Yeah. It’s not new to me either. I’ve seen people in NYC playing that and also bike polo.
Seeking advice from mountain bikers. I’m looking to get back into it after a nearly 20 year break. As I have been educating myself about what bikes & features are available and what I might buy I find myself in a confusing spot regarding bike frame size.
I am 5’4" and wear 28" inseam pants, but those are even a bit long. Some bike shops have advised that I could go for a small or a medium frame and other bike shops have been adamant that I should choose a medium frame because then I can have 29" wheels instead of having to settle for 27.5" wheels that come on a small frame. When I have tested a couple of bikes out, I can stand over the top tube of a medium bike, but only juuust barely without much extra clearance.
My question is if 27.5" wheels are that much of a disadvantage compared to 29" wheels or if I should just get used to having a slightly taller top tube and learn to avoid hitting it when I step off my pedals on uneven terrain? Are larger wheels a nice to have or a game changer?
The answer you don’t want to hear: it depends
I have two mountain bikes, one with 27.5 and one with 29 wheels.
My small bike is a bit too small for me, but it was an early lockdown purchase and I just got what I could at the price, and as my last mountain bike was 15 years prior a smaller bike felt fine for me.
However I don’t regret buying it at all, because it taught me all I needed to know after not mountain biking for 15 years.
Then I got a 29 full suspension bike (the small bike is a hard tail) and in this case I intentionally “sized up” in terms of frame, because I was aiming to maximize comfort. To get the reach and rise correct (simply put: distance and angle between the seat post and the handlebars) I bought new handle bars with a slightly different shape, and the bike fit perfectly.
So the questions I got to ask are:
What kind of trails do you plan on riding the most? If you just want to go on bike rides and do a bit of trail riding, there isn’t any big benefit to 29 wheels.
If you want to do rowdy enduro or DH tracks, 29 wheels are really nice to have, but then the biggest benefit for you would be a full suspension bike, and at that point you won’t be able to run 29 rear wheel anyway, because at your height it’ll be buzzing your ass any time it gets steep.
Personally if I was your height I’d go with the smaller size and the 27.5 wheels, because modern bikes are plenty comfortable enough you shouldn’t worry about the marginal gains of the larger wheels.
If you are going with a full suspension frame, look into a “mixed wheel” or “mullet” setup with a 29 front and 27.5 rear, which is pretty common now on performance bikes.
My final advice can only come after I know the type of bike (hard tail or full suspension) and if you give me the name of your local riding area so I can look up the trails.
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That all makes sense. I was looking at a hard tail for this purchase. I plan to ride mountain trails and established mountain bike parks in the foothills and mountains near Salt Lake City, Utah.
Get yourself a 27.5 bike that fits comfortably, and then in 1.5 to 2 years time, when you upgrade to a full suspension bike, you can reconsider and get yourself a mullet.
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Good drone flying and better mountain biking:
X-post the hockey thread?
I’ve started looking into e-bikes for my daily commute and if anyone has any experience and brand recommendations I’d love to hear them.
Looking to spend between 1-2k and needs to be able to handle 300lbs and deal well with lots of hills and handle potholes/bad roads.
Depending on where you live, my best recommendation is to buy from a local bike shop. I know most of the local shops around me won’t service brands they don’t sell, which limits where you can get service.
That’s really interesting. There is only one shop I know of in NYC that only services what they sell, and they didn’t even have that policy until a few years back. Every other shop brags that they can service any bike whatsoever.
It’s like that also here in Vienna, Austria. Most bikeshops are super booked out, and shops tend to just service bikes they sold.
They’ll still do a quick tube swap etc. But proper services need to be booked in advance.
A ton of people (me included) started biking during the first lockdown, and the streets here are pretty safe to ride. So I guess there’s just too much demand
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I did look at the few bike shops in my neighborhood, but none of them had any real inventory and I’d have to go to center city area (a good 30+ minutes away) to see anything in person. I was more just seeing if anyone had any general brand or model recommendations to help me whittle things down, but I appreciate the advice and maybe I will make the longer trip to see some stuff in person.
My emphasis was on Brand of bike sold, and e-bikes. Some of them might have the ability to order any brand they sell, but when I talked to someone, it was very specifically about the engine and messing with the electrical end of it.
Most shops around me will service the non-E portion of any bike, but aren’t trained/insured/whatever it is to handle the electrical systems of brands they don’t sell.
It might be different depending on what’s around. I know there’s one place in Rochester that has “Ebikes serviced” on its sign and it’s not a bike store in the traditional sense, and they might be broader in service. But I know that you should probably check with the local bikeshops you have if they hold any limitations on what they will service in regards to the electrical system of a bike.
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Ended up going with Aventon, just ordered it yesterday so I can switch over my commute to office via Ebike once I get it and we downsize to 1 car.
My commute path would involve hills, potholes, cobblestone and some dirt/gravel paths so went with a more rugged offering to cope with that stuff better.
Related does anyone have recommended Helmet brands and other safety gear (vis vests/markers/ additional reflectors/visibility lights, etc.) they would recommend?
For a helmet → https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/
You don’t need to go out of control with the high vis vests. You’ll just look silly like a moving traffic cone, and there isn’t much evidence it will actually make you safer. But if it helps your anxiety, it can’t hurt.
The bike should come with reflectors already. No need to get more.
You only need lights if you are going to ride in dark conditions, dawn, dusk, night, rain, or tunnels. Any USB-rechargeable LED light will be good. A red one in the rear and a white on in the front. There are lots of brands, they are mostly the same. The ones I have are Cygolite brand, but there are so many to choose from, it doesn’t matter too much.
One thing to be aware of is there are two kinds of lights, “see” and “be seen”.
See lights are for when you are biking in a truly dark place, like the woods. It’s dark and you need a powerful light to illuminate the area around you so you can see. For long rides in those conditions you may need multiple lights so you know the batteries won’t give out on you before the ride is over. Do not use these kinds of powerful lights in well lit areas, because you will blind other road users and increase danger instead of decreasing it.
The be seen lights are not bright enough to illuminate the area, but are good for well lit populated urban areas at night. They help other people see you.
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I really appreciate that helmet website! Thanks