Mountain biking is a thrilling experience in itself. While some people prefer taking perfectly straight roads and curated pathways, some bicyclists thrive off the adrenaline rush from biking rocky ascends and mountainous terrains.
While mountain biking is a fast sport, some adrenaline chasers will still be looking for methods on how to go faster. Well, luckily, we’ve got the right guide for you.
Mountain bicycles are specially designed to make your ride comfortable and carry out with sheer resilience in even the most severe and harshest conditions.
To match that potency, we have our simple and easy guide on how to make a mountain bike faster before you decide to turn your MTB bike into a commuter bicycle.
How to Mountain Bike Faster
Here are our top tips. By following through with this guide, you’ll get a guaranteed faster mountain bicycle that will fulfil your ultimate need for speed.
Let’s get started with all our tips on how to make a mountain bike faster!
1. Get Slick Road Tires
Mongoose mountain bikes are generally made with the commonly used bumpy tires that are a standard in mountain bicycle companies. These industries assume that mountain biking is usually going to be carried out in trails and paved out areas. So, it limits the speed factor.
Some speed is essential for marinating a good ride throughout the trails. But getting friction, traction and movement is more crucial in the case of mountain biking.
You can change the standard provided bike tires with slick tires instead. This will exponentially increase your speed and allow you to test more limits.
All you need to do is make sure that the tires are safety proof and are perfect for your bike rims. Then you can easily glide past at speeds you could never reach before.
2. Optimize the Tire Pressure and Inflate the Tires Correctly
Overinflated or underinflated tires both bear significant demerits and can adversely affect your bike tires by a margin.
This phenomenon can also hamper the speed of your mountain bicycle. The tires won’t be able to revolve as fast. More force exertion will be required on your part to acquire superior speed whilst riding.
Optimizing the tire pressure and ensuring that the tires are inflated at the right pressure range is crucial in increasing the speed performance of your mountain bikes. Always keep your pump and tire gauge handy to adjust the pressure according to the situation.
Tire pressure determines the amount of contact the tire surfaces are making with the ground underneath. Thus, it’s vital to maintain the pressure in the tires within the ideal range. The perfect content for pressures in tires ranges from 25 to a maximum of 35 psi.
Of course, the terrain and the overall load on the bicycle will play a significant role in the ideal pressure so you can tweak it accordingly.
3. Get Rid of the Brake Rub
To see if your bike has brake rubs, rest your bike upside down and try to spin the wheels. If you can turn it smoothly, then you’re good to go. But in the situation that they don’t then your bike probably has the brake rub.
The brake calipers create friction between the wheel disks, and this causes you to exert more force and pressure on the pedal. This drag causes a delay in the speed. You can quickly fix the problem by removing the brake rubs.
Simply take your screwdriver and adjust the brake calipers and their tension. To do so, align them so that the pads aren’t dragging down the disks and then unscrew to relieve the tension. Proper alignment is key to getting a faster bike ride.
4. Clean the Mountain Bike Thoroughly
Yes, you read it correctly, something as simple as thorough cleaning can dramatically affect the speed of your mountain bike for tall man. How so?
Well, a cleaner bike gives a more enjoyable experience than riding a dirty and rusted bike. The grim and dirt within the gears of your bike will definitely slow down your speed. So, cleaning your bike and cleaning your bike chain every now and then is essential for a faster biking experience.
Invest in relevant cleaning tools and always wipe the chains and cogs to be dry before you proceed to oil them.
5. Keep Your Weight Balanced on the Bike
Always make sure that your body weight and the load is distributed equally over the bicycle. If you’re leaning forward too much, then you’re prone to tumble over the handlebars.
If you’re leaning far back, then the efficiency of the front brakes will be compromised. Try to position your body in a way that the load stays centered.
6. Loosen Up a Bit
Try to position yourself in a relaxed manner because a stiff and stern posture might affect the bike’s speed. Keep your arms and legs slightly bent and keep only a finger on the brakes.
Too tight of a grip can often mess up the shifting techniques. A cool and calm posture with a relaxed but firm grip is the way to go.
7. Have Fun with Your Bike
Have fun with your bicycle and its MTB fork performance. Forcing too much pressure will only overwork you so loosen up and go with the flow of your drivetrain.
Turn all the turns and follow all the steep hills and their downward spirals. A loose flow is what will definitely give you a fast mountain biking experience.
Conclusion
With that, we hope you’ve learned how to make a mountain bike faster and quench your thirst for the adrenaline rush.
All it takes is a set of simple tips and tricks and having a relaxed mindset to get your mountain bicycle to go faster.
So, by following all these steps we guarantee you a thrill-filled mountain biking experience that you’ll certainly never forget. Stay safe out there!