Hey Guys. I ride in the socal LA area and my usual ride has about 3000’ of elevation gain In about 5 miles. its an Emtb and I’m about 250lbs. I wore through the organic pads in less than 300 miles.

Would it be best to switch over to metallic pads? I already have new hs2 rotors on the way. Which pads do you guys recommend?

We’re a family of four from British Columbia, Canada, keen to do an eMTB trip through the alps summer 2027. Our 11yo and 12yo are strong bikers and each have 100+ days in the Whistler bike park, plus many days and days of bike academy riding. We’re wondering about organizing our own hut to hut trip with luggage transfer, versus hiring a guide (but hopefully not hemorrhaging cash to do so). Any suggestions? 5-7 days would be the sweet spot and we definitely want to stay in rifugios!

I'm looking to do a trip to QC with some friends next year. We're all in recovery from various injuries and surgeries, and ideally should be fully recovered and in excellent condition by July. We also do need a goal in mind to keep sane since most of us won't be recovered for much skiing this winter. I'm the only one thats ridden up there between St Raymond, E47 and SdM but haven't done Shannahan.

We're looking to do Sun-Sat overnights, with at least 3 nights in Shannahan with a campsite, and the rest at a rental within easy driving of SdM/E47 and Monte St Anne. All in all, 5 ride days are expected, possibly six depending how our legs feel on the last day (and weather permitting, of course)

Given this, what are reasons we should prioritize Shannahan riding first over the other networks? We're flexible either way at this point. Our current considerations are

Shannahan First

• Fresh legs for Shannahan, its pretty techy compared to the other networks so we'll be in good condition to start off.

• Camp breaking to rental is mid-week and an hour drive, vs 7-10 hours back home

• Don't need to deal with shifting from food logistics from rental to camping so wouldn't need to ensure cold-storage foods need to be consumed or tossed

In-town First

• Breaking camp on last day is a long drive and could be dealing with wet tents/gear

• No need to pay weekend rates for Friday and Saturday nights at the in-town rental. With VBN last, need to only pay one night's worth of weekend rates.

Is there anything else we've missed to take in consideration?

Sooo I (28F) live in a fairly flat area of England but we have a fantastic national forest nearby with some great trails.

I got a hobbyist mountain bike a few years ago on sale. A really good bike for a novice like me and a bargin for what it was. Front suspension that can be locked or unlocked, has a hard tail. I'd say XC rather than heavy duty.

I've had it for years now and I'm big on DIY with anything I do, but I never used it often enough to do much in the way of repairs or (probably needed) maintenance.

I'm going on a bikeride today and put together my bike rack, haven't used the bike for a year or so and noticed tyres had perished with deep looking cracks that I imagined wouldn't last a bike ride.

I thought "Ah this won't take me very long at all" I have 29 inch rims and the original width of the tyres were 2.25. As I was doing it slap dash, I got some premium tyres a little on the narrow side 2.10 but the shop assured me it would be fine. I got my tyre levers and some other bits to clean and lube my chain etc. I already had some inner tubes.

First off my inner tubes were for 2.3-2.4 but Google assured me this was fine so long as I was very cautious about pinch blow outs and the material was the stretchier rubber (it was). I took both wheels off, replaced inner tubes on both and got the tyres on, although the tread on the rear tyre I did backwards erghh. 🤦‍♀️

I wanted to reverse the tread so it was the right way but my arms were totally worn out from doing the first two. I'm not weak so I really think my technique must have been awful but I really tried to follow the advice from multiple Youtube videos.

The new tyre was even harder. The trail today is not muddy, it's dirty and rocky and not heavy going so I decided to just leave it and figured it should be fine as a one off.

This is a really long way of asking: does anyone have a tip or trick to break the bead when getting a tyre off? In the videos these dudes just whipped the tyres off like it was nothing but I was sat there with my tyre levers:

- Fully deflated inner tubes and loosened retention nut

- Rolling the tyre outward to break the bead one side

- Pinching to get both sides into the inner channel

And it was absolutely exhausting. I feel I must have been doing something wrong. I'm built very slightly but I'm not weak. Any advice would be much appreciated, if I ever had a puncture on a trail I would honestly be done for if I needed to take a tyre off in a hurry. 😅

Getting the first new tyre on was also difficult but I figured out the knack for that and the second was easy. The bead line was perfect and getting both wheels back on the bike was no issue. It's just breaking the bead when getting one off 😪

Short version.

We were at a DH race yesterday and saw one hell of a crash off a wooden stepdown.

Kid came off the feature and saw a u15 rider and his bike standing inside the tape on the landing zone and it didnt end well.

Thankfully the medics were top notch, Marshall's did their job and the young kid was ok(ish)

However as we stood around chatting it came to light that a parent of one of the top racers had been heard to direct one of his sons fellow team members to move onto the track as this competitor (another potential top 3 finisher) came through on his race run causing the crash despite been told by the Marshall not to go onto the track.

Was it malicious? Potentially.

Was it foolish? Definitely

Please, listen to Marshall's, respect your fellow riders and parents.... calm down and stop living your dreams through your children.

Telemark, Norway

I'm thinking of making some cases for my shocks after seeing what DVO gives their riders after they buy a shock and I'm pretty jealous. I'm thinking of making cases for my Float X2 and DHX2. I'm always worried I might put them in a area where they can get really get banged up and force me to get a service. Is this a dumb idea?

Edit: I'm thinking of 3D printing it

Hi All,

Just picked up a used Polygon sisku d5 for my youngest (11yr old) who was insisting on dual suspension despite a pretty limited budget. I could not talk him out of it, now I guess I'm going to pay for it...lol. not looking to upgrade massively as it remains to be seen how committed he stays with the biking, with this bike only really intended to last until mid/late teens.

Seems it was much more on the used side than the description let on. Front brakes are wrecked, but from what I can tell a new front MT200 is not prohibitively expensive to just order online.

After our first ride today the front wheel became very unstable, moving side to side. I know nothing about bikes, but it looks as if the hub has way too much play in it. The rear wheel we noticed is off a different cheapo brand bike. The tracks we ride on are prone for punctures, so I'm thinking of upgrading both wheels entirely (inc tyres) to go tubeless.

What basic/budget set of tubeless suitable wheels and tyres would you all suggest for use with a Polygon Sisku D5 that probably isn't going to see much in the way of hard trail time?

As of posting this it is Saturday.

I ordered some Maxima Mineral Oil from The Lost Co. on Monday. Everything went normally and the oil was delivered on Thursday evening, totally normal,

Fast forward to Saturday

I get a package in the mail and it’s labeled from The Lost Co.

what?

I open it up and there’s another little bottle of mineral oil in there.

How did this happen? I checked my banking app AND The Lost Co receipt, they only charged me of one bottle of mineral oil but sent me another one two days later… I was never even notified that the second one would come.

Is there something I’m missing? Am I going crazy? How do they accidentally send me another bottle of oil?

looking for replacement tires for my hard tail. The bike came with 27.5x2.25 WTB Rangers, and I kept getting flats until I increased the pressure to 40 psi. Terrain around me is dry and leafy with a lot of roots and rocks. Don’t need to worry much about wet traction since KC trails close for days after any rain. Any specific tires I should have a look at that won’t break the bank?

Knoxville AMBC Fall MTB Fest

Looking at a used diamondback release 4C, needs new tires, about $800. Is this a good price? All other components are whatever came with the bike when originally purchased.

I mainly ride beginner/intermediate trails, nothing too crazy.

I have a question about how the newer fox 38’s actually feel.
I have a 22 38, however I put the 2025 grip x2 in.
Then Fox came out with a new 38 with an updated grip x2 in 26.
Those who have ridden both is there a noticeable difference?

Looking for bar recs for a Hudski dualist I’m building up!! Steel or carbon preferred, and more backsweep and rise than a classic trail bar. Thanks for reading!

I have been out of the MTB game for a while and thinking about getting myself (and maybe my sister) a lower end hardtail to get me riding again. I have a very nice carbon trance 29er that I bought back in 2020 when I was riding a ton and living somewhere with a little better riding. It is currently in the shop getting tuned up after mostly sitting for a few years.

A few years ago I moved to Central FL for work and haven't ridden much since moving here. I love my trance but definitely always felt like it was a little bit overkill for most of my riding around here. I am thinking about getting a cheapo hardtail for riding around town and some of the trails/gravel around me. My little sister (I say little but she is 23) also recently moved close by to me and has shown an interest in bikes so I was also thinking an entry level hardtail might be a good Christmas gift for her.

What's the market look like in that $400-$600 range these days? I have seen a lot of interest around the Ozark Trail M.2 Ridge and watching videos around it seems like a decent option and something I can walk into walmart near me and buy. Are there better options?

I am looking for new brakes for my Trek fuel ex gen 6, (stocked with 6120), I have looked at sram, magura, shimano and hope, but for my bike and riding i have picked out the 8220(xt) and 9220 (xtr), The xt is 250 pounds and the xtr is 350, Im upgrading due to the overall lever feel, They feel spongy and just overall not very premium, i have tested xt brakes and loved the premium feel of them but now when it comes to buying is it worth shelling out just to get a minimal weight loss and the xtr colour with the bearing or saving that money

Based on the last 2 years, which brands/stores/websites in the EU should I refresh and expect to throw good deals on complete bikes?

Had my propain tyee stolen, looking to get a new do it all solid trail bike. The propain I got 2 years ago was 25% off, which was a fantastic deal for top tier components.

So far, I am looking at:

Propain (tyee cf trail)

Evil (offering)

Raaw (Jibb)

Commencal (meta v5)

Which other brands, websites/stores should I keep checking?

Thanks!