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  • Showing only topics in ~hobbies with the tag "cycling". Back to normal view / Search all groups
    1. 50mm bike tire recommendations

      Hey everyone, I’m currently running Schwalbe G-One Bite 40mm and I’m thinking about moving up to 50mm for a bit more confidence off-road. Where I ride it’s not groomed gravel or proper official...

      Hey everyone,

      I’m currently running Schwalbe G-One Bite 40mm and I’m thinking about moving up to 50mm for a bit more confidence off-road. Where I ride it’s not groomed gravel or proper official well-kept MTB trails, just typical unmaintained forest trails: holes, roots, loose rocks everywhere, some of them golf-ball sized. On descents, it feels pretty sketchy with the 40s.

      The problem is, I don’t have long stretches of continuous/unbroken nature. It’s more like short nature pockets in between civilization so, I still need to transverse a few roads (tarmac and cobbles). So I’m trying to find something that’s still reasonably fast rolling on road. I was hoping to find something up to 20 watts of rolling resistance. I think I saw somewhere that my tires are around 25 watts, so some improvement in this area would also be nice.

      I started investigating tires on bicyclerollingresistance.com website and started looking at measured knob height (center and edge), trying to pick something with more bite than what I have now. But the more I read, the more I see people saying knob height alone doesn’t mean much and tread pattern matters more. At this point I’m not even sure what I should be looking for.

      These are the ones I’ve selected for the moment:

      Alternatives slightly above 20 watts:

      Maybe other brands or models I should be considering that aren’t on BRR?

      But honestly… I don’t really know what I’m doing. I started by filtering by wattage and knob height, but it seems the tread design or compounds are even more important.

      So, in conclusion, what I’m after is:

      • More confidence on rough, loose forest descents (I'm not doing jumps. Let's say, more like XC)
      • 50mm volume
      • Still decent on road sections
      • Not feeling like I’m dragging an anchor on pavement

      If anyone has experience with these in real, messy forest conditions (not nice smooth gravel), I’d appreciate some advice and recommendations. What should I actually be looking at when choosing?

      Thanks in advance!

      13 votes
    2. Mountain biking advice

      Hey all, I'm an avid skier and enjoy outdoor sports for fitness more than working out in a gym or running. I'm considering getting into mountain/trail biking this year, but have some questions, so...

      Hey all, I'm an avid skier and enjoy outdoor sports for fitness more than working out in a gym or running.

      I'm considering getting into mountain/trail biking this year, but have some questions, so I'm hoping someone on Tildes has experience and can help me out.

      First question: How common are injuries when mountain biking? I don't intend to do anything highly technical, mostly looking to do more casual trail riding for fun and fitness. When looking around on the internet some websites (blogs, reddit, YT, etc) make it seem like a serious injury is unavoidable if you bike often enough, but others say injuries beyond cuts and scrapes are pretty rare. In my experience with skiing, as long as you ski within your limits you're pretty unlikely to get seriously hurt, is the same true for mtb?

      Second question: I'd like to be able to ride my bike on pavement as well, for rides with my family, exercise during work break, etc - is a "Trail" bike suitable for this?

      ex: Specialized Rockhopper https://www.specialized.com/us/en/rockhopper

      8 votes
    3. Gravel bike on single track? Good idea or bad idea.

      So me and my wife have temporarily moved in with my parents to save up for a down payment (boy houses are expensive right now). Their house is in a more rural part of Arizona and they have a tons...

      So me and my wife have temporarily moved in with my parents to save up for a down payment (boy houses are expensive right now). Their house is in a more rural part of Arizona and they have a tons of trails and fire roads that I'm looking at riding when it gets cooler. I have a Canyon Grizl AL 6 with 45mm tires and a rigid carbon fork. The tires are set up tubeless and have pretty good dry grip so I think I should be fine and I would be less than 5 miles from a car accessible road at all times. I have under biked a bit before but not on a desert trail. I was curious if any riders here have any experience and/or advice for taking a gravel bike on single track.

      7 votes
    4. Cycling computers

      Since it seems we have a few other cyclists on here, I thought I would ask for a recommendation. I'm looking at bike computers, and I've been going back and forth between Wahoo and Garmin. I don't...

      Since it seems we have a few other cyclists on here, I thought I would ask for a recommendation. I'm looking at bike computers, and I've been going back and forth between Wahoo and Garmin. I don't need anything super fancy, so I've been looking at the Bolt or the 530. I really want it for making a route on the computer, and then getting directions at turns (along with the basics like speed, distance, time, etc.).

      My biggest priority is stability and battery life. I've read some reviews of the Wahoo saying it crashed or froze on them, which would be a huge turn off to me. My current "computer" is just a simple magnet on the wheel that runs a sensor - it never crashes or freezes or anything like that, and I change the battery about once or twice a year.

      So, I'm curious if anyone has suggestions or experience with these.

      And also I just wanted to get more cycling content on here... :-)

      13 votes
    5. Any SF Bay Area mountain bikers? Looking for info.

      Hey all. I just bought my first mountain bike. I don't know much about mountain biking but when I've taken a hybrid out onto logging trails it's been super fun so I'm sure I'll enjoy it. I have a...

      Hey all. I just bought my first mountain bike. I don't know much about mountain biking but when I've taken a hybrid out onto logging trails it's been super fun so I'm sure I'll enjoy it. I have a few questions before I head out into the mountains:

      1. What kind of mountain-biking specific gear do I need?
      2. Where should I go as a beginner? Ideally somewhere with not too many hikers or other cyclists. I have plenty of stamina from my regular uphill cycling routine, but I don't want to get into intense steep riding and jumps right now.
      5 votes