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Mastering Mountain Bike Skills | 
 enlarge | Authors: Brian Lopes, Lee Mccormack
Publisher: Human Kinetics Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $14.91
You Save: $8.04 (35%)
New (20) Used (11) from $11.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 11223
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 216
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.5
ISBN: 0736056246
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.63
EAN: 9780736056243
ASIN: 0736056246
Publication Date: March 13, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
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Book Description
Increase your speed, control, and versatility on the bike. Mastering Mountain Bike Skills provides detailed technical instruction for all mountain biking disciplines: Cross-country
Downhill
Mountain cross
Free riding
Dirt jumping
Urban terrain With top pro mountain biker Brian Lopes as your teacher, you'll learn how to handle the bike better than ever, in any conditions, across all types of terrain. Key tips and special photo sequences throughout the book add insight to Lopes' world-class instruction.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 41 more reviews...
 I wish so much I could edit this book.... August 20, 2008
I'm a former amateur road cyclist/USCF, etc., who hates cars & discovered serious mountain biking 7 years ago. I'm addicted to agressive, technical, cross-country single-track & ride 10-20 hours/week. I have taught myself over the years by asking questions and observing, reading, etc. I did learn several things from this book, and reread parts just to renew my consciousness and allow key points to settle into my subconscious, and it does and has helped my riding, indeed, but nowhere near as much as I'd like. Still, I would recommend purchasing it.
Just that I would love to sit down with Lopes and edit each sentence, each diagram and photo, detailing in very clear, understandable language as to what is really meant to be conveyed, so that a mostly self-taught enthusiast who is into mountain biking purely for the personal thrill, and doesn't care about the lingo or keeping track of the "stars" or racing, could more easily incorporate into his/her passion. The book makes some good points, a lot of them in fact, but it's just not well-written, and is frequently bereft of true definition. Both descriptions and terminology are lacking in definitive substance just where they are needed, and as good as the photos and sequencing might appear to someone flipping through, they too are often frustrating: when a very detailed, point-by-point explanation or diagram is needed, much is left to the imagination to finish.
One simple example, for example, lies in the use of words like "preload" and "load" in different places, when they mean the exact same thing: compress the fork and prepare to unload it. 'Preload' should only be used to indicate a static shock, as in its position when the bike is at rest in order to adjust air pressure/inspect a fork/ measure, etc. Similarly, "pump" might sound obvious to the writers, but 'pump' is what my father would yell when I was 4-years old, meaning pedal hard. Defining terms and actions accurately and precisely, in a scientific sense and in relationship to similar words, for the benefit of the reader-student, seems to have been rarely taken into consideration. Many sentences and paragraphs are left open-ended (& often filled with puns - not that there's not a place for humor at times, but it's often distracting and leaves me wondering what the hell are they talking about). In addition to wanting to sit down with Lopes and help rewrite this book, which could be so much better than it is, an artist of the technical ability of say, the late illustrator Oscar Ratti (see _Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere_), could do a much better job than many of the photos. As with any good first textbook, hopefully this one will evolve into a 2nd edition, and edited for clarity by someone outside of the "industry'.
 Great Book April 5, 2008
Great book you can find everything you want to know about mountain biking and is even fun to read.
Excellent book April 2, 2008
This book is quite excellent. I had never been mountain biking before, and read this book. When I finally went out on the trail with experienced riders, I was able to keep up, not injure myself, and generally know what was going on around me. I will say, though, that in reading the book, it seemed like all mountain bike riders were able to do the flashy stuff that was described, when in fact, I found that was not the case. However, it is good to know about. The writing style is very easy to read. There could have been a glossary, and I had to Google terms a number of times, but overall, an excellent book.
 Excellent February 23, 2008
A fantastic source of information for anyone wanting to improve their mountain bike riding skills.
Great book of use for all mountain bikers February 13, 2008
I found this to be an excellent book on mountain bike techniques. There are illustrated examples of all the skills you would want to know for all styles of mountain bike riding.
This is a book to work through. For example it starts with the basics like wheelies and manuals and progresses to bunny hops showing how they are related and why you want to know one technique before progressing to another.
Whereas Ned Overend's book is XC race oriented, the techniques in this book as just as applicable for downhilling and freeriding as they are to XC and will help you whether you race or just like to ride for fun.
There is also a short section in the front covering the basics of choosing and maintaining your bike(s).
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