Arastradero Preserve(MTB Practice경험기)

"제가 먼저 넘어졌었고 까치님이 두번째로 넘어 지셨습니다"

I just want to clarify here for those that were not there.  The goal is to avoid falling down, so that you have fun and avoid getting hurt.  On the regular trail, everyone rode well without any falls or incidents.  However, as  아싸님 mentioned, there were couple of incidents.  The two falls happened as they tried out tricks in the little bowl section.  The first photo of 아싸님 going down the steep hill is just before the backward fall as he tried to climb up on the steep hill on the other side.

Just to add:

• Braking:  need to trust to use the front brakes.  70% of braking power comes from the front.  The use of 2 finger braking is to limit the accidental tendency to over grab the brakes thus causing locking of brakes, also the other parts of hand are still holding on to the handlebar thus giving stability.
• Maintain equilibrium (balance) by moving front and back depending on the trail.
• Climbing: for less steep hills, just move up on the saddle to the point.
• On downhill:  maintain balance of body by keeping the pedal even to the ground (horizontally).
  

좋은 정보에 항상 감사 드립니다.  이쯤에서 본드님도 Join을 해주심 좋을텐데... 요즘 바쁘신지 통...

돈은 사람마다 생각하기 나름이지만 공부하기 나름이라고 봅니다. 굳이 몇 천불씩하는 잔차를 사지 않아도 그만한 사양을 갖출 수 있습니다. 돈이 부담되면 머리하고 시간으로 때우는 방법도 있습니다. 알아야 할 것이 처음에는 많은 거 같아도 어느 정도까지 올라가면 충분합니다. 특히 변속기 사양에 대해서만 잘 공부해도 잔차의 각 브랜드별 차잇점과 가격 대비 사양 정도는 구별이 가능합니다. 대략 500~700 불정도의 현찰을 준비해서 크레익스 리스트에 한두달 잠복하면 4, 5 년 전 신차 기준 2000 불 이상 되는 잔차를 마련할 수 있습니다.  잔차는 대략 2,000 불 전후로 가격 대비 사양 곡선이 완만하게 꺾어지므로, 2,000 불을 상회하는 모델은 가격에 비해 성능 차이가 그리 크지 않습니다.  그러므로, 대략 3~5 년 된 중고 잔차로 구매 당시 신차 기준 2000불 정도 잔차면 어디에서 타든 산악자전거로 훌륭한 성능을 갖추고 있습니다. 참고로 제가 탄 잔차는 Giant XTC 3 Comp 2008 년도 모델인데 300 불에 사서, 350 불 들여서 튠업, 앞 포크(Manitou Air Shock), 스템 교체를 다했습니다. 제 몸에 딱 맞게 Fitting 까지 다 했습니다. 지금 무게는 27 파운드 정도이고, SRAM 9 기어셋에 34 Teeth/27 단 입니다. 

주제 넘지만 서너가지 팁입니다

서쪽길님 잠수가 기네요. 집에서도 가깝고 여기 오셨으면 좋았을텐데..

I recommended the above 2 bikes to 아리송님.  Actually there is a 3rd option, Seeker, in between the two models as well. 

아리송님, the more I am looking into this, especially since you are considering the price range of Goblin, the Seeker seem to be a great option (probably the best option of the three).  The frame on Seeker is the same one as the Goblin which means that it comes with tapered headtube (means that the headtube size is bigger in the bottom, gives you more firmness and stability), and hydro-formed frame that usually comes in only on the more high end frames.  Plus it comes with much better air fork vs. spring fork on Guardian, and it also comes with 2x10 drive train with 36 teeth in the back vs.  3x9 drive train with 34 teeth of Guardian.  That extra 2 teeth makes a huge difference on the steep climbs.  The only downside of Seeker is that it uses Avid Elixir 1 hydraulic brakes which is known to be a bit finicky...tends to squeak more easily than the higher end Avid Elixir hydraulic brakes.

Airborne Bicycles is an online bike store.  They do not have retail shop, so you can't try them out; however, I have ridden Goblin, and I considered it very seriously last year when I was buying my new bike.  They offer one of the better bang for your bucks, and they get great reviews.  But aside from that, there is another reason why I recommended the bike:

There is an ongoing discussion/trend in the bike market regards to the wheel size.  The typical mountain bike has 26 inch wheels.  Last few years 29 inch wheels have gained huge momentum.  And now there is a 27.5 inch wheels as third option.  The idea is that bigger the wheels, it rolls over stuff much better than smaller wheels...basically has to do with angle of the wheels.  So a 29 inch wheel rolls over better than a 26 inch wheels.  The downside is that it takes more effort to get it started, but on the other hand, once it is moving, it carries a better momentum.  One of the negatives of bigger wheel is the inherent design of the frame that puts the center of gravity higher and makes the standover height higher -- bottom line, it tends to not work as well on shorter people.  Ideally if you are 5 feet 6 inches or shorter, 29 inch wheels is probably not ideal.  In case of 아리송님, he is on the taller side so a 29er will work really well for him.  Plus for the price, Airborne Bikes offers quite bit more at component level than 1st tier bike brands, and even 2nd tier bike brands. 

On top of that, I have offered to put together the bike when it arrives.

서쪽길님, there is nothing wrong with $200 bike as long as you know that you have inherent limitation and you use it within that boundary.  A cheaper bike that is being ridden is better than an expensive bike that sits in the garage unused.  Everyone has their priority.  The key is that there are pros (positive) and cons (negative) for each decision.  As long as it meets your needs at that time, that is the right decision.

I still have my mountain bike that I purchased way back in late 1980s, a cheapo bike (I think I paid less than $200) that I purchased from Costco.  I still use it to commute to work sometime.  The bike weighs a ton, I think well over 40 lbs.  I used to use this for mountain biking (with bigger wheels...not as shown), but today I would not use it for mountain biking because my body will be paying for it...but as commuter, it's great.


As for purchasing of a bike, the first thing to do is set a limit on how much you are going to spend.  Then subtract ~$50 to $100 from the budget as target of the price of the bike.  Let me give you an example: this applies to both scenarios of buying a new or used bike

Step1:  Set budget - in this case let's assume a budget of $500
Step 2:  Subtract minimal gear - At a minimum you need a helmet.  Then you can look into hydration (either via water bottle and water bottle cage, or camelbak type water bladder), gloves (recommend full fingered gloves), spare tube, tire tool, mini-pump)
Step 3:  Then your true budget for bike is $400-$450 depending on the gear that you purchased.
Step 4:  Study what's available for that price range.  For example, in the case of Trek, you are probably looking at Marlin 5, $490 before discount.

There are 3 first tier bike brands:  Trek, Specialized and Giant.  They all have similar priced bikes at different ranges.  Typically you get a bit more bike from Giant for the same price though.  If you try to resell your used bike, Trek and Specialized will be much easier to sell and for better money than Giant though.

Then there are many 2nd tier bike brands: i.e. Scott, GT, Diamondback, Kona, Haro, just to name a few.  They tend to offer much better bang for their buck compared to the first tier bike brands, but resale value is going to be much less than 1st tier as well.

And if your budget is much higher, then you can look towards more boutique brands like Santa Cruz, Turner, Ibis, Niner, etc...

Another thing to consider is that there is a progression on your skillset.  In the beginning, you might ride a flat bike path (for this any bike works).  Then you might progress to riding on basic mountain bike trails that might be mostly fireroads (you will need mountain bike, but can be ridden with hardtail as well as full suspension).  As your skillset improves, you will want to start riding singletracks with switchbacks (once again, hardtail and full suspension works here).  Then as you start challenging yourself, you will start riding more and more technical rides, singletracks with rocks & roots, drops, etc... (at this stage, you will start to wish you have full suspension).  Here's a photo of me on on a technical singletrack with rocks and consider this as not really nasty stuff:



As I have mentioned to others on BAC, if you are interested in buying a bike, just let me know.  We can talk about setting a budget and figure out what approach to take.  Additionally, I will be available to show you around.

자전거님이 아주 상세히 잘 설명해주셨네요.

자전거 님, 친절하신 설명 감사합니다.

"자칫 비싼 자전거가 필요없다는 식으로 들릴까봐 뒤늦게 후회합니다."

Hehe, it didn't come off that way.  So please don't worry about it.  Over the years, I have heard so many people tell me they were shocked at price of bicycles.  "You can buy $150 bike at Costco or Walmart.  Why do you need to spend more?"  etc....  As you stated, unless you try it out, you don't know what you are missing.  $50 sleeping bag and $100 tent both work great for car camping - it serves its purpose; however, for backpacking it does not meet the needs of it.  The same thing applies to biking and everything else in life.  And so I always tell my friends, don't think about investing too much into bikes until you try it out and like it enough that you want to start investing in it.

Anyways, it would have been great if you could have joined us.  We had great time.  The trail is one of the best beginner friendly trail and yet it offers taste and experiences of what mountain biking truly is.

I should be setting up another ride sometime in October.  Hope you can join us then.

산악자전거의 종류에 대해서 알기쉽게 잘 설명했네요. 참 유용한 정보 공유해줘서 감사합니다.

복습을 철저히 하는 모범 학생이십니다!

아리송님...it looks like you are totally hooked into mountain biking .  I told you it might be dangerous to test ride the Klein!

The write up does a great of job of describing the various types of mountain bikes.  Basically it classifies the 5 types of mountain bikes that exists today.  In general the classification is defined by how much suspension the bike has:

1) Hardtail cross country bike- 3 to 4 inches in the front & 0 inches in the back
2) Full Suspension cross county bike - 3 to 4 inches in the front & 3 to 4 inches in the back
3) Full Suspension Trail bike - 4 to under 6 inches in the front & 4 to under 6 inches in the back (usually 5 inches)
4) Full Suspension All Mountain bike - 5 to under 8 inches in the front & 5 to under 8 inches in the back (usually 6 inches)
5) Full Suspension Downhill bike - typically 8+ inches in the front and back

That being said, it doesn't define a set limit on the types of trail that can be used.  Furthermore, some bikes are now starting to blur the boundary between them.  For example, a 29er (29 inch tire bike) hardtail behave somewhat like a FS cross country bike even though it does not have a suspension in the back...the bigger volume of tires and angle approach of the 29er wheels behaves a bit differently that it gives a feeling that you have a bit of suspension in the back.

If you plan to have one bike that can be used in most different terrains, and most importantly, money is not as a big issue for sizeable upfront investment, then everyone will suggest that you should look to get #3 FS Trail bike as it offers the most flexibility.  It has the most balance between weight and capability.  However, the money thing comes into play for most of us.  In that case, the most reasonable option really comes down to getting a hardtail.  It offers the lowest entry cost and yet allows one to ride in most trails around here. 

Once you decide on the hardtail, then the next question comes down to what type of hardtail.  As I mentioned before there are the traditional 26 inch wheels with 3 to 4 inches of suspension in the front, and then there is 29er (29 inch wheels) and recently the emergence of 27.5 inch wheels.  Most biking expert will recommend that you get either a 29er with 4 inches (or 100mm) front suspension or a 27.5 inch wheels with 4 inches of front suspension.  Please keep in mind that if you are less than 5 feet 6 inches, you should avoid 29er and go with either 27.5 inch or 26 inch.  If you are over 5 feet 7 inches, then you should seriously consider 29er or 27.5 hardtail.

The key thing to remember is that as you start riding more seriously, your skills will improve and you might start to challenge yourself to start riding more and more technical rides.  This means that you will start to think about upgrading, but you can worry about that later when that moment comes.

In my case, I went through the same progression:

• 1st bike bought in late 1980s, pictured above.  Used it mainly to ride around Griffith Park in LA and occassional ride down at beach.
• 2nd bike bought was hardtail, 2002 Giant Rainier.  Bought it for $650.  Rode it for couple of years and sold it for $550.
• 3rd bike bought was FS Cross Country bike, 2003 Titus Racer-X with 3 inches of front and back suspensions.  I loved this bike, but as I started riding more technical stuff, I realized that I need a bike with more travel.  Sold it, but I still wish that I kept this bike :(
  
• 4th bike bought was FS Trail bike, 2006 Titus MotoLite with 5 inches of front and back suspension.  I still have this bike - the blue bike that I brought to the ride.  I love this bike, and I will have hard time parting with this bike.
  
• For 5th bike, I went a bit differently.  I digressed and I bought a 29er hardtail last year.  As much as I love my FS trail bike, since getting my 29er, I did not touch my FS trail bike until last week.  For most of the trails around here, it more than meets the needs, and most importantly I have fun riding it.