1980s market segmentation: ATB vs. MTB

[Hattyfatner]

I thought Giant were to blame for 'ATB' as they thought 'MTB' was subject to copyright.

 

[terryhfs]

Re:

ATB was just an early marketing name. It's true that the Raleigh Activator was called an ATB, but so was the Avanti with a 531 frame and XT groupset.

 

[Gaddmeister]

Re:

Was the shovel made out of cromo or hi tensile steel? Tis the question?

 

[legrandefromage]

531

 

[Ride604]

Re: Re:

OMG!!! MTB is what mountain bikes are called in American English, and ATB is what mountain bikes are called in UK English. They are, and always have been, the exact same bikes!!!!! LMFAO!!!

No they've not. Proof is this post.
We had MTB and ATB and BSO over here.


Though ignore my post above of course ;-)

Your 'proof' is that some people are using the UK terminology, and some people are using the US terminology. You must never leave your house, if you've never met a Brit who tries to sound hip by using American English. The eight years I lived there, almost all Brits I met used some American slang - like MTB. And some used English slang - like ATB. For the exact same bikes.

 

[Ride604]

There's also the persistence of ATB driven by the direct translation of the French VTT (velo tout terrain).

I don't remember the French ever using "velo de montagne", velo montagnard" or " Le mountainbike" or such, even today.

All the best,

That makes no sense, since mountain biking came to France pretty late. But of course the French have their own term (VTT), the same way the English would have their own term (ATB), the same way Americans would have their own term (MTB).

 

[The History Man]

As in pretty much all the magazine titles, mbuk for example, I have only ever ridden a mountain bike. Or a racer. No capitals required. Even though I have ridden both in London.

Anything else is nonsensical tomfoolery dreamed up by those who want to sell velocipedes or find something to hit with shovels on forums.

It’s defined by how easy it is to buckle the wheels while being silly on it.

 

[danson67]

Interesting info from Drew Lawson of Muddy Fox on Facebook yesterday:

I remember when other bike companies belatedly entered the market (Dawes and Raleigh spring to mind but there were others) and they marketed their bikes as ATBs. I was dead against this for primarily two reasons...

1. I thought 'Mountain Bikes' or 'MTBs' had a kudos that 'All Terrain Bikes' or 'ATBs' would never have. (Even though it was a pretty accurate description). Of course we were still trying to overcome the resistance from bike shops - "There are no mountains round here mate!"....('mate' wasn't the word they actually used.).

2. We had, from the start, marketed ourselves as "Muddy Fox - The Mountain Bike People" There was a danger that if the term ''ATB' became the accepted term we'd be the market leaders of a dead term. At that time we were advertising pretty heavily in the bike press and garnering an extraordinary amount of coverage in all kinds of national press, magazines and TV. The bike press were however wavering as to which term to adopt as the norm. I stamped my feet and threw tantrums with the bike press until 'Mountain Bikes' won the day.

Not my proudest moment but no regrets

All the best,

 

[doctor-bond]

There was a question mark over whether Mountain Bike (MTB) was a trademark in the early days. So to avoid the issue entirely some companies called their early bikes ATBs. Once it was realised that MTB was not a trademark ATB was quietly dropped. I read that in an old book sometime. ;-)

This is what I understood:

Check out Jobst Brandt:

Fisher and Kelly tried to trademark the name Mountainbike, but through procedural or definition errors, the application was finally rejected. Meanwhile in the 1980's Bicycling magazine had a "name that bike" contest that excluded the name "Mountainbike", which was before the trademark board at the time. ATB was the winner but it didn't hold ground against the more natural "Mountain Bike" (aka MTB) name that spread rapidly after the trademark application failed.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/mtb-history.html

I bet a search of Charlie K's posts on here would help.

 

[tintin40]

Interesting info from Drew Lawson of Muddy Fox on Facebook yesterday:

I remember when other bike companies belatedly entered the market (Dawes and Raleigh spring to mind but there were others) and they marketed their bikes as ATBs. I was dead against this for primarily two reasons...

1. I thought 'Mountain Bikes' or 'MTBs' had a kudos that 'All Terrain Bikes' or 'ATBs' would never have. (Even though it was a pretty accurate description). Of course we were still trying to overcome the resistance from bike shops - "There are no mountains round here mate!"....('mate' wasn't the word they actually used.).

2. We had, from the start, marketed ourselves as "Muddy Fox - The Mountain Bike People" There was a danger that if the term ''ATB' became the accepted term we'd be the market leaders of a dead term. At that time we were advertising pretty heavily in the bike press and garnering an extraordinary amount of coverage in all kinds of national press, magazines and TV. The bike press were however wavering as to which term to adopt as the norm. I stamped my feet and threw tantrums with the bike press until 'Mountain Bikes' won the day.

Not my proudest moment but no regrets

All the best,

Interesting reading. What a wasted op Muddy Fox. They could have hired a couple of pro riders and gone the next level. But no now being sold in Sports direct
I noticed on my MF that Tange also used the term MTB for the tubing. I prefer the term MTB