Mountain Biking for Beginners

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The future of off-road pedal-powered sports, though, will be determined by the level of environmental awareness shown by the riders of today.
The future of off-road pedal-powered sports, though, will be determined by the level of environmental awareness shown by the riders of today.
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Most mountain bike users will likely employ their machines as transportation across the sort of roads (and nonroads) that would thwart skinnier-tired and more delicately framed
Most mountain bike users will likely employ their machines as transportation across the sort of roads (and nonroads) that would thwart skinnier-tired and more delicately framed "traditional" multi-speed bikes.
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However, mountain bikes can handle really rugged off-road terrain and are capable of doing so at speed.
However, mountain bikes can handle really rugged off-road terrain and are capable of doing so at speed.
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Open, toothed,
Open, toothed, "bear trap" pedals are components to look for.
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Powerful cantilever brakes.
Powerful cantilever brakes.
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Seats that adjust quickly up or down (or even forward and back). 
Seats that adjust quickly up or down (or even forward and back). 
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Nearly all mountain bikes have a minimum of ten different gears.
Nearly all mountain bikes have a minimum of ten different gears.

In the last ten years, the racing-style bicycle has become tremendously popular . . . and for good reasons. The thin-tire, spindly machines are marvels of efficiency on the high way, turning travel into a healthful and entertaining experience. However, if you’ve ever tried to maneuver one of these specialized machines down a dirt road (or even across the often volcanic landscape of a large city), you know that smooth pavement is just about a prerequisite for riding them.

In fact, once you trespass onto the byways, the narrow, high-pressure tires and quick-handling characteristics of a street bike can turn it into a bone-jarring torture tool that’s roughly the equivalent of a mechanical rodeo bull. Worse yet, that sort of abuse takes its toll on the machine as well as on the rider. Stories of wheels collapsed against the far edge of a New York pothole are part of that city’s bicycle folk legend. Yes, after one brief sojourn, street pedalers learn to steer clear of dirt roads and rough pavement.

If you graduated from training wheels a few decades ago, though, you probably started out riding a heavy, unresponsive, wide-tired single-speed machine that was difficult to develop any speed on. And if you’ve since experienced a modern cycle, you’re not about to switch back. In nearly every respect, the old “ballooners” were inferior to the racing-style machines that have become so common today. We say nearly. . . because, as you may recall, those stable and forgiving beasts were as much at home on dirt roads (or in a pockmarked alley) as they were on pavement.

Mountain Biking for Beginners

A little less than ten years ago, a group of cyclists (many of them pavement racers) in Marin County, California got the idea of marrying racing technology with sturdy (and cheap!) old balloon-tired bikes. Riding these strange hybrids, the group took to fire roads–steep, crudely prepared paths that allow fire-fighting vehicles to get into undeveloped areas–and created a subculture of off-road bicyclists. Even more important, they started the evolution of a new sort of bicycle, one that could revolutionize the business (and may already have done so).

  • Published on Mar 1, 1984
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