Freeride ?

[Pickle]

in short the scene was developed by mountain bikers, not suit and tie marketing guys.

but the suits love the pidgeon box

Here here Dave!

 

[Kona Paul]

in short the scene was developed by mountain bikers, not suit and tie marketing guys.

but the suits love the pidgeon box

Here here Dave!

I think you're both a little cynical.

 

[lewis1641]

I accept that it started as a group of guys doing their thing but i also think the marketing men grabbed onto the notion with both hands. And their teeth.

 

[Kona Paul]

I accept that it started as a group of guys doing their thing but i also think the marketing men grabbed onto the notion with both hands. And their teeth.

And who are these men exactly? Who do they work for? The first freeride specific bike was the Kona Stinky, designed by a guy who rode (and still rides) the Shore all through the 90's, if not before. The same holds true for the owner of Cove bikes. He still rips it up on his bike and is all about the ride. Both those guys have known one another a long time and have been pretty influential in the B.C. mountain bike scene (not without international reprocussions.) Now those are just two examples pertaining to the North Shore freeride scene, and they are not suits or marketing guys. If there exists a greedy marketing department in the likes of Shimano, Specialized, Giant etc., I'll leave up to your imagination, but if so they didn't create a niche, but latched on to one so their R&D department could produce more units to sell.

 

[chris86]

this thread is full of fail.why worry about it

 

[lewis1641]

Wasn't the stinky designed for the b.c. Trails but the head angle tweaked because they knew they'd get ridden as x.c. Bikes by people that wanted the look of a beefy freeride bike.

My point is that "freeride" has become a marketing term. I agree with you about it's beginnings and i have no doubt that a lot of bikes are being. Tested and designed by people that care. What i also see are the adverts in mags and subsequently the bikes people are riding.

A friend has just bought a stinky. We live in lincolnshire. There's one wood nearby with some northshore influenced trails. The bike is completely o.t.t. But if you go to those woods at the weekend there's dozens of people there on big travel freeride bikes.

 

[ScottishRetro]

Freeride in the UK atleast is a name that middle age men throw around when talking about a trail that is a tiny bit more technical than a bridle path and they want to seem extreme!! (Tongue in cheek :roll: )..

Joking aside my local trails are up at Epping forest its about the least extreme place you could ride a bike off road with some good tight singletrack and some fire roads and nothing that requires more than 100mm of travel.. I ride it with a ridged singlespeed yet I see more and more people rolling up with full body armour and 6" worth of travel
and saying they are going "freeriding" yeah ok mate!!!

Its all marketing BS that works very well!!

 

[hamster]

I think you have accurately described the New Forest too! It's nice riding (of the long-distance hillwalking variety) but again a rigid singlespeed is man enough for most things. It's fun to see people all tooled up on their FS Specializeds and then blasting past them.

Silly and childish but somehow satisfying...

 

[longun]

freeride..................................freestyle thankyou very much,since 1990

freeride is simply a term used for mountain biking which generally takes extreme lines and offers different creative views on riding styles and also is a marketing gem as it generates massive awareness to our sport and money for income,evolution and sometimes progression

my 10p worth

again,freestyle always.