Dirt Bikes to Mountain Bikes?

[mikem9]

Have you made the switch from primarily riding dirt bike motorcycles to riding mountain bikes more? What do you like better about mountain biking?

[Lencho]

Physical exercise. 8 miles of mountain biking versus 8 miles of dirt biking is like night and day on the body. Your legs are the motor, which is good and bad at the same time. Uphills are very different since you can't just twist that throttle. The feel over flat and down hills is similar and can even be more fun since the mountain bike is so much lighter. But your top speed is way less when you are pedaling for power! If I still had my youth, dirt biking rules, but as a dirt fix substitute and in the interest of health, mountain biking has easly filled my dirt passion. Skill sets definately cross over.

You might enjoy this downhill comparison:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqBy1R7IMGE

[ThumperDRZ]

Here is my testament to riding Mountain Bikes....

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=639945

Absolutely love it. I can't say I transferred from dirt riding because I started riding MCs a little late in life (42) ....I have rode off road a bunch but not enough to even feel close to proficient ....Mountain Biking has come a little more natural for me. We have such nice trails around here and a much of the credit goes to GORC (Gateway Off Road Cycling Club) for maintaining and making new trails. The MC dirt riding we have around here is mostly rutted and chewed quad trails that are hard to enjoy on a motorcycle for me. If I lived in Michigan where folks ban together with motorcycle only single track - it might be a different story.

The other plus concerns the exercise gained from riding. I was in probably the best shape I've been in a long time from riding this past Summer / Fall. Also when wife and I did our first night ride it was amazing to be in the woods with silence while riding..... If you have good MTB single track riding areas around you I think you will find it is just as rewarding as riding a motorcycle if not more in some instances.

[5th-Elefant]

Originally Posted by Lencho

Physical exercise. 8 miles of mountain biking versus 8 miles of dirt biking is like night and day on the body.

20 minutes on a MX bilke is a complete body workout. 20 minutes on a mountainbike is a leg warmup.

I've gone from racing dirt bikes a lot and using mountainbikes as training to just riding/racing mountainbikes.

Riding mountainbikes is less brutal on my old body. I don't have black toes all the time anymore. I don't take 5 minutes warming my back up before I can walk upright anymore either. I don't have to drive 90 minutes to the race or practice track every week as I can ride from my house when I want. Mountainbikes are cheaper too... maybe

The big thing is the social side. You ride, have a chat. Race, have a beer afterwards. Dirt bikes were more serious. Just racing and cramp on the way home. Way more fun than a mountainbike could ever be of course, just required more commitment in all kinds of way.

Not sure there's a huge cross-over skills-wise. Must be some I guess.

[ducnut]

My MTB partner is an ex-pro MX-er and his son is a lifelong MX-er. My background is strictly asphalt. I used to be able to turn trackday times that would qualify me at the absolute tailend of an AMA grid. I have zero dirtbike experience; never owned one.

What I notice:
A.) Their ability to pick lines. I'm used to that, but, on asphalt, the line criteria is totally different. Dirt you're avoiding ground obstacles, asphalt it's connecting corners.
B.) They're very comfortable with trees and threading them. I'm still working on that.
C.) They weight the pedals like a dirtbike. I'm still working on that.
D.) They push the bicycle down into the corners, like a dirtbike. I'm used to leaning my body to the inside. So, I'm still working on that, too. Grazing trees with my shoulder or CamelBack is really encouraging changing my style.

Their motocross experience really shows on a MTB. Their comfort level is far beyond mine. If only I had been nurtured on a dirtbike. Of course, I don't have the crash scars/issues like they do, either.

Oh yeah, me getting a 29er has erased some of their advantage through the rutted/rooted stuff.

[GaryHarris]

Riding Mountain bikes is probably the best training you can do to ride dirt bikes. And then back again.

[Sandslinger]

I rode mtn bikes and bmx a ton before i was 17 but after getting a motorcycle license , I never wanted to peddle again. If i want exercise ill go for a walk or a run, but after that , its all about twisting the throttle. Much more excitement. But if you want to peddle thats ok too.

[Dukeryder]

Originally Posted by GaryHarris

Riding Mountain bikes is probably the best training you can do to ride dirt bikes. And then back again.

That looks a lot nicer than the trails in Memorial park that snake along the bayou!

I've been riding Mt. Bikes for the last 20 years off and on (I still suck at it). Just started doing more riding since I came out here to California. The trails are beautiful but the hills are a real mother for a fat arse like myself. I did a little over 15 miles at Henry W. Coe a few weeks ago, I thought I was going to die after all that climbing but the trails were truly epic. I can ride on flatish trails for 90 mins no problem but running a 90 minute hare scramble is more draining, but nothing is tougher than pedaling up long climbs.

Oh yeah and Mountain biking can easily exceed the cost of dirt biking. One of the local shops wanted $3000 for a Niner Rip9 with the SLX group! I demo'd the bike for a weekend and it was awesome, and I ended up building up a FS bike but for less than 1/3 the cost.

[ct-ktm]

Originally Posted by Lencho

Physical exercise. 8 miles of mountain biking versus 8 miles of dirt biking is like night and day on the body. Your legs are the motor, which is good and bad at the same time. Uphills are very different since you

You are compring the same distance 8 miles on both...not exactly a good comparison..

Try to ride a 6 hour enduro or a 3.5 hour harescramble...

[BmoreBandit]

sure, try riding 24hrs of moab!

there is is no way you can seriously compare mtb to internal combustion engine riding. sure a long enduro beats you up, but cycling will kick you ass a lot harder. that's why you get passed by a pot bellied, out of shape old dudes on your hare scramble, but from what i have seen, although experience in mtb xc counts, you better be in serious shape to even finish.
back to regular programing, biking is great, skills transfer, many great moto riders ride mtbikes and road bikes to get/stay in shape.
ben bostrom raced in moab and did great, and i hear spies was going to do it, too. these guys really move in road racing.
best thing about mtbiking- so many places its hard to ride your dirt bike on some nice trails, not everyone lives in utah or co. but you can have some quality mtbiking almost anywhere.

[ct-ktm]

Originally Posted by BmoreBandit

sure, try riding 24hrs of moab!

there is is no way you can seriously compare mtb to internal combustion engine riding. sure a long enduro beats you up, but cycling will kick you ass a lot harder. that's why you get passed by a pot bellied, out of shape old dudes on your hare scramble, but from what i have seen, although experience in mtb xc counts, you better be in serious shape to even finish.
back to regular programing,

We are not near Moab but Ashford is about three towns over and there is a 24 hour race there, I know a few folks that race it every year..!

If you are getting passed by fatbelly riders when you do your harescramble it is because they are faster riders then you....!!!

Have you heard of Supercross.. in Daytona last weekend watch that race and then talk about fitness..most pro dirt bikers ride bikes for training..

I have a feeling you don't do much racing..

Biking is a great for fitness and like motorbikes it is about how hard you are pushing your self...like Swimming,running, etc...etc....

This sounds like a few folks I have met over the years..."How hard can it be to ride a dirtbike it has a motor".............Yeah...OK....

[5th-Elefant]

sure, try riding 24hrs of moab!

I've done 22 24hr races. 23 and 24 will be this summer. Doing the MTB Marathon this Sunday and in two weeks the Dyfi [Mountainbike] Enduro.

There is a 24hr [motorbike] enduro race in the UK but I don't have the mental strength to even enter it (that and it clashes with one of the 24hr mtb races I do every year).

[Gummee!]

Originally Posted by mikem9

Have you made the switch from primarily riding dirt bike motorcycles to riding mountain bikes more? What do you like better about mountain biking?

N. GA is an east coast mtn biking mecca. Go for it!

...as an added bonus, its harder to piss people off when you don't have a motor. (cause yer too farging tired to!)

I started mtn biking, so I'm biased towards pedal power. Both are fun. Both skillsets are similar. Biggest difference is how short mtn bike rides can be vs motorbike rides. Its really, really hard to go a hundred miles on a mtn bike...

M

[rbrsddn]

I rode dirt bikes all through my teens and early 20's. Got my first mtn bike at age 32, and haven't looked back. The skills are the same, but the motor is harder to keep in tune...

[jake28]

I found the learning curve going from a moto to a peddle bike to be steep for the first few weeks. No longer could I rely on my right wrist and dumb look to get me up, down, or through an obstacle. I had to think about where my feet were in relation to rocks to avoid peddle strike for the first time. It was a challenge, but now going back to a dirt bike I find that my riding technique is much improved; a lot more fluid, and I can ride for longer just due to being in better shape.