derath

Yea I know, I could just try it myself. But I'm on vacation at the moment. I have a friend who recently got into mountain biking. The trails around us are not super technical, (maryland). I'm not a huge mountain biker but would occasionally like to ride with him. As such I'm not real interested in purchasing and storing a mountain bike for occassional use.

Thoughts? I know it's not optimal, and I won't want to or be bombing downhils without shocks etc.

Lazyass

Of course you can.

derath

Nice. I think I might want to see if I can go a little larger on my tires.

TimothyH

What is "Light" mountain biking?

Smooth trails like the one's in the video are OK but the moment you get into rocky or rooted trails you will struggle without a suspension.


-Tim-

u235

I'll add some to that. For me it comes down to on a rooted, lose, and bumpy down hill on a non suspention dropbar you need to go slow, to go slow you need to be on the hoods to brake, if you are on the hoods your weight and center of gravity is way to high and forward. You can get low and get back as far as you can but being a properly sized and fitted gravel bike, that's not very far at all dropper or not. A side effect is you want to minimize the front brakes to compensate and the back brakes are less effective because you can't shift more weight back. Add the fact you may have a low BB height and the whole thing can go haywire very fast. You can use aux brake levers on the flats and gain some stretch distance but now your hands are closer to the stem which limits your control and stability. I do some downhill on rough now in small sections of my normal routes on my gravel bike. Doable but unsettling. I have 39-42 tires, not MTB 2.25 but the tire wont change that geometry and stance which I feel is the fundemental limit. Maybe I have a different definition of MTB trails or I am just too clumsy on a dropbar. Try it first, it comes down to your comfort level on your trails.

derath

"Light" would both be terrain and style. Most of the trails around here are largely smooth. But also having the understanding that some sections I would have to go slow or walk the bike while my Mtn bike friends roll on through.

Kind of how I would classify how I would do "light offroading" with my Subaru. The AWD was amazing, but without a diff lock or ground clearance of say a Jeep, there were times I'd have to tell friends I'd just meet them at the end because I couldn't follow them on the super technical stuff.

TimothyH

Understood, and I own a 2015 Forester XT touring edition with a 2.0 turbo.

What you describe is perfect. I ride some smooth cross country running trails but have to get off and walk a few sections. The video above is good and this one sort of illustrates the capability. The end of the video shows the running trails. Anything worse and I get off and walk or find some other place to ride.

Niner RLT 9 RDO

derath

Haha! Yea see that drop I'd probably walk down even if I had a mountain bike. I'm not as bold as I was in my youth.

athrowawaynic

It can be done. It won't be as fast, and it can be scarier, but that's the point right? Drop your tire pressure a bit for better grip.

TimothyH

I didn't say that it wasn't fun or that people don't do it.


-Tim-

Marcus_Ti

It is basically the same as riding on a hard-front/tail MTB like people used to...before massive tires and dampeners. Just with different handlebar controls.

Seattle Forrest

Not an issue on smooth trails. Problem is, when you’re exploring, you don’t always know what a trail will be like before you commit to it.

I rode through Pipestone Canyon on my GT Grade, with 28 mm tires. It’s known locally as an MTB trail, occasionally used by hikers. The rocks in the tread were about the size of cobbles, and firmly embedded for the most part, not loose crap (in other words, not like gravel). There were some drops, measured in inches. Few mostly-buried roots. Then, really smooth through the valley. Ironically that’s where I had to get off and walk, it was spring, following the rains, and part of the ground was too muddy, my wheels sank in to it.

It’s fun to rise to the challenge, but less fun when the challenge is too much. Great sense of accomplishment when it works. Not only do you have no suspension working against you, but skinny tires, and geometry that isn’t really made for the trail. If the trail is gentle-ish, you might overcome it.

chas58

I do it, but on trails that don’t need suspension, where I won’t’ be blasting downhill and hitting rocks and roots. I can carve and corner much harder on a mountain bike.
The worst part is the sound my wheel makes when it hits something immovable much bigger than 40cm. No problems yet. Obviously with a 60mm mountain bike tire, I can take a pretty hard hit and have the tire absorb most of it when running ridged, or much more with a suspension.
Yeah using better biking skills (really picking your line), you can do just about anything that doesn’t demand a suspension – ya just do it a little slower. Go try it, it’s fun (if you don’t break anything, lol).

Sullalto

There's some local ones here I'm willing to ride, but it isn't very fun. It's just too many tight switchbacks. Without those I'd be fine, and I'm not much a bike handler.

If I were a better bike handler I bet it'd be fine.

ATPAH

Perhaps you could throw on some flat pedals and take it out on those trails. You'll be able to improve your bike handling without the annoyance of unclipping and working to get restarted while riding the path less travelled.

dgodave

I do lite mtb-ing on my AWOL with 47c tires all the time. Its fun in a way. But my mtb is much better on these sections.

50voltphantom

Did it on a Surly Steamroller with CX tires all last year. Go for it.

RJM

there is an mtb loop in town that I take my cross bike on as part of a cool route I got figured out that starts at my work. It's fun and demanding and I think I learn how to be light on the bike "underbiking" the trail a bit. (I'm only using 33.3mm tires). It's pretty flat and twisty, something a cyclocross bike is good at dealing with.


I've got trails that I don't think the gearing on my cross bike would be ideal and I would probably have to walk up the really steep inclines (talking 30-50% grades). Could be fun, but I haven't tried them on the cyclocross bike.

bcpriess

If you don't want to spend much money, and just want a basic mtb that may be more attuned to the style of riding, it's amazingly easy to find a perfectly functional, high quality, rigid late 90s mtbs for $50-$75. And if you prefer drop bars, you can get a set of Soma Gators for another $50 and not have to change the brakes and shifters.

caloso

You don't need suspension. Heck, you don't even need gears.

derath

Yes it would be. In fact my all around bike used to be a 1992 Trek 950, until it got stolen and was replaced by my Jamis Renegade. But as I mentioned in my OP outside of purchasing I don't really have the space to store another bike. So not interested in buying even a beater Mtn bike for very occasional use.