Questions, comments and criticisms

What happened to slingshot starts?

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Hello!

Being a happy owner of the “Mastering Mountain Bike Skills” book, I have recently bought a second edition of it. After flicking through it, I see that there generally are a lot of things that were not in the first version – like your “attack position”, dual-slalom racing cues, “avoid injures” chapter and better explanation of pumping. And that’s great!

But I’ve also noticed that there is only one gate-start method briefly described in the second edition. Why is that? In the previous edition there was a pretty detailed description of a traditional start, random start and a “slingshot” technique (I’m not sure if I translated it well). Is there something wrong with those?

Your faithfully,
Kuba

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Skills + adjustable seatpost = click!

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Here’s a success story from one of last summer’s coaching clients. Jeff came from Kansas lookin’ for some braaap.

He found it.

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Tires for those pointy Brazilian rocks

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Hi Lee,

My name is Juscelino, I’m from Brasil, and I’m riding a new specialized stumpjumper FSR carbon. The main soil condition here is gravel, rocky gardens and single tracks. My style of riding is trail, and since I read your book I’m getting better descend skills. Thanks a lot for that!

I and my friends are using Specialized purgatory 2.2 (23 psi – I’m 86kg) in front and specialized the captan control 2.0 (30 psi) in rear, I’ve liked the traction and cornering with these tires, but at my third ride I get a side wall cut in my rear tire, it also happen with my friends. Is this tire inadequate? What tire do you recommend? (weight is not my first concern).

Thanks.

Juscelino Castro Blasczyk
www.clinicafisiocorpus.com

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29er handlebar position

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Dear Lee:

First off, thanks for sharing your wisdom in Mastering Mountain Bike Skills — I’m doing my best to suck less.

I ride a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR 29er and am wondering if your advice on handlebar position (both in the book and with your lovely graphic on the website) applies equally to 29ers? Or do the larger wheels imply lower bars?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. I hope all is well with you.

Best,
Scott T

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What’s up with the Stumpjumper EVO?

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Hi Lee,

You know the Specialized product line inside out and you dig both the ups and the downs, so I figure you’re the man for this question.

I’m riding an old 6″ Horst-link frame with outdated geometry in the form of a skyscraper-high BB and steepish head angle. To make things worse, I can only drop the seat 2 1/4″. Things go from fun to terrifying whenever the trails get steep.

I also have a full-on downhill bike, so I don’t need a “One Bike” bike, but I do prefer the mini-DH feel. My preferred trails are often on the steep and rocky end of the cross-country spectrum and free of any noteworthy stunts. I’m about 175 lbs, so no special considerations for rider weight.

The Enduro was a leading candidate until I saw the Stumpjumper Evo, which seems like a perfect mix of cross-country efficiency and mini-DH geometry. My concern is that the frame and fork stiffness might not let the bike take full advantage of its geometry. The Enduro is only a little heavier and climbs pretty well, but the BB is a fair bit higher and I have no need for the added strength.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and thanks for the years of outstanding advice, discussion, and enthusiasm from your site!

-Ryan

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You’ve changed my riding

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Lee,

I’ve been riding Mountain bikes for about 30 years. I rode the second Rock Hopper in Anedale park. 100% self taught and I’m quick on the trails and old school downhill aka super d. (recently took 2nd at the Otter). I took your technique teaching class in Berkeley. That class completely changed my riding style, and opened my eyes to a whole new realm of possibilities.

[letter continues]

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27.2 mm adjustable seatpost?

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Lee,

I have been looking for an adjustable seatpost in a 27.2 for my Fisher X-Cal. I know that Gravity Dropper is a good one and is on the list, but I was also wondering if you had heard of the Kind Shock I7-R Remote-Adjust Seatpost? When you get a change let me know what you know about it/ think about it. I also wrote a little note to the people at Fox doing my best “please, please, please” for a 27.2 to be added to their prototypes of adjustable posts to come out for the 2012 year. No word on that yet, I guess I should have added one more please. Thanks for any information.

Jeff

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Moto vs bike: right-hand vs left-hand front brake

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Hi Lee,

Since you ride both bikes and motos, I know you’ve had to deal with this conundrum, and I’m curious as to your take on it.

A long time ago I rode motos, mostly dual sport (and mostly on the street). I’m a newbie to MTB, and I think I’ve also decided I want a moto. (I’m 5’6″ — a TTR 125 maybe? But that’s not what this letter is about.) So here’s my question: how do you deal with the fact that motos have the front brake on the right, while MTB’s have it on the left (unless you’re in Europe, of course)? When I got my mountain bike, I decided since I was already used to using my right hand for the front brake, I’d just swap the right and left levers. But it occurs to me if (more like when) I ride a friend’s bike, or rent a bike (can you say lift-assisted DH? :-), it’ll be backwards, which could get me all balled up (literally, maybe. lol). And I’m not real up for going the other way and swapping the clutch and brake levers on my moto when I finally get it.

Help! How do you deal with this problem?

Love your site (and your book).

Kevin G
Gaithersburg, Maryland

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MMBSii is a great book (I think)

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Hi Lee,

An amazing book you’ve written… I think. I made the mistake of buying the e-book version. What a waste of money. Adobe Digital Editions is some of, if not the worst piece of software I’ve used – completely unusable. I’ll presume that it’s not some nefarious plan by your publishers to upsell people to a printed copy, and that you and or your publishers genuinely want to make it easy for people to access the book … Please don’t force users to use Adobe’s Digital Editions (for the love of all that is humane in this world!).

Having fought with Digital Editions for two days, I give up; I’ll fork over more of my hard earned cash again for a printed copy of your book – because it truly looks worth the extra expense (from what little I’ve managed to see so far).

Kind regards,

Ben Wiles

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The countersteering can of worms

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Eric and Geoffrey are asking some tough questions regarding Countersteering a cross bike (or any bike)?

They want to know whether a gyroscopic force exists in countersteering, how bikes differ from motos, and how they can use all this mumbo jumbo to go faster.

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Countersteering on a cross bike (or any bike)?

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In comments for the post Local trails on the cross bike, Christopher asked:

Lee, what’s your take on the cornering technique described here?

http://www.cxmagazine.com/cornering-column-lee-waldman-2010

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Danny Mac-A-skill

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Lee – I was just watching the new video from Danny MacAskill, that man is a bike Kung Fu master (and he has the perfect last name Mac-A-skill). His technique is the perfect visual representation of your instruction for jumping and landing in MMBSii. I guess if you can land as light as MacAskill the drop to flat limit for a dirt jump bike is approximately 20 feet! He truly is amazing.

Dave

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