Roadie wants to learn to downhill mtb

[google@medmonds.com]

So I have the fitness part down. I can even rip through single track
ok, but those damn MTB vets that I pass on the uphills keeping smoking
me on the downhills. I found this article pretty useful:
http://bicyclesource.com/ripping_downhills_made_easy

Anyone else have any tips? I'm already working on growing a pair of
balls, so you can keep that suggestion to yourself ;)

One other question... I have a hardtail that I race on currently. I
find it more efficient for climbing, but could this be hurting me on
the downhills? What do you guys think?

[Tom Kunich]

<google@medmonds.com> wrote in message
news:24a351ad-4d82-4319-991e-8c2b1526ef14@h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> So I have the fitness part down. I can even rip through single track
> ok, but those damn MTB vets that I pass on the uphills keeping smoking
> me on the downhills. I found this article pretty useful:
> http://bicyclesource.com/ripping_downhills_made_easy
>
> Anyone else have any tips? I'm already working on growing a pair of
> balls, so you can keep that suggestion to yourself ;)
>
> One other question... I have a hardtail that I race on currently. I
> find it more efficient for climbing, but could this be hurting me on
> the downhills? What do you guys think?

Here's the way it works - when you're going downhill the faster you go
generally the smoother the ride. The problem is that if you hit anything
that slows you up there are a lot of forces trying to throw you over the
bars. On unsuspended bikes you tend to go pretty slowly in order to stay on
the bike. With front suspension you can hit stuff faster but there are
always funny shaped bumps that are actually worse on a suspension fork than
without. You need to recognize those and avoid them.

Full suspension bikes were developed specifically for going downhill so yes
that would definitely slow you up and generally in a big way. The problem is
that you're used to slowing up for turns because the back wheel is in the
air a lot and hence doesn't get a lot of traction. With full suspension the
wheels stick on the group and traction is GREATLY improved. But it will
definitely take you some time to get a feel for how much faster you can go.