Bikerguy15

You call those hills?? We call them mountains in England.

Taiwan, not China.

I don't want to detract from a bike related issue too much but I'm going to go with something that I can relate to. My friend isn't into the majority of sports at all but she is particularly interested in tennis.She watches Wimbledon and has kept up with the US Open recently, anyway she always mentioned having a go at it and I suggested that we go try it out. When I went to pick her up she thought that I wasn't actually being serious (I guess it didn't help taking her to a specific tennis centre instead of just the local leisure centre, It was a bit intimidating for both of us as we'd never played before). So we gave it a go, she wasn't great (neither was I though :3, but she didn't think that) but I made sure too keep encouraging her and concentrate on just our game, no one else's. She enjoyed it and even wants to do it again. Mountain biking is just as accessible as tennis in terms of gender. The problem isn't the sport, It's the nature of the people who want to engage in it. Men shouldn't push women away from the sport, If they show an interest then try to help them get into biking. If they don't then that's fine, It's dependant upon the individual.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the reason why we don't use gearboxes (generally) on push-bikes is that the power transfer you get from using a derailleur system is virtually 1 to 1. With a gearbox it is much less efficient. Not to mention the other issues surrounding them: Weight, problems with suspension design, on the fly maintainance etc. It just doesn't really yield practical implications on a mountain bike.

Wow, clever comment. I actually run that tyre on the rear wheel and have never looked back. It runs a lot faster than having a Maxxis ADvantage on the rear, I only keep that on the front now.

Is this an invitation? Challenge accepted.