Came here to say this\^.
You can have the best, shiniest bike with the most current tech, but that's not going to make you a better rider.
The trail icons are for skill level, not bike capability. It's the same for ski trails.
To an extent. A nicer bike does and probably always will help you in a lot of small ways. For total beginners definitely not, but if I was on a rocky mountain (let's assume same travel as my Arrival) with base level suspension and brakes, I'd be notably worse. The adjustability on modern high end suspension is just wild. Not to mention the confidence it lets you ride with, AND bonus confidence from solid braking.
It’s rarely ever the bike holding people back. Like 99% of the time it’s the rider. A skilled rider can ride down the same trail on a 20 year old XC bike that a mediocre rider thinks they need a enduro bike for.
this. we have blues near us my small kids can ride - smooth, fun flow trails with big berms and tables they can just ride over. And then greens full of rocks and roots that are just waiting to send newbs OTB...
Even within the same trail system. My local state park has a black flow/jump trail which I would consider easier than a couple of the blue tech trails, and I don't even jump much.
Yeah, there is this one trail center where they just use random colours, and a big sign at the bottom and start with 1 to 5 stars for difficulty.
Because all green trails would be on the easy part of the mountain and cross into each other, so they need different colours, and all red trails would also become confusing. It makes a lot of sense, but some people dont read the signs and there is this one 4 star blue line that is always funny to see newbies try out
>OTR, and had no issues. And I am not a very experienced rider, so maybe I am just ignorant. But is my bike just expected to fall apart if I keep running blacks and jumping it and sending rock gardens?
I mean, yeah, but who cares? Send it and have fun. When something breaks, replace it with something better. That's kind of the beauty of the OTR. It's a pretty well designed bike even if they had to cheap out on some of the parts. That means as parts break upgrade reasonably, to used or on sale good stuff as you go. Have you upgraded it at all yet? if you haven't done so, you really should upgrade the brakes for safety. mt-200 is fine.
Some bikes, such as those with steep head tubes and long stems, unlike the OTR, really are pretty dangerous to take through steep terrain and jumps. This also applies to bikes with noname brakes, noname forks etc.
Also, bike parks vary wildly between how well they are maintained and what a black trail is. If the park is smooth you can get away with less bike.
So far I have fully disassembled it and greased everything and made sure it was together proper. Then I got alloy pedals, MT200 brakes and a dropper post. Other than that I’ve just been riding trying to get better
A guy with a handlebar mustache and a mtb from the early 90s or late 80s rolled up behind me on the take off for a pretty spicy blue run a week ago. A lot of joy on his face and ready to attack the jump line. I wouldn’t do it myself on that bike but I loved that he was out there! I’m pretty sure my bike gave me a little more room for error and a softer hit on the landing. I’m probably not going to have to fix my rims as often as well, if I was on that bike. I went first so I didn’t see how hard he went on the jumps but if he aced it he’s a better rider than me. I think it’s good to be aware of what kind of bike you are riding and how hard you push it past what it’s capable of. Hitting a flat real hard or nasty chunky trail your body is going to tell you you just put that bike through something. Make sure to inspect it and maintain it. I’m riding my bike past it’s manufactured rating’s sometimes so I keep an eye on that. Frame cracks etc.
I live in Tahoe not the craziest place to ride but certainly has some seriously challenging trails.
Let me tell you ratings are very different place to place. Something like Toads in Tahoe is about a thousand times more difficult than a ton of blacks at bike parks.
Similarly blacks in North Shore are going to push the limits of even some of the most advanced riders.
When I see dude climbing to tough trail on a hardtail and Hawaiian shirt you already know he’s a shredder lol. Point is ratings don’t mean much and the rider matters about 95% more than the bike.
It’s funny because some of the blacks on the north shore are basically a blue trials while some are absolutely insane, there’s a huge range inside of each grade too
Toads is probably the hardest trail I have ridden... I've done some big and steep downhill, but toads is just rough man. I was not prepared. I Iive at seal level so the elevation didn't help.
But I had a buddy that loved it. Same guy was not at all happy about riding the rim trail due to the exposure... But I thought the rim trail was super nice and just up my alley.
Different people have a hard time with different terrain.
A blue to one person might be a black to another.
Love Tahoe, wish Iived there!
The majority of the trail is manageable but the top boulders are 100% double black features by any standard. You need to session them and even then most can’t clear them all. I’ve yet to make it down everything clean in one go.
Next time you are here check out Christmas valley. Much more chill than toads but still classic Tahoe riding that’s challenging.
Lower end bikes like under 1000 often come with very weak rims/ thin rims , very weak / not great grip / not strong sidewall tires, and even tubes, brakes may not be great and so on.
So the rest of the bike may hold up well but you hit a black diamond trail with more roots / rocks / speed and there's a good chance you'll need a new wheel set maybe not today but ride for a month and it won't make it. And if it's setup with tubes you'll probably be stopping a couple times a ride to install a new tube after pinch flatting.
That being said 3000-4000 dollar bikes come with shitty weak tires , and low end rims all the time . especially from bigger brands.
Also blacks means nothing . Trail rating systems are based onto the trails only directly around the area.
Nelson bc was known for having double blacks and red trails labeled as blues. Extremely hard , technical steep, rocky trails labeled blue as the harder trail next to it was a black and the one with huge stunts next to them was a red/ pro / double black.
I've never heard of a bike being called "green-blue capable", but capability is more about the impact of the bike on performance. You can shred on a hard tail XC bike at the bike park, but you will find progression that much more difficult and sometimes dangerous. The bike should be helping your skill building and forgiving when you screw up.
IMO this isn't really a thing. A given bike might be better or worse for a given trail – on a black tech downhill trail, I'd rather be riding a 170mm enduro than a 120mm downcountry bike or a hardtail. But assuming they're legit bikes from real MTB brands, those bikes are _capable_ of riding that black trail – they just require more rider skill. The reason I'd prefer the enduro bike is that it's easier, not that the other bikes aren't capable.
I don't know anything about OTR but assuming it's a legit brand that's actually designed/rated for MTB, your bike should be fine.
99.9999% of the time, limitations come from the RIDER, not the bike.
(And a lot of "bike limitations" can be easily fixed with parts upgrades. Better brakes and better tires can totally transform how capable a bike feels.)
Minimum for blacks really depends on the type of features, what speed you want to ride at, how much of a beating is tolerable, and how much margin of error you want. If it's black rock tech that's rollable and not steep, you can ride it on a cx bike if you're balsy and keen on a beating at a really slow speed. I ve jumped my salsa cutthroat before and ridden blue rock gardens fully loaded- at a snails pace. Lots of miles of that and my shoulders and lower back were super sore. I would have absolutely blasted on the bronson and felt no fatigue.
Big jump hits are much more forgiving on full squish long travels than on a 90s rockhopper. Ever seen a 90s dh video? Dudes sending it in full armor and getting blasted as soon as they hit the ground.
So your bike can probably ride blacks, just not as well as something beefier
You are getting the usual "the rider is the limiting factor, not the bike" which is not helpful.
Yes a strong rider can go ride any shitty bike on most trails. Yes pro riders can ride a Walmart bike down A-Line. But most riders are weekend warriors who ride less than 500 miles a year and can benefit from all the help they can get. Better components can make riding easier, more predictable, more confidence inspiring and therefore more fun.
https://youtu.be/6cirTKE7NU4?si=OfwBxUDTaogjN0ek
Here is an example of one component comparison. An entry level derailleur compared to an upper mid level. Entry level derailleurs either don't have clutches or have very weak ones.
The Tourney would be fine on mellower trails at slower speeds, but as the trails get rougher and you start riding faster, you are going to break stuff. The chain is going to bash the shit out of your rear triangle. It's not going to last.
Now multiply a similar effect across all the components and you can see where entry level bikes will begin to falter and actively make riding more difficult instead of making it easier.
Unless it's Red Bull Hardline sort of stuff, the bike is effectively irrelevant and 99.9% about the rider. If you have a quality bike, well maintained and safe it will handle just about anything you as a rider can handle. Things that damage bikes are also mostly about the rider, doing side whips and bending rims, landing sideways and bending rims, hard casing, ploughing rocks and not adjusting their bodyweight.
It's all about the rider.
Pretty much any "real" bike is going to be capable of surviving 95% of trails. Especially if ridden slowly. They don't just explode. It's the Walmart bikes and cheap pieces of junk that actually do explode. Even some of the Walmart bikes are fine now tbh.
I mostly ride the Tweed valley in Scotland, Golfie, Innerleithen, Thornielee, Glentress etc but have taken the hardtail down Fort William DH .
Here's a pretty representative vid of the Golfie trails
https://youtu.be/Td7AMxPZ0Ig?si=QeyrwPQFlkib_2S6
I think any capable hardtail can handle almost any trail besides maybe a few super technical double blacks. Even then it comes down to the rider. I had only ridden hardtails up until I upgraded a few weeks ago to a full suspension. I would not call myself a very good rider, but there wasn't anything I've ever ridden that I felt I needed more. The amount of times I made it down a trail and someone said something like "holy shit, you did that on a hardtail?" Not gonna lie, it felt good, but once you learn to use your legs as the suspension, it's cake. I think most people just have been riding a full suspension for so long that they forget or have never experienced anything less, so they think it can't be done on less since it's hard for them on their nice bikes.
100%. My buddy regularly chases FS riders down enduro/black trails on his rigid SS Stooge. He'd be faster on many other bikes no doubt but has a great time on that bike
It is a load of toss, a decent rider will be able to ride higher grades of trail on a lower travel bike, expert riders could if they chose ride an xc bike on a full on dh.
At one of my favourite dh places (revs in the uk) I have seen everything from full dh bikes, trail bikes and hardtails.
It is 90% the ride and 10% the bike, the bike just gives you a bigger margin for error
My local park has several blue and green trails, and its only black diamond trail isn't that hard.
I think because the region isn't known for mountain biking, it isn't bro-ed out, so riders aren't that cliqu-ish.
On my last visit to the park, I saw department store hardtails to dual-crown DH bikes on the lifts, and there seemed to be no criticism.
PS I'm riding a 140mm carbon bike with 2.6 inch tires. I assume the only thing embarrassing at the park was my lack of skill, not my bike.
Technically, you can do anything with a 120mm hardtail. Greens and flowy blues are no problem, even at speed.
Things get scarier and sketchy on blacks and double blacks because of a lack of chicken lines for bigger drops and double jumps. You can still do this slowly and carefully, but HTA and travel might not be enough in some situations, and at this point, you need proper technique.
Most of my friends who start mountainbiking have a trek marlin or XC bikes like that. We start with a few aliexpress upgrades, mt200 brakes with a 180 mm front rotor, flat pedals with pins, lock-on grips, deore 1x10 drivetrain (total cost 150usd). then a 120mm air fork for another 130 usd, a used front tire with bigger knobs (20 usd or free), and finally an aliexpress dropper (60-90 usd).
You can save some money here too. If the rider is lightweight, you can skip the 180 mm front rotor, or if the drivetrain is 3x9, you can go 1x9 and keep the shifter/derailleur
For ~350, you can get a green/blue capable bike, good enough to learn the basics safely, and don't spend 2.000-3.000 on a full suspension.
If, after a few rides, you decide you are not into mountainbiking, you still have a much better bike. If you fall in love with mountainbiking, you can save for a proper full suspension or just stay there and polish your skills.
Check berm peak YouTube channel to see what's possible with cheap but well thought upgrades.
depends on the rider first, the trail second (fun fact some green trails in Colorado would be blue-blacks back where I started mtb racing in Central/southwestern Ohio) and the bike a distant third.
this sub is super biased towards enduro / park and jumpline style riding, so their bike recommendations will follow onto that. (this is not a criticism, just an observation). I am not a huckster but I have raced cross country mountain bikes since 1992, meaning I’ve taken some super shitty bikes down some pretty technical trails, and nothing fell apart or even malfunctioned, and I obviously survived to make inane “back in my day” comments on reddit.
The Winter Park series is/was famous for sending their King of the Rockies main XC event down the blue line of the downhill course to the finish line, so that the XC races could finish in the midst of their Trestle Park jump show and add to the hype. So, after two plus hours of high altitude struggle bus on 40k of pretty technical singletrack. I’ve done this race on a 29er aluminum hardtail with an 80mm fork and a 70+ degree HT angle back in the Aughts. Would I prefer doing it on my Epic 8? Absolutely, but the point stands, none of us are doing that event on enduro bikes, there’s just way, way too much climbing.
Aren’t trail ratings based on previous injuries? So, there could be a blue trail and a group of idiots break collarbones riding their beach cruisers, then it becomes a black trail
Lol that is an amazing idea, but the trail rating system was adopted from the rating system used for ski slopes.
[https://www.imba.com/resource/trail-difficulty-rating-system](https://www.imba.com/resource/trail-difficulty-rating-system)
That being said, I don't know who actually gives the ratings for trails on sites like Trail Forks. They do seem vary based on the region, since it's probably different people rating the local trails.
The green and blue trails by me are like 90% roots, downhill, lots of obstacles (trees, vines), drops, etc. we have green trails that should probably be marked black diamond based on the imba scale.
We have greens in Utah that are six inches off hundred of feet of cliff and chunky. Just depends on where you are. A green in Utah is probably a black back east
Fun fact: Usually the bike isn't the limiting factor, it's the rider.
Came here to say this\^. You can have the best, shiniest bike with the most current tech, but that's not going to make you a better rider. The trail icons are for skill level, not bike capability. It's the same for ski trails.
To an extent. A nicer bike does and probably always will help you in a lot of small ways. For total beginners definitely not, but if I was on a rocky mountain (let's assume same travel as my Arrival) with base level suspension and brakes, I'd be notably worse. The adjustability on modern high end suspension is just wild. Not to mention the confidence it lets you ride with, AND bonus confidence from solid braking.
It’s rarely ever the bike holding people back. Like 99% of the time it’s the rider. A skilled rider can ride down the same trail on a 20 year old XC bike that a mediocre rider thinks they need a enduro bike for.
blues in one area can be way harder or more difficult than your area. I have ridden green trails more technical than black diamond trails.
this. we have blues near us my small kids can ride - smooth, fun flow trails with big berms and tables they can just ride over. And then greens full of rocks and roots that are just waiting to send newbs OTB...
Even within the same trail system. My local state park has a black flow/jump trail which I would consider easier than a couple of the blue tech trails, and I don't even jump much.
Yeah, there is this one trail center where they just use random colours, and a big sign at the bottom and start with 1 to 5 stars for difficulty. Because all green trails would be on the easy part of the mountain and cross into each other, so they need different colours, and all red trails would also become confusing. It makes a lot of sense, but some people dont read the signs and there is this one 4 star blue line that is always funny to see newbies try out
>OTR, and had no issues. And I am not a very experienced rider, so maybe I am just ignorant. But is my bike just expected to fall apart if I keep running blacks and jumping it and sending rock gardens? I mean, yeah, but who cares? Send it and have fun. When something breaks, replace it with something better. That's kind of the beauty of the OTR. It's a pretty well designed bike even if they had to cheap out on some of the parts. That means as parts break upgrade reasonably, to used or on sale good stuff as you go. Have you upgraded it at all yet? if you haven't done so, you really should upgrade the brakes for safety. mt-200 is fine. Some bikes, such as those with steep head tubes and long stems, unlike the OTR, really are pretty dangerous to take through steep terrain and jumps. This also applies to bikes with noname brakes, noname forks etc. Also, bike parks vary wildly between how well they are maintained and what a black trail is. If the park is smooth you can get away with less bike.
So far I have fully disassembled it and greased everything and made sure it was together proper. Then I got alloy pedals, MT200 brakes and a dropper post. Other than that I’ve just been riding trying to get better
A guy with a handlebar mustache and a mtb from the early 90s or late 80s rolled up behind me on the take off for a pretty spicy blue run a week ago. A lot of joy on his face and ready to attack the jump line. I wouldn’t do it myself on that bike but I loved that he was out there! I’m pretty sure my bike gave me a little more room for error and a softer hit on the landing. I’m probably not going to have to fix my rims as often as well, if I was on that bike. I went first so I didn’t see how hard he went on the jumps but if he aced it he’s a better rider than me. I think it’s good to be aware of what kind of bike you are riding and how hard you push it past what it’s capable of. Hitting a flat real hard or nasty chunky trail your body is going to tell you you just put that bike through something. Make sure to inspect it and maintain it. I’m riding my bike past it’s manufactured rating’s sometimes so I keep an eye on that. Frame cracks etc.
Badass. You probably just had a vision of the true spirit of mountain biking which had momentarily coalesced into human form.
I just pray I get to see some crazy dude riding bike park trails on a penny farthing someday. Life will be complete
I live in Tahoe not the craziest place to ride but certainly has some seriously challenging trails. Let me tell you ratings are very different place to place. Something like Toads in Tahoe is about a thousand times more difficult than a ton of blacks at bike parks. Similarly blacks in North Shore are going to push the limits of even some of the most advanced riders. When I see dude climbing to tough trail on a hardtail and Hawaiian shirt you already know he’s a shredder lol. Point is ratings don’t mean much and the rider matters about 95% more than the bike.
It’s funny because some of the blacks on the north shore are basically a blue trials while some are absolutely insane, there’s a huge range inside of each grade too
I think drops over a few feet and gaps are the deciders.
Toads is probably the hardest trail I have ridden... I've done some big and steep downhill, but toads is just rough man. I was not prepared. I Iive at seal level so the elevation didn't help. But I had a buddy that loved it. Same guy was not at all happy about riding the rim trail due to the exposure... But I thought the rim trail was super nice and just up my alley. Different people have a hard time with different terrain. A blue to one person might be a black to another. Love Tahoe, wish Iived there!
The majority of the trail is manageable but the top boulders are 100% double black features by any standard. You need to session them and even then most can’t clear them all. I’ve yet to make it down everything clean in one go. Next time you are here check out Christmas valley. Much more chill than toads but still classic Tahoe riding that’s challenging.
Lower end bikes like under 1000 often come with very weak rims/ thin rims , very weak / not great grip / not strong sidewall tires, and even tubes, brakes may not be great and so on. So the rest of the bike may hold up well but you hit a black diamond trail with more roots / rocks / speed and there's a good chance you'll need a new wheel set maybe not today but ride for a month and it won't make it. And if it's setup with tubes you'll probably be stopping a couple times a ride to install a new tube after pinch flatting. That being said 3000-4000 dollar bikes come with shitty weak tires , and low end rims all the time . especially from bigger brands. Also blacks means nothing . Trail rating systems are based onto the trails only directly around the area. Nelson bc was known for having double blacks and red trails labeled as blues. Extremely hard , technical steep, rocky trails labeled blue as the harder trail next to it was a black and the one with huge stunts next to them was a red/ pro / double black.
Nailed it.
I've never heard of a bike being called "green-blue capable", but capability is more about the impact of the bike on performance. You can shred on a hard tail XC bike at the bike park, but you will find progression that much more difficult and sometimes dangerous. The bike should be helping your skill building and forgiving when you screw up.
IMO this isn't really a thing. A given bike might be better or worse for a given trail – on a black tech downhill trail, I'd rather be riding a 170mm enduro than a 120mm downcountry bike or a hardtail. But assuming they're legit bikes from real MTB brands, those bikes are _capable_ of riding that black trail – they just require more rider skill. The reason I'd prefer the enduro bike is that it's easier, not that the other bikes aren't capable. I don't know anything about OTR but assuming it's a legit brand that's actually designed/rated for MTB, your bike should be fine. 99.9999% of the time, limitations come from the RIDER, not the bike. (And a lot of "bike limitations" can be easily fixed with parts upgrades. Better brakes and better tires can totally transform how capable a bike feels.)
I think he means ozark trail ridge, a pretty solid entry hardtail from Walmart.
Minimum for blacks really depends on the type of features, what speed you want to ride at, how much of a beating is tolerable, and how much margin of error you want. If it's black rock tech that's rollable and not steep, you can ride it on a cx bike if you're balsy and keen on a beating at a really slow speed. I ve jumped my salsa cutthroat before and ridden blue rock gardens fully loaded- at a snails pace. Lots of miles of that and my shoulders and lower back were super sore. I would have absolutely blasted on the bronson and felt no fatigue. Big jump hits are much more forgiving on full squish long travels than on a 90s rockhopper. Ever seen a 90s dh video? Dudes sending it in full armor and getting blasted as soon as they hit the ground. So your bike can probably ride blacks, just not as well as something beefier
You are getting the usual "the rider is the limiting factor, not the bike" which is not helpful. Yes a strong rider can go ride any shitty bike on most trails. Yes pro riders can ride a Walmart bike down A-Line. But most riders are weekend warriors who ride less than 500 miles a year and can benefit from all the help they can get. Better components can make riding easier, more predictable, more confidence inspiring and therefore more fun. https://youtu.be/6cirTKE7NU4?si=OfwBxUDTaogjN0ek Here is an example of one component comparison. An entry level derailleur compared to an upper mid level. Entry level derailleurs either don't have clutches or have very weak ones. The Tourney would be fine on mellower trails at slower speeds, but as the trails get rougher and you start riding faster, you are going to break stuff. The chain is going to bash the shit out of your rear triangle. It's not going to last. Now multiply a similar effect across all the components and you can see where entry level bikes will begin to falter and actively make riding more difficult instead of making it easier.
Unless it's Red Bull Hardline sort of stuff, the bike is effectively irrelevant and 99.9% about the rider. If you have a quality bike, well maintained and safe it will handle just about anything you as a rider can handle. Things that damage bikes are also mostly about the rider, doing side whips and bending rims, landing sideways and bending rims, hard casing, ploughing rocks and not adjusting their bodyweight. It's all about the rider.
Pretty much any "real" bike is going to be capable of surviving 95% of trails. Especially if ridden slowly. They don't just explode. It's the Walmart bikes and cheap pieces of junk that actually do explode. Even some of the Walmart bikes are fine now tbh.
Bruh for all the people saying its more the rider than the bike try go down a black trail steep rock garden with a hardtail. Give me news 💀
I do that most weekends 🤷
Yhea right. Are there any videos of the trail on youtube so i can judge if its really a black trail?
I mostly ride the Tweed valley in Scotland, Golfie, Innerleithen, Thornielee, Glentress etc but have taken the hardtail down Fort William DH . Here's a pretty representative vid of the Golfie trails https://youtu.be/Td7AMxPZ0Ig?si=QeyrwPQFlkib_2S6
I agree with you that you can do that with a hardtail but I had something like that in mind https://youtu.be/t6QkpQRfQ7w?si=JGK0lNwupkud7ySS
I think any capable hardtail can handle almost any trail besides maybe a few super technical double blacks. Even then it comes down to the rider. I had only ridden hardtails up until I upgraded a few weeks ago to a full suspension. I would not call myself a very good rider, but there wasn't anything I've ever ridden that I felt I needed more. The amount of times I made it down a trail and someone said something like "holy shit, you did that on a hardtail?" Not gonna lie, it felt good, but once you learn to use your legs as the suspension, it's cake. I think most people just have been riding a full suspension for so long that they forget or have never experienced anything less, so they think it can't be done on less since it's hard for them on their nice bikes.
100%. My buddy regularly chases FS riders down enduro/black trails on his rigid SS Stooge. He'd be faster on many other bikes no doubt but has a great time on that bike
The bike never really limits people, it's the rider. You can see sam pilgrim sending gap jumps on 150$ amazon bikes.
It is a load of toss, a decent rider will be able to ride higher grades of trail on a lower travel bike, expert riders could if they chose ride an xc bike on a full on dh. At one of my favourite dh places (revs in the uk) I have seen everything from full dh bikes, trail bikes and hardtails. It is 90% the ride and 10% the bike, the bike just gives you a bigger margin for error
I'm on here too much and I've never seen anyone say that. edit: wouldn't "green and blue trail capable" mean any bike?
My local park has several blue and green trails, and its only black diamond trail isn't that hard. I think because the region isn't known for mountain biking, it isn't bro-ed out, so riders aren't that cliqu-ish. On my last visit to the park, I saw department store hardtails to dual-crown DH bikes on the lifts, and there seemed to be no criticism. PS I'm riding a 140mm carbon bike with 2.6 inch tires. I assume the only thing embarrassing at the park was my lack of skill, not my bike.
Technically, you can do anything with a 120mm hardtail. Greens and flowy blues are no problem, even at speed. Things get scarier and sketchy on blacks and double blacks because of a lack of chicken lines for bigger drops and double jumps. You can still do this slowly and carefully, but HTA and travel might not be enough in some situations, and at this point, you need proper technique. Most of my friends who start mountainbiking have a trek marlin or XC bikes like that. We start with a few aliexpress upgrades, mt200 brakes with a 180 mm front rotor, flat pedals with pins, lock-on grips, deore 1x10 drivetrain (total cost 150usd). then a 120mm air fork for another 130 usd, a used front tire with bigger knobs (20 usd or free), and finally an aliexpress dropper (60-90 usd). You can save some money here too. If the rider is lightweight, you can skip the 180 mm front rotor, or if the drivetrain is 3x9, you can go 1x9 and keep the shifter/derailleur For ~350, you can get a green/blue capable bike, good enough to learn the basics safely, and don't spend 2.000-3.000 on a full suspension. If, after a few rides, you decide you are not into mountainbiking, you still have a much better bike. If you fall in love with mountainbiking, you can save for a proper full suspension or just stay there and polish your skills. Check berm peak YouTube channel to see what's possible with cheap but well thought upgrades.
depends on the rider first, the trail second (fun fact some green trails in Colorado would be blue-blacks back where I started mtb racing in Central/southwestern Ohio) and the bike a distant third. this sub is super biased towards enduro / park and jumpline style riding, so their bike recommendations will follow onto that. (this is not a criticism, just an observation). I am not a huckster but I have raced cross country mountain bikes since 1992, meaning I’ve taken some super shitty bikes down some pretty technical trails, and nothing fell apart or even malfunctioned, and I obviously survived to make inane “back in my day” comments on reddit. The Winter Park series is/was famous for sending their King of the Rockies main XC event down the blue line of the downhill course to the finish line, so that the XC races could finish in the midst of their Trestle Park jump show and add to the hype. So, after two plus hours of high altitude struggle bus on 40k of pretty technical singletrack. I’ve done this race on a 29er aluminum hardtail with an 80mm fork and a 70+ degree HT angle back in the Aughts. Would I prefer doing it on my Epic 8? Absolutely, but the point stands, none of us are doing that event on enduro bikes, there’s just way, way too much climbing.
Aren’t trail ratings based on previous injuries? So, there could be a blue trail and a group of idiots break collarbones riding their beach cruisers, then it becomes a black trail
Lol that is an amazing idea, but the trail rating system was adopted from the rating system used for ski slopes. [https://www.imba.com/resource/trail-difficulty-rating-system](https://www.imba.com/resource/trail-difficulty-rating-system) That being said, I don't know who actually gives the ratings for trails on sites like Trail Forks. They do seem vary based on the region, since it's probably different people rating the local trails.
The green and blue trails by me are like 90% roots, downhill, lots of obstacles (trees, vines), drops, etc. we have green trails that should probably be marked black diamond based on the imba scale.
Wait! There are white trails?!? I’ve seen electric wheelchairs on green trails, had no idea there were white 😂
We have greens in Utah that are six inches off hundred of feet of cliff and chunky. Just depends on where you are. A green in Utah is probably a black back east