Winter Mountain Bike Jackets for the UK

So every year I go out and buy a new winter MTB jacket and I never spend more than £50 and every year I find a new flaw in the jacket.

Either

• The seams aren't watertight
• The arms are too tight
• It looks like an acid house reject
• It rubs on the neck
• Water drips down my back and soaks my ass

This year thanks to reading the guide from my mates at WideopenMag to the Best Mountain Bike Waterproof Jackets under £100 I am going to buy this bad boy from Altura.

It's called the Altura Mayhem and should cost more than £35.  Anyone care to place a bet now on what is going to go wrong with this one.  Surely my luck is about to change.

McC

Best Budget Mountian bike socks for the winter.

I am getting a little tired of being massively overcharged for MTB gear.  It's not that I can't afford new kit (although I can't) it's jsut that if you ad the word cycling in front of anything it seems to cost twice as much.

KINDA LIKE A WEDDING!!!!

I have decided to buck the trend and try to buy as much gear as I can for my bike from non cycling sources.

For example the best budget mountian bike socks that I own come from Mountain Warehouse.  If you knwo of any other great deals then drop me a line #sharing is caring.

TWB

Electric mountain bikes - buyers guides

So I am a man of a certain age, I am not so old that I can't happily ride my bike for hours on end but I am definitely not as fit as I once was.

I regularly get passed on the climbs of my local mountain bike trail by younger chaps, who are rocking all mountain bikes and enduro helmets, only to pass them tangled in the nettles and roots on the way down.

Don't get me wrong I am not quicker than them, it's just that I have fallen off enough times to know better than to go to quick downhill.

Imagine my surprise the other day when I was passed on the climb by someone easily 15 years my senior (I am 40 so you do the maths) and never seen him again on the way down.  

How can this happen, well he was cheating as he was riding an e-mtb?

Obviously I am only joking as I don't see an electric mountain bike as cheating but I never thought they were any good going downhill.

Apparently I was wrong!!

So I am going to have a look at some e-mtb buyers guides and possibly even try and demo a few of them.

So keep your eyes peeled for more posts from me and possibly even watch out for me smoking you up the trail for a change you little enduro brats.

You may call them electric motor bikes but I call them a natural assist for my years of riding bikes with v-brakes and less than 100mm of travel on the front fork.

Eat my Watts!!!

Battle Mountain - A Graeme Obree Story

We can't wait to head to the little cinema in Bath to see a screening of the documentary about Graeme Obree's tilt and the Human Powered Vehicle Land Speed Record in Battle Mountain.

If you are interested too then you can see the trailer here

If you have seen it already, PLEASE NO SPOILERS!!!

We are only joking, we know he doesn't beat the record....ooops! (or does he)

How to build your own mountain bike pump track

It's the dream of every bike rider to have a garden big enough to have your own mountain bike trail in it...or at the very least a pump track.

Only problem is that once you actually have the land how to you build the pump track.

I found a pretty easy guide to building your own pump track but you will need to buy a mini digger and a lot of top soil.

If you actually manage to build one drop us a line and let us know what it looks like.

Star Wars EpVII and the Bicycle

If you go out into the shops right now you are going to find it very difficult to find something that doesn't have a star wars logo or character painted on it (Thanks Disney).

Home Made Star Wars Chic..

Don't get us wrong, we (McC) loves Star Wars and he already has his ticket to go and see the movie but....do you have to brand everything.

There are some things however that benefit from a little Star Wars branding and when you combine cycling and star wars you have a match made in heaven.

If you want to see all of our favourite Cycling and Star Wars related products then you can find them here.

How do you make this stuff even more awesome, easy just add Lego.

Cycling + Lego + Star Wars = Awesome

Now why are you still reading this you should either be out riding your bicycle or in the cinema watching Star Wars.

Buying a cheap Mountain bike - how to

We have tried to pull a few of the best articles we an find together here with advice for beginners who are looking to buy a cheap mountain bike. Most of this is quite UK focussed (sorry but that is where we live) however the principals are the same where ever you live.

If you don't know your hardtail from your full suspension bike and your 26er from your 650b then you need to read this guide.

First thing is first...budget.

If you are looking for a champagne bike on lemonade budgets you are going to get burned.  Under £600 you want to stick to hardtail mountain bikes they are the foundation of mountain biking anyway.

So you have decided that hardtail is the way to go and you have a budget of under £500.  Have a look at this guide to the best 2016 mountain bikes under £500.

If you are too lazy to read that then we have two bikes for you to look at.  They are both stupidly cheap and both from retailers that most cyclists wouldn't touch with a barge pole.

We don't agree so here they are click on links under the pictures for more information;

Carrera Kraken

The Calibre Crag

Help the Bicycle Get a Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize

Italian TV show caterpillar (see pic below) are pushing for the bicycle to be nominated for a nobel peace prize.

We found this on our parent site Two Wheels Better and like them we think it is a great campaign idea.

They list their reasons for nomination as (sorry its an auto translation);

The bicycle is an instrument of peace.
It’s the most democratic tool of transport for all mankind, it does not cause wars and pollution, it decreases car accidents.

If you want to be involved in the campaign (and why wouldn't you) then share this logo and use the hashtag #bikethenobel

Amazon Discount Cycling Gear trick

When you think about cycling gear you don't normally think about Amazon.  They sell books and DVD's and shit costumes for party's that you can't be bothered making your own for.

Well generally that's true but they are also a marketplace (like e-bay) where other retailers can list their stock and where you can find the odd bargain or six.

They wont have all the brand gear you want but they do have a wide range of basics and staples like, tyres, tubes, lights, base layers and waterproofs.

What we also found is that they often sell some of this stuff at a discount.  So if you are looking for a bargain click here and bookmark this page.

Then scroll down till you see the icons below and let the bargain shopping commence.

Remember though to make sure you use your local bike shop for buying and servicing your bikes.

and never forget that....Two Wheels are Better.

What is so wrong with just going out for a ride?

I spent a little bit of time at the gym this weekend and noticed that several rooms were full of parents watching their kids get involved in different sports from Taekwondo to Swimming and Indoor Football.
I think it's great that the parents are getting there kids involved in fitness and sport, it reminds me of an old (UK) TV show called "Why Don't You?"

 It made me think though; this is Saturday morning...and whilst the kids were happy learning a new skill and getting some good exercise, the parents were swilling bad coffee and sweating away in a sports centre reception.  Surely there must be more of an opportunity for families to get active together and have a great time.

Of course there is and whilst many of my friends with kids are telling me that they don't have time to get fit, I get the feeling they are missing the point....

So to these friends I issue a challenge...in the words of the TV theme tune to...

"Why don't you, switch off your television set go out and do something less boring instead!"

If you want a slightly more extreme solution then you could share the pic below with you friends but I refuse to smash my TV as then I would have nothing to watch Star Wars on (over and over again)