One of the best resources to spring up in recent times for mountain bikers is YouTube. The problem is there’s so much content available it can be hard to sift through it all. Below, you’ll find our top choices for YouTube Channels novice MTBers should check out.
Skills with Phil
First up is former professional downhiller Phil Kmetz, who is one of the most skillful and fearless riders on YouTube. The great thing about Phil is that he has a knack for breaking down complex skills and demonstrating how they can be approached by a novice. He’s friendly, a bit quirky, and knows what he’s talking about. We suggest you begin with his Beginner Mountain Bike Tutorials playlist.
Seth’s Bike Hacks
If you’ve been mountain biking for almost any amount of time, and have searched YouTube for MTB-related videos, it’s almost certain you’ve come across Seth’s Bike Hacks. Seth has built what is probably the largest MTB-related channel online, and he’s successful for good reason—his videos are well-made, informative, and reflect everything fun about mountain biking. We suggest you start out with Seth’s Techniques & Skills playlist where you’ll find everything from simple skills like how to mount your bike to highly-advanced skills like backflips.
Huntstyle
While Huntstyle’s channel doesn’t focus on skills so much as simply relaying his adventures, we love his channel because he’s local to the Dallas area, and because he hasn’t been mountain biking all that long. Huntstyle started riding MTB in February of 2017, and if you watch his videos in order you can see him progress step-by-step, which makes him a great example to follow. He’s got several videos that highlight North Texas trails (we use several of them on our trail listings), as well as videos of his adventures around the country.
Dusty Betty
We love Dusty Betty for several reasons. She and her husband travel full-time, living out of their RV and traveling from one mountain biking destination to another. Tess, the woman in front of the camera at Dusty Betty, is encouraging and doesn’t put up a front. If she’s struggling with her bike or skills she open with her frustrations and explains what she did or didn’t do right to overcome her struggles. She’s also passionate about getting more women riding and women riding more often. Her channel is a great example of how to approach mountain biking for the sheer joy of riding without caring what other people think or getting too wrapped up in the latest hype.
Simon Lawton: Fluidride and NBS Bikes
Last on the list, though certainly not the last great channel you can find on YouTube, is instruction from Simon Lawton. Simon is the founder of Fluidride, based in Seattle, WA, where he offers mountain bike classes. We have two recommendations for finding great instruction from Simon. First is at the Newark Bike Shop channel’s MTB Riding 101 playlist. Simon has since moved on to start his own YouTube channel that is regularly updated at Fluidride Cycling Instruction.
That’s our Top 5 picks for MTB-related YouTube channels for beginners. We’ll probably share another 5 channels or so in the near future since there’s so much good stuff out there.
What are your favorite YouTube mountain biking channels? It doesn’t matter if they’re beginner-friendly or not, just let us know what you enjoy. We’d love to hear from you, so let us know in the comments.
Have fun, ride smart, and keep shredding!
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