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Off-Road Bike Racing – A Perfect Choice for Health and Passion (Part 1)

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Off-road cycling is an extremely popular sport. When participating in this discipline, requires players to persevere, have a real passion to be motivated to achieve the goals you want. This is clearly shown by what happens on the track.

Stimulating passion for adventure

The first to mention is the speed race. Usually 2 athletes compete with each other, when going out the race they will stand next to each other. At the start, they have about 2 or 3 warm-up runs, at this stage 2 riders often run slowly and try to find a way to run after the opponent. At the end of the 2 start-up rounds, they started to accelerate so that when the bike rolled into the black starting line, it was also the time when the bike reached the highest speed. When the first bike hits the black starting line, an alarm will start officially the acceleration test, this part is only 200m long (50m less than a race). In the early stages, the riders often try to run behind the opponent to take advantage of the wind created by the opponent as their thrust, so they keep their feet until the last second. The previous racer also has tactics, they can force the opponent higher to make the opponent’s track longer than himself. When overtaking the opponent from behind, the rider must stay in his right line and must not force the opponent’s line until the rear of the vehicle is beyond the opponent’s front wheel to be pressed into the inner line. Supporting your feet on the ground or falling down is also considered a losing streak. Speed ​​racing content is often chosen as a qualifier to filter athletes to the ring in other content, it can also give medals, depending on the rules.

Another equally adventurous genre is bike racing. This is a subject found in the Olympics. A bicycle has a lot of content, a round pan is usually 250m at the bottom of the pan, and much longer at the mouth of the pan. Cycling racing is very different from road bikes, which is quite costly and dangerous, racing bikes are designed to be stronger than regular bikes (heavier), solid wheels to eliminate. The resistance generated by the bike’s ram hitting the air. Athletes of the pit bike often avoid leading until the last minute. In addition to speed, stamina and endurance, you must also have good judgment and observation, good slow-running skills, and know how to strategize in the fastest way.

TOP 6 FACTORS TO HELP YOU CHOOSE A MOUTAIN BIKE (PART 4)

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  1. Frame material

A good frame includes weight, strength, life, quality and cost. Currently, aluminum alloy is often the most commonly used material for mountain bike frames. Some of the more expensive models have lighter aluminum frames for selecting materials and pipe designs in the production process. In addition, other frame materials include steel, titanium and carbon fiber. Steel is difficult, inexpensive and offers a compact, but much heavier for a mountain bike. Titanium is light and strong but too expensive for all high-end mountain bikes. Carbon fiber is quite popular on cross-country bicycles, fat-bike, and high-end trails and off-road bikes because it is not only optimized for weight but also sturdy and durable, but relatively expensive.

  1. Mountain bike gear

The number of gears of a bicycle includes the number of front chains multiplied by the number of tracks on the cassette. The most important thing is the level of your fitness and the surface characteristics of the terrain you are aiming for. If you pedal on many steep hills and you find challenging climbing, more gears are also a good choice. Besides, if you are a cyclist on bumpy terrain, cobblestone or you just go on flat terrain (Cross-Country), you will not need much gear to power, as well as help keep your mountain bike lighter.

  1. Bike fitting

A suitable terrain bike includes a fit factor, height, well-tuned flexibility from your cycling goal, as well as improving handling capacity requires more technical and more challenging. In addition, Bike fitting can assess the size of the person with the chassis, the pedestal, and the handlebars fit before latching in the position where you pedal most comfortably. The process usually consists of 12 steps from testing the bike, analyzing the data, and aligning the car. Thanks to bikefit, you will know exactly all tired muscle groups, or factors that cause discomfort, that are uncomfortable during cycling.

The above is a summary of 6 Considerations to Choose the Suitable Terrain Bike Model for you. Hopefully, through this article, you will understand more about the information, the basic factor in the selection of a terrain bike suitable for your purpose.

TOP 6 FACTORS TO HELP YOU CHOOSE A MOUTAIN BIKE (PART 3)

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27.5 inch size wheel:

This wheel size is a combination of 26 inch wheel and 29 inch wheel. It improves flexibility for 29-inch wheels and also increases grip for 26-inch wheels. However, users of this type of wheel are not popular, so it is quite difficult to find ribs and components to assemble a mountain bike according to this wheel size.

29 inches size wheel:

This is the size commonly used in racing and professional terrain bikes, with topographic surfaces full of puffs, gravel roughness. 29-inch wheels ensure good grip, but in return this type of wheel has less bearing capacity and flexibility than the wheels with smaller size. This is the preferred choice of XC and Enduro riders.

  1. Brake system

Disc Brakes

The structure of the disc brakes consists of brake pads clinging to a rotor and attached to the center of the wheel. When the gasket pulls into the rotor, the wheel slows down because the kinetic energy is converted into thermal energy. Disc brakes are available in two versions, including a hydraulic disc brake version, which enables braking force to be stronger with less mechanical finger movement (braking), and they adjust themselves when the brake pads are worn and manual operation braking versions (mechanical) requires manual adjustment when the gasket is worn. The most outstanding advantage over Rim brakes is that it is more stable in all weather or terrain conditions, is easy to replace and does not depend on wheel size.

Rim brakes

Rim brakes (mechanical brakes) have pads adhering to the wheel rim, operating on the principle of friction between the gasket and the wheel rim, thereby reducing wheel speed. Normally, some materials are preferred to create brake rims such as rubber, leather, .. The biggest advantage of the main brake is compact and easy to change, but the main disadvantage is easy wear and more continuous piercing than disc brakes.

Besides, there are some other popular brakes like Caliper brakes, U-Brakes brakes, Cantilever brakes …

TOP 6 FACTORS TO HELP YOU CHOOSE A MOUTAIN BIKE (PART 2)

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All-Mountain Bicycles:

This is the “Heavy” model of all bikes. With a pretty stereoscopic frame, it is much heavier than other mountain bikes, providing a very sturdy and solid feel. In addition, like the Trail, the All-Mountain bike has 2 Full-Suspension, but is designed with a larger fork movement, which helps to resist the impact of the terrain of hill, big mountains, rocky slopes, big rocks, and big niches …

Down-Hill Mountain Bike Series

As its name suggests, the Down-Hill mountain bikes are designed specifically for slopes. This is a vehicle that can dump long and large ramps, and depending on the movement of the fork, the vehicle can withstand the great forces. Besides, Down-Hill is designed with heavy frame, enough to withstand rough ramps.

Road Bike Fat-Bike Series

And finally, the Fat-Bike series, dedicated to run on extreme terrain like sand and snow. With the design from frame to wheel are “chubby-fat” as suggested by its name. It can resist well to sandy or snowy terrain. However, the disadvantage of Fat-Bike is that it runs much slower than other terrain bikes due to its oversized body.

  1. SIZE OF WHEEL:

So far, mountain bikes include the three most popular tire sizes, including 26in, 27.5 in and 29in or more. Each type brings a different terrain experience.

26-inch wheels:

Long, 26-inch wheels are considered the standard size in the mountain bike industry. 26-inch wheels provide maneuverability, almost all of the improvements in mountain bike design and technology apply 26-inch wheel sizes, stable and flexible mid / front / rear as well as fit many different body conditions. Besides, It also provides a slightly shorter length, helps to move and accelerate faster because of the rotating volume of the wheel. However, the main drawback is that the small size will cause greater rolling resistance and harder obstacle course.

TOP 6 FACTORS TO HELP YOU CHOOSE A MOUTAIN BIKE (PART 1)

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Mountain bike riding is one of the new and increasingly popular movements because it is not only a health exercise but also a life-like adventure. Different from the road bike line, terrain bikes are designed to fit and adapt to harsh and dangerous terrain conditions. To choose for yourself a mountain bike like that is not only the external structure or color but also a feature designed to suit each type of terrain. So how to choose a suitable terrain bike, let’s explore it!

  1. TYPE OF MOUNTAIN BIKE

It can be said that the current mountain bike is divided into 5 categories, including Trail running bike (rough terrain), Cross-Country mountain bike (running by road), Fat terrain bike ( run on snowy or sandy terrain), all-mountain terrain bikes (mountaineering) and downhill mountain bikes (run steep hills).

Trail Mountain Bike Series:

If you are a lover who runs on moderate undulating terrain, the bike trail will be the right choice for you, dedicated to areas with steep terrain, moderate slopes like those Trail trails along hillsides, dirt roads across the forest … Normally, trail bikes are designed with full-suspension (2 fork) to ensure the vehicle can withstand gravity and jet, absorb the effective vibration and shock during running. In addition, mountain bike trails have a larger movement than the other lines, the moving movement is the amount of movement provided by the front and rear fork systems of bicycles.

Cross-Country Mountain Bike Series

Normally, the Cross-Country bike series specializes in the low-slope terrain and big obstacles, divided into 2 types: Hard-Tail and Full-Suspension. For Hard-Tail series, there is only one fork, used to run on terrain with no major obstacles such as gravel and dirt roads. In addition, Full Suspension series is a line of 2 fork, specializing in the topographic surface with small holes, bigger stones and rugged terrain … the second fork helps stabilize the steering wheel more as well as absorb the vibrations throughout pedal process.