What to Wear Mountain Biking

What to Wear

Alpine's MTB Style Guide

Men's MTB Kit

Women's MTB Kit

Socks and Overshoes

Starting form the ground, having a good pair of socks, especially in the colder months can make all the difference to your riding experience. The mid length sock is the most popular in the MTB scene and you'll find brands like Fox and Endura offering different styles to suit your preference. Socks offer your ankles and shins protection for when your feet might slip from the pedals. During winter, our preference goes to Sealskinz who make all round waterproof socks. If you're one to get particularly cold feet then we recommend a good pair of overshoes. Overshoes are made with a weatherproof fabric designed to fit snug over your shoes to keep the wind and rain out. They are particularly useful when riding in wet, muddy or freezing conditions and can make a huge difference to your ride.

Shoes

Often overlooked, mountain bike shoes can transform your riding. Flat MTB shoes are used with flat pedals. They are made with a stiff and grippy sole to and take you from feeling like you have to use all your might to stop your feet from slipping off the pedal, to allow you to relax and find your flow as the sticky soles on your MTB shoes do some of the work for you. Some people choose to ride in flat shoes so that they can be a bit more 'free' from the bike and don't have to worry about clipping in or out. Clipless MTB shoes use a cleated system and are compatible with clipless pedals. Riders might choose to ride clipless to feel more connected to their bike, gain a power output advantage and increase control of their bike. If you're new to mountain biking, we recommend starting with flat MTB shoes.

Chamois

Chamois, otherwise known as padded shorts, should not be underestimated in their power to level up your comfort on the bike. Padded shorts should fit tight with minimal 'baggy' as this will encourage chafing. Some riders prefer to go without padded shorts, especially for shorter rides or riding downhill tracks. If you do choose to go without, we recommend non-cotton underwear as cotton will hold on to moisture. Materials like merino wool have sweat-wicking abilities and are less likely to build up with bacteria.

Endura Men's Engineered Padded Boxer

Endura's padded boxer is a great piece of kit for cyclists everywhere. Wear under baggy shorts, trousers or casual wear to provide comfort when riding. Breathable fabric, anti-bacterial pad and fast wicking fabric make for a performance under short while the stretch fit ensures comfort.

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Endura Women's Engineered Padded Boxer

Padded cycle shorts are a must for quality riding. These women's specific boxers are light and stretchy for a great fit, with an anti-bacterial pad. Perfect for slipping under your normal trousers for the quick ride to work, or click into Endura's baggy shorts for an all-in-one garment for trail riding.

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Trousers and Shorts

Choosing what to wear on your bottom half depends on what type of riding you will be doing. You will have the option of riding in shorts or trail pants and when choosing what to wear, it's a good idea to know whether you are going to be wearing knee pads or not. If you're riding in the summer months, then a pair of shorts would be a good idea. Most mountain bikers ride in shorts, sometimes all year round with tights underneath in the colder months. If you are looking for something with more leg coverage or just something that isn't a pair of shorts then MTB trail pants might suit you best. MTB trail pants have a slimmer cut at the ankles so they do not catch on the bike and usually have space around the knee to fit kneepads underneath. Some trail pants are waterproof and insulated which are a great option for the more muddy winter months.

Jerseys and Tops

Picking the right top to wear mountain biking is probably less important than choosing the right bottoms, but there are stil some points to consider to ensure you get the right jersey. Mountain biking is a workout and you're probably going to sweat...a lot, so wearing a jersey that is temperature regulating with a sweat-wicking material will benefit you - synthetic materials and merino wool are the most popular. Another thing to note, mountain biking can come with crashes and this means our clothing needs to be durable to withstand the tucks and rolls we might happen to do. Keeping your body covered will keep you more protected - a long sleeve MTB jersey will help with this.

Jackets

Unless it's cold, we don't recommend a jacket. Riding will keep you warm so be bold and start cold! However, when you're riding in the cold season a good jacket will not want to be missed. Since mountain biking is an all-season sport, you could find yourself riding in heavy rain and even snow. This is when a good durable, moveable and waterproof jacket becomes an essential piece of kit. Mountain bike specific jackets have been designed with technical trail riding in mind: they are breathable, usually have pit zips and a longer tail.

Gloves

Unless you have REALLY good bar grips, you will want a pair of gloves, even in the summer. MTB specific gloves are designed to give you extra grip on the bars and some gloves offer protection over the knuckles and fingers. If your hands get sweaty it can be easier for them to slip through the bars and some riders love their gloves so much they won't ride without them! In the warmer months, a lighter pair of gloves is recommended. In the winter, there is a tonne of options to keep your hands protected from the weather.

Helmets

If there is one piece of kit you should invest in, it's a good helmet. We have experienced concussion, we have had our heads saved and a helmet is not something we would skim on. Mountain bike helmets offer extra protection around the back of your head and ears, with some mountain bike helmets even covering your full face - which you choose depends on your style of riding and how 'protected' you want to feel - there's absolutely nothing wrong with wearing a full-face helmet on a casual day at the trails! Nowadays, most decent helmets come with MIPS technology which offers additional scientifically proven protection and we wouldn't buy a helmet without this! MIPS helmets have a small yellow circle on the side of them that says 'MIPS'.

Protection

This isn't for everyone, but if you're a beginner or riding some gnarly terrain or riding at speed then added protection shouldn't go a miss. The most common type of padded protection you will see people wear are kneepads and shin pads. Shinpads are useful if you ride in flat pedals with pins as if your foot were to slip and hit the pedal, you could be in for some nasty cuts. Kneepads are common as if you were to crash and fall on some rocks, your knees could get pretty bruised up. Ride in what you want, but don't overlook added protection.

Glasses and Goggles

Another useful piece of protection is a pair of glasses or goggles. These can either be clear or tinted, but covering your eyes will stop any flies entering tear duct territory, pieces of mud flying in your eye mid descent and that awkward sun glare. Ride in what you want, but don't overlook added protection.

So What Now?

There's a lot of kit that can make mountain biking more enjoyable; a breathable jersey won't stick to your sweaty skin, kneepads will give you that extra confidence boost to go a little faster, MTB specific shoes will help to stop your feet slipping off the pedals and a helmet, well, that's essential. Hopefully, our What To Wear guide has given you insight into some of the pieces of kit you might choose to use. All kit aside, the important thing about mountain biking is that we are out getting shreddy and having fun and if you don't have head-to-toe kit, don't let that stop you from doing this!

Peace out from the Alpine team :)