(car revving)
- Arsked, or ask as I say it.
- Yes. - GMBN.
- Yes, let's do it.
Let's answer some questions you guys
have been putting to us using the #AskGMBN
in the comment section down below the videos
or on our social media platforms.
- As always, we got loads of good questions,
but let's start it off with a stupid question.
For in fact that's what Dan and his bike says:
This might be a stupid question.
My car's out of action for a bit
so I'm resorting to commuting on the bike,
about 200 road miles per week.
- Woo. - Bloody hell.
- But I'm actually enjoying it so I might keep it up even
when the car's back.
Will this help mountain bike fitness?
I want to get into enduro racing.
Are there any things I can do on my commute that will help
me to get fitter for actual racing rather than plodding
along at 13 miles an hour?
Well that's really, that's a long way to be riding each week
but it definitely will help, for sure.
- You will be killing it on the base stuff,
I forgot what it's called,
but basically building up your lactate threshold,
you'll be doing really, really well
on your endurance. - Yeah.
- Throw in a few sprints here and there,
that'll be a big one.
Potentially on your mountain bike funrise weekend,
do some short, sharp sprints,
and you will be doing really well I'd say.
- Yeah and I mean, on that ride to work,
if you actually designate a few different sections
to deliberately ride at a higher intensity,
you could replicate some nice enduro-esque
kind of fitness modes,
so you could play with it a little bit.
- Phil Shucksmith, a guy who races in the U.K.,
he used to pretty good at the British National Enduros,
used to commute across London to Canary Wharf,
I think it was. - Wow.
- And he would do virtually gait starts
from the traffic lights, and he was really fit,
he lived in Central London.
- One thing I would suggest though,
if you are going to enter an event,
like an Enduro Round, or something like that,
you probably want to rest for a couple of days,
rather than having a commute the day before.
So let there be at least a few days rest
after one of those commuting rides,
because else you're going to be too tired to race.
- And it wasn't a stupid question.
- Yeah it wasn't. - It was a good question.
- Next up is from Alec Jones who lives in England:
Is it worth getting a downhill bike in England?
- Well I've grown up in England,
and I've always had a down bike, until the last few years.
I would say yeah.
- But are you restricted on where you can really use it,
because enduro-bikes now and trail bikes
are so capable. - True.
- Is it really worth it?
- It depends, if you like, go in and do it in bike park days
more technical places, like Revolution Bike Park,
there's lots of good bike parks in England and Wales,
where you can use it.
So it's going to be good for those,
you might get more use out of an enduro-bike,
But I would say, if you can have it, keep it.
- Yeah, absolutely, I tell you what,
while we're on that subject
why don't we take a look at this video
Trail Bike Verses Downhill Bike
and see what happened.
- Hi, my names Blake, and I'm all about the
Nukeproof Mega trail bike.
- (laughs) No, no.
I'm Blake, and this is my Canyon Sender downhill bike.
- Well mine's hydroformed aluminum,
T6 6061, coming in at 16.33 kilos,
which is 30 pounds bang on.
- Huh, aluminum?
Mines got carbon front end,
aluminum rear end, at 16 kilos, and 35.2 pounds.
But, check this out.
These, Fox 40's, 200 mill of travel.
See that on the rear?
Fox again, 200 mill of travel.
Beat that, trail guy.
- Well, that's going to help you when you get down
to the bottom of the mountain,
you're going to pedal that thing all the way to the top
while I'm running RockShox rearing upfront,
170 mill of travel.
See that on the rear?
RockShox Monarch, at 160 mill of travel, all I need.
- Right, next question is from Max Nixon and he says:
I'm looking to buy a new and was considering either
entry level full suspension bike like
the Specialized Stumpjumper or enduro,
but a few 27.5 plus hardtails have caught my eye.
I was wondering if the extra tire on the plus bikes makes up
for the lack of suspension?
- It helps out on the hard tails, definitely,
plus tires haven't really taken off as some people expected.
- Yeah that's true.
- You don't see that many of them on a hard tail,
it does make sense, I think they're more beginner friendly.
They do give you a lot of compliance,
but it's definitely not a suspension travel.
So it does smooth things out,
but if you're talking about proper, usable,
damp suspension, then it's nothing compared
to the Stumpy or the Evo.
I would go for one of those, personally, but,
it's worth trying both.
- I think that's right, I think the idea of the
plus tires to be a more forgiving ride,
rather than a version of suspension.
They're very different things.
- Problem is the tires aren't super tough,
they're quite lightweight,
so if you're doing lightweight riding, miles,
bobbing around in the woods, it's probably alright.
But if you're riding more technical stuff,
you'll probably find you'll start ripping plus tires.
- Yeah, yeah that's true.
What about this one Neil?
We've got Adam Lowe who says:
my little fingers started start aching when I go for a ride.
Why oh why is this?
- Little fingers?
That's new to me.
- I think he meant my little fingers, you know,
he was being nice to them then.
- You reckon? You sure?
- What, you think he's literally got little fingers?
- Potentially, no I mean, your little finger.
That one, on the end.
- My little fingers.
I thought he meant like
oh, my poor little fingers.
- I think he meant these. - His little fingers.
Let me do this again.
Adam Lowe's asking:
my 'little fingers' start aching when I go for a ride.
Why oh why is this?
- I don't know, never had that.
I would say change your grips first,
so maybe think about going for thinner grips,
you know, like the actual diameter grips,
often loads of people, like Ergon, our partner,
have wider and thinner grips.
Try a different one to what you're riding.
Potentially it could be bar sweep, if maybe
you've got too much weight on your little fingers.
- Yeah that could be true, it could be bar sweep.
It also could be the position you're holding the grips.
- I hang off my little finger, right off the very end.
- I definitely hang my little finger,
so maybe you're doing that a little bit.
You want to keep a really straight wrist on your bar.
But if you're moving the bike round,
that's not really possible.
It's a tricky one, I was looking at some grips
that Dottie showed me the other day,
with a little bit of movement,
that might be something worth looking at.
- Let's throw to old Dodles, cause he's done
a complete clinic on body position.
- The first one of that list is your handlebar grips,
they're your direct point of contact for your hand
to the handlebar of the bike.
Now there are lots of different handlebar grips available,
and it's a very personal preference thing.
The grip that I might like
may not be the right grip for you,
so you have to bear this in mind.
There are lots of different geometries of rubber,
you can have some with firm rubber,
some that are very soft rubber,
some with lots of padding,
some with barely any padding.
You get fat grips, you get thin grips.
You get profiled grips that give more support to your hand.
It's really important to experiment
and try to find the right handlebar grip for yourself.
- Next question is from a roadie, Judd Lehmkuhl:
Yes I admit it, I'm a roadie.
My question is in regards to pedals.
I am used to clipless, of course.
So on mountain bike I got clipless,
but I'm clueless about actually riding mountain bikes.
Should I switch to flats to gain confidence,
or just gain confidence on clipless pedals?
His issue is he chickens out on fast corners,
steep descents, obstacles, rocks, et cetera.
- There's no right or wrong way to this, is there really?
Because a really great tact of experience either way really.
If you're a flat pedal rider you should definitely
try out clips, because-- - Yeah.
- There's huge gains to be had.
And there's also a lot to be learnt from riding
flat pedals if you rely on clips.
So-- - Very true.
- I think if you're starting on mountain biking,
riding on flats isn't a bad idea because
you might feel a little bit safer, I think.
In some of those more precarious places.
- You want to try make sure your foot
is in the right position as well.
It might be slightly different
to how you have it on your road bike.
You might find that you start a bit more
further forward on your toes,
because your cleats are a bit further forwards,
so on your flats try and ride a bit further up on your foot,
and that'll make a big difference to your technique.
- Yeah it's all about having a good time
when you get on a mountain bike for the first time
and start enjoying it.
So flat pedals might help you doing that,
but if you started on clips, that wouldn't be wrong.
- Let's see a video of Blake, trying to ride clips.
- (laughs) Woo it's fresh, isn't it.
- Certainly is. - These are tight up.
- I wouldn't spend too much time
tightening those up mate.
You know what they are?
- No way, hell no (laughs), no.
Have you looked at that this, it's flipping icy, I'm not--
- You're a great rider, clearly a flat pedal rider,
today we're going to change things up a little.
(upbeat music)
- That was so good that!
(laughing)
Whoa.
- So you've obviously still got a few things to master.
- Next question is from Luker Laforest, who's saying:
I'm about to store my bike for the winter
- Awe.
- Because there's about two foot of snow here
in northern Ontario.
- Ontario? - Ontario.
- That's Canada, innit?
Would hanging my bike from the front wheel or rear wheel
cause any issues?
Could it damage the wheel, fork, stem, et cetera?
Would that be an advantage to hanging it from the rear
to keep the fork oiled?
It's not going to damage the bike, I'm going to say.
I have heard that, that if you let your form
maybe sit upside down, for example,
it will oil the seals a bit better.
What the difference is, that I don't know about,
is it's potentially going to be really cold.
If that can affect seals and things,
I don't know, but I don't think it's going to
damage your bike, either way you do it.
- No, I think it's pretty safe.
I've hung bikes in my garage, literally for years,
and then pulled them off the hook
and gone and ridden them, literally.
- But has it been minus 100 degrees?
- No I've got to be honest, I don't have
that experience about the temperature,
so yeah I think I'm probably talking a load of nonsense,
but hey, let us know how it goes,
and I hope that the snow doesn't last too long.
- Tomi Saaranen, a regular commenter,
says where is Jess?
- Oh Jess, yeah, she's not here full time
what she's doing, she's writing scripts for us.
So she's still involved in GMBN,
but she's got some plans to go on some big trips in 2019,
you'll see her on GMBN, she's got plans.
- Howaboutjoe: I have a 2018 Giant Trance 3.
I wanted to upgrade the forks, shock,
drivetrain, and brakes.
I was curious if it would be better to upgrade
the bits part by part or save up for a bike later on
with the parts I wanted to upgrade.
By the way love the show, keep up the great work.
- I don't know what you'd say Neil,
but I'd say go for it bit by bit.
Because that way you get to really learn about what
difference that is making to your bike as it goes.
You'll get there in the end,
but it's all exciting right from the get-go,
whereas if you just got to save up and wait,
suddenly you've got this bike, it will be better.
But you won't necessarily know why.
- You could potentially do all that
and change the frame at the end,
it's a 2018 bike, so pretty good.
The only issue I see is potentially
the changing standards of the mountain bike world.
You do all that, and get to the end, and go
ah actually, I want to change that bit, and I can't.
- I mean, it's a never ending game a little bit--
- It is. - It is a never ending game.
And I tell you what, that's on purpose.
They're doing that on purpose.
So yeah I guess that's true what Neil says.
- You cynic Martin.
- Yeah, that's it, but I'd go bit by bit.
Thank you sending in your questions to Ask GMBN,
if you'd like to get involved for next week's show
then put your question in the comment section down below.
- Yeah we'll try out best to summon the knowledge
to answer that question, it's not always easy.
- No, no it's not.
We do love having your questions.
If you'd like to continue watching some GMBN,
then why don't you click here to see Neil teaching
you how to endo round a corner, good skill.
- Some descending mistakes and how to avoid them, over here.
- Absolutely, hit the old subscribe button there,
and give us a thumbs up like, we'll see you next time.
- See ya.