FAQ - What does that bike do?

Brian and I are, naturally, very proud of our stable of mountain bikes. Why do youhave so many bikes? What's the difference between each one? and What does that bike do? are some of the main questions we encounter from our non-riding friends.

When I step outside our little world of bikes and bikers, I do understand that lack of understandingness. It is how I feel watching, for example, a football game. Whenever I happen to see part of a game, seeing all those men wearing protective body gear and full-face helmets, I wonder, what are all those downhillers doing on a field, with no bikes? (downhill riders also use body armour and full-face helmets, albeit of a different type). So when our friends asks questions, we are flattered by his interest and happy to talk about the differences between our hard-tail cross-country-come single-speed bikes, our full-suspension cross-country bikes, and our downhill bikes.

Hardtail: hardtail refers to the non-suspension rear of the bike. All traditonal bikes are hardtails. That is, the bike does not have suspension in the rear; to see what I am talking about, look at the Bike Gallery post from yesterday, and compare the Cannondales and the Rig (which are all hardtails) to the Yeti and the Rockhopper (which are both full-suspension bikes). Most traditional bikes do not have suspension in the front, either; that is what we call a rigid bike. Road bikes are, by nature of their purpose, rigid. Road bikes are made to be super-light and fast. Mountain bikes, especially cross country ones, are made to be light-but-durable, and able to handle off-road rocks and bumps and dips and drops, without so much as inflicting a scratch on the frame. All in all, for anyone riding bumpy hills or technical trails, the full-suspension cross-country bike is the best.

Full-suspension cross country bike: Full-suspension means a bike with both front and rear suspension. Most mountain bikes have had front suspension for many years now, but about five ago, full-suspension started to make headlines (look at yesterday's post, and check out the Yeti and the Rockhopper for examples of full-suspension bikes). Brian and I once had only hardtails, of course, before our full-suspension bikes; after buying our full-suspension bikes (Brian is now on his third!), our hardtails began to seem obsolete. The full-suspension cross-country bike can do all the same things a hard-tail can, and more - especially recently, with all the new technology that is being introduced to the mountain biking industry. The full-suspension bike absorbs more of the shock, so you don't have to (that oughta be an advertisement!). Seriously - on a hardtail, you have to have more skill to tackle the technical tracks, and your body has to absorb more of the shocks. On a full-suspension bike, you can go faster and conquer more obstacles, because the bike is actually not jolting you around as much.

So, why do you bother to keep your hardtails? Well, what were we to do? Throw them away? Actually, a hardtail is still lighter than a full-suspension bike. And, if you are not a serious rider, a hardtail is great, and the price is right. But we very nearly retired our hard-tails (our Cannondales) after buying our full-suspension bikes. Then we discovered the fine art of single-speeding.

Single Speed: Single speed refers to the fact that a bike has only one gear; that is, you cannot change to an easier or more difficult gear. There is no derailer and there are no shifters on a single speed bicycle. Okay, then, why only one gear? All single-speeders have different reasons; for me, it is simplicity. I love the sheer un-complicatedness of it; the purity, perhaps. Brian loves the demands that singlespeeding makes on his strength and endurance. There are many more reasons for single-speeding, all mentioned here at the single speed FAQ.

Downhill: And the downhill bike? Well, that speaks for itself. Our downhill bikes are exclusively for downhill riding. Downhilling involves a steeper decent, more obstacles, and bigger drop-offs than a typical cross-country trail. In order to permit faster (and safer) riding (especially for racers) and the ability to overcome the obstacles, a downhill bike has more travel (the suspension in front and rear moves more) than on a cross-country bike, and all the parts are much more durable, as they generally have to take more of a beating. Therefore, they are much heavier. So, that means that a downhill bike is too heavy to be pedalled long-distances on a flat, let alone uphill. How do you get uphill in order to ride down, then? Good question. That is what downhill parks are for. Our favourite downhill park is Fujimi Panorama in Nagano Prefecture. Every year, we buy a season pass for about 50, 000 yen, and that allows us to ride the gondola (with our bikes) to the top of the mountain, as many times as we want for the entire season.

I hope I have helped some readers reach a state of understandingness.

And there ends our FAQ post for today. I do hope it was enlightening, informative and inspirational. If not, I still hope that you tune in for tomorrow's blog, which might actually contain something interesting.