manifest

Texts explaining my view on mountain biking, and mountains in general. Check them out if you want to better understand what a guided tour with me is about.

Staying unplugged

Looking back to the piece I wrote about electric mountain biking back in 2021, Less is more. Does it still stand? Do I see things differently? Four years ago e-mountainbiking was just erupting in our neck of the woods. Today it pretty much took over. Judging by the people I meet while out riding, sporting a classic bike on our trails is more and more of an exception. While these four years did not make me any younger, I am happy to report that I still don't need the help…

COTIC RocketMax 2024, a buyer’s review

This is a true buyer's review: the COTIC RocketMax frame and all the components used for this built were purchased by me, at true market value. My first proper big rig is in the house. 170mm front travel, 160 rear travel, coil shock. Enduro style frame, wide rims with sturdy tires. How does it fit my riding style? Is it suitable for the UP. DOWN. REPEAT approach to mountain biking that I aim for here, at mtbtours.ro? The short answer, coming after a month of intensive riding on our amazing…

Do you need a guide?

There is a good chance you don’t. You don't need a guide when you ride at home, on familiar trails (you might benefit from a mtb instructor, though). You don't necessarily need a guide when you hit the trails in a bikepark. Standardized signing, comprehensive maps, and hordes of fellow riders will lend you a helping hand in finding your way through the unfamiliar terrain. (Keep in mind the mtb instructor idea, though). You don’t need a guide when you are keen on exploring new places on your own, getting…

Only true-to-life photos

All the photos you see on this website were shot during our own rides. Be it with clients (the vast majority), with friends or by ourselves. The image above, for instance, is taken on the way up to Scara Peak, Făgăraș Mountains, featured in our Carpathian Peaks program. Apart from a very small list of reports about tours abroad, the images were taken on the very trails we bike during our tours. It happens more often than not: lacking good quality photos, one would revert to image banks in order…

Less is more

E-MTB: the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine It seems pretty much decided. The future of mountain biking is electric. From shifters to derailleurs, from seat posts to suspension controls, and last but not least, the assisted pedalling. The ebikes. There is a long list of technical improvements that made mountain biking easier, safer, and more fun. (And also more expensive...) From cantilever brakes we moved to V brakes, which turned obsolete when disk brakes entered our world. We added 3 inches to the…

Yes, we still need tourism

All around the world the Covid-19 forces everyone into reassessing priorities. Living so close to a life threatening situation is pushing people to have a different perspective on pretty much everything. Everywhere you look, people magically discover the joy of cooking at home. The bliss of spending more time with the very close ones. The thrill of exercising in the living room, with a lazy cat or a bored dog in the background. The futility of high-cost expenses, like a state-of-the-art new car, or the latest instalment in the ever…

Up. Down. Repeat

Cleaning and checking the bike. Sending more delicate components to specialised servicing. Updating programs and tours, fine-tuning coming trips. Reviewing the website, refreshing layouts, messages, logos. Warm-up rides on the trails that are drying up at lower altitudes, while skinning and skiing is still up for grabs higher up the mountain. This is what a regular month of March or April looks like in our shed and in our neck of the woods. Not this year. Together with the rest of you, we got rolled over by a big wave…

A season with COTIC FlareMax

This is a bike review that is not a bike review. It is a bike review because it’s about a bike that I’ve been riding almost daily for the last six months: April 2019 to November 2019. You can say we got to be quite intimate. It’s not a bike review, because I am not a bike reviewer, and my experience in riding a vast array of brands, models, takes, etc, is, to put it mildly, rather limited. In other words, this is not about how the COTIC FlareMax 29er…