Want to start mountain biking? You should do it NOW!

For a while now we’ve been in the bike-pocalypse, which since the end of the lockdowns has caused bicycle prices to plummet. Now, the problem is exacerbated by used bikes flooding the market as well. This “problem” is actually good for anyone looking to start mountain biking right now, and in fact I found a GT Ricochet for $125! It’s not a high-end bike by any means, and in fact it was originally bought from Dick’s Sporting Goods, but bikes like these were going for $300+ during the pandemic.

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[Music] if you’ve been watching these videos from outside of mountain biking and you’re kind of on the fence about trying it well let me push you over the fence because right now even if it’s the dead of winter you should be buying a mountain bike I drove out to Black Mountain last night and bought this mountain bike for $125 that is astonishing just a year ago this would have gone for at least 300 even in the condition that it’s in and the condition it’s in is on honestly not that bad it’s a couple of zip ties in a tuneup away from being a very good mountain bike in fact I’m going to ride it [Music] today today I’m going to show you what this $125 used mountain bike can do as is we’re going to talk about why this does make a pretty good inexpensive starter bike so you can find one just like it but first we should should address why mountain bikes are suddenly so [Music] cheap the bike industry is on life support right now it’s actually very sad I know a lot of people who have lost their jobs taken pay cuts I actually lost my bike sponsor last summer but mountain biking is actually alive and well this is a supply problem during the pandemic when everybody was locked down and they were looking to do outdoor activities demand for bicycles and bike products went through the roof and so every company ran out of inventory at the same time and they all ordered like crazy now by the time those orders were filled the lockdowns were over and demand had returned to pre-pandemic levels and now they’re stuck with it what’s worse a lot of the bikes purchased during the pandemic have made their way back to the used market and now they’re flooding the market with even more inventory but there’s a silver lining you can get into mountain biking at a lower price point than you’ll probably ever ever see for your entire life on my flip bike series I buy used bikes and fix them up and sell them I can’t believe what I was paying for bikes during that pandemic so hopefully you already have a bike helmet and if you don’t go find one for like 60% off right now and assuming you also found a used or new bike for a historically low price well is that everything you need to start mountain biking yes I’m wearing what you might be wearing on your first ride I’m not dressed in special mountain bike clothes I could give you a big exhaustive list of clothing and gear and supplies but I didn’t start out with all that and you probably won’t either so use what you have and refer to my mountain biking 101 series as you progress you may now start mountain [Music] biking if there are mountain bike trails close to where you live you can just do a Google search for mountain bike trails in your area or you can download Trail Forks that’s what most mountain bikers use and if you have friends that mountain bike that’s an even better way to get [Music] information even on this $125 used bike that I didn’t do any work to I’m not really limited by the bike at all I’m actually more limited by the fact that it’s too large for me than the actual build quality and if all you’re doing is riding a mountain bike Loop close to home or even catching some air you could ride a bike like this into the sunset with a few upgrades why you would need a better mountain bike what gear you might end up purchasing next what kind of trails you’ll eventually end up on none of that matters right now and in fact it might lead you to decision paralysis so just get yourself a good bike new or used and start pedaling [Music] so I rode this bike today as is just to prove a point but uh I probably should have given it a once over could get core sampled on this handlebar here there’s some sketchy stuff going on up at the stem bike could use some scotchbrite and zip ties but otherwise it is good and so I want to explain to you why this is a good bike because if you’re looking for a used bike yourself and you’re not a mountain biker you kind of need to know what to look for right you’re on Facebook Marketplace or offer up you don’t know what you’re looking at why would you choose a bike like this one well I’ll give you a few reasons first of all it is a hard tail what that means is that it only has front suspension it doesn’t have rear suspension that’s what you want especially at this price if you find find a $125 full suspension bike that is a bike that also has suspension in the rear it’s going to be way heavier and lower performance than a hard tail at the same price and in fact if you see that you should head for the hills even if you see a $300 full suspension bike you should head for the hills another great thing about this bike is it’s relatively modern a quick Google search shows us that this color GT Ricochet is from 2018 to be clear older bikes can be great but they can also have outdated geometry worn parts or even surprises lurking underneath and so if you’re new to this I would probably try to keep it under 6 or S years old this bike also has disc brakes just because a bike has disc brakes does not in fact mean it’s good but for your purposes any good entrylevel bike is going to have disc brakes also both the front and rear wheel can be removed or reinstalled with quick release levers that’s a good indicator that this bike is des designed to actually go mountain biking with you’re going to repair Flats on the trail maybe you have to take the front wheel off to load the bike into your trunk if you see a modern used mountain bike with nuts holding the wheel on head for the hills that bike was built to sell not to actually ride also we can plainly see this is a size medium that’s a good sign because it means this bike is available in different sizes not only does that help you determine whether or not the bike will fit you but it ALS also indicates that the manufacturer is actually concerned with size in the first place come to think of it whether or not the bike is available in different sizes is the best indicator you could use to disqualify a bike because if the bike is not available in different sizes it means the company that made it doesn’t even care whether it fits the person riding it that means they think it’s okay for me and Eric Porter to ride the same siiz bike what else might they think is okay I don’t think this is safe no there are also no warning stickers on the bike uh warning you not to take it mountain biking that might sound like a really weird indicator but some bikes actually do have stickers like that because they’re marketed as mountain bikes they look like mountain bikes but they’re only made for dirt and gravel paths you can’t really take it mountain biking so by now hopefully you’re starting to get excited and you’re browsing the internet your local classified trying to find a bike but you notice that the de I’m talking about don’t seem to exist that’s because everybody still thinks it’s the pandemic and they can list their bike for Crazy Prices you might even see indicators of that bikes that have been up for weeks and weeks with price reduction after price reduction they’re still not selling and so like the shrewd negotiator you are you start firing off scumbag lowball offers yeah I wouldn’t do that or actually I would do do that but tactfully you see the seller of the bike you’re trying to buy remembers buying it at full retail maybe even during the pandemic when even retail prices were over sticker and with that very painful purchase still fresh in their mind they still think the bike is worth that now you come along you don’t even give them the courtesy of spelling out the word you now you’re the person they’re going to sell their beloved bike to for pennies on the dollar you just might insult them and lose out on a good deal so instead do this that’s a nice bike at a fair price but if you’re ready for someone to take it off your hands I’m respectfully offering X and you can consider it a backup offer I value your time and I’m ready to make this easy for you thanks and you know what this seller might have been dealing with no-shows and scams and all sorts of scumbag lowball offers and now you come along and give them an out you let them save face and sell their bike and feel good about it so be patient be respectful and try to put yourself in the shoes of somebody whose bike just depreciated wildly so why am I encouraging you to go out and buy a mountain bike why do I want you to do this so bad well it’s kind of my mission to make sure mountain biking outlives me 50 years from now mountain biking could look very different than it does right now but I want it to exist because it’s one of the greatest activities we know mountain biking makes you strong ER and healthier it spans all different age groups genders languages regions pretty much anything that you can be you can also be a mountain biker and mountain biking is one of the most familyfriendly activities in existence yes it can get expensive especially when you’re buying bikes for a whole bunch of kids but for a short time right now it is cheaper than it has ever been and so I encourage you to take advantage of this moment so What Becomes of my $125 GT Ricochet well it sure could use some work and so I’m itching to get it on the stand and see what I can do with it you’ll see it in a future flip bike episode but for now check out some of the viewing material in the playlist below and hopefully you’ll be inspired enough to take the plunge into the greatest activity in the world and if you have any friends that could benefit from the information in this video please share it with them so you can help me create another mountain biker I hope you enjoyed this video I hope you learned something today and if you didn’t I hope you at least found it entertaining thanks for riding with me today and I’ll see you next [Music] time