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Being a Moto guy I was a non believer in going tubeless on my mountain bike. My buddies all tried to convince me how much better my bike would handle and how few flats I would get. After about 6 months I finally pinch flat a tube and went tubeless. All I can say is don’t wait. Bike handles much better and I haven’t got a flat in over two years.
I go back and forth on tubeless and honestly can't tell a difference, would be interesting to have the same model bike and do a side by side comparison.
I can instantly tell the difference of tubeless, next time flip your bike upside down, spin the wheel and stop it with your hand by grabbing the tire. Tubeless will stop instantly with no effort, with tubes it will want to rip your hand off.
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Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
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The seats with the middle cutout and a level or slightly downward tilt on the saddle help the taint area a lot. The next is a saddle that's the correct width of your seat bones (pelvis), you can go to a good bike shop and get sized for the right saddle. Then proper positioning on the bike, saddles can move forward/rearward and it helps keep you sitting on the proper part of the seat. This can also be set by a good bike shop.
Big pads on the seat and in your riding pants are just a hotspot maker in my opinion. I can't do chamois pads, they are just a spong because I sweat a lot. My go-to is good synthetic athletic boxer briefs under training shorts. They really help keep you dry and eliminate hotspots.
Good stuff.
I switched to this seat with the built in taint cooler, night and day better. I was worried it might be too wide in the low position when going down steep hills, but it’s a non issue, if anything it’s nice to have something to grab with your thighs, kind of like squeezing the tank with your legs. Las Ramblas was tacky tonight ! Good stuff. Quite satisfying
Outside pedal down and weighted in tighter corners, especially flatter ones.
Seat up when climbing, slammed for descending. General rule of thumb for seat height when up is knee should be slightly bent at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
When climbing, try to stay "on top of the gearing" rather than grinding or spinning away.
Many suspension calculators out there to assist in dialing in sag, rebound etc.
OP, have fun on the YT. Great Bike. You'll notice all the tire choices,just research. Carry and extra tube and CO2. If you have a desire to go to a bike park, do it! That is a rush- almost moto rush. Find somebody that’s been or just go and somebody will help you out. I waited years to go up lifts , wish I would have done it sooner. Enjoy. Also once you get hooked and get non moto friends to go, have em ease into it because when they crash that is usually it and they won’t ride again. Moto peeps will hop back on and keep going!
We have friends in birmingham AL and they live like 3 aerial miles from Ridebhm.com and about three other awesome bike spots. I'm looking forward to it! The bike arrives saturday so I'll post up some pictures too.
Coming from an inverse portion as the OP - I grew up riding motos (mostly trail riding on family property, not mx), and switched to mtbs when I went away to college. Nearly twenty years later, I was able to afford / justify purchasing a new moto (it's a tax write-off as a trail builder!). It's been interesting to compare & contrast the two experiences, as they are similar yet different in so many ways.
It often seems to me that riding a moto is more like skiing in that being pro-active in your bike handling requires concentrating a lot of effort in pushing / weighting through your feet, whereas on bikes, there is a slightly more equal distribution of efforts between feet, and hands. Even though I knew it would do an good, I found myself yanking at the bars, and trying to scoop the bike up with my feet bunny-hop style on my moto, with the predictable non-results. Probably the steepest learning curve in getting back on a moto was learning to use the throttle to weight the chassis, and get pop over obstacles.
Not having a throttle on a mtb means that you have to be much more precise with your speed management, and body placement, particularly with jumping or taking corners at speed, since there is no option of "when in doubt, throttle out." Riding a mtb (especially a single speed) will get you way more in tune to carrying speed through corners, and over obstacles. Getting used to engine braking again was also a trip - I hardly touched the brakes the first few weeks of being on my 350.
Even with an Open OHV zone literally at the city limits, I find myself riding my mtb more than my moto simply because it's a much quicker process of loading up, and sorting shit out after the ride. Now that our local mtb trails are under seasonal closure, and winter conditions are a bit too slow / soggy / sloppy for pedal bikes, but tacky brownie mix hero dirt for motos I'm back to catching up on twisting the throttle.
As someone who has ridden both MX and MTB a bunch here are some of my thoughts:
Start out with flat pedals, you will most likely be dabbing a foot here and there as you get used to MTB riding. Five Ten or Ride Concept shoes are great
Go tubeless for sure, get a tire pressure gauge or a quality floor pump that has a good gauge (or both)
Riding on kind-of-wet trails is ok, if the trails are really muddy that you make ruts on don’t ride
If you take a break on the trail, move off the trail, especially in a downhill section
Padded shorts are a must
I may get bashed for this but keep the trail dog at home
I may also get bashed for this but please no loud-ass Bluetooth speakers on the trail
Trailforks is a great app to navigate with. You can download areas for use offline in case you don’t have cell service
Keep some food with you, bonking sucks balls. I love Honey Stinger products but anything that works for you is good
Jumping is much different on a MTB than moto so start small
A shock pump is useful for checking / setting sag
Hope you have fun with it!
Spot on
My previous house was across the street from a state park. Got a couple MTB and rode a lot. 3-4 times per week. Lots of fun but no replacement for mx bike for me.
Good stuff. I don't like pets or music so I'm already moving the right direction LOL
Did you think riding the MTB added value to your moto technique in ANY area? Fitness is a given
MTB may or may not help you depending on your existing moto strengths and weaknesses...
For me MTB adds a bit of value to MX.
I was never a BMX kid, it was always motorcycles. The BMX kids had more precision, better timing and they were more efficient.
I'm not slow, but I would say I'm not an efficient rider in the way Barcia is not an efficient rider.
Lip44 mentioned "Trailforks" app... That app will tell you your time in each trail, so I started using that as a goal to improve my riding skill on the MTB. I found that my max speed (mph) in the trails was high, but my elapsed times were longer. I was coming into corners all over the brakes like you would do on a motocross bike. I learned to be more efficient very quickly and my times to complete trails dropped substantially.
Getting back on the motorcycle, I am a bit more efficient as a result. In my first race of 2023 a buddy mentioned that I look smoother and "less forced" in my riding style.
So, I think the bicycle can help take the rough edges off of some of your style if you make an effort there.
I've also been learning what I would call "pump track skills"... Like pumping on a swingset, you can accelerate over small bumps, dips and out of some corners on the bicycle. It doesn't directly apply to motocross, but maybe those skills would help the kind of motocross riders who sit down too much and stay too static on the bike.
That's the problem right there.
Pit Row
That's interesting. I wonder if you were running higher tire pressures than necessary when you went tubeless. Makes a big difference imo. With tubeless you can run lower tire pressures which lets the tires conform to bumps/rocks/roots which in turn provides better traction and feels more supple and less bouncy.
I was in the exact same boat as you and did make the switch. Last mx bike was a 2020 kx250f. Though I've been mountain biking since the early 90's. Imo it's not nearly equal the satisfaction. At least the typical xc/singletrack type of trails I ride. Maybe if you're riding those downhill runs at Whistler with the big jumps you see in youtube videos it would be. Don't get me wrong, it's fun and challenging and a great workout, just not quite the same for me as mx. And I'd sure as hell rather mtb than run to stay in shape.
Mountain bikes can be ridiculously expensive but you don't "need" to spend more than $1500 on a hardtail or $2k on a full sus to have a great bike that doesn't need any upgrades right off the bat (other than saddle/pedals/grips to preference). Those prices will get you good components and an air fork. But spend a bit more and you'll get a better fork/shock and better brakes. All you really need to do is keep the drivetrain lubed and adjusted properly and you're good. It can be tempting to upgrade parts though.
This is what I bought: https://us.yt-industries.com/products/outlet-sale/378/jeffsy-29-core-2/…
The aftermarket bike scene is wild with parts and tech and stuff so just being sober minded about what I buy is going to be important. I think for the next 6+ months I'm going to touch nothing except pedals. It comes with ODI grips even. I do want to fiddle with suspension valving though. There's no way the valving is optimal for a 200 pound guy out of the box.
Great choice! Really nice components. Hell it even comes with my fav saddle, and I've tried a ton of them. Only thing to consider are those tires. Great tires but going to be overkill and very heavy for local singletrack type biking. You can dramatically feel the difference when switching to lighter faster tires. Tradeoff is less traction obviously. All depends on where you're riding. Have fun!
In most cases you can just remove the whole lever assembly and switch sides - they're functionally ambidextrous for this precise issue.
You'd be surprised. Remember, you're going to be on air shocks, front and rear. There's your spring rate. Also, the net weight being damped is your body weight + about 35 pounds or less. It will probably work pretty well. Finally, you can add tokens to the air chamber to reduce the volume, which will in effect ramp up the progressivity of the air spring.
Lol I ride a yz 250 too. Just turned 50 but I've had 6 of these yz's I can take months off hop right back on it still feels the same. I also ride a super heavy transition patrol with a coil rear way more than I need at the current time.
PS-
I 100% agree with going tubeless. I used to flat every other ride and it got really old. Now I haven't had to worry about it for years. The weight change was barely noticeable for me, but for the flats alone, it's worth it.
If your wheels are not already taped for tubeless, just run some Gorilla Duct Tape in the rim channel over the spokes. I much prefer the Orange Seal or Muc-Off tubeless valves, as well - they have a much firmer rubber block (the square one, not the conical one) that goes on the inside. It just works better and it's easier to set the bead when you inflate for the first time.
Speaking of tires - Tire pressure has a much more noticeable effect on mtbs than motos. Checking your tire pressure before every ride (even if the last one was less than 24hrs ago) is one of the most key habits to enjoying a ride. If I'm feeling sluggish on the climbs, and squirrely on the descents, it's usually because I forgot to check my tire pressure. I generally find 25 f/27 r to be my go-to baseline. For steeper / rockier trails I'll go a bit lower; fast / flow trails I run closer to 30 psi.
Also running CushCore, which I have found to be key for protecting rims (since mtb tires are basically knobby inner tubes compared moto tires), as well as providing more predictable ride qualities. I'm also usually the winner of the "Heaviest Bike Award" on any group ride.
lmaooo heaviest bike award got me laughing. Man, I would eventually like to go to a spring fork and shock with cush cores as well. I haven't even touched the bike yet so maybe I'll love the air but i doubt it. I'll always win heaviest bike too hahahaha.
I also think that mtb guys generally have less to deal with than mx. A 200 pound motorcycle flailing in your hands on a high speed outdoor track is probably worse than root chatter lol. i could be wrong but i doubt i have any issues with plushness. As long as it has holdup, i should be fine.
As a person who exclusively grips the dirtbike with my hands, I think I can handle it lmao.
Sorry for the double quote.
I was really curious about this. I should be able to simply swap the levers at the bar mounts right? Just un bolt and swap sides? I am understanding you correctly, right?
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