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If you've ever had a car wash put armor all on your steering wheel, you'd probably never want to have that product on anything you own again.

Yes I have. 7 years on various 29'ers (Fuel EX "LT", Slash, Sentinel, Foxy) and now on a Scout Carbon. Friends riding behind me says I'm way more playful on the bike now, but I do miss the confidence 29er give you going mach 10 into rockgardens etc. Flicking the 27,5 through corners and tight sections are way easier. But 27,5 with the right geo is insanely fun

Same here. I've got a full 29" Demo DH bike for racing. But I ride a 27.5" for trails. I don't look at my Strava times any more. I just try to use every single inch of trail on trail rides...whether it's a little root or rock to pop off of or weaving and cutting a straight section of trail to do cutties. 29" trail bike might clock a faster Strava, but it bores me to death to just have a shorter ride. On the DH bike, that 29" rear wheel eats my ass up when I try to tweak...

if warner and peaty spending a full week in the remote reaches of the Appalachians doesn't result in some new, epic, scandalous tale that can only be re-told through animation, i'll be sincerely disappointed.

Oh yeah, of course a 2017 bike is not that short. I was comparing to a 2006ish design, haha. I guess I forgot to say "yeah you're very right about a couple years old bike being fine", just corroborated it by jumping directly to "yo, even a 2006 bike is 'ok' in many ways". I think the comfort and fit can still apply across just a few model years, depending on the bikes at either end and the rider, and you nailed it with those examples. But often times just a 10 or 20 or 30mm larger window of "comfort...

The real issue here isn’t the squat, the rise, the geo or the tune::: It’s all the hammfisted fucks grabbing handfuls of brake on any bike, all the time, anywhere. Skids? Yes. Braking while riding tech in any way? No. It’s literally bad bike riding. I did it. It sucked. I stopped. It’s rad.

Let's get something straight around here. Someone besides me had to get saddled with the name Butch?

Drink a beer before you ride. I did this once inadvertently and proceeded to set a KOM and a handful of top 10s and I'm pretty average, and 48 (and started at 43). I rode so loose and comfortably it was like an entirely different experience. Also seemed safer, just not being in my head but being in the moment instead. I weigh 180# and didn't even feel the beer otherwise.

Thought this article by BetterRide founder, Gene Hamilton on "Overcoming Fear When Mountain Biking (and using it to your advantage)" may be of use. https://betterride.net/blog/2018/overcoming-fear-when-mountain-biking-2/

I started when i was between 28-30 I think. Very late. Had maybe 5 years of snowboarding experience at that time. I live in Whistler so rode a lot of bike park and technical trail riding from the start. I was always very timid (and probably am more so now). I think coaching and bike parks are the best way for you to overcome your fears if you can afford it. Just the repetition of being on the bike so much without having to work for the climbs and being exhausted etc. Living in the PNW you have plenty of...

Very cool. Thx for the reply. As Team Robot alluded to, there is a "golden window" to really get good at this sport. I picked it up when I was 12, and by today's standards, I'd say that is still too late to be *really* good. Case in point, with exception of a handful of riders, pretty much every pro MX guy started around FIVE! The modern crop of mountain bike pros, too, started silly early. I realize you aren't looking to be a pro, but this does go to show there is a development window that is really important...

Great question! First off, your fear is healthy. Mountain bikes can throw you really hard, and it's important to maintain a healthy fear of them. People who are fearless eventually have to stop riding, either because they're tired of being hurt all the time, or they're so hurt they can't ride anymore. Fear is good, so fearless people don't last long. You mentioned "old age," so I think it's worth mentioning something that most people won't tell you: If you're over the age of 30 and you haven't already mastered jumps, drops, manuals, and other tricks, you've missed the golden...

This is the best online mountain biking content since Team Robot.

Good stuff... Got a chance to learn about a person I've heard so much of, but knew absolutely nothing about.. Really appreciated him talking about dealing with his depression.. As someone who occasionally has his dark days, I find myself dealing with them in similar ways.. I hope Ask Team Robot becomes more like Ask Ping on the MX side.. Also, on the price to performance numbers, I agree in theory, but the lower end might be a little higher. Unless you throw in a certain direct to consumer brand that focuses on aluminum frames..

This is my favorite episode in recent memory.

When can we get this format to move into the realm of Gypsy Tales? If you've not watched the Phil Sleeter episode, it's the shiznit. InsideLine w/ video and clips would kill.

This was great for so many reasons