- We all want to be faster, right?
It's one of those things
about nearly everyone who slings a leg over a bike.
But did you know there are some really simple things
that we can all do today,
that are going to make you faster on your next ride?
So how can you eke out all that speed from your bike?
We're going to dive right in and see if we can find you
a few extra seconds for that next ride.
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While setting up your bike, there are a few things
that make a huge difference
to how your bike's going to feel and ride.
Now, one of those biggest factors is tire pressure.
Simply put, if you have too little,
your tires are going to roll from side to side,
and would generally feel quite slow.
There's also a much bigger risk of your tire puncturing
or burping, if you have a tubeless setup.
Now, if you have a greater tire pressure,
the tires are going to feel really nice
when you roll on hard, smooth terrain,
but as soon as you get to anything rough,
they're going to bounce around
and they won't be conforming to the terrain,
which actually gives you comfort and traction.
They're actually going to roll slower too,
which you might not realize,
but the effect of the tire bouncing off the terrain
will have the effect of you rolling slower.
Now, harder tires can also bring down your confidence,
because you don't have the traction,
or at least the belief of traction,
that you need to hoon it into those corners.
The right tire pressure will keep your tires on the rim,
and avoid excess rolling from side to side.
Punctures, on the most part, can be avoided too.
And your tires are going to conform to the bumps
and undulations of rough terrain,
without bottoming out on the rim.
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Now let's go to the next big setup tip,
which of course is the cockpit.
Now, a lot of your comfort on the bike
comes to personal preference.
Being comfortable on your bike is going to give you more chance
to focus on the trail ahead,
as opposed to the bike moving around underneath you.
The more comfortable you are,
the better the bike is feeling underneath you,
the more you're going to focus on what you're doing,
and what you're actually riding.
You got to think about it
like the bike is an extension of you,
rather than a mechanical object that you're maneuvering.
Now, this can be simple things like putting your gears
and brakes inboard on the bars the correct amount,
or running your brake levers higher or lower.
Now, some riders like Aaron Brady swear by having
almost horizontal brake levers.
But you don't often see actual riders with levers
pointed all the way down.
It really does depend on your riding style,
but it's a really good idea to find what's comfortable
and what works for you.
And whilst you're doing that, you want to consider
testing out handle bar roll, and that means
pitching your bars backwards and forwards in the stem
which makes a massive difference to how it feels,
and how it feels on your wrists which does really
affect the fatigue you get on rough trails.
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Now, let's talk about weight.
Firstly, we want to talk about removing weight
from your bike.
Now removing weight from your bike is obviously
going to make your bike lighter, and therefore,
your bike is going to climb faster.
It's going to feel lighter to ride.
You're going to be able to maneuver it nicely
as well because of that.
Now, a set of lighter wheels or tires
will make the biggest initial difference to that,
because it's the rotational weight.
This is what you have to turn around constantly,
and doing this makes a huge difference in the way
your bike accelerates and brakes.
Don't forget things like cassettes too, 'cause really,
that's a whole lump of metal and someone who's budget
has 12 speed cassettes may be amazing at what they can
offer you as a range of gears, but can also be quite hefty.
And again, that's additional weight.
Another point about lighter wheels
is that they will improve the action of your suspension.
Heavy wheels can choke the performance of suspension
at both ends of the bike.
Other places of a bike that can benefit
from a trim, are going to be the saddle,
seat post, and bars.
Can save a chunk of weight here fairly easily.
If you're really keen on cutting grams down,
you might want to look at titanium bolts,
they're a great bragging point too.
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Now you don't always want to just remove weight,
sometimes adding weight can be to your benefit.
Contrary to what you might think,
adding weight can help you gain speed.
Putting some extra heft in the right spot on your bike
can add stability by increasing the sprung mass,
which effectively reduces the ratio
of your sprung to unsprung.
This is why the suspension on e-bikes feels so good
and why they feel so stable in speed
and through the rough stuff.
Basically, the frame stays still and the wheels
can chop around on the suspension nice and easy
because you've got that firm, basis there
with all that weight on it.
There's also been a few brands that have experimented
with this in the past, including Orange with that
prototype 329 downhill bike,
that had lead weights on the bottom of the downtube there,
I saw that at Eurobike last year.
Along with weight, comes durability.
Now, on lighter bikes,
sometimes it can be a little unnerving,
if you're doubting how strong, for example,
some of your lighter components might be.
Now, if you know that you're in no danger
of breaking anything on your bike when you
hit a section fast,
you're definitely going to benefit from the extra
confidence to ride fast, over demanding, rough,
and dangerous terrain.
Look at the top pro enduro race bikes,
they're often heavier than their downhill
race bike counterparts,
and it's because enduro bikes got to withstand
much longer races so accordingly the races
will over-spec them to last the duration.
Downhill race bikes just need to last
to the bottom of the mountain.
You got to think about it,
the way sacrifices doesn't really make any difference
in a race that is won by tenths of a second
so they really want a bikes to be as light as possible.
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Give your bike some TLC.
As good as your mountain bike and components might be,
if you don't keep it clean, greased, and running smoothly,
it's certainly not going to be much good out on the trail.
Get it clean.
So what is it about a clean bike that makes it fast?
Well, for one, if it's covered in mud
it's going to be heavier for starters,
and not in the right places either.
More importantly, your bike is full of moving parts,
bearings and bushings need to be clean and free
from any grime or muck that's going to stop them
moving freely.
Making sure your bike is nice and clean,
keeps it running fresh and avoids any nasty buildup
and nastiness around your bearings, bushings,
or even behind the seals in your shocks.
Got to think about it, the clean suspension
is going to work more effectively too,
so it's going to make you faster at the end of the day
if your bike is that bit cleaner.
And once your bike is nice and clean,
and all that trail and debris is removed,
the next step really is to get out the grease.
Grease and lubricants are there to make sure
that any moving part that is supposed to move
moves very smoothly, without friction.
If it doesn't, that friction translates
to slowing you down.
This includes all bearings, bushings,
and of course your chain.
Make sure your chain doesn't get rusty and noisy,
that will certainly slow you down on the trail.
Lastly, with the TLC,
is of course servicing your beloved bike.
Wear and tear is a nature of the sport,
it's going to happen with the conditions of your riding.
So keeping up with your bike's needs
will keep it riding at it's best and avoid
unnecessary breakages out on the trail.
There's nothing slower and more frustrating
than having to walk back down the trails with your bike.
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Dial in your suspension.
So, last but not least, getting your suspension
dialed in correctly is certainly going to
increase your speed out on the trail.
The shocks on a bike are highly sophisticated
pieces of engineering, but they're not faultless,
and they need to be tuned into both riding style and weight,
in order to perform to their best.
This includes setting sag, rebound, and compression settings
as well as volume spacers if your shock or faults take them.
It can sometimes seem like a bit of a minefield,
but the important ones are sag and rebound.
Now generally, sag is going to be around 20 or 30 percent
of your available travel out back and 15 to 30 up front.
Rebound's a little more down to preference though,
it's got to be slow enough to control
that suspension movement,
but fast enough that it doesn't get bogged down.
Alright, well there you go,
hopefully you've picked up on a few tips
on how to make your bike faster in a way
that won't cost you any money whatsoever.
Essentially, look after your bike,
keep it in good condition,
and to follow along with that,
I'm going to throw you to a couple of helpful videos.
Firstly, click down here for how to clean your bike
if you live in an apartment.
There's no excuse for not keeping your bike clean
no matter where you live.
Henry takes you through the process of that right there.
And I've got a video on how to set your suspension
up in ten minutes right down here.
Anyone can do this, in ten minutes,
you can do it on your own,
all you need is a shock pump and a bicycle.
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Cheers, guys.