Though under biking is for trail heroes!
It would be great to have a whole range of bikes to chose from so that you never have to suffer the indignity of these situations.
It's like the perpetual 24hr radio phone-in topics (LBC, Talk Radio, etc) without the benefit of Keeping journalists/presenters from the chattering classes in jobs.
” It’s like the perpetual 24hr radio phone-in topics (LBC, Talk Radio, etc) without the benefit of Keeping journalists/presenters from the chattering classes in jobs.”
Are you sure it doesn’t keep them in jobs?