When did we stop calling our bikes "ATB"s?

[was8v]

I remember in the late eighties / early nineties mountain bikes were labelled "ATB" or All Terrain Bikes....

Now we call them MTBs .... did ATB fall out of fashion? My thinking is ATB was a UK name, MTB was the preferred american shorthand so became fashionable. In France they still call then ATBs (VTT Velo Tout Terrain) ...

 

[kingoffootball]

I prefer ATB as an abbreviation, but I don't ever use all-terrain bike if I'm talking about them. Maybe I should.

 

[T'boo Ted]

deja vu...

I thought they were called mountain bikes, cause thats cool... then some people thought well not everyone rides them on mountains, all terrain bike is more applicable and everyone went..yeah, that makes sense... but is sounds crap and mountain bike rolls of the tongue much better so pipe down... ATB seemed to not last for all of a year...

 

[Groundoggy]

There are also roadies riding in the mountains so perhaps we should be calling them ATMTBs. If you are riding an old bike then you are probably an ATRMTBer.

 

[silverclaws]

ATB would be correct and with me preferable as to mountain bikes, well, what's the point in having a bike designed for scaling mountains if there are no mountains to scale. Anyway true mountain biking, a lot of it involves walking pushing the thing, or slinging it when traversing ridges. At least with an ATB one has a compromise bike, a bike usable on most surfaces.

 

[oldave]

ATB or "bike" for me!

 

[was8v]

Just had a flashback.....or i might have made it up:

Did someone (specialized?) have a trademark on the use of "MTB" BITD?

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

I was riding these bikes back I the 80's, with my mullet etc, and even then the term ATB was much less frequently used than simply "mountain bike".

 

[silverclaws]

Back in the eighties, around my neck of the woods, it was the do it all road bike, or the grifter type thing and the occasional raleigh bomber, both being slugs, so usually left alone and then the BMX for adults, but they were a rare sighting. The first I ever saw the letters; ''ATB'', they were painted on the frame of one of the BMX 's adults. MBK ? A dark coloured thing with a bit of fluorescent green on it I think.

Mountain bike came in the early nineties to me, then they were still BMX's for adults until I tried one and discovered a more capable general purpose bike with a frame that did not fold up when off road and wheels one was not scared to bounce over tree roots in the woods.

Now if the grifter or bomber had some decent gearing, what might have been.

 

[swos]

On EBay they tend to be called "Mounting" bikes :shock: