Owen Coutts, aka Owen the bike nerd has been obsessed with bike life and bike tech for more than 20 years. In this video, Owen shares what he would do and buy if he started mountain biking today!
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โฑ๏ธ Timestamps โฑ๏ธ
00:00 – Intro
00:45 – The Bike
03:02 – Helmet
04:45 – Protection
06:08 – Clothing
09:23 – Tools
11:22 – Pedals And Shoes
12:46 – Goals
13:59 – Habits
15:12 – Mindset
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37 Comments
What would you do and buy if you just started riding today? Help share some advice to beginners by letting them know how long you have been riding and your experience as a beginner. ๐
If you are new, welcome to a great addiction. Like many others I started with a hardtail, still have it. I wanted minimum investment to try it out and there is nothing wrong with that. The advice I would give is go to demo rides and find which type is best for you or rent bikes. Full sus costs more and has more maintenance but it feels so good. Everything goes on sale late fall and winter, bikes, clothes, etc, buy then if you can. Check out less known brands for value like Polygon and direct to consumer brands. Dont be afraid to go to a bike shop and ask questions, mine loves to chat bikes even if it isn't the brand they sell. They will also happily work on other brands. Helmet, knee pads, and for me, gloves are a must. All 3 have saved my skin. By quality protective gear before fancy riding clothes. Now go have fun.
clips for racing, flats for everything else
About helmets: It's not a law in the US either.
However, I had an accident in Miami Beach when I did not even own a helmet.
I have no clue or memory of the accident, but it left me with a closed head injury and 6 weeks in a coma. The frontal left lobe had been unjured.
Life has been completely upside down ever sense due to PTSD. It was like as though life stopped then.
So people, wear a helmet! Closed head injury can be a demonic experience, to say the least ๐ฎ
THANK YOU!, Owen, for emphasizing gloves. They're cheap and easy, and have saved my hands countless times.
anyone else see this guys face and then never watch the video? i know he has fans….but holy shit he's no Doddy
Mouth guards mouth guards mouth guards, the helmet can make you hit the ground at the perfect angle to break some teeth
Stop uploading these generic videos every month. Always the same.
Great video Owen. I have a couple of buddies just breaking into the mountain biking community and this video is now forwarded to them! Cheers.
There is no way I would recommend a Hardtail as a first bike. Full-sus is just too much fun. Nobody rides hardtails where I live. Instead, I would recommend a long travel full-sus Trailbike with a 160mm fork like the Switchblade, Sentinel, Ripmo, or SB140 LR.
Totally agree with the Topeak Hexus multitool. I have the original one and it does pretty much everything you could want from a trail tool, and is even my go tool tool for maintenance at home.
I wish I knew long travel bikes weren't it for me earlier. I don't want to ride trails that require 160mm travel and I like efficient pedaling. Give me miles and miles of blue trails any day.
I know this is a serious video but get into some comedy. Becoming a mountain biker is accepting the obvious. We get obsessed with bike components, videos, and crashing.
3:14 I have this exact model of helmet, it's very light and breathable, I feel the breeze, lovely in the summer. easy to adjust it, and the strap design is good, it doesn't rub the ears. But maybe it could have had more coverage behind the ear. The strap also doesn't go out of adjustment every 10 minutes, even in few seconds like some helmets have issues with. I've seen cheap helmets with these issues, even had some in the past. But saw one at an kids day event some kids helmet, where it came out of adjustment after I adjusted it. But weren't helmets the local club provided. So make sure you check this before you go for a proper ride.
7:58 Make sure the shoe laces are tucked into the lace band or tucked away from the bike into the shoes, or they might get into the drivetrain, so don't do what is shown here, also don't ride with baggy sweat pants and alike, nor jeans, I've had to break a chain to remove a kid from a trails bike as the kid was stuck to the bike, no way to get him loose as the bike was had bolted on rear wheel. Another issue is kids with super long backpack straps stuck in the drive train. So parents and short people watch out for that. Laces one could probably just take shoes off and spin the cranks to loosen the cases from the chain ring of any bike, but jeans on a trails bike that has bolt on wheels is worse.
Get a good quality hardttail I swear by them love my hardtail and a good helmet โ and get out ride ride . Hurry up spring ๐ซ
Need to buy some gmbn shorts for summer ,,,soon .
I will only ride flats, for safety reasons, I want to be able to get off the pedals at any angle in any situation, but the issue is most shoes don't fit me.
The MTB shoe makers need to make shoes that actually fit most humans, not pointy and narrow shoes that squeeze the pinkie toe. I have 27.5 long and 11cm wide feet. So I need the length of 43, but width of 45 ( Five Ten, Ride Concepts, north wave) or so with some brands maybe even 46(Endura), also more competition in insulated riding shoes with gaiter, waterproof, grippy in sub zero temps.
If anyone knows anything that would suit my needs pls tell me. Doesn't have to be MTB shoes.
Endura has a nice Velcro gaiter, Northwave has a nice gaiter too, but they don't fit me.
and for summer shoes the best shoes I've tried so far are Ride Concepts Tallac, breathable, not as much as 5Ten Freerider, but better in all other ways, but still too narrow.
โBaggies cover a multitude of sinsโโฆ. I dyingโฆ.๐
I bought a hardtail and I don't like it. Not my thing. I'm 37 and raced motocross for 25 years most of that riding on factory level suspension. My back can't take it on the hardtail and I like to nerd out on suspension mods and settings. Needless to say I'm building a Full sus Commencal meta TR
Gloves also help tremendously with grip if you ride in the heat and humidity. I forgot my gloves once and couldn't believe how slippery the grips became when wet from sweat.
Recommend avoiding coil forks and QR unless you enjoy limited upgrade options and immediately wanting to upgrade. IMO the best thing a UK beginner could do in terms of bang for buck without buying second hand is to wait for Go Outdoors/Millets to have one of their many sales and get a Polygon or Calibre. No sense spending big money if you don't know if you'll enjoy it.
Probably not high on everyones list but Water proof socks are a game changer
I finally bought another hardtail a few years back to chase the kids around, haven't had one since 1999. Now I will always have a hardtail in the garage, so much fun with thes modern geometry. It's made some boring trails fun again
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Yes Owen my SON!!!!!! WE ARE NOT WORTHY!!!! Repping HARD for all us understated wrench monkeys …. LEGEND!!!!
When I started mountain biking if you had a fork with more than one inch of travel you were pimpin. My first shock had like 3/4 of an inch of travel
I thought I looked kinda lame wearing padded shorts but I threw a pair of regular shorts over the top and didn't look so "gay"(sorry). Eventually I rode enough that I didn't need padded shorts and I went on shorter rides but more of them.
When I had a job where I drove a forklift I had SPD pedals but the last twenty years I had a job where I stood up all day fixing machines so I stopped using clipless pedals
I had one full suspension bike but it wasn't my thing so I traded it in for a different bike.
Now I can't ride anything except an exercise bike which is really boring
Here's my kit (relatively low budget)
Bike:
Modified 2007 K2 Attack 2.0 (purchased used for $40Cad from where I work)
Small lil' enduro bike, 26 inch wheels, 100mm travel, approx 105cm wheelbase
-painted a spekled light blue that reminds me of a 1957 chevy bel air
-personally swapped the coil fork for a rockshox recon silver tk (the single most expensive part on my bike)
-original tires and tubes were cooked when purchased (flat and cracked), originally swapped for some cheap tubed tires by Schwinn
Now got a set of Maxxis Minion DHFs on
-swapped original tektro cable brakes for LMXT 2 piston hydraulic brakes
-bike frame was not designed for a dropper post, but I found a cable actuated one that works with my bike, just duct taped the cables to the frame
-might change grips as they are getting a little bald
-currently looking for a set of carbon wheels, but I'm borderline broke rn
Helmet:
-some helmet I got at canadian tire, but looking for a full face helmet that doesn't exsanguinate my wallet
Protection:
-protective shortsleeve shirt
-protective shorts
-elbowpads
-kneepads
-basic set of work gloves
Clothing:
-black Western University sweater (it's reasonably baggy so it goes over my protective gear quite nicely)
-jeans (also slightly baggy, but not so much they get caught in the drivetrain)
Note I live in the mid parts of canada, so it gets cold at strange times of the year (like snow in june)
Tools:
-Custom made multitool (contains allen keys of various sizes, including a T25 head, and that doohickey that plugs tire punctures)
-compact bike pump (held next to bike's waterbottle cage)
-general purpose silicone lubericant
Pedals:
-set of plastic pedals, but looking for a set of metal ones
Shoes:
-set of black vans
Goals:
-whatever gets the dopamine flowing (wether it be jumps, flow trails, speed, that kinda stuff), but also where I live, there are like next to no proper mountain bike trails
Plenty of great long-lasting gloves at the hardware store that are completely fine for mountain biking and are cheaper than ones from bike brands
Make sure your vehicle can carry your bike to the trailhead. Bike rack, back of truck or van, etc. For some reason newbies don't like the $100 tailgate pads if they have a pickup truck, but then bawk at the $1200 price tag of a Thule or Kuat system. They gotta learn the hard way that shoving a filthy bike back into the car is disgusting. Giving some newbies (usually young men) free advice to make their mtb life easier and more affordable can be a challenge as they think that already know it all ๐
Got into mtb a few weeks ago thanks to this channel. I decided to convert/upgrade my old GT hybrid road bike into a full suspension trail bike after hearing they are going out of business. I have gone with a Shimano XT shifter, but base Deore for the mech, thanks to the advice here. I'll be submitting my project picture for the bike vault soon
My wife says you look like Matt Damon sir.
If i started mountain biking today I'd buy a Honda 450f and shread the mountain bike trails
I pulled my hardtails out again last year, forgot how much I like riding them, especially my mk2 290 scout, she is badass and so much fun to ride! Iโve decided to give her a mid life upgrade too. I prefer her over the mk3.
EYE PROTECTION!!!
Your eyes are the most fragile part of your body exposed to the outside world. You cannot predict or control what gets thrown into your eyes or the sockets near your eyes while upright. A new mountain biker is more likely to crash putting their peepers very close to the ground with all the rocks and sticks. It doesn't take much to damage an eye and possibly lead to permanent vision loss or impairment in the impacted eye. Don't risk it.
And sunglasses always look cool! But use clear lenses or yellow lenses for low-light situations.
Second hand aluminium/steel hardtail. As they don't tell you that carbon wears and full squidgy doubles your servicing costs. Fox forks as i think theyre better. Shimano brakes as SRAM are a pain in the arse to bleed.
Mechanix gloves for the win all day every day.
Can't help but love Owens enthusiasm.