[Closed] Benjis' rant in the new mag

I also think it's time to get roadie posts in the chat forum, it's not mountain biking.

Yes it is.

I also think it's time to get roadie posts in the chat forum, it's not mountain biking.

Speaking as someone who has never ridden a road bike, and has little interest in either doing so or reading about them, it does say 'Bike Forum' rather than 'Mountain Bike Forum'.

Agree it was a good rant though. 😀

Yes it is.

Care to explain?.

They are ridden on mountains.
They are bikes.

Personally thought it was a "everyone who is not like me is a nobber" article...but there you go.

Who is Benji, and whats the new mag then.

Surely we are all cyclists, watever bike we choose to ride, unless its a bmx, which is just for children.

it is a bike forum
ridelife!

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They are ridden on mountains.
They are bikes.

That's an interesting point, I've ridden my road bike on more mountains then my mountain bike.

Bike stuff is bike stuff. Put road into chat, and where do you put cross? Or commuting? Or bmx? We seem to be having this thread every day now.

[img] [/img]

There's a magazine?

I've ridden my road bike on more mountains then my mountain bike

you talk out your arse more than your mouth too

jedi - Member
it is a bike forum
ridelife!

Hang on you started a BMX thread this week I remember. Hmmm. Not too sure about that.

Really rather pathetic when you start to pigeonhole folks IMO.

+1 with RealMan.

you talk out your arse more than your mouth too

[img] [/img]

Really rather pathetic when you start to pigeonhole folks IMO.

Divide and rule.

Bikes Rule.

End.

thebrick, thats what im saying!!! all bikes rock

I'm gonna ride my bullit up a mountain tonight on the road, which forum should i discuss this in?

Can someone tell me WTF a "rounded mountain biker" is? Perhaps Benji would care to explain? Personally I think he's talking pish just to get a reaction. The rest of the article wasnt too bad & some good pics but what's with the attitude??? At one point he makes a point about trail centre users & non-trail centre users & how both are missing out by not mixing it up. He even mentions the words sneer & snide of which there as been plenty of that on here lately regarding different forms of cycling..

Do I need to go on?

I thought the entire article read like a fairly effective STW trolling attempt. At least, I hope it's a troll, as otherwise it's simply a pompous, divisive rant from someone who's clearly a little too defensive about one sub-category of what it's surely all about...riding bikes.

Rode with Benjiaman once and showed him some nice trails and centre stuff mixing it up promised me some rad pictures! 😕

Not seen any yet 😉

Jedi

thebrick, thats what im saying!!! all bikes rock

If your bike is rocking about all over the place I'd suggest that you're not looking far enough ahead, your footwork is shonky, you're going at the wrong speed and you're not using the energy in the trail properly. 😉

you talk out your arse more than your mouth too

[img] [/img]

😉

What's a troll? I keep reading it in all the threads... 🙄

Personally thought it was a "everyone who is not like me is a nobber" article...but there you go.

I thought the entire article read like a fairly effective STW trolling attempt. At least, I hope it's a troll, as otherwise it's simply a pompous, divisive rant from someone who's clearly a little too defensive about one sub-category of what it's surely all about...riding bikes.

Agreed. I thought it was fairly self-indulgent and lacked objectivity.

And what's going on with the 29er vs. 26er article? No action pictures, and quite poor in content. All a bit lame this month... 😕

Was written as a discussion starter wasn't it? Don't think he was trying to prove an objective truth, just putting forward an opinion. I thought it good + fitted well with Mr Ferrentino's collumn.

I thought it was shit.

Ferrentino's articles are a beacon of light at the moment...

sbz- high5 🙂

Well I've still not read the last 2 months mags so the way I'm going it will be April by time I read that article so by sounds of it I'll get it in context, did see the pics though and they inspired me to ride tomorrow so that's good
I agree biking is biking whatever size of wheel, trail centre, natural or road all have their time, place and function, I'm just glad I'm physically able to ride whenever I can around whatever commitments I have. surely no one not even stw can argue with that ??

Just read the article.
Passionate, yes.
Stating the bleedin' obvious, yes.

Doesn't do it for me. (whereas cycling does)

Particularly dislike the "Bought houses. Got careers. Had children. They just don't have time to ride bikes"
I'm luckily enough to have a family who support my love of cycling. My wife spent 18 months cycling around NZ, Australia and USA with me, my son loves riding. So I put them first, and if that means a sunny saturday afternoon gardening, then that's fine because I know they'll give me a chance to go riding another day. But they come first. The bike is just a machine that can wait and I'm mature enough to accept that.
Riding does come before career in termas of what I'd like to do on a weekend, but as I'm not a bike-journo, the career pays for the bikes, so again, its a compromise, I sometimes work when in theory I'm "off".

everyone who is not like me is a nobber

I've met Benji a couple of times and he's a decent guy. I read the article and enjoyed it for what it was. It's well written and has provoked more discussion than anything since the access issue so job done. I can't say I agree with a lot of what he says though.

I'll wait to Ben has kids and then eats his own words, I'll never mention it Ben don't worry.

I read it as an amusing dig at some of the fabulously narrow-minded attitudes banded about on this here website. I really liked it.

Of course, that's just my opinion, based on no more evidence than my own opinion. So it must be true and everyone else is a fool and deserves a bashing if they don't agree. 😀

B. 😉

Can someone type it up here so I don't have to go and buy the mag? Not that I really care... anyone who actually rides is a knobber.

Surely we are all cyclists, watever bike we choose to ride, unless its a bmx, which is just for children.

Tell that to Jamie Bestwick, Rueben Alcantana, Matt Hoffman, Dave Mirra, Scotty Cramner, Daniel Dhers or any number of BMX riders that have more bottle and riding ability than anyone on here could ever dream of.

😯

Surely we are all cyclists, watever bike we choose to ride, unless its a bmx, which is just for children.

Particularly dislike the "Bought houses. Got careers. Had children. They just don't have time to ride bikes"

That sounds a lot like when Blur brought out "The Great Escape", having a go at all us middle class commuting sell-out types with jobs and a "very big house in the country".

......Alex James makes cheese in the Cotswolds and that other one is a lawyer. Come back to us in 10yrs Benj......

Surely we are all cyclists, watever bike we choose to ride, unless its a bmx, which is just for children.

Tell that to Jamie Bestwick, Rueben Alcantana, Matt Hoffman, Dave Mirra, Scotty Cramner, Daniel Dhers or any number of BMX riders that have more bottle and riding ability than anyone on here could ever dream of.

LOL

I bet that hook really smarts ;-P

Way to take things too seriously chap 😎

Tell that to Jamie Bestwick, Rueben Alcantana, Matt Hoffman, Dave Mirra, Scotty Cramner, Daniel Dhers

Who ??

Ah, yes, [b]those[/b] household names.... 🙄

i've got a mountain bike, a road bike and a cx bike. HELP!!!

bmx= true legends

bike forum - about bikes
chat forum - not about bikes

I only have the one bike ride it on all surfaces
it is very new NP Mega so I am well in this new Niche .
Old Sucks 😉

Liked the tongue in cheek article though made me chuckle 😆

Read it last night just before dropping off to sleep.

5 years ago I would have agreed with 1/2 of what was written, I used to take the piss out of mates who were under the thumb & were prevented from coming on a ride to go shopping with the wife (still do sometimes)

Spending time with your kids is the right thing to do though.

But circumstances change, my wife has secondary progressive MS.
Now 12 years ago when we got married she was still relatively independent and I took my mountain bike on our honeymoon to the West Highlands, friends said “how did you get away with that?” Thankfully my wife says cycling has always been a part of my life since we met 30 years ago so she wouldn’t want to change that.

But her condition has become much worse and apart from working full time I am also her primary carer so unless we arrange relief care I can’t be much more than ½ hour away. This has meant a change in my cycling life and as a consequence I use my road or CX bike a lot more as its riding straight from the door.

I know the article was probably written to provoke a reaction (it worked)

But to my mind cycling should be something you want to do not feel you should do?

If there were no road cycling threads on here, there'd be nothing to laugh at.

Taking a number of well-worn trolls from the forum and putting them in print is hardly creative journalism.

I take it that next months mag will feature "I built it myself from bits of carbon and a spoon".

I was with him right up until he said that you only need to own one bike.

He's clearly deranged.

Personally thought it was a "everyone who is not like me is a nobber" article...but there you go.

When clearly, he is the nobber.

Just read it; in fact it is the first time I have read any of the mag in 6 months despite being a premier member.

Pretty good troll when you don't even have to start your own thread 😉

Can't believe you lot read so quick

If it were a troll, I'd rather he do it in some other way than taking up 9 pages with a poorly written lead article in the magazine, for which he was presumably paid freelance rates.

The lead pic made a total mess of his argument as well, I thought- nice smooth metalled berms, easily ridden on a road bike. Nice pics though.

On a better note- I love Chipps outro stories these days- a cracker this month.

I think that it shows the rather immature attitude that is sometimes prevalent on this forum where some feel that because something is different & have no understanding of it ergo I must attack it & all that I think it stands for.

Sad.

Can't believe you lot read so quick

Its only 3 pages long - honestly it didn't take that long.

AFAIK I'm signed up to the digital subscription but when I try to view that mag I get "No server" 🙁

they haven't loaded it yet Simon - they got caught out as the subs copies were posted early.

Shoudl be up later today I think.

It is there, I managed to read it digitally earlier.

Taking a number of well-worn trolls from the forum and putting them in print is hardly creative journalism.

Nail.

Head.

Funny it was only a couple of days ago when I was wondering when a far right movement in cycling would form.

🙂

He needs some Buddishm in his life. All life is change* and the root of unhappiness comes in not accepting this change. Mates move on bike trends change just live with it.
Bikes are bikes tbh I see us all as sharing a hobby whetheryou ride trail centres ,Cx , natural , tarmac or to the shops. We have something in common that should unite us not something that we should use to create barriers becaus y ou ride a different type of bike on different terrain.
* show me a person who has not changed over 20 years and I will show you a person who has learnt nothing in the last 20 years.

Benji did mention in his rant that he had a road bike...maybe he wants to sell it 😉

...oooohhhhhhhh......

That's well deep. I like it!

Beagleboy - Member

I read it as an amusing dig at some of the fabulously narrow-minded attitudes banded about on this here website. I really liked it.

+1. It would seem all the people on here who look down their noses at "stormtroopers", riding "skill compensators" at trail centres (what's the pejorative term for them?) don't like it when someone bites back. 🙂

I got about halfway through it before I had to go and mow the lawn, but I was enjoying it even if I didn't agree with everything it said. I'm sure I'll enjoy the rest of it too, even if I continue to find parts I disagree with - that one bike thing sounds like madness!

Hey ho. It's got people on here talking about the magazine, which is probably considered a good thing by Chipps et al.

what's the article called? I have the PDF on my phone but navigation isn't brilliant...

We have something in common that should unite us not something that we should use to create barriers becaus y ou ride a different type of bike on different terrain.

yes i admit it I like bikes
There are loads of pics throughout the article SFB so not sure how well it will work tbh but it starts near the front on page 11 ish ??? it wont reopen for me now

thanks Johnnie 🙂

SFB:

Page 10. Right Here, Right Now.
Stuff all this retro nonsense! Benji knows that we’ve never had it so good as right now.

I thought it was ok and made some valid points about stuck in the mud types but then was to my mind equally narrow minded about other aspects of cycling. Basically as pointed out - what I like is right so there.

I'm pretty sure though that it was deliberately written that way, mind.

The article has done it's job though hasn't it? Got people onto a forum talking about it.
You can have slightly controversial topics (which you may or may not agree with) but which you can discuss/critique/slag off or you can have 3 more pages of product reviews or adverts.

Tough choice...

Have to say I can see his point of view, it's well written but I don't agree with all of it by any means. But then it's not been designed like that, it's a deliberately controversial topic, similar to Dave's Rights of Access articles.

I wonder if he refuses to stand on the decked area at his mates' barbeques - "No thanks lads, I'll stand on the lawn over here since you should have been mountain-biking rather than improving your garden"

I was kind of waiting for him to say (write) that only certain riders (eg him and his ilk) were 'real' mtbers 🙂

Pffft

I have two mountain bikes, a CX, a road bike, a wife, kids, a nice garden and a career.

Confused.

Think I'll go for a ride tonight and think it through. Probably on my road bike.

Karinofnine - Member
Pffft

I hope that was the noise of a mtb puncture, not a road, CX one or maybe even some DIY task 👿

Think I'll go for a ride tonight and think it through. Probably on my road bike.

I've got one of those (actually I've got 2, but anyway) - my house at 8:15 ish?
I have a hill in mind that would be shit on a mountain bike.

I'm slightly surprised that no one has mentioned Chipps' editorial: lycra! tan lines! whatever next- [i]road training[/i] for [i]racing[/i]? ?? 😯

That sounds a lot like when Blur brought out "The Great Escape", having a go at all us middle class commuting sell-out types with jobs and a "very big house in the country".

Except it wasn't, it was specifically about an exec at Food records.

But I agree with your sentiment though, the 'article' just got on my tits so I passed over it and read Ferrentino's instead.

The diffrence between this and Dave's article was that rights of way are a debate worth having - whether I spend more time working/gardening/playing with the children than riding bikes is no ones business but mine, and of zero interest to anyone but me. No matter how fit or unfit / skilled or unskilled I am, I still enjoy it when I get the chance.

Slightly strange attitude - embracing change in in the form of the bike that gets ridden or the music listened to, but unwilling to accept that lives change with the advent of children, careers, aged parents etc.

And one bike? Sure, if that's what you want, but a hardtail for The Chilterns and a FS DH bike for the Alps...that suits me well.

Other than that though, a lot to agree with....the thought of CX bikes as a gateway drug certainly made me chuckle.