Skills with Phil is a Mountain bike RU-vid dedicated to having fun on bikes. We explore everything from beginner mountain biking skills and to advanced mountain bike skills. My mission with Skills with Phil is to help you have more fun on your bike. Skills with Phil Mountain bike tutorials hosted by Phil Kmetz, a former Professional downhill mountain bike racer.
Here's a general list of things you can expect from this channel: Advanced Mountain bike Skills tutorials, Beginner mountain bike skills tutorials Mountain bike gear review Common mountain biking problems Mountain bike GoPro Tips Mountain bike Race tips.
Completely different bikes. Enduro bikes are big heavy and made for toughness, trail bikes are light and agile. I have a stumpy 140 mil travel And a scott ransom 170 mil of travel that I can twinloc to 120. Completely different bikes. The stumpy you can ride allday and it'll b3 fun. The enduro bike is knackering to ride
Love you Phil! I’ve used your skills videos with my kids club. We’ve all learned a lot from you. But… “the most general mountain bike” is not a full squish. It would likely be a hardtail or even a full rigid. It’s all relative to our riding discipline, too, I guess.
I'd love to see the old GT logo back on their bike's! I was GT everything I'm my day's I still remember when my GT performer pro arrived with that curved top tube ohh waw beautiful BMX that was! Not had their modern MTB as yet maybe next one will be if they change the logo back lol that's what's putting me of crazy I know but it's GT it just looks so little effort has gone into the design slapping that font on it like that! It's not a nice look
Hey Phil I love your vids!!! Can you do a video about suspension setup and how you set up your own suspension and what you prefer and look for when dialing in your shock and fork! Thanks bro! Keep up the good content!
i got a 2020 salsa spearfish/ 2019 cannondale habit/ 2016 cube fritzz....i find i ride the dale the most the thing is a trail monster and on 27.5 it's fast compared to most of todays bikes on trails....the salsa is an all day epic machine but has it's limits with 100mm of rear travel i did put trust message fork on the front and made it a flow machine....the cube is an beast even for an 8 year old rig 180mm all around goes up hill ok but man it's just steamrolls down hill nice solid wheelbase good geo and a bit of weight to it- i kitted that out with azonic goodness
Great video. Thoughts on Hardcore Hardtails? I'll be riding Highland on a Hello Dave to switch it up a bit, you'll see me stuck in a breaking bump on Cat's Paw.
I'm not a hardtail person unless I'm doing trialsy stuff, I find hardtail to be a bit too harsh for my liking. That being said, hard tails will never go out of fashion, they'll always be cool.
150/140 mm is all-mountain... ie. Long travel trail bike. I agree it is the sweet spot for most riders and terrain that most of America is... rolling hills and gullies. I have a 2023 Rocky Mountain Instinct carbon 150/140. It is good at most everything.
That was cool. I ride a 2019 GT Force comp , no carbon fibre here, I bumped up the fork to 170. Running Sr Suntour Tri air & Durolux 36. I'm 56 years old and I love it
I’m on a 2019 Sensor comp (aluminum), w a 140 pike ultimate/super deluxe, enduro spec wheels, platforms, saint brakes…a mini enduro. I’m also 56 too. It’s a fun bike to get away with questionable lines
My first FS was a 130 front / 120 rear Trail bike. It goes up really nice, and the geometry allows me to go down some pretty gnarly stuff. But I can't take big hits and the breaks really start to fade when I pickup speed. I got a 8" front/rear, old-school DH bike for park & shuttle days. It's like landing on a cloud and plows over roots and ruts. But she HATES to go up, or even peddle for a sustained flat section. I am eyeballing something in between for when there's pedaling involved, but also some crazy downhill features. There's a defunct trail we're looking to bring back with 2 km of up & down trail, and then 2km of DOWN! Neither of my bikes work. So a proper enduro (160 range with beefy breaks) seems the optimal choice.
I have a 2020 Commencal meta ht with a yari with 150mm. Commencal lists it as trail enduro. Crashed it at highland and fractured collar bone and right elbow. Barely ridden since, need to get back on it. Maybe get a full squish soon.
I have a Nukeproof Scout 275. A good trail bike. Currently have 140 Revelation on it. But going to mullet it soon with a 130-140 fork. Just to help me roll over roots etc better with a tad more speed. We'll see!
I've got one bike i currently ride a Banshee Titan 160/155mm pedals really really good. Wheelbase is 1300mm 452mm chainstay high stack around 662mm I love it local trails when it gets slow it feels a bit much but I just gotta get better and going to the bike parks are great
I had a 170:160 rocky mountain altitude. Converted it to a 150:140 instinct. Much better climber and still descends well i live in powell river and mahoney has no lift!
You live in a beautiful area! When I rode my 170/160mm enduro bike there, I found it to be a bit much, especially on some of the lower trails there. I think I'd choose the same bike if it was my daily ride.
What a great video. Answers an important question. However, the big question to me has always been: Do you pick a bike for the best part of your favourite trail; the stuff you love the most? Or, do you pick a bike for the trail conditions you actually ride 90% of the time? I’ve never found an answer. BTW, you’ve become an excellent presenter over the years Phil. Congrats!
I don't have a formula, i go based off how I'm feeling. Sometimes I'm just curious to see how different bikes feel on the same trail. If I'm on a multi day trip, I primarily based my choice off my preferred trail type, but it can also change based off other things I'll be doing in the area.
@@SkillsWithPhil well your breakdown was perfect. Makes me feel like I made a good choice when I bought my Hightower back in 2017! 140 front/135 rear for Ontario trail riding. Yeah, I know it’s getting on in years, but so am I !
I’m pretty new to mtb on a 130 canyon neuron, absolutely love that bike! It’s just what I need to learn how to pick my line well without spending a gazillion dollars on a big enduro just yet (emphasis on yet ;))
Things definitely get a bit more complicated these days too. A lot of your 160/170 travel enduro bikes pedal just as well as a 150/160 travel all mountain bike, but are dramatically better going down hill. On the other side you have a lot of 140/150 travel trail bikes that descend just as well as a 150/160 travel bike but pedal a lot better. Add in that the 3 primary 150/160 travel bikes (Ibis Ripmo, Specialized Stumpy Evo, Transition Sentinel) are getting a bit dated it's no longer the "150 travel bike as the ultimate do it all bike".
My favorite all around bike is a trailbike with DH tires and rims. Bikes are made to ride, when it's flimsy like a noodle I'll say it had a good life 🎉
Yeah, some people call that All mountain, it's not a nomenclature I've use myself but it's in the grey area of almost too small for Enduro but too big for Trail. If you have lighter wheels/casing tires I'd probably call that a trail bike, but if it's built up with hefty parts I wouldn't bat an eye if you called it enduro either. What ever it is, it's still fun :)
