New guide from Reframing MTB offers practical solutions to remove barriers within the mountain biking scene.
A report called “Why Aren’t You Mountain Biking?”, released today, primarily urging trail associations and community groups – but also relevant to individuals – to take steps towards making mountain biking more open and inclusive.
Funded by PayDirt and produced by Ride Sheffield and Mòr Diversity, this guide hopes to offer practical solutions to remove barriers within the mountain biking scene.
The report asks, “Why aren’t you mountain biking?” not as a challenge, but as more of a call to action.
Aneela McKenna from Mòr Diversity: “We believe mountain biking has the power to bring people together, improve mental and physical well-being, and foster a deep connection with nature. However, our research confirms that not everyone feels welcome. Our findings show that 38.4% of all respondents believe mountain biking culture is inclusive. This drops significantly among underrepresented communities: just 22.7% of people of colour individuals, 22.5% of LGBTQ+ individuals, and 19.33% of disabled individuals perceive the culture as inclusive.”
Some key findings
Affordability and knowledge: for those starting out, affordability (22%), access to kit (15%), and knowledge about trails (21%) are significant factors.
Perception of risk: non-riders often view the sport as dangerous and risky, influenced by media portrayals focusing on “thrills and risk”.
79% of respondents discovered mountain biking through friends, family, or partners, underscoring a reliance on personal connections rather than more formal entry points like schools or cycling clubs.
Homogenous representation: the media often shows mountain biking as male-dominated, with a perceived lack of racial diversity. This contributes to feelings of being an outsider for many.
Henry Norman from Ride Sheffield: “This toolkit provides actionable steps, complete with checklists and inspiring case studies from groups like Rider Resilience, Bristol Shredders, and The Adaptive Riders Collective. It’s a testament to what can be achieved when we shift our focus to people, ensuring mountain biking is truly for everyone.”
The “Why Aren’t You Mountain Biking?” report and toolkit are available for download on the Reframing Mountain Biking website – reframingmtb.com
I’m thinking out loud here, but is this the case of women assuming that men know How To Do Stuff? Men might brazen it out, but just because they are men they don’t necessarily know anything other than how to pedal. (See also, my wife assumed that I could fix the electrics in the kitchen when everything fused and tried to set fire to the toaster. Which of my male genes means that I automatically know how to rewire a house?)
I read that and assumed that I’d woken up in an alternative reality where STW had become hardcore. I must have missed the articles about going for a picnic via Rheola DH track.
I stopped getting the magazine ages ago so can’t comment much on its content, the website as loads of coverage on DH world cup rounds and on Red bull hard-line but nothing on Ard rock or Tom Pidcock becoming European champion for a second time.
Step away from the internet for a sec and you’ll find that entry level is vastly better than the pile of crap that was described as a £500 MTB in the 80s. The quickest of searches throws up a Scott Aspect 950 for RRP £500, discounted to £379*. Decent enough suspension and hydro brakes and a price that’s so low in comparison to todays wages vs 80s wages that it’s almost disposable.
Expensive stuff was expensive in the 80s, and if today’s buyer doesn’t understand how consumer marketing works then they must have been transported from the Stone Age.
* https://www.uprisebikes.com/bikes/mountain-bikes/scott-aspect-950-2024-hardtail-mountain-bike–sunflower-yellow__100830
Trails have also moved on from the 80s. I bought a rigid Orange P7 with the Alivio groupset in 1997 and took it to Metabief that year and spent days doing laps of the World Champs downhill course.
Depends on what you mean by mountain biking, of course. However, I would NOT like to take that Scott to Nesbyen where I had my most recent mtb holiday.
Perception is a wonderful thing. My view is the magazine has become all about gravel riding and various different minorities be the children, race, sex etc etc
You don’t think that a newbie could have a reasonable day on the greens and blues at BPW on one of these?
Btw, if we’re going to embark on one of your standard (pedantic and extremely literal) arguments, I didn’t mean that every newbie was required to run out and buy one of these, just that the entry level is very, very good. And adjusting for inflation, you can still get very capable FS bikes for £1500 or less, which is roughly the equivalent of £500 in 1988.
Nobody looks at a new hobby, picks out the most expensive, desirable items and uses that as a barrier to entering the hobby. It’s a non-argument.
I was refering to the front page on the website. There are three articles on the red bull jumping off a cliff. There are world downhill reports and numerous jumpy downhill bikes. Sure there are some other things but no report of the European XC where we won a gold and silver medal in the mens race and a silver in the womens.
If I was a new cyclist coming to the website i am not sure it would fill me with a desire to take up mountain biking.
I don’t know about the magazine as I mostly put it straight under the coffee table as its seldom about anything I do.
The other thing that struck me was that unless you live somewhere suitable you need to travel to go mountain biking when you can access other cycling much closer to home.
For us now we tend to mountain bike on holiday and weekends away, where as we used to drive somewhere most weekends.
I love it when people decide to pre-emptively start throwing around insults in anticipation of having to defend their opinion. Maybe wait until I’ve actually started getting pedantic before accusing me of it?
I think it’s difficult to compare eras, but I also think that at some point a ‘standard’ mountain bike has taken a bit of a jump in terms of capabilities. When I started ‘proper’ mountain biking in the 90s the difference between a £300 bike (which was generally accepted as being the minimum you could spend and still do proper mountain biking) and a £2000 bike wasn’t really massive. That was back in the weight weenie days so tyres, geometry, and suspension was much the same and the price difference mostly came from saving 20g off each component.
So the differentiating factor between people mostly came down to athleticism and fitness.
By the way, in the mid 90s the values are roughly half so £300 would be around £600 today and £2000 would be around £4000. In the real world it’s probably not that different to what real world people are paying for their bikes today.
Nowadays, most regulars at BPW would be on a bike that was much more capable than the Scott. Sure you could have a good time on the Greens and Blues but would the people you were with also have fun on their enduro bikes? How long could a group made up of Geometrons and Scott Aspects ride together before it started getting annoying for some people?
Like I said, comparing eras is difficult but the capabilities of bikes has definitely jumped and to me it feels like that has created a barrier that maybe wasn’t there before.
Hardline was last weekend, so it should be on any UK MTB website. It’s a headline event. You have to scroll down a fair bit to find the DH World Cup stuff. But yes, it would be nice to see other events mentioned.
Probably the lycra that gets funny looks, not the XC bike. XC is trails, trails is XC, XC WC is more ‘enduro’ level of tech than most of us ride on big bikes, XC is fine. But I think only roadies get normalised to lycra, most people do see it as a bit odd. Prob less odd for women on bikes compared to us middle aged blokes with hairy legs but for all of us I think cycling would seem more inviting if we left the lycra to the tour de france etc.
Lycra isn’t worn anymore!! 😱
Damn – there’s no way I’ll every ride again if I need a whole new wardrobe as well! 🤣
Is that an insult? I only have 23 minutes before I leave for home, so just don’t have time for your normal barrage.
Yeah, but we aren’t talking about them.
Why would the newbie be with a group of experienced riders? My observation at BPW is that there are plenty of people on cheaper bikes in their own peer groups.
Point being that you can still have fun on an entry level MTB, as you can on an expensive bike. Price isn’t the barrier. I can also go birdwatching with a pair of £100 Hawke binoculars and don’t need £2000 Swarovski bins despite the mags being full of adverts for them. I don’t need a $5000 Les Paul to learn to play the guitar – a £100 Squier will be very capable.
Nobody gets put off learning to drive because they can’t afford a Lamborghini.
16 minutes left, Bruce. 😉
I was at a LA meeting, and the subject of cycling came up. There was a bit of a discussion… of course the puncture/maintenance scenario came up. Someone said “I can’t because I’m a woman".I replied “if I man can do it, a woman can do it" – and I got quite a look from her, as if I murdered her grandmother, LOL.Her response may be part of the problem (my reference RE role models) – a more appropriate response would have been “I’m not mechanically minded". And I would have said “pop round for a cuppa, and we can practice on my bike".My dad wouldn’t know how to fix a puncture, let alone which end to hold a screwdriver. Some people have no idea about mechanical stuff… and that’s OK regardless of their chromosomes.
I bought my first mountain bike about 1990 it was a Kona Explosif and cost about £600 and had rigid forks and cantilever brakes. I loved it but probably a £1k bike would be way more capable with disks and suspension forks.
So I don’t think bikes are the problem, except that a gravel bike will ride well on the roads, local cycle tracks and towpath and be much more versatile for every day use.
My first mountain bike was a Raleigh Activator bought from Kays catalogue!
And I rode in a Reebok shell suit and any trainers that were too hand.
Mountain biking was the fresh new thing back then though – now it’s a very mature sport and isn’t going to have the same attraction.
Should I shave my legs then?
And roughly how many didn’t attend?
and so does sexism in how society shapes gender roles, to deny that would be most odd.
Yes that’s my point.
Riding bikes makes girls more like boys? and Mrs anagallis helping women take first steps into riding bikes with a club is discrimination?
I think you sir seem to be part of the problem not the solution.
Whatever you like : )
I know I’ve got a reputation for being argumentative but it honestly feels like some people on here specifically want to argue with ME. If I keep replying it’s generally because I don’t think the person I’m talking to has understood what I’m trying to say, not because I have to win.
In this case, you seem to not understand my point about the difference between starting out in the mid 90s and what I imagine it must be like to be starting out today.
No, but we are comparing eras. My point was that in the mid-90s it was mostly just mountain bikes. Which brings us to:
Again, I’m going back to my early days but that was the way it happened for me (and imo is kind of essential to introducing people to the sport) where even if you were inexperienced you bought a £300 Carrera with crappy brakes, tyres, and geometry and you went riding with people who had £2000 Paces with crappy brakes, tyres, and geometry (but weighed literally hundreds of grams less and had square tubes).
You can absolutely have fun on an entry level mtb and it is absolutely far more capable than even high end bikes back in the day.
However, today the difference in capabilities between an entry level bike and a high end bike is much greater than it was in the 90s. Joining a club and finding my new tribe after my childhood friends stopped riding was very important for me to continue riding as I got older. I’m just not sure that a 16 year old pitching up at a mountain bike club today on his Scott would want to stay long if everyone else was riding 140mm+ full suspension trail bikes.
Two people can play guitar together even if one has a Les Paul and the other has a Squier. It used to be that way in mountain biking but I’m not sure if it still is.
Thanks 😆