- Welcome to this week's Ask GMBN.
And I'm in the shed with Jessica Strange.
- And I'm in the shed with Blake.
- So we're gonna ask all those questions that you've been
sending in to us in the comments down below,
and in other videos throughout the channel.
I'm gonna kick it off with Edgar.
- Yeah, let's get started.
So Edgar Soler commented saying
What is the best travel
for a mountain bike being as efficient as possible
climbing and going down hill?
- Ooh, I --
- It's hard -- - Yeah, it's a hard one
- That's like, what's the magic number
for mountain bike
essentially? - Exactly.
I would say around --
- What do you think? - 130/140 travel.
- Really, I was gonna say 140/150 actually.
- Oh, you see. I --
- But 140 I think is the sweet spot, definitely.
- Yeah, I think 140's a good, sweet spot.
You do get some bikes that do have lockout mechanisms
on these rare shocks.
So you could actually be running at 160
and you can lock it out.
Or like on my
Scott Genius
that thing
has a 160
front and rear.
You can lock it out.
It's got that traction controls,
so I can lock it to 110
and I can lock it all the way locked.
- But it's not always just about the travel
when it comes to riding.
I mean you got to consider wheel sizes,
take note of the geometry as well because
they will play an important part in
how efficient and comfortable you are on the bike.
- Yes, exactly.
Hopefully, that question has been answered for you.
We think it's about 140.
- Yeah, I'm still on 140 - 140 is pretty good.
Right, we're going from Luke.
He says please can you explain why reach matters
when you're looking for the right size bike.
I'm looking to buy
a YT Capra
in the near future.
And he's trying to see what size bike is perfect for him.
- See, now when you think of reach,
immediately you think of the top tube,
and you think about your reach in terms of your arms
when actually the reach is relative to
your feet to your hands.
Bike used to be measured from the seat post height.
But now they've done from,
if I try to explain this right.
If your feet are down at the pedals,
essentially it goes up and across the way your hands are.
That means if you sat down on your bike, if you stand up,
your feet and your hands are always really
the same distance apart.
- You just moving between the two, aren't you?
- Exactly.
Now reach is,
let's say the relative distance
between your feet and your hands.
But it can also be affected by things like
rolling handle bars, moving your saddle.
- Moving your saddle back, forward.
- Stem length as well.
So have a look into that.
But it isn't just about top two blath.
- There you go.
Good one.
- So next up we've got Sam Chili, who says,
Hey guys, is 140/130 travel enough for a bike park?
It depends on the bike park.
- I think any, I just come back from where's that,
and you can ride it on a hardtail --
- You can indeed.
- So 130/140 is pretty good.
It's gonna give you enough
comfort on the rough stuff.
I guess you wouldn't want to push it
really, really, really, really, really hard.
But why would you?
You got enough travel day for the whole bike buck.
I think it's good enough. - Yeah, definitely.
I think so too.
Next, we got from Daniel who says,
Hi guys.
Hi ya.
It's a great show!
Thank you very much.
I was wondering what kind of
GoPro mount does Blake use in this episode
"How hard can you ride on a hardtail?"
How hard can you rode --
- What do you use?
- It's a little secret.
What I've got,
I've got the GoPro chest mount.
I put it under my race jersey.
I put it on my bare skin, whatever.
I put it underneath my race jersey.
- Doesn't that get kind of sweaty?
- It does, it gets a bit, smell it.
Yeah, it does, but hey
you're running stealth mode.
You're running stealth mode.
You've got this GoPro.
You can't see that you've got a chest mount under.
You see I don't have these
black straps hanging out everywhere.
Then you just gotta find it
and then just get your little GoPro or action camera,
just find it, and just slide it, and just lock it in.
So you just look like you've got an Ironman chest.
With the GoPro -- - That's kind of cool actually
- It's pretty cool-- - Very cool.
- It's stealthy.
- I like that. - That's how I did it.
- Cool!
- No, I didn't cut my jersy.
But it does pinch holes in my jersey.
- Oops. Sorry GMNB shop - Sorry GMBN.
Next up we've got Trailking who asked
hey guys
Hey! - Hey!
- I'm looking to upgrade my hardtail mountain bike
over the winter off season.
What would be the best budget upgrades?
Also how much would it cost me to convert
from 2x10 to 1x10
drivetrain?
- For an instance, I thought you're upgrading
your hardtail to a full suspension.
I was like, how dare you?
You don't need to.
The hardtails are perfect bike.
But I think the best budget to do for winter is tires.
- Tires definitely - Get some spikes.
And if you can't afford tires,
the other really cheaper option
is to convert to tubeless.
- Yeah, of course.
- That'll be pretty easy.
That means you can run lower tire pressure.
It means you can get extra grip.
It means you can
go riding in the mountain.
- But it really depends on your budget.
When you say
best budget upgrades.
Because I mean, a dropper post if you don't have one
is an awesome upgrade.
But that can be a little more costly.
Upgrades, do you mean upgrade performance,
or do you want to shave some grams off?
Because you could look to get yourself
some carbon bars on there.
- Some light componentry.
And then the 2x
to 1x.
That can get really expensive depending on
what running gear you've got, your drivetrain.
1x, the cheapest I've seen is about 260 pounds,
which is an 11 speed, not a 10 speed, it's 11 speed.
But that all determines on your hub width.
Can it run 11 speed?
- You gotta make sure these things are compatible.
Before you go buying anything, make sure you do research
on the bike model, and brand, and year as well, of your bike
- Yeah, exactly.
But take a look at this video.
It's how hard can you push a hardtail because the hardtail's
probably one of the best bikes in my shed.
- [Blake] Oh my goodness me.
A few weeks ago, I did how hard can you push a hardtail.
But I don't think I have pushed it hard enough.
This is how hard you can push a hardtail
to the extreme level, whistler edition.
(Blake laughs)
(inspirational techno music)
Oh my God, it's so much more scary.
Oh my gosh.
- Pretty cool, what do you have?
- That was rad.
- Do you like it?
- I don't know how you do it.
- It's just a hardtail.
You can do anything on a hardtail.
Next question, Finn2214 says
I'm trying to learn no foot cans
but I can't really get my leg over
the top tube because I'm really small.
Any tips?
- Okay, no foot cans.
Where does the term no foot can come from?
Can do, can dance, can --
- I think it originates from the Can-can dance
- Can you do the Can-can --
- Because you can, can you do the Can-can?
- Is that the dance?
- I actually don't know.
How to do the Can-can? - Can you do it
off the bike, though?
- No, I can't.
- Wow.
- How to coming up probably.
- Definitely.
- The Can-can, I've been a short fella.
I'm pretty short myself.
And I struggled when I had to
start to do the no foot can.
I was on a XE bike,
a hardtail.
The top tube was quite high.
I had to really extend my arms and get my legs
really high over the top of my top tube
to kind of kick them over,
but didn't really get it all the way over
til I got a nice jump bike that had a nice low-slung
top tube to get the leg over.
It just comes with practice.
I think the more you push yourself up,
let your bike drop down a little bit as well.
That will help you get your legs over as well.
Let the bike drop a little bit more than usual,
so you can just step off your bike,
get your feet over to the side --
- I do have a question.
When you're doing your acrobatics on the bike,
and you're doing things like no food can,
and your twirls, and your twists,
and your jumpy jump things,
does it help to be quite flexible?
Things like Yoga, and to --
- It can help.
Yes, it can help.
I've told I've got stiff hips.
You can just see in the ad.
Yes, flexibility is key.
And aerobic, being aerobic, is pretty good.
- That's good.
- My brother did trampoline and he's
insane at doing backflips.
- Trampoline and, ooh! - Ooh!
Next question.
- Let's move on.
Next one is from Nedrub.
Anyone know what the best places are to ride in
the northwest of England?
- I think Cumbria.
- Yes.
- The Lake District.
I've been there.
I've done buffy riding.
Which buffies, if you don't know what it is.
In the UK, you've got these big stone outhouses.
It's not necessarily a toilet.
It's outhouse for shepherds that go and take their cows
they take their sheep up into the hills
and they seek
- Shelter. - Shelter
- It's just a shelter really.
- And it's good riding there.
- Yeah, it's fantastic. - It's rocky.
But it's really good.
Cumbria's a good place - Very natural stuff as well.
That's awesome. - Really good.
- The last question we got is from Rens Simons
who got punctured last weekend,
which does happen unfortunately,
changed the innertube.
But while his wheel was out of the bike,
he accidentally hit the brakes
and caused the pistons to close.
How does he actually open them up?
- Ooh, this' quite a delicate process.
You really want to put something in there,
something quite flat, something thin --
- Yeah, now you can get -- - Then just pries them open.
- You can get a piston press
which is a specific tool for opening up the pistons.
But I know a lot of people will use
a flat-blade screwdriver.
Do be careful when you are using these though because
you can actually damage the caliper,
and chip away at the brake pads themselves.
So just be careful.
Alternatively, piston presses,
they aren't too expensive if you have a look online.
But if you're really not confident
about doing that yourself,
you can always pop it into your local bike shop.
- But we've got a little video on
how to maintain your brakes if they're squeaky or whatever.
Take a look at this.
- Mountain bike brakes are generally pretty reliable
as well as powerful these days.
Other than having to sort of bleed them
every now and then,
and perhaps change the brake pads when they wear out,
it's not too much you need to do to them.
However, there are whole bunch of really
cool little hacks and tips
to make sure your brakes are running on point all the time.
Here we go.
- Great, fire on.
Are you ready, Jess?
- I am totally ready, Blake.
Let's get on this. - Swell!
Who's starting?
- I'm starting.
Drew Peacock
Blake, are you gonna come back to Zimbabwe and ride bikes?
- Oh, I would love to come back to Zimbabwe.
I haven't been back like eight years.
- I'm coming.
- Please come along.
- Okay.
- Okay, I got one says.
Phill Macrack says
is 2018
Titan 24
93
a good kid's bike?
That's a long name.
I think any kid's bike's a good bike.
- Exactly, I agree.
D Sky, anyone knows
which watch
= Which watch?
- Neil is wearing?
- A fēnix
A Garmin fēnix.
- Garmin fēnix.
- Could be a two,
could be a three.
I don't know,
but it's a fēnix.
We got one from Piotr says
Will you be making a game of bike with Jess?
- Yes. - Yes, Jess. Yes.
100 percent. - Uh huh.
- Dick Lovet
How tall is Doddy in real life?
- Massive seven foot. - Huge
- He's like a basketball player, NBA player.
He's pretty tall.
I got a sore neck looking up at him.
- I know.
(Blake chuckles)
- Dave Main
Where about in Scotland is Steve Jones from an EMBN?
Well, it's Scotland.
- Scotland, I think you're in the wrong area of the UK.
- I think he's from Wales.
- Wales. - Wales.
- Greg Thomas.
Is Chris Smith the actual world record holder
for the longest manual ever?
- I think so. - I think he is actually.
- He's really good at mountains,
and he did do a really long manual
for the Guinness Book of Records.
- Yeah. - So I think he is.
- I'm gonna say yes.
- That's the end of quick-fire round.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
- And we have Scots who sent in a video.
He says he's been practicing his whips
and it's gotten quite big,
but I have a feeling I'm doing something wrong.
Can I have some help, please? - Okay
- So let's take a look
- Take a look at this video - Uh-huh
- Ah, it's Scoot.
I know that place.
It's Southampton Bike Park.
Oh, slo-mo.
Yeah, he's got a good,
there's a whip there.
There's a good technique straightaway.
Okay, Scott, to get the actual whip big guy.
You wanna go a little bit higher,
you wanna a little bit more air time
to get the whip out a lot more.
So you got time to get it out to get it back.
It's all about the upper body.
You wanna move the bike to the left,
like you are there.
You gonna move the bike to the left,
but you looking ahead still
and you use your hips and your feet
to move your bike out.
So the rear end,
to get the whip a little bit bigger.
But it's all about getting a lot more air time.
Especially on a small jump,
you wanna go as high as you can
to actually commit to that whip.
You might land a little bit sideways because
when I was learning
I landed sideways a lot.
But I kept practicing.
- Right before we finish up today.
I have one more question for you Blake.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
- Ah!
This much wood?
- No, that's okay.
That's okay
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- Thank you.
- Bye.
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Comments.
(Blake and Jessica whisper)
Let's just wave, let them goodbye.
- Goodbye.