Is it me or are there less people taking up Mountain Biking?

[PurpleFrog]

Re: Re:

conformity in road biking is mostly about safety and performance.

No. It's about perceived performance. Which is to say, because 99% of road bikers are entirely ignorant of basic physics (in fact they're allergic too it and can get very angry when people talk about it) buying whatever BikeRadar tells you to - i.e. fashion. While big money can buy you some degree of performance in mountain biking - good suspension systems are expensive - the performance differences between cheap and expensive road bikes are barely measurable.

And I'm pretty sure that the reason you never see a roadbiker with a hydration pack isn't either safety or performance! Ditto for why you never see BMX pedals on a roady's commuter bike.

 

[PurpleFrog]

Re: Re:

Personally, I have mixed feelings about the popularity of cycling. Great that so many are into it, but the price of parts/bikes etc seems to have roughly doubled in the last five years or so.

I just despair when I see people spending big money on bikes that are badly designed for what they'll be used for because the idiots think they should be commuting on a bike that looks like its ready for the TDF. The bikes most people should be riding are a cyclocross bike with 40mm tyres or something like a 90s MTB with fast 2" slicks - and maybe drops. The last time a cyclist died on one of the roads I use it was because he was commuting at night in the rain on a bike with 25mm tyres: he hit a a small ding in the road that was hidden beneath a puddle and then an HGV mushed him. He'd have been just as fast on 40mm tyres and he almost certainly wouldn't have died.

 

[valve bouncer]

Road cycling is the new golf. Bloke at work just dropped a ridiculous amount of money on new Dura Ace wheels for his Ultegra specced Giant roadie. Bike's 2 months old, at least let the blisters on your arse calcify a bit before dropping that kind of coin. Whatever blows your hair back I suppose.

 

[The History Man]

If you still have any.

I ride a cx bike on the road and off and find it most enjoyable. My road bike moved once this year since I got the cx. At my level and stature the road bike is a bit of a liability on all but the smoothest of roads.

Just got a 29er so what does that say? Spent a couple of hours in Evans last week. 90% of the customers I saw were road. Interesting.

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Round my way the increase in Roadies is unbelievable since the run up to the TDF and the race itself. More about then I've ever seen.

Gisburn is always busy but the natural trails round here are quieter then they used to be.

Fashion, simple as that.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re: Re:

Round my way the increase in Roadies is unbelievable since the run up to the TDF and the race itself. More about then I've ever seen.

Gisburn is always busy but the natural trails round here are quieter then they used to be.

Fashion, simple as that.

You mean you don't have them riding around the local kids park on full on MTBs after watching the Olympics?

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Nah.

That was XC anyway and who wants to do that? All the kids, and middle age blokes want to ride 'Enduro'.

 

[ultrazenith]

Re: Re:

Nah.

That was XC anyway and who wants to do that? All the kids, and middle age blokes want to ride 'Enduro'.

I still don't even understand what enduro actually is. Which just goes to show how uncool I am.

 

[greencat]

As far as I'm concerned there's only three types of mountain biking.

Stunts
Cross country
Downhill

 

[The History Man]

What about the 'non elective dismount'?