Before the Course

It's almost time for you to take our MTB course. Hope you're excited!

Important Things to Keep in Mind Before the Course

• Helmets are required. We also recommend knee pads and cycling gloves.
• It will be 4 fun but intense hours. Bring water and, if you’d like, some extra energy in the form of energy bars or similar snacks.
• Feel free to bring an extra bike tube in case you get a flat tire.
• Make sure your bike is in good working order before the course. We’ll have tools on hand to help if anything happens, but if it’s a major breakdown, we can’t keep the other participants waiting.
Feel free to do an M-check to see if anything on your bike needs fixing, see link.

In previous courses, we’ve gone over bike setup and adjustments, but we’ve noticed that it takes too much time and distracts from the actual cycling. That’s why we’ve now decided to send out information and tips on bike setup before the courses.
It’s not mandatory to adjust your bike setup before the courses, but we highly recommend it so you can get more out of the course and your future cycling.
If you have any questions or concerns, just let us know and we’ll be happy to help!

BIKE SETUP / BIKE SETTINGS

Bike setup is a vast topic, and you can get lost in it forever.
However, there are a few simple basics to start with that make a huge difference.
We’ll go over these below.

BRAKE SETTINGS

Adjusting your brakes properly helps you gain better control, ride more safely, and conserve energy.

Today’s brakes are so powerful that you only need to brake with one finger—your index finger. Braking with one finger also provides greater precision, and it frees up the other four fingers to grip the lever more firmly, which in turn reduces arm fatigue. This is especially important when riding long runs in the mountains or at a bike park. However, one-finger braking requires that the brake levers be mounted correctly to ensure good leverage.

We recommend mounting the brakes as shown in the image on the left so that your finger rests on the outer edge of the brake lever.

We recommend an angle of about 30 degrees for the brake lever relative to the ground, as shown in the image below on the left. If you angle the lever too far downward, it will be difficult to reach comfortably when you lean far back on the bike, and your hand will end up in a position that can make it hard to brace against hard impacts and sudden braking. If you angle the lever too far up (horizontally), you’ll experience poor wrist ergonomics, which in turn can result in strain and pain.

Most modern brakes today have a knob or a small screw for adjusting the distance between the brake lever and the handlebars. We recommend adjusting the lever slightly so that you don’t have to fully extend your finger to reach it, just as shown in the image below on the left. This gives you a more relaxed hand position and better braking power.

SHOCK ABSORBER SETTINGS

We recommend visiting the shock absorber manufacturer’s website to find the default settings for the specific shocks installed on your bike. If you’re unsure which model you have, you can email us a photo and we’ll help you out.

If you have a ‘RockShox’ shock, you can download their ‘TrailHead’ app, enter the shock’s serial number, and get the recommended settings for that specific shock model.
You can also visithttps://trailhead.rockshox.com

Bikeradar has a great video for beginners on how to quickly and easily set up your suspension forks. The video is only 10 minutes long, so it’s definitely worth watching:Suspension Fork Setup with Bikeradar

TIRE PRESSURE

It’s more the rule than the exception that our students show up for classes with tire pressure that’s much too high. This makes the bike feel unstable over rough terrain, and both performance and comfort suffer as a result. Lower tire pressure allows the tires to conform to roots and rocks, resulting in better flow out on the trails.
Tire pressure is measured in bar or PSI, and a good starting point is 1.3–1.6 bar (18–23 PSI), depending on your weight, how fast or aggressively you ride, and whether you’re riding tubeless. Tubeless is highly recommended, as it allows you to ride with lower tire pressure and save weight.

As mentioned, you can get lost in the details of bike setup forever, but these are some good basics to start with. It might still feel a bit overwhelming with all this information, but just reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns—we’re here to help.
We’ll also set aside some time during the course to address any remaining questions. You can also join our Facebook group “The Bikemaestros,” where you can chat with other course participants before the course or discuss what you’ve learned afterward.
The group is also a great platform for organizing group rides with other Bikemaestros.