Avoid These Common But Wrong Mountain Biking Tips!

Mountain biking advice, we all take it and we all give it. But what advice should you be listening to? Neil Donoghue is here to help, he has created a list of the most common mountain biking tips you might hear out on the trail. Neil goes through each one to determine which tips are worth listening to and sharing or whether it should just be ignored!

⏱ Timestamps ⏱
00:00 - Welcome Back To Another GMBN Video!
00:15 - You Have To Keep Your Weight Back
01:42 - You Should Always Drop Your Outside Foot
03:13 - Using An eBike Is Cheating
04:35 - If You’re Not Crashing Your Not Riding Hard Enough
06:24 - The Front Brake Is Your Enemy
07:38 - Inside Lines Are Faster
09:05 - Speed Is Your Friend
10:13 - You Need A Lighter Bike
11:33 - It’s Better To Be Over-Biked Than Under-Biked
12:48 - You Need To Ride Clipless Pedals
13:51 - Listening To Your Friends Bike Set Up Tips

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What's the worst advice you've ever received when mountain biking? Let us know in the comments below 👇

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What's the worst advice you've ever received when mountain biking? Let us know in the comments below 👇

[matthewwhite]

Shoutout to the sticks that hold up the GMBN bikes.

[artvandelay]

"if you're not crashing, you're not riding hard enough" is true but you don't need to always be pushing your limits. I'm just out on the trail for fun, so I'm fine being slow on the downhill.

[KuroSanArts]

I think most of the Emtb issues on trails comes mostly from Surron yobbos who use the trails like motocross tracks, those things are causing big problems for riders of normal bikes and e-assisted mtb's!

[stujm]

Your front brake is your enemy, I used to believe this, then I learnt how to brake properly thanks to GMBN, now it’s my friend.
I also choose flats or clips depending on what I’m riding, if it’s xc then clips it is, flats for my more aggressive bike because I feel more comfortable. Excellent vid, love riding my bikes.

[clarklowe]

Some of the advise like sit back and watch out for the front brake comes out of the 90's when bikes had steeper angles. It was easier to go over the bars on a 90's bike than new bikes.

[bbtube]

I usually tune people out if they start their tips with "You have to" or "You're not a real MTB'er unless...". Over biked / Under biked is just people justifying their decisions and forcing it on you. Do what makes the ride fun, safe and more enjoyable for you and those you ride with is my favorite advise.

[coreycanuck]

Something about Neil giving teaching sessions....just the best. Keep it up my man!

[orangielegros]

The best advice I’ve ever got, is don’t look where you don’t want to go

[JC-kmxw]

Am I the only person who has been going out solo for decades haha I dont hear anything apart from what you guys say

[plainuser]

Not really tip or advice, but obsessing over speed and Strava times usually does more harm than good. Focus on ridig the trail well, not fast. If you are ridig well speed will be the result. Otherwise speed and crashes will be you get - you will learn o survive, not ride

[markthompson]

68 years old and some health problems my eBike keeps me out there. I get to ride further, and the calorie burned count on my Garmin is only 20% less, with the big advantage that I am not pushing my heart rate through the roof on hard climbs, it has evened out my heart rate.

[gopro_vlogs]

just pull up on jumps is a classic and one I hear a lot

[lonelymtbrider]

Fully agree on "keep your weight back". That is mostly terrible advice these days but I suppose it's a "leftover" from the time when only XC bikes existed and people had the seat high in the sky and no dropper. Where are you gonna go when the front wheel is almost tucked under your belly and the seat is in the sky? Well, you go back. Nothing else was even possible to do at the time.
These days when riding steep rollers etc, you can simply drop the seat, get low on the bike and stay reasonably central and you have good range of motion in the arms to deal with any sudden dips that would otherwise pitch you forward if your arms are straight.

[stevedesilets]

I have heard some of these over my 30 years of riding but really like how you presented the facts and highlighted that some of these come down to rider preference(like over biked or under biked). I love this channel

[junka]

Heavy bikes is an interesting one. My old Anthem is a light weight dual suspension bike which is fantastic for long rides and carrying speed but my Diamondback Sync'R is an absolute tank, the weight of it just feels nice under you on jumps, it feels planted, it develops momentum easily but it has a big disadvantage for me personally but it's down more to my skill than the bike, due to its weight I find it harder to wheelie and manual but I have never been good at those. I can manual my BMX and Dirt Jumper and they're heavy too but the geometry of those short wheel based bikes provide an advantage there.

[rollwithmemtb]

When someone is learning to jump and someone says "just pull up"
🤦

[japanunfound]

I've only ever had good advice. I watch GMBN and apart from that, the few people I ride with only give tips when they're appropriate. I appreciate it coz I'm a middle aged novice riding trails well beyond my pay grade. There's not much of a MTB culture here at all, so I take all tips in to consideration.

[luket]

As a fellow acl tearer, I never considered changing my riding style, would appreciate a vid on this.

[NoNotAChance]

As a MX racer and coach in the 70s & 80s then MTB in the 2000s I can agree and disagree to some of your assertions.
The keep your weight back is probably due to it not being explained correctly. Your comment about the centreline does explain it better than many, but to go further - keeping the weight slightly behind centre on any down slope keeps the front end light so if you hit an unforseen hole you are less likely to be effected. However, it has to be combined with something else - If you are in control of your front wheel you are more likely to be in control of your bike. I always like to demonstrate this somewhere that I can drop my rear wheel off the side of the track or over an outside rut on an turn.
The outside pedal down also has a lot of validity - but one again it needs to be explained correctly. The reason to weight the outside pedal is twofold - to change the attack profile of the tire, or simply to hold the bike at an angle to allow the tire to give the best possible traction and the second is clearance. This is a technique for traction is usually best applied in off-camber corners but can also be very effective on flat, smooth corners. The clearance is usually on narrow trails that have a distinct worn 'groove' and gives a little more clearance than with the crank arms horizontal. Once again, when being explained it neds to be reinforced that in most cases, the horizontal pedal (crank arm) gives the best weight balance with the ability to shift weight as required.
Pretty much nailed the rest I think - especially about tire pressures. I always advise heavier riders to run a little higher pressure than what they are told by many - especially when running tubeless. Often what they think is bad tire performance or sketchy conditions can be attributed to not enough pressure which allows the tire to wander. Always advise that if in doubt - check the recommended pressure printed on the tire and if you are above or below it most likely will not perform in an appropriate manner.