Mountain Bikes Buying Guide

by: Alastair Hamilton

How to choose a mountain bike depends on what you are going to do with it, if all you want your new mountain bike for is going for a nice leisurely ride on the canal path or a ride in the woods with the dog, well you wont need a full suspension downhill machine with 4 inch travel on the forks and a fully articulated rear end with damping and rebound control.

+ Where to Start From.

If you do want to go for an easy ride in the park you don’t need to spend too much, if you think you will do any off-road riding then big tread tires maybe all you need, but if you think you might try some rough stuff then you will need suspension. Gears will probably be Shimano, brakes must be V-brakes, but could be made by a few different manufacturers, all the rest of the MTB components will depend on how much you can spend. If you go to your local bike shop or big sports store and see what they’ve got to offer, then buy it or have look on the Internet and maybe you’ll find the same thing at a better price.

+ The Next Step Up.

So maybe you want to be a bit more adventurous, more off-road, more forest tracks and dry boulder river beds, then you’ll need something a little lighter, with suspension forks. All this will cost you more money, but will be worth it for the extra enjoyment and adventure. With a better mountain bike it will have a sportier handling and because it is lighter, it will be easier to struggle up the hills before you come flying down the other side. The components will again be Shimano and the quality will depend on how much money you can spend. V-brakes and Rapid-fire gear shifters, along with Shimano chain set, bottom bracket and headset. Handle bars, stem and seat pin should be alloy and along with a comfortable saddle you’ll be set to take to the hills.

+ More Money, More Bike.

The next rung up on the mountain bike ladder would be good enough to race on. There are many to choose from, get on the net and surf the bike manufacturers sites and all the shop sites along with the magazines for juicy photos of the bikes. The top manufacturers in this price range, I would say are: - Trek, Giant, Specialized and Cannondale, these companies make the nicest frames with the best mountain bike parts available at the price, gears will be either Shimano or SRAM, brakes could be V-brakes or cable disc brakes, both are very good and light, most of the other MTB parts, of course will be Shimano and as usual get the best you can afford. There are many combinations of hubs and rims to make up your wheels; hubs from Shimano and rims form Mavic are the usual mix. Then you have to choose which suspension forks to put on you bike, you may not get a choice, depending on which bike you buy, the main ones are Suntour, Marzocchi, Manitou, Fox, RockShox and RST, buy any of these and you wont go far wrong.

+ Top Bikes…. Top Money.

If you want what the professionals ride you will have to pay a lot of money a professional MTB. As with road bike at the top of the range, you can specify what you want to build up your dream bike. Top bikes frames to spend your money on could be Klien, Scott, Rocky Mountain, Gary Fisher, Santa Cruz and K2; these are some of the most sought after bike frames in the world and would be the envy of your friends. Probably the best forks to put on your frame would be RockShox SID’s these are light and do all the things you need with control of all functions, there are many other to also to consider, look at how much travel they have and the rebound and damping systems. Gears again will be either SRAM or Shimano Rapid fire, XT or XTR, more money could be spent on carbon or very light alloy cranks, the brakes should be hydraulic discs from Hayes, Pace or Magura or stick to the trusted V-bakes. Wheels from Shimano or Mavic or some fancy carbon wheels, but remember they will have to take a lot of punishment, so maybe better to go for reliability over light weight expense. Carbon handle bars, stem and seat pin and a light weight race saddle and Time or Shimano SPD clipless pedals, then your choice of tires will depend on what terrain and ground conditions you are going to ride on.

+ And Downhilling?

Downhill bikes are very different, more like a cross country motor bike, but without the engine, low center of gravity and a lot of travel on the suspension on the forks and the rear end, disc brakes, wide rims and fat tires, gears are only at the back as usually a single chain set is used. Unless your going to do a lot of downhill racing then there isn’t much point in buying one as you have to get up the hill first before you can come down and as light weight is not an issue with downhill bikes, they are very heavy to get up hill with out the use of a tow rope or a ski lift.

Kenneth Kelzer: Mountain biking a poor fit for a school sport

THE DEBATE and furor over mountain biking has come to a boil in Marin for many reasons. The conflict also has been building for years.

I am a 35-year resident and my wife and I hike on Marin trails almost every weekend. I ride a mountain bike three to four times a week for my aerobic exercise, but I ride only on paved streets and designated fire roads.

The letters and Marin Voice articles in the April 2 IJ should be a cause for alarm for all who love the beautiful open spaces of Marin. I am concerned when I read the following: that mountain biking has become a sport sponsored in our high schools; that almost all nine high schools in Marin have mountain bike teams; that the members of these teams are using public open space as practice grounds for their sport; that the spokespersons for these teams use the word "training" and do not use the word "competitive" in describing their activities; and that they are calling for the county Open Space District to provide additional trails for their sport.

All of these factors, together with the trail damage that adult bikers already have done, can only spell disaster for the beauty of our public lands in the long run. If this trend and attitude of entitlement is allowed to spread, it is only a matter of time before the trails and hillsides of Marin are scarred and violated even further than they are. Teen users are among the most courteous bikers on the trails, but what about the other bikers, including out-of-towners, who consistently abuse the trails?

We need to be realistic. We need to foresee what will happen if we allow this destructive combination of mixing competitive bike racing with public lands. We cannot allow it to continue.
I urge officials in all our public schools to eliminate mountain biking as a school-sponsored sport. They instead should promote activities that teach youth to tread lightly upon the earth and give it the respect it deserves.

In his April 2 letter, Dan Freeman, director of the Drake High mountain bike team, wrote that the "team's purpose is the safe, courteous and legal use of trails."

That is an inherent contradiction. If that is their purpose, why form a "team"? And why form a Norcal league with other schools who have "teams"? Teams compete. Competition stirs up adrenalin, which inevitably leads people to racing down trails as fast as they can to "win." Implicit in his thinking is the assumption that all this should be done on public lands. We absolutely should not, and cannot, allow this to happen.

Competitive mountain biking can be compared to race car driving. In a civilized world, we allow auto racing only on private property and on designated race tracks.

I began to hike the trails of Marin before the mountain bike existed. I know that over the past 20 years, many single-track trails and fire roads have been seriously eroded by bikes. The time has come for Marin residents who care about the environment to form a strong coalition to stop this destruction of public property. We need a coalition of hikers, equestrians, joggers, environmental leaders and public officials to put a stop to the destruction.

How to gain control over a situation that has gotten out of control is the big question. Marin supervisors should pass an ordinance that would fine illegal users of trails a minimum of $1,000 for the first offense, plus confiscation of their mountain bikes. That is a stiff penalty, but the situation is that serious.

"Access for all" is fine in theory. But it has not worked in the past and it will not work in the future. Mountain biking has become an adrenaline sport for many.

Idealistic talk about "compromise" and "working together" will not protect our public lands. Certain activities cannot be reconciled with one another.

The issue is not just that bikers and hikers don't mix. Mountain biking and protecting the environment do not mix, because biking cannot be supervised in the open spaces. And many bikers, with their bullying, aggressive and roughriding mentality, are incapable of supervising themselves. It is unfortunate that the destructive behavior of some bikers (I estimate about 40 percent) has ruined mountain biking for responsible bikers.

If our officials will not act to protect our land, then the citizen coalition that I propose, should, if necessary, bring a lawsuit against the Marin Open Space District. If successful, this would force the district to be in compliance with its own stated purpose and highest priority: the protection of our public land.

Kenneth Kelzer is a Novato resident.

Major Bicycle Parts

by: Alastair Hamilton

Bicycle is one of the oldest vehicles used by man. It consists of a light casing built over two wheels (one following the other, with each of them being pierced with wire), a seat, handlebars (which are counterpart of steering wheel), brakes, and a couple of pedals or a small motor to propel the bicycle. To know and learn about a bicycle, one needs to understand the basic bicycle parts as they work in combination.

Brake – They are used to speed down the bicycle. They can be controlled by brake levers that are mounted on the handlebars (as is the case with disc brakes and rim brakes) or they can be functioned by backward pedaling (as is the case with coaster brakes).

Handlebar – This is the part where a rider places his hands to provide balance to the bike. It can be straight, cylindrical or curved. It has a handle at each end, each of which is fitted with grips to provide firm hold of the bar. It also helps in steering the bike by providing the necessary leverage. Latest handlebars also enable the biker to change body stance during a long ride.

Chain – It provides the propelling action in the bike by transferring power from the pedals to the wheels. Chains have increased biker safety by allowing the manufacturers to cut down on the wheel size. Recently, breakthroughs have been made to have chains that could provide gearing mechanism to the bikes. In order to achieve good speed, one needs to lubricate bicycle chain from time to time, or else they get rusted.

Wheel – Bicycles ride on wheels. The wheel pair consists of an outer rim that is connected to the central focal point using spokes. A nut is used to tighten the spokes at both ends.

Tire – It covers the outer circumference of the bicycle wheel and is inflated with air. Because of its shape (usually circular) and air filled inside, it allows the bike to sail. Right amount of air needs to be filled inside the tire so that it provides optimum friction to the ground, thereby transmitting maximum speed from the pedal to the wheel.

In order to buy and maintain a good bicycle, a person needs to understand what each bicycle part does. Although they might seem trivial when seen separately, but when running in combination, they produce a thrill and experience, one cannot afford to miss.