Don’t Fall For These! Mountain Biking’s Biggest Misconceptions

Don't fall for these mountain biking misconceptions! Join ex Enduro Pro Rich Payne as he explains some of the most common misconceptions in MTB and lets you know what to ignore!

⏱ Timestamps ⏱
00:00 - Intro
00:18 - Wider bars are better
02:49 - Bigger rotors are better
04:09 - Longer, lower, slacker is better
06:15 - Soft pressures are good
07:52 - Pro suspension setup

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Has Rich missed any? What are your favourite MTB or cycling misconceptions?

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[gmbn]

Has Rich missed any? What are your favourite MTB or cycling misconceptions?

[ogriboy]

Wide bars on forest trails can be tricky as you can easily hit the trees in some sections when you pass through narrow gaps.

[andrec.]

I am 6'2 with wide shoulders. My XL bike came with 780 bars. I changed them to 800 with a higher rise and it feels a little more natural. I like the wider bars too because of jack knife resistance. That extra leverage helps keep the wheel straight on rocks and roots.

[arthurbates]

i have to say the wide bars one is fully true. When i started riding i rode 800s, but as i progressed i eventually ended up cutting them down to 755, which feels sick on big jumps and allows you to throw the bike around a lot more 👍

[riggedupgaming]

"that come and go, quicker than steel frame startups"
this video is off to a good start lol

[duncanh]

Regarding Soft pressures, it also creates more resistance when climbing. Sometimes I might have higher pressures if I am going on longer flatter boring rides, but when I hit the downhill reduce the pressure for more grip.

[riggedupgaming]

2:49 ive found that bigger rotors are espicially helpful to make cheap brakes more powerful, and its usally cheaper to upgrade your rotors than upgrade your entire brakeset

[Shayne]

Bar width, rotor size, and tire pressure should all be based on the size/weight of the rider just as much as frame size is.
Wide bars are better, but if you are only 4 feet tall then 700mm bars are probably pretty wide.
If you weigh over 200lbs then 180mm rotors are tiny.
There is no universal "best" when it comes to sizing.

[brianrainey]

I cut my bars down to 680 due to excessive pain from a broken elbow from a mtn bike crash about 25 years ago. Anything wider escalates the pain pretty quick. Plus tree gaps in the woods are important when you aren’t riding in a manicured bike park.

[bicyclelife]

People often forget to mention stem length will affect how wide you need. Too long and too wide will make your bike feel like steering a bus, if you have too short and too narrow the bike will feel squirrelly.

[emtb-explorer]

Interesting hearing you run 760’s on the bars, had this on previous bars handy for tight navigation between trees and not hugely different from the 780 bar I have now. Too many bashed rims to risk too low pressure in tyres, great info thanks Rich and GMBN! 😁🤙

[justinkinkade]

Dropper seat posts are necessary. Yes its a nice to have sometimes but is it really needed most of the time, no. And yes I do ride technical trails

[fmax]

When I started riding MTB in"97, my XC hardtail had 540 mm flatbars.

[justgo]

I’m 6 feet tall with wide shoulders and rode 810mm bars for a few years and noticed a lot of shoulder and neck pain . 780 or 785 is the sweet spot on my trail bike and 760 on my dj bike . I also noticed at 810mm I had a lot of trouble pulling the front end up on jumps and bunny hops .

[dblevins]

Id still say the longer geometry is an overall win. Its lead to bikes that handle descents better. In turn, this has encouraged more and more descent oriented trails. Descents are the best part of MTB in my opinion so I very happy bikes got slacker.

As for bars, I run 760. I'm 5'10" and mostly ride downhill on a trail bike. I stick to flowy jump lines usually since I like living.

[ralphcrosby]

Thanks you for the informative vid. My bars finally found the middle ground for me . Thanks again for the content looking forward to more stay safe and 🍻 cheers

[benjy]

Manufacturers are still pushing the lower, longer, and slacker is better trend, just look how slack current XC bikes are, they're basically short travel trail bikes, which is nuts, not everyone wants or needs a slack bike

[markevans]

I run Hope 6ti callipers on one of my bikes, had them 20 years and they are still going strong. They're so old though that there are no adapters available for modern forks, and I can't use a 203mm rotor at all. After a lot of trial and error I found that I could use a 225mm with a modified adapter, but 6 pot callipers and a huge rotor can put you over the bars if you're not careful 😅

[NBM]

All else equal: Bigger rotors do produce more braking power.

[gopro_vlogs]

as a bigger rider at a little over 100kg I do like having bigger rotors with metallic pads for the confidence of knowing I can slow down or stop whenever. pros suspension by the numbers sound stiff but when you look at them rid I think it just looks so active and soft and supple