Our Best Mountain Bike Gear For Fall
Top Gearhead Picks For Our Favorite Season
As clear summer skies transition to fall’s breezy weather, our anticipation ramps up for mountain biking’s best season. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite MTB gear to upgrade your bike and complete your kit to wring the most out of fall trails.
Mountain Bike Pants For Mixed Conditions
In shoulder seasons, layers are essential for you to stay warm, dry, and cool, as the weather shifts from unrelenting sun to brisk wind or chilly rain all in one ride. We’ve found the Trail Pant from Specialized sets itself apart with weather-specific features that elevate the ride. Its elasticized cuffs make sure the pants don’t get caught in the chainring, and the integrated belt ratchets down to secure the fit. The water-repellent fabric keeps us dry, and the perforations in the inner leg keep us cool when the sun comes out.
Hike-Friendly Riding Shoes
When slick soil and rocks make for tricky footing, we trust Ride Concept’s Tallac Clip BOA Mountain Bike Shoe to have our back. Its oversized lugs even look like tire lugs, and they span the entire toebox to dig into the dirt with Clip Grip rubber that’s, well, super grippy. Ride Concepts uses burly materials like a D30 insole in these kicks for heavy-duty shredding, and we dig the BOA dial for easy, on-the-fly adjustments.
H: Gearhead Take: More of a flat pedal enthusiast? Check out the flat pedal version of the Tallac Shoe
Tech Talk: Dropper Posts
It can really bring down your day when you take to the trails for a chilly ride and the bike’s dropper post stops doing its one-and-only job. The reality is that colder temperatures affect every part of the bike that’s pressurized, including the dropper post. We like the Loam Dropper Post from PNW Components for its smooth actuation on inclement rides—PNW’s products are designed and tested in cool, moist conditions near the brand’s Seattle headquarters. Plus, the Loam’s adjustable travel lets us raise or lower the drop range in 5mm increments.
Looking For The Best Trail Fork? Meet Lyrik
We’re fans of earning our turns even when we’re keen to check out gnarly descents. RockShox’s Lyrik Ultimate Charger 3 Fork strikes the perfect balance for us to do just that—with an impressive feature set. The wide range of travel options make it suitable for aggressive descents on mid and long travel bikes, and it’s built with a lighter construction than a fully-fledged enduro race fork that won’t weigh us down on the climb. Slotted for aggressive trail riding, the Lyrik’s torsionally stiff 35mm stanchions hold up in tricky corners and new ButterCup technology from RockShox smooths out trail chatter as we charge into our favorite features. Remember our talk about pressurized components and cold weather? Changes in temperature and elevation don’t phase the Lyrik, thanks to integrated bleed ports that release unwanted pressure build-up.
Gearhead Take: In it for the downhill? Check out Lyrik’s big brother, the Zeb Ultimate Fork.
Ready to gear up for the best stretch of the season? Hit up one of our Gearheads to talk tech and figure out what gear is best for your riding.