| Which MTB? |
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Front and Full on top of Mount
Carza
In extreme bike-trekking you
ride through various types of terrains, from grassy pastures to tangled woods,
from stone stairways to muddy trails, from snowy slopes to sandy planes. It is
thus very hard, if not impossible, to find a bike that will behave well
under all these conditions. But for the ones who are racked with doubts,
here's at least some hints:
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1. The
frame: front or full? |
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A question with many answers. Every biker has his own
opinion, and nobody else agrees with him...
The fullies show more traction and more drivability, but
they suffer a major disease: most of them have such a fancy frame, that it
will be impossible to carry them on one's shoulders. So if you're planning to carry your
bike up on the more unreachable mountains and you don't own an helicopter,
a front suspended bike might paradoxically be the best choice. |
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2. The
brakes: discs or V? |
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Another yet unanswered question. There are many
arguments (weight, power, sensitivity, noise, cost, maintenance, wear),
but the differences are not so big. V-brakes are cheaper and less
complicated, but they behave well under most conditions, beside snow and
deep mud... Before deciding what brakes you want to get, you should first think of where you're going to
ride your bike the most.
Just one warning: keep away from mechanical disc
brakes. They are cheap, but they show the drawbacks both of the oil discs and of the V-brakes. |
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3. The fork:
regular or lockable? |
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If you're planning to climb long and steep roads, you should
consider getting a
fork with the lock-out feature. You will avoid wasting a huge amount of energy
just to bounce up and down the road. |
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4. The
pedals: regular or clipless? |
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The eternal doubt between regular and clipless pedals has
found an intelligent answer: the double-sided pedals. When you go uphill
you can fasten them, but when facing the most dangerous trails you
can rotate them and use them like regular pedals. Another plus is that you
can use them with MTB shoes as well as with mountain boots.
The only problem with double-sided pedals is that they've
got two sides... you never find the right side at the first try! |
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5. Wheels:
tube or tubeless? |
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When going on an extreme tour in a lonely zone,
you have to be self-sufficient. If you have regular tires, you can carry a
repair kit and that should be enough. Punctures on tubeless tires can
usually be fixed with a repair kit too, but in some cases (cuts, damaged
rims) there is nothing you can do to fix them. So if you have tubeless
tires you should carry a spare tube than you can insert into the tire in
case you won't be able to fix it. |
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6. The
cables: above or below? |
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In some frames the rear brakes and derailleur cables are
located under the top tube. That isn't going to upset nobody at first sight, but try to carry a bike with such a frame. Your collarbone will soon
turn into a cableguide... The position of the cables is also another
detail that extreme MTBikers have to consider when buying a new bicycle. |
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