I read an article today on bicycling.com about how to choose your first mountain bike. This article all in all was a good one with some good advice. There were some things that I wanted to post that I agree with, and some things that I tend to disagree with.

James over at Bicycle Design shot me a IM the other day about his post on John Finley Scott. For those of you that don’t already know, Scott was the first to build a purpose built mountain bike. This, of course, made Scott “Way Ahead of His Time” (the article’s title).

Are you looking to make the switch to disc brakes without breaking the bank? Are you tired of the poor lever feel and performance out of those other “budget” disc brakes? Look no further than the Juicy Fives from Avid. Before the introduction of the Juicy 3’s, the Juicy 5’s were Avid’s answer for low cost hydraulic disc brakes that didn’t perform like their price would suggest.

Awhile back, I did a post on “How To Wreck” where I touched on the importance of getting back on the horse after you wreck. For 99% of mountain bikers, it is a “when” not “if” situation when it comes to going down on the bike. It is the risk that we take as mountain bikers for the payoff we receive.

WTB sent me a new rear wheel that arrived on Friday, and I am going to box up the old one, send it back and let WTB take a look at it. Today, I am going to mount up the new rear and give it a run over the course of the week.

I have been a huge fan of Schwalbe tires for quite awhile. The Big Betty has been my go to tire for 6″ travel bikes because of it’s mass/volume, tremendous grip, fast rolling and surprisingly light weight for a true 2.4 tire (2.5 at the tread). They have, until now, only been available in a Gooey Gluey and Triple Compound version…no UST.

Until there are loads of money in the mountain biking blog business, I still have a real job. After a long, stressful day at the office I find that wrenching on the bike for awhile can really calm the nerves and center my thoughts. There are many different ways that people wind down after a long day, but this one works the best for me.

Carl over at MTOBikes.com shot me an email last week sharing his post on the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Mountain biking doesn’t get the national coverage that most of the other sports in the Olympics do, but it is still an exciting race on a grueling race course.

Finding the right helmet that fits your needs and your head can be a difficult task with all of the different versions and brands on the market today. Fox jumped into the mountain biking helmet scene in 2007 with the Flux. After looking over the Fox’s list of features, I decided to give it a try several months ago.