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What's different in a modern MTB?

02/05/25 22:35 Filed in: Gear
Why you should have a modern MTB.
I've encountered a lot of very casual mountain bikers. They like to ride, but it isn't a priority for them and so they have a bike they bought about 10 years ago. It still works OK. Why not ride it?
Well, there is no compelling reason not to ride it, except that you might just have a lot more fun on a new one. Let me explain.
 
Over the past ten years mountain bike geometry has changed a LOT. Longer. Lower. Slacker. Longer reach. Longer wheelbase. Lower bottom bracket. Slacker head tube angle. The result of these changes is a bike that is much easier to point through corners (they almost steer themselves), with higher stability. They climb a bit better. The descend a bit better. They send riders over the bars less often. They try to wheelie less.
A couple of other things have changed in that period too. Rims got wider. Seat posts got mechanised. Those wider rims provide vastly better tyre support than skinny rims ever could. They allow lower tyre pressure and still the tyre is supported in side loads - meaning you can run lower pressure, get better grip (and lower rolling resistance) and still have better rim protection than you had on the skinny rim (fewer rim dents). The dropper post has now become part of all but the least expensive bikes. In fact, the dropper post drove the adoption of the longer, lower and slacker geometry, because they really do not work as well for actual people with the seat at full height. There's your big compromise, if you move to a modern bike with a dropper post, you need to drop the post in order to ride it at its best.
 
Mountain bikes have also become heavier in the real world. Brakes that work. Wide rims. Fatter tyres. Dropper posts. Wider bars. Longer travel suspension systems. All add weight. And you know what? Unless you are racing up a steep climb, it doesn't matter at all. The weight of the bike has so little impact on climbing prowess as to be almost unimportant. Even XC pros are using wider rims, dropper post and full suspension bikes now (in stark contrast to a few years ago) because the overall package is faster and funner than going old school. It requires adding about 5 kg to a bike to slow a big climb by one minute. One minute is heaps in racing, but insignificant in a social ride.

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