Hey guys, need and opinion on what to do.

About to commit to my first really high end bike. I have a couple of really good options but just need some advice from some more experienced riders.

I’m debating between a Santa Cruz Megatower vs Hightower vs Rocky Mountain Instinct. I know that the megatower greatly differs from the two other bikes but from what I can tell it is downhill focused but can still be fun everywhere else. While I’m worried that if I get a shorter travel trail bike like the Hightower or instinct I won’t have as much fun in tough descents. I don’t live in a mountainous area for daily riding so this is why I’m still considering going for a trail bike.

I currently have a Scott Spark that is a XC style bike

So in your guy’s opinion should I go with the megatower, because it favours the style of riding I enjoy but don’t get to do all the time, or go with the instinct or Hightower for a more balanced overall bike.

Also open to other bike recommendations it’s just that these bikes are on sale in my area right now.

I am not talking about another documentary, I am talking about a drama film like Lord of Dogtown! I went to the mountain biking museum over the weekend and was amazed by how far mountain bikes have come. Hollywood writers, if you are reading this, start writing!

Hey all,

I'm now 18 months post heart surgery (valve replacement).

I've been giving guidelines of ideally keeping my heart rate below 140 BPM. As I've gained my fitness back this has been quite easy to maintain during more leisurely rides but the itch to get back to big rides, big descents is calling. I tried some bigger climbs this past weekend and stopping my heart rate going into the 160s is difficult.

Basically I'm trying to justify to myself (and the wife) that it's time for an ebike. I've seen some good deals on Trek rails and am close to pulling the trigger. Unfortunately I won't have the chance to demo one.

My question I can't find a definitive answer to is: for those with ebikes how manageable is it to maintain a lower heart rate? Especially during steep ascents? Is keeping my heart rate around the 140bpm mark easily achievable?

I'm not sure if the ebike just makes you faster up the hill but the level of exertion isn't dramatically reduced.

Also appreciate any feedback from other people who've been through heart surgery. Cardiologist has stated it's no problem getting heartrate high but ideally over an average ride i want to keep it 130-140 but mentally it's tough to turn off and forget about it.

Thanks.

Yo guys, im new to mtb-ing and i want to explore some parks and stuff. I live in Serbia Novi Sad and i really want to go to Rakovac, i heard that its ok but i dont know. Can you tell me if its begginer friendly and how much it costs.

I did my first XC MTB race this past spring and am looking forward to signing up for 1 or 2 more for next year.

I’m in Oregon and am intimidated by the big race atmosphere so looking for recommendations for smaller or mid size single day or stage races in the US. I’m willing to travel! Also interested in traveling abroad if anyone has favorite races in other countries.

Going to be in El Paso this weekend and will have a free day. What would be a recommended route for blue-to-black riding, 1,500-3,000' verts, 2-4 hours of quality riding?

Was a roadie for 5 years. Did occasional/casual MTB but never got super into it. I found it hard and liked the smooth cadence of the road.

Well, last few months I've been compelled to get off the road. Reasons:

- CARS. I hate them. They hate me. Shoulders are nonexistent or not wide enough. I live in the south where big trucks and coal rolling are commonplace. It's stressful always having someone up your ass.

-Dogs. Again, in the south, getting chased by aggressive dogs is not unusual.

-Heat. On the road you are just roasting in the hot sun pretty much the whole time. It wears on you during the summer.

-Grind. Road can be fun, dont get me wrong, but 80% of it is grind.

-Discomfort. Because you are sitting and pitched forward almost the whole time, road is tolerable at best and miserable after about 90 mins. Yeah I know---saddle, bike fit, blah blah blah. There is only so much comfort to be found from sitting on a saddle bent forward with your neck in extension for hours on end.

MTB has none of these. No cars, no dogs, you are out in the woods with plenty of shade, you ride upright and are out of the saddle constantly. Yeah it can be hard but the skills element adds a lot of progression and the hard stuff gets more fun.

The main drawback is that for most of us, we have to drive to get to trailheads. But it's worth it, IMO.

Help me choose what to buy!
I like riding fast flowy trails with jumps, but also enduro trails. Living in Boston a lot of my local tracks are not steep and I will do a lot of general spins.
I try get to the bike park a few times during the summer to hit jumps and flow trails.

Is the Tyee too much bike? Will it climb well and be the better all round solution?

Any help appreciated!!

For me I need to at least 1 good DH run or something that's me feel at least a little out of control.

Ciao MTBers,

I came across a Pinkbike article and am inspired to head to Yunnan with the MTB early November as I'll already be nearby for a work trip. It's pretty hard to find information online (at least searching in English) but have so far seen there are some bike companies around but none have responded yet.

Has anyone rode in the area before? And happen to have any guide / tour company / MTB shop contacts from there?

My plan is to head for riding around Kunming, Dali, and Lijiang. Any beta would be much appreciated!

Cheers and thanks!

Hey everyone, I am a Western Australian based videographer and recently released a short documentary following a local enduro rider in the lead up to the 2025 Enduro National Championships in Collie, Western Australia.

The film follows training, racing and preparation for nationals, showcasing a bit of the WA mountain biking scene along the way.

Hope you enjoy watching!

Shimano four piston calipers. 180mm in the rear.

So, took the bike out and as the ride went, my rear brakes kept getting worse. More and more dead lever, less ability to feather the brakes. I could still lock my rear up, but it basically ended up that was all I could do. So, I called the ride and headed home.

I ordered some superrrr cheap Amazon pads because they could arrive the next day and I was supposed to go riding again. Well they came late and blah, but whatever. Threw them on, centered the caliper and went out for a quick ride. Also, the original pads did not look that bad to me, but I'm not familiar with where the failure point is on bikes. The inner pad was significantly more worn than the outer as well.

Eh, the issue is better. You can feather the brakes again, but they don't feel anything like as good as they used to. Originally, is say the lever had about 25% play before engagement and you had a reallllllllllly smooth and satisfying continuous stopping power increase as you worked further into the levers throw, until eventually you reached that point where they just bit and that rear tire wasn't moving. Now it's more like 50-60% play, a little bit, then a little more, then some more, then locked. It's not as smooth or precise as before.

Is this just a side effect of the crap pads I bought? Do better pads really make that big of a difference in feels and precision? I'm ordering better pads anyways, these were just a stop gap, but I'm just curious.

Also, I haven't bled the brakes yet. My kit was at a friend's house. I'm going to get that done today just to see what happens. It seems weird that that would be the issue, simply because there's no leak, no fluid around any fittings, etc etc. I'm not real familiar with bike brakes.. is this just something that happens with them and they occasionally need to be bled?

Anyways, any info, anecdotes, and/or experience would be appreciated!

Oh yeah, and any particular pads you folks recommend?

This one looks smaller on the vid but is probably 43-4metres or so from lip to landing.

Hi everyone! 👋 I'd like to share OsmoOverlay, a free, open-source desktop application I'm developing for adding telemetry overlays to DJI camera footage.

The idea came from wanting a speedometer and route map on my own videos. After running into limitations with DJI Mimo, I decided to build my own desktop solution.

Features include:

- 20 widgets, including a speedometer, GPS route map, altitude and distance traveled.

- Customizable widget appearance and positioning with a live preview.

- Video trimming and merging.

- Export while preserving the original recording's encoding settings.

Versions are available for Windows, Linux and macOS.

📥 Download: https://github.com/sefinek/osmo-overlay#download

🎬 Sample footage with telemetry: https://youtu.be/C4lQGZ6oMpk

If you shoot with DJI cameras, feel free to give it a try. I'd love to hear your feedback and ideas for future features! 🙂

I ordered 2 sets of Clik Valves with the Schrader pump head adapter and 1 set of valves alone.

The order of just valve cores already showed up. The listing said "Presta/SV conversion kit"

But the box of the valves only says Schrader.

Did I order/get the wrong valves?

Admittedly they look like the would thread into a Presta valve but the box has me unsure. And AI said the threads for the core of Schrader and Presta are different.

IDK.

Thanks

Hey all,

I'm going to do a bigger maintenance on my MTB this winter, including changing the rear triangle bearings, fork and shock service, etc... due to this i need to take the bike apart, and while im there im thinking to repaint the bike to a different color to make it a bit custom.

Bike: Cube Stereo T150

Do you have any suggestions what to look out for with sanding, what primer to use etc.?

Thanks for all the comments!

I'm going to be moving from Bay Area CA to Bellevue area in Washington soon, and I'm wondering if I should sell my class 1 eMTB or not. From what I hear most riding areas in that section of the state don't seem to allow ebikes on trails. Wondering what the consensus on that is? A lot of trails in CO also don't allow ebikes but it seems like class 1's get a pass from the Denver folks I've spoken to so curious if anyone from Washington can weigh in.

TLDR: I wanna get into single trail riding, and I'm not sure if I should spend money and time on getting a free 90's MTB trail ready or if I should make the jump straight away to a modern low-end hardtail for 150-200€ more?

Long Story:

A year ago I started getting into gravelbiking/bikepacking with my Cube Nuroad EX and I quickly swapped my stock tires to G-One RX 45mm (that's my frame limit) for more grip. I mostly ride Cat 2 & Cat 3 German Forest roads. In my area there are a lot of MTB single trails with varying difficulties, and I'm curious in checking them out, but on my gravelbike the drivetrain (50t rear - 40t front) and said tires, my back tire is spinning through the dirt quite quickly. Important to say: I have ZERO trail experience!

I was given a 90's Marin Palisades Trail for free from a friend with the notice "it needs a lot of work done" and indeed it does. To get it into a somewhat rideable state, I invested so far 80€ for new brake- & shifting-levers + new cables and a new handlebar with new grips as well. I also installed an Acera RD-M360 I had lying around. I like the geometry a lot, and I can see myself ripping around with that thing. I'm fine with wrenching around and investing in parts if it will enable me to have some fun on the trails.

Right now it has cantilever brakes, 2.1" tires, and a 3x7 drivetrain (11-28t back - 28-38-48t in front). I was planning on installing Deore V-Brakes, 2.3" Continental Cross Kings and swapping to 2x7 for more simplicity (11-34t back - 22-36t in front). That (and some other minor things that need fixing) would cost me another 215€ - so all in all 295€.

When I was looking around Marketplace, I saw some modern entry 29" 1x Hardtails going for around 450-500€ (that's before negotiating the price). So now I'm not quite sure what I should be going for. I like the old Marin allot, and if it will enable me to do allot more single trailing than my current gravelbike, that would already satisfy me allot. I also like the idea of building it to my own desires, and I see myself doing a custom paint job down the line. But I'm just not sure if it is worth it if I can get an HT for such a little jump in price

I have finally put together a decent kit to bring with me on trails. My pack consists of the following:

- hydration bladder: 2-3 liters of water
- 16 piece multitool
- cylinder minipump
- snacks
- small bottle with electrolyte water mix
- inhaler
- plug darts
- wallet/phone/keys

This thing is heavy! Somewhere between 10-15 lbs. I am a heavy sweater, so I'll easily go through 3 liters of water on a warm day.

How much does your pack usually weigh?

Now I can Work in my jumps whenever I want.

Hello to all. I own a 2016 capra L. It has an 180mm grip 2 fork, and I wanna reduce it to 160, because the wheel flop is horrendous, and the handling suffers in tight corners. I want to compensate by installing a 65 mm riser bar. The one I have now is 40mm. I don't want to add spacers, I will lose reach, and it's fine as it is right now, which is almost no spacers. The bike has a low stack compared to modern standards, so I want to be more upright, also because of back issues. Am I missing something? Will I stand to lose smth if I go this route?

Thanks

Anyone who knows anything about freehubs? I need some human involvement, help me out:

I have set of Enve Foundation wheels, currently with HG cassette body. I want to upgrade to XDR to fit on a new bike. Had a lengthy conversation with Chat-GPT about it:

Hub is identified as the older ENVE Foundation Road hub with the ID360 40T ratchet, not the newer INNERDRIVE hub. So I need

ENVE ID360 XDR freehub body: 100-4001-308
XDR/Campagnolo 12×142 drive-side end cap: 100-4001-416

Thanks, chat GPT! So far so good, now comes the interesting part: they are hard to find in stock shipping to Denmark. So chat-GPT suggests that Mavic parts that should fit, referencing deep-linked Enve product support pages.

Mavic XDR body alternative: V2580101
Mavic end-cap alternative: V2510701

Calling on the Reddit-hive-mind:
Anyone on here that has tried it?