How To Make Your Mountain Bike Ride Better and Look Better With These Easy Improvements

You don’t need to spend money or pull out the whole toolbox to make noticeable changes to your mountain bike, and sometimes, the easiest upgrades are the most important. These simple upgrades can save money, improve ride quality, and make you more confident on the bike.

Frequently, just staying on top of maintenance and understanding how things work on the bike will give you more confidence when riding, but here are a few tips on making some easy changes or quick upgrades that will make a marked difference in the feel of your bike.

1. Monitor Tire Pressures and Go Tubeless

This is one of the most important things to keep track of on the bike and is often overlooked. Keeping track of what pressure you’re running can give you a consistent way to determine what pressures work for you and what pressure extremes adversely affect your riding.

If your new bike is not already tubeless, going tubeless should be the first thing on the list when you get it. Usually bike shops will set up a bike tubeless for you before you leave the shop, but it is easy enough to tackle this at home. Removing the tubes from your life will allow you to run lower pressures without the risk of pinch flats and reduce the overall rolling resistance caused by innertubes contacting the inside of the tires. A more supple ride is a smoother ride, but this makes monitoring tire pressures that much more essential.

2. Change Tires

This can profoundly affect how your bike interacts with the trails and is easy to tackle when going tubeless. Choosing the right tires for the terrain you ride is critical, and if you aren’t sure which tire to go with, you can always check with a local shop or other riders at the trailhead.

Although the chances of ending up on a Maxxis DHF and DHR are pretty high, plenty of other tire options on the market can best fit your local trails. Shop around and do some research. Reddit, forums, and YouTube are all excellent resources.

3. Check Suspension

The importance of your suspension functioning correctly cannot be emphasized enough, and this means checking pressures in the fork and shock (if you have an air shock) and ensuring the stanchion surfaces are clean.

You can check these things before and after a ride to gauge any problems with the system. Check the seals for leaking oil and wipe them down so they are free of dust and other contaminants that could seep into the delicate system.

Keeping track of the suspension service intervals is also incredibly important. To avoid any serious problems, you should service your fork and shock as needed by the manufacturer.

4. Change Pedals

The contact point of the bike will have a very noticeable impact on your riding comfort and body position. If you are more comfortable with flat pedals and have larger feet, it is smart to invest in wider platform pedals. If you have smaller feet, a smaller pedal body can make all the difference in your comfort.

If you are interested in exploring the benefits of clipless pedals, you should consider investing in clipless shoes and pedals to see what the buzz is all about. However, I recommend keeping the cost down and not diving all the way in just in case you aren’t comfortable with being locked into the bike.

5. Change Contact Points

You should consider three primary contact points with the mountain bike: the handlebars, seat, and pedals (see above). Ensuring everything fits and is comfortable can make a big difference in climbing, descending, and manipulating the bike in the air.

These OneUp Carbon Ebars are 800mm wide out of the box, but I cut them down to 775mm Photo: Deven McCoy

Handlebars

Width, rise, back sweep, and diameter are all factors to consider when shopping for this component. Higher bars will give you a more upright position on the bike and make the front end taller on steep descents, shifting weight back and offering more precise control.

A wider bar will help with the bike's tilt and lean in corners, but going too wide can cause discomfort in the shoulders and neck. It is best to play around with different widths; most bars can be cut down to fit your shoulder width.

Handlebars and stems come in two different diameters: 31.8mm and 35mm. The latter is a bit stiffer and, therefore, not as comfortable or efficient at damping vibration. However, many carbon bars will have engineered compliance to counter the stiffer clamp. A 31.8-diameter handlebar will typically have a bit more flex, and you will not need to worry about cracking it in a crash.

The back sweep of bars will change the overall reach, and bringing the bars closer to you will add comfort, but too much can give the steering a sluggish and muted feeling, so be careful with too much bar roll or back sweep.

Saddles

Finding the right saddle can be an incredibly long and arduous process, but finding the correct width and length will make you want to be on the bike more. If you are comfortable on the bike, you will obviously want to ride more. Finding the correct shape for your body can be done by measuring your bones and experimenting with different levels of padding. It is also important to remember that more padding doesn't always mean more comfort.

6. Add Frame Protection

Applying some sort of protection to your bike can have several benefits. It can ensure that the paint lasts longer and make it more likely that you can sell your bike for more money if you want to upgrade. Some frame protection options will also have a hydrophobic property that allows mud and grime to slide right off the bike, keeping your bike cleaner for longer.

7. Add New Wheels

This is one of the most common and easiest upgrades to make, and it can also have a huge impact on the way your bike rides. Lighter wheels will make the bike feel faster and improve acceleration since you reduce the rotational weight. Stronger wheels will give you more confidence in technical and rough terrain while adding to the bike's stiffness. A stiffer wheelset will make your bike feel more supportive in corners and through hard G-outs, making handling much more accurate.

Most carbon wheels will add lateral stiffness, increase vertical compliance, and reduce the bike's weight, which is why they are an impactful upgrade. However, carbon is only sometimes the best option, and both professionals and recreational riders prefer many alloy rims on the market for their reliability and durability. Alloy wheels are also less susceptible to catastrophic failure. You can ride a dented alloy rim for much longer than a cracked carbon wheel, and they are much cheaper to replace.