Rider to rider

About Find My MTB

Last updated 2026-09-24

Find My MTB is one rider's answer to the question every rider gets asked: which bike should I buy? It is a free quiz, a database of 704 current builds from 39 brands, and a shelf of buyer's guides - written and maintained by one person, with no brand paying to be here.

Who writes this

I'm Ryan. I have ridden mountain bikes most of my life, and for years the same text kept arriving from coworkers, cousins and friends of friends: which one should I get? Answering honestly took twenty minutes every time, and the answer depended far more on how they were going to ride than on what any shop had on the floor. This site is that answer, written down and turned into something you can use yourself.

I write every word here, but I don't decide alone. Before a pick goes up it gets run past the riders I trust - friends I ride with, the mechanics who fix what I break, and people who work in the industry - and they are quick to tell me when I have one wrong. The gear I recommend is gear I use: my bikes ride on a 1UP hitch rack and my rides are logged on an Apple Watch. Where a guide says "I", it means me.

How the bikes are ranked

Every recommendation on the site, in the quiz and in the guides, comes from one database I maintain by hand: 704 buyable builds across 39 brands, shop brands and direct-to-consumer brands alike, with US MSRP, suspension travel, wheel size, frame material, drivetrain and brakes for each. Models that leave a brand's catalog are archived rather than deleted, so used shoppers can still look them up, but they never pad a count or a recommendation. The database last changed on 2026-09-13.

The quiz is a deterministic scoring model, not a chatbot. Your fourteen answers set the suspension travel that fits your terrain and ambitions, then every build is scored on how well it fits, on spec for the money, and on my editorial take on each brand - the take is written out in plain words at the top of every brand page. The same answers always produce the same five bikes, which is what lets you share a results link and have someone else see exactly what you saw.

The guides rank the same way, minus your answers: one representative build per model, ranked on spec for the money and honest capability, and no brand gets more than two spots on a list except at the very cheapest end, where the field is too thin for a cap. Nothing in how a bike ranks knows whether a link to it earns this site anything.

How the site makes money

Some outbound links are affiliate links, and a purchase through one earns a small commission at no cost to you. There is also a tip jar for anyone who wants to buy me a trail beer. That money keeps the database maintained and the hosting paid. It never touches a ranking: picks are chosen first and links are attached afterwards, and where a bike I would recommend has no affiliate program, it is recommended anyway with a plain link to the brand. The affiliate disclosure has the full picture.

What this site is not

• Not a shop. Nothing is sold here, nothing is in stock, and every price is a snapshot to confirm on the brand's own site before you buy.
• Not sponsored. No brand pays to be listed, featured or ranked, and no placement is for sale.
• Not a media company. One rider, one database, and the riders I trust to argue with me.

Contact

Corrections, questions and bikes I have missed: hello@findmymtb.com. Rides and the occasional new bike: @findmymtb on Instagram.