Thinking about getting into mountain biking. I’m a total beginner. Was hoping to get some advise to help me get started
I’m in Xinyi, near Elephant mountain. Are there any good mountain biking trail near me? or something easy to get to (I don’t have a car)
What is a good bike to get started? Should I just get a cheap bike from Decathlon?
I thought about road biking too but the riverside bike path always seems really packed. So I thought mountain biking will be better.
Specific mountain biking near you would be the gas plant trail which is real single track. I wouldn’t do it as a first ride.
But to start with you can’t go wrong with the cemetery road and Fudekeng park area.
Also the whole Maokong area is fun to ride around. Some real steep stuff.
You might want to get a gravel bike as a compromise. Talk to the Alexes at Taipei Bike Shop.
I’d like to get into biking again. I used to do 100 miles without any effort 25 years ago.
Building up to it…
I don’t want to be the middle age guy who buys a really expensive bike.
I’ve just started back after six years and 15 kgs off the bike.
Hardest thing I’ve ever done. In hindsight it might have been easier if I hadn’t have bought what for all intents and purposes is a pro racing bike. But fuck it, I want that buzz.
Edit: pro but ten years old so quite cheap.
Just get a youbike and work your way up… they’re really cheap to use.
I’ll give one of those a try.
See you at the Tour de France
Quarantine allowing
My impression is that Taipei (actually Taiwan in general) is not exactly a mountain biking paradise. The roads that would be gravel in Europe or America, are exceptionally paved here, or at least they have a concrete surface. Single tracks are usually super steep, filled with stairs or more crowded with walkers than many of the city streets.
I may be wrong, because I have never even tried to to mountain biking here, but I got this impression while hiking around. Also, it looks like you have to do a lot of tarmac km for just a few km of dirt.
Riverside is hell now during the weekends. But they are still usable for sport rides during most of the time in weekdays and weekend nights.
Taipei has plenty of mountain roads around, most of them with barely any traffic.
Does anybody know if electric mountain bikes are suitable for commuting and day-to-day travel on Taiwanese roads?
Why not? I mean, an enduro e-MTB for commuting will be like driving a Hummer around. With the difference that you would still fit in any road and street. Still, you will be moving a lot of weight and unnecessary stuff (like suspension) for that purposes.
I just googled that bike and it’s also very expensive (though a thing of beauty), but still cheaper than buying a dedicated commuter bike and a dedicated mountain bike. I’ve become a big e-bike user since moving back to the UK and I love the idea of buying an e-bike when I return to Taiwan that I can use to commute and take to the mountains on the weekend, but it seems a bit impractical.
I think that’s totally fine. Maybe not the cheapest. Avoid break discs. Front suspension is enough as a beginner, I would say.
Alright maaaaaaate no need to make me feel bad for two days recovery after 25km fanx 
A specialized sirrus (already overkill for commuting) is like £650 - an electric mountain bike is four digits? Space is the real cost here i think
The best beginner mountain bike trail would be out over in Taoyuan. I do not know too much details about it, but if you head over to Alan’s Mtn Bike over by Gong Guan on Roosevelt, he give you the details you need on how to get started.
In all seriousness, the riverside path just has to be avoided at certain times of the day. Which is weekday evenings after 5PM and weekends after 4PM. I have actually found the riverside quite relaxing on a weekdays after 9PM, only certain parts of it are busy (like riverside entrances near residentials areas), but others are quite peaceful.
If it’s the crowd of people you want to avoid, get on the road. It’s intimidating at first, but cars are already used to scooters, as long as you do not make any sudden movements, you’re just a slow moving scooter to them.
Mountain biking and road biking are practically two different sports. Don’t let the packed riverside bike path be the only reason for you to pick mountain biking. I used to mountain bike and rode pretty much all the off road trails in and around Taipei on my full suspension Giant. It’s technical, thrilling and a lot of fun. Now I ride a road bike. It’s more about endurance and reaching new heights and distances. But I still use a lot of my mountain biking skills when riding my road bike, like plotting a line as I descend, even though it’s on asphalt rather than a rooted single track. The riverside paths are never “really packed” actually. Just take a Youbike and go for a ride during peak time (late afternoon on weekends) and see for yourself.
I second this, if you still decide to go for mountain biking. Alan is the guru on the Taipei mountain biking scene. He just happens to be selling some used bikes right now. Go in his shop for a look. You just might find some good deals.