Mountain Biking Will Never Be the Same For Me After This

When most people think of mountain biking, they are usually intimidating and expensive thoughts. But lately, I've found that mountain biking is way more simple than you might think. If you're the type that just wants to get out in nature and experience the outdoors on mountain bike trails without all the pressure of feeling out of place compared to all the other bikes you see on the trails, then let's take a journey together in this video and do just that. A lot of times, I think we get sucked into the latest trends when it comes to bikes and lose sight of the most important things about bikes, which I think is having fun, exercising while having fun, and the freedom that bikes give you. I always thought that mountain biking only made sense on mountain bikes until I was introduced to this new bike that opened my eyes to a whole new style of mountain biking. I've never had a gravel bike with this size frame before, so it gave me the crazy idea to see what would happen if I put mountain bike tires on it. My primary bike has mostly been a hardtail because of the simplicity and playfulness. But what really drew me into this Breezer Radar X Pro was the extra simplicity to go along with the versatility. I personally don't care to have the most capable bike as long as it's fun. So when it comes to the versatility, I like that you can ride this bike and feel comfortable pedaling it for miles and still be able to take it on some mountain bike trails. This is my first real mountain bike ride on this bike since I put the new tires on it. So today we'll find out how this bike actually rides on mountain bike trails. All right, today is the day we finally get to see what this bike can do. I've been ranting and raving about it. I think it's gonna do a great job, but it's only one way to find out. I brought it out to Howe Ranch right outside Boulder, Colorado. I figured this would be a great place to bring this bike. This is where I like to bring a lot of hardtails, rigid bikes, just to get a feel for it because it's not too chunky, but there are sections where the bike will be tested. It's really windy out here. I'm hoping that it doesn't affect the climb or the ride quality, and I mean really windy, but let's get to it and see what happens before my camera falls. The one thing I noticed right off the bat is the climbing efficiency. This puts you in an aggressive position to move forward, if that makes sense, which is why I really like the drop bars because you don't have any wasted pedal strokes. Everything is moving the bike forward. You're more aerodynamic, and I think you're in a better position to really pedal uphill. And I really like that it's comfortable, believe it or not. A lot of people think this is an uncomfortable position. Either you've never tried it or you just don't like it for some reason, which is respectable. We all have our preferences, but for me, I think this is a great position to be in while pedaling a bike. Now going downhill and conversion through switchbacks, that's where we'll really see how this bike handles. Here's our first little bit of downhill right here. Now this is the interesting part I'm worried about. Will I feel more comfortable with my hands where they are on the bars, or will I feel more comfortable with them down here? Oh, I feel more comfortable with them down here for sure. This is awesome. The crazy thing is I feel more confident and comfortable lower on the bike like that. But what I'm concerned about is what if I need to pop that front tire up? How will that work out? So there's definitely a learning curve to this that I need to figure out. But I do like the positioning of the bike when you go downhill, when you put your hands on the bottom bar. One thing I have noticed is I don't have that control like I would on a normal bike with the handlebars because of the way you have to hold them. But it's not in a bad way. It's just not as maneuverable, obviously, as a normal mountain bike, but you can definitely still control it. Now these handlebars are super wide, so that might have a lot to do with it as well. But I want to keep them wide because I want to be stable when I'm going down. And this bike is not meant for me to be ripping through trails like I would on a normal mountain bike. This is just for me to go out here and adventure on mountain bike trails without having to worry about bringing a mountain bike all the time. If I just want to have a chill ride and a fun ride, this is a go-to bike that I can use and not feel limited on the trails I ride anyway. And I kind of want to make this my normal mountain bike, if I'm being honest. I really like this. It's a different experience, but I love it. I don't think I could have picked a better set of tires for this bike either. One of the guys that I was riding with one day recommended me these, and I'm glad I checked them out because these are the perfect tires for a bike like this, where it's fully rigid, but you want that, at least some kind of cushion. And these tires give you that. They're super soft and grippy. Just a great tire for this kind of bike. Man, this is just awesome. Nothing like that, that feeling of just riding a rigid bike ripping through the trails. Having to pay attention to every little thing because one second you're on the trail, the next second you're over the bars if you don't pay attention. Definitely makes you a better rider. Ride hard trails and ridges for sure. And this pedal efficiency is crazy. Every pedal I take, I feel like I'm just powering forward. Nice. Man, this bike is a beast. This is crazy. These tires really hold in the corner. I'm usually worried about washing out, but with these tires, I'm pretty confident. This is awesome. Wow. Who would have ever thought I'd be on a, on a damn monster gravel bike mountain biking when I have carbon full suspension at home, aluminum full suspension, a beast of a hardtail, and I'm out here mountain biking on a rigid gravel bike. Man, that's crazy. By choice. If y'all haven't tried these Continental Cryptotals, definitely check them out. Let me know if you have them and how do you like them? I haven't tried them on a, on a traditional mountain bike, but on this bike, they feel really good. For a while, I was, I was kind of losing the excitement for mountain biking until I found out that you don't really have to ride a, a normal mountain bike to mountain bike because I really like riding these style bikes. I really like riding these original old school style bikes and just seeing what they can do. The more lower end bikes, just seeing how much you can get out of them. It's really gotten my, my excitement back up for sure. This might be the bike I use for the foreseeable future for my mountain biking. Maybe for, for more than mountain biking, but definitely for mountain biking because I want to see what it's really like to ride a bike like this for an extended amount of time. Mountain biking, that is. And the thing I love most about this bike is the versatility. So I can go from riding mountain bike trails like I just did. Now I can just go on the street and start riding. And start riding gravel trails like this. And I know some people say, I can just do that on my mountain bike. But I'm telling you, it's not the same. The efficiency that this bike gives you or the drop bar bikes give you, it's just not the same as flat bar. The aerodynamics of it, it makes you want to pedal miles and miles.