Wheel truing is actually something that is very easy to do.  Even if you have no experience with mountain biking or truing a wheel, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to accomplish it.

The first thing to do is make sure that none of your spokes are loose.  To check, grab each spoke in turn and try to shake it back and forth.  If the spoke wobbles, or makes pinging and grating noises, it’s loose.  If it’s loose, add tension to the spoke by turning the spokey anti-clockwise with your finger and thumb pressure.

Keep turning and shaking until the noise is gone and the spoke doesn’t wobble or move.  Move on to the next spoke until you’ve gone all the way around the wheel and checked them all.

Now, it’s time to see just how true the wheel actually is.  Turn your bike upside down then spin the wheel to see where it comes closest to rubbing on the brake.

You may need to rotate the wheel backwards then forwards to locate the middle of the bulge on the wheel.  Tighten the spokes which run on to the other side of the rim.  If those spokes are already tight, you’ll need to loosen a few of the spokes which run to the bulge side of the hub.

Truing a wheel is easier than you may think, although it can be a little tough with some wheels.  If you need to loosen spokes, be very careful that you don’t break them.  They can be very tough to loosen on older mountain bikes.

In mountain biking and even BMX riding, the bunny hop is a bike trick that involved the rider lifting the bike up and over an obstacle while remaining in motion on the bike.  Experienced bikers can lift their bikes in excess of a meter or one and a half feet.  The world record for the bunny hop stands at 4 feet.

The bunny hop is executed by approaching an obstacle with speed, lifting the front of the bike then leveling the pedals.  If the bike has full or front suspension, pre-load the shocks by pressing down on the bike just before you reach the obstacle.

Once the shocks have been pre-loaded, the rider will spring upwards, pulling up with the hands and feet at the same time.  Toe straps or clipless pedals help with this, although if plain platform pedals are used, it’s still possible.  As the biker lifts, the hands will roll through twisting the throttle.  After the object is cleared, push down on the bike then absorb the impact with the arms and the legs.

It’s often times a misconception that a bunny hop without toe clips is achieved by rotating forward on the handlebars.  Lifting up on a mountain bike while standing next to it is quite difficult to hold on to the handle bars.

The bunny hop is very popular with mountain biking, as experienced riders can make it look a lot easier than it actually is.  New mountain bikers should practice a lot before they actually attempt the hop, as doing it on a bigger obstacle can easily be quite dangerous.

With proper practice, the bunny hop can be achieved, even for beginners.  All you have to do is give it some time and effort, and you’ll be pulling off the bunny hop just like the pro’s do it.

By:Alison Addy

If you take part in mountain biking, especially the extreme kind, then it is inevitable at some point that you will have a crash. You can see mountain bike crashes on DVDs around the world, some are lucky as they have the right safety equipment, whilst others are not. Stunt crashes can be fascinating to watch, but the real life ones can be horrific and they can cause serious injury.

The potential injuries that can occur with mountain bike crashes are endless. Many bikers have been impaled on their bikes handlebars, they have broken their arm after falling off and some have even been paralyzed after a bad fall. So the injuries that you can sustain are quite severe. Crashes don’t just occur when you take part in extreme mountain biking. They can also occur when you take part in casual riding too. However obviously there is more of a risk involved with extreme downhill riding where jumps and tricks are involved.

Protecting Yourself against Crashes

The only way to truly protect yourself against a crash is to ensure that you have the correct safety equipment. You cannot always predict a crash when you are out riding on your mountain bike, but if you wear the appropriate safety equipment then you can at least protect yourself from serious injury. It doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner or an expert rider, you will have a crash at some point. So what protection should you have to keep you as safe as possible?

When you hit the ground after a fall, usually the first things to get hurt are your hands. Many people do not think to protect their hands whilst they are out riding and unfortunately that can cause problems if you do fall off the bike. The wrists ad our fingers are most sensitive to injury after a fall and it only takes a minor knock for them to get seriously injured. So wearing gloves is definitely a good idea as if you do fall off, the skin will be kept in place because of the gloves.

Essentially however the most important safety equipment you will need is a helmet. You should never go anywhere without your helmet, even if you are just going on a leisurely ride along a field! Anything can happen and the accident may not be your fault but if you fall and hit your head you could potentially suffer a serious injury. The way that helmets are designed these days makes them extremely comfortable to wear. They really can make the difference between life and death and so if there’s one piece of safety equipment you will not go without, make sure that it is the helmet.

Overall the helmet, gloves and eye protection are generally the only safety equipment you need when out cycling. You will definitely suffer from at least one crash on your bike so it is always better to be prepared for the inevitable.

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Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

Alison Addy loves writing for www.bikecyclingreviews.com .Keep reading about mountain bikes reviews and mountain bike parts at his web.

Mountain bikers often like to maintain and do repairs to their bikes themsleves.  Below is an alphabetic list of the parts that make up a mountain bike.

1.  Bottom bracket – This attaches the crankset to the body of a bike.

2.  Brake cable – This is the cable that connects the brake lever to the brake mechanism.

3.  Brake lever – The lever on the handlebar to activate the brakes.  The left side is the front brake and the right side is the rear brake.

4.  Chain – The circular set of links that transfer power from the chain ring to the cogs.

5.  Chain ring – The toothed rings that attach to the crank to hold the chain.

6.  Crank – The lever that extends from the bottom bracket to the pedal, transferring the power to the chain rings.

7.  Derailleur – The mechanism for moving the chain from one cog to another.

8.  Down tube – The section of frame that extends downward from the stem to the bottom bracket.

9.  Front shock – The shock absorber on the front fork.

10.  Handlebar – The horizontal bar attached to the stem with handgrips on the end.

11.  Headset – The mechanism in front of the frame that connects the front fork to the stem and handlebars.

12.  Hub – The center part of the wheel that the spokes are attached to.

13.  Idler pulley – The bottom pulley of the rear derailleur that provides spring tension to keep the chain tight.

14.  Nipple – A threaded receptacle that holds the end of the spoke to the rim.

15.  Pedal – The platform to pedal on; attaches to the crank.

16.  Rear shock – The shock absorber for the rear tire on dual suspension type bikes.

17.  Rim – The metal ring that holds the spokes on the inside and the tire to the outside.

18.  Saddle – The seat.

19.  Seat post – Offers support for the seat.

20.  Skewer – The metal rod that goes through the hub, attaching the wheel to the dropouts of the frame.

21.  Spindle – The free rotating axle that the crank arms attach to; also a part of the bottom bracket.

22.  Spokes – The thick wires that join the hub to the rim.

23.  Stem – A piece that attaches the handlebar to the steering tube.

24.  Wheel hub – The center of the wheel that the spokes are attached to.

Knowing the names of the parts will help when you need help from a bike shop.  You will be better able to explain the problem your having and what you need to fix it or replace.

Along with giving you a better selection and expert advice, bike shop personnel can you help you get fitted to the right size bike.  You can get the bike either too big or too small, which will cause your enjoyment to suffer.  Follow the tips below, and you’ll have the perfect fit for your mountain bike.

Standover Height
When you check the fitting yourself, the first thing you want to check is the inseam clearance, or the standover height.  You want to have plenty of room between yourself and the top tube when you come to a stop.  There should be around four to six inches of clearance from the top of your inseam to the top of the top tube.

Leg and Feet Position
There’s a formula for determining the leg position for riding a mountain bike.  When riding a mountain bike, the terrain constantly changes, raising you off the seat constantly, sometimes just slightly, and other times completely off.  Therefore, you’ll need to sit your saddle slightly lower than you would on any other type of bike.  Be sure you take this slightly lower seat height position into effect when you factor the size of the frame.

Riding Compartment
The next thing you’ll want to check is the rider compartment layout (the distance between the saddle and the handlebars).  Once the proper leg extension has been determined, be sure the handlebar is one to two inches below the height of the saddle.  You should never have the handlebars higher than the seat, unless there is some type of upper body problem.

Dual Suspension Bikes
With suspension being at both ends, you’ll want your weight more in the middle of the bike so that your height is distributed evenly between the front and rear suspension units, thus allowing the front and rear suspension to work as a unit.

This can be done quite easily by using either a higher or shorter stem to raise the hand height, which will in turn move the upper body up and the weight towards the rear.  The increase in rise shouldn’t be no more than two inches, then the decrease in reach shouldn’t be any more than two inches.

Test Ride
Once you have taken all of these steps into account, go out and test drive the bike.  Make sure you wear a helmet, even if you are going to be testing for a brief period of time.  Be sure that the tires are set to the right pressure, and the shop has adjusted the bike for you properly.

You should have a shop employee observe your body position and ride height while riding, to determine if any further adjustments need to be made.  Ride the bike around for a bit to get used to its handling and new equipment.  Start off slowly, then give the bike a bit of time to present its personality.

After a few minutes, you might notice that something isn’t working correctly or just doesn’t feel right in general.  If this happens, go back to the shop and have the problem corrected before you rule out the bike.

The more you ride bikes, the easier it will be to tell the difference in the ride types.  Keep in mind, it may take months and even years to appreciate the way a bike handles.  Talk to those who ride, and ask bike shop employees if they ride the bikes they sell.  This way, you’ll learn more about the mountain bikes you love so much!

Cross country mountain biking is cross country at its finest.  Where free riders and downhill bikers use four wheel bikes and ski lifts to get them to their destination, cross
country bikers get to the top of the mountain by the ride.  Though free riding is very popular, the life vein of the sport has always been cross country biking.

Just as cross country riders are a different breed, the bikes they ride are as well.  The cross country bike is completely different in many ways from other types of mountain
riding bikes.  The premise for cross country riders is speed.  Everything about their bikes revolve with the idea of making the bikes faster and faster.  Bikes used in cross
country mountain biking can be fully rigid frame, hardtails, or even full suspension frames.  Through the years, the cross over to full suspension has become very popular.

The weight difference between free ride bikes and cross country bikes are considerable.  You’ll be extremely hard pressed to find a bike that weighs more than 24 pounds, and
even that weight can be heavy.  Free ride bikes weigh close to 40 pounds, which makes the difference in weight pretty close.

If you’ve never tried cross country mountain biking, you’ll probably find it to be a break from the ordinary.  Even though this type of biking involves trails, it’s normally
the type of terrain that beginners wouldn’t want to ride.  Involving hills and rough terrain, cross country biking offers quite the rush.  For mountain bikers everywhere,
cross country is the way to go.  It offers you a new assortment of bikes, new areas to bike, and a new twist to mountain biking as you know it.  If you’ve been looking for a
mountain biking rush, cross country mountain biking is what you need to be experiencing.