DO YOU NEED A DIRT JUMPER- - OVER 40 MOUNTAIN BIKE TIPS - Alex says yes but can he convince Lee

Hey YouTube, welcome back to the channel. If you've been watching our channel, you know that we're all about progression and progression at any age. If there's one bike that's helped me progress in jumps, it's the dirt jumper. Where did they come from? How did they evolve? And do you need one? That's the big question. I'm 100% sure you need one of these. Lee from Lee Likes Bikes, who's joining me, he's not so sure. You don't need a dirt jump bike? So we've put together a decision tree, putting some science behind this, and whether you need a dirt jumper or not. So stay tuned. The dirt jumper is an evolution of the BMX bike. All those guys on their BMX bikes that were building big dirt jumps in the woods, those guys got older. And as they got older, they were pretty beat up and they wanted something that would be a little more comfortable. The mountain bike had come out and the 26-inch wheel had become a thing. So guys started to build essentially giant BMX bikes. Did it work? It worked so good, it started a whole new category of bikes. So what is it that makes a dirt jumper special? We know that you're supposed to pick a wheel size and be a jerk about it. And that's great. Every wheel size is a compromise. The small wheels give you the most pumping power, but when you make a mistake, they give you the most punishment. A big wheel, like a 29er, that's going to give you less pump, but also less punishment. A 26-inch wheel is a really good compromise. You're going to get a lot of pump, but also if you come up short on something, it's not going to destroy you. Jumps aren't perfectly smooth. It'll still roll pretty fast. A lot of standover height. If you're on a pump track or if you're jumping, it gives you tons of room that you'd start to get used to. And then guess what happens? You carry over that movement that you've developed here onto your trail bike. Your mountain bike has basically two levers. There's a lever that goes from your bottom bracket to your hands and a lever that goes from the bottom bracket to the rear hub. The bigger the leverage ratio, the more force goes into the rear wheel when you pull the bar. My trail bike, that leverage ratio is about 1.75 to 1. On this bike, that ratio is about 2 to 1. So what that means is when I'm pumping or jumping or hopping, my dirt jump bike will give me about 15% more power. I'm always like, you don't need a dirt jump bike. I just rode this track on my dirt jump bike and I rode it on this. This kind of sucks. Have you ever been on a trail ride with somebody who's just pulling away from you and they're not even pedaling? That's pump power. Because dirt jumpers develop from BMX, they're single speed. It's awesome because there's nothing to think about. The other thing you'll notice is that the front cog is really small. The reason why it's small is sometimes you'll do 50-50 jump and that's when you come down on a jump with one wheel on one side and one wheel on the landing side. And when that happens, you don't want this cog digging into the earth because that'll stop you and propel you over the bars. Compared to your typical trail bike, a dirt jump bike is going to give you a lot more feedback. Let's say you really catch the full backside of a roller, it's going to give you more speed. Let's say your timing's off and you catch a little air off the top of that roller and you don't catch the backside until halfway down, it's going to give you less speed. Basically there's a loop in your brain. That feedback loop is sped up because the bike is giving you more precise and more emphatic feedback. You might be coming off a 26 inch mountain bike. You might be coming off 27.5, 29. Whatever it is, you can just look at it and you can tell it's going to be more familiar than a BMX bike. As you learn things on the 26, you can instantly take that and translate it into your bigger bike. The other thing that's going to make you a little bit more comfortable is the fact that it's got a little bit of front suspension. By today's standards, it's not much. It's about 100 millimeters. It's just enough to take the edge off some of those landings. As we get older, it's nice not to have a rigid fork, I gotta tell you. So first question is, do you need another bike? Luckily, there's a mathematical formula for figuring that out. The formula is n plus one. N represents the current number of bikes you have. It might be one, it might be two. Take that number, add one. So if you've got four bikes, added one, get the answer, which is five, that is the number of bikes you need. I can go over it again if you like. Can you afford a dirt jumper? You can get a brand new dirt jump bike, like super ready to go, for just over $1,000. A really gnarly high end one might be 2,000. There are a lot of people out there who bought a dirt jumper and then got hurt, and now that dirt jump bike is on Craigslist for really cheap, a couple $300. So chances are, yes, you can afford a dirt jump bike. A pump track is defined as a continuous loop of rollers and berms that can be ridden without pedaling. If you have a pump track near you, strongly consider the purchase of a dirt jump bike. If you have a paved Velo Solutions pump track near you, hit pause right now, go get a dirt jump bike, take it to the track, beat yourself up, and then once you've had a recovery smoothie, finish watching this video. Do you have dirt jumps near you? It's a beautiful set of dirt jumps. If you have dirt jumps like that near you, it might just be irresistible. You're going to learn so much. If you start jumping steeper jumps with steeper landings, you just get better. There's no two ways about it. Come springtime when the bike parks open, you feel super confident and kind of super powered. If you're a lover of lycra, you may not like the dirt jump scene. It's pretty much wear what you brung. Basically like, hey, I just got off work, so Carhartt, yes. Skinny jeans, yes, but they can be stretchy. No one has to know. Some flannel, but Pearl Izumi, not so much. One of the best things about dirt jumper, you're going to want to get a brain bucket. Dirt jumps, you can get weird. It's not only okay, it's encouraged. And of course, the full face. What's the proper amount of gear to have on? Whatever makes you feel comfortable. On my second day in a small pump track, I tucked a wheel and my head hit the ground so hard, I drove to the nearest bike shop, I purchased a full face helmet, and then I came back and started riding again. Are you okay sticking to the sheets? We're all about not getting hurt and doing everything as safely as possible and as progressive as possible so that you're never stepping into the unknown, you're just stepping a little further into the known. If you're okay with sticking to the sheets, answer yes. Next question, do you have a 26 inch hardtail? Dig that out, dust that off, and put some faster rolling tires on it, and I think you might have a pretty good option. See if you like it, and if you love it, then get a dirt jumper. Okay, next question, do you have a BMX bike? And have you been riding it? If so, don't get a dirt jumper. But if it's like your son's bike or your daughter's bike, and it's in the garage, and you're thinking about riding that, get a dirt jumper. Way more forgiving. Would you recommend a BMX to somebody who has been all about mountain biking, wanting to get into dirt jumps? I don't think so, unless I grew up racing BMX, so it was in there somewhere. But I think if I was coming down for mountain bike, maybe wanted just to be able to bounce back and forth, I think that the dirt jumper is the way to go. But I think the BMX is the ultimate tool in a way. Yeah, you can't help talk up the BMX. Yeah. Okay, I've ridden all these tracks on every bike, from a 20 to a cyclocross bike. I gotta tell you, that dirt jump bike is exquisite. Like every little thing you put in, it gives you back. So good. Yeah, that just dumps so many good chemicals into your system. It's clean. Right now, I'm revealing an aspect of my personality that I'm not very proud of, and that is I sometimes care what people think. None of us should, but I sometimes do. I got one of these, and I was looking at it on top of the car, and I thought, that is the only bike that says you can actually ride. If you have a cross country bike, who knows? If you've got a full suspension bike, who knows? If you've got one of these, it only means one thing. You're at the pump track, or you're out here, and you're shredding. You're probably saying, yes, but there's one better, the BMX bike. You know what? At my age, when there's a BMX bike on top of my car, it looks like I just picked up a new Christmas gift. Does not help the rep at all. If you liked this video, hit the like button. I hope it was helpful. And if you'd like to see more, hit the subscribe button. And let us know what you want to see in the comments. We're always looking for ideas. We'll see you next time. Enjoy your bike.