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I've seen lots of people out on the trails over the years and ridden with quite a few different groups and skill levels.
Based on what I've seen I'd say no more than 5% of riders are what I'd term real nutters, big drops, massive jumps, etc etc. I do not count myself in that group.
However the marketing guys seem to focus entirely on this group and as we all know lots of new bikes are big travel or long forked or what ever able to take a beating or somesuch. Equipment prices have risen to reflect this supposed need for durability and strength and the trail centre vs natural thread got me thinking how well marketed to we have become.
When most MTB and most riders I've seen are really about getting out and riding around in the countryside why do I feel that I am being put upon in someway need to live up to the perception of it as in some way extreme?
Is MTB as a pastime being "sexed up" to sell it and is that the way the industry should be going?
Yes. It's been going on for decades, and with plenty of other sports too - skating, BMX etc. I remember writing an essay about it in first year undergrad 😆
Most recently, I'd say it's happened with fixies.
It's marketing to (some/lots of) mtbers aspirations. Problem, as you rightly say, is that you kind of get sucked into the hype and half the non-sense that's spoken.
It's a very accessible "extreme" sport to get into, so I would say yes the marketing boys sex it up to encourage armchair extreme sportspeople to spend some more money on bigger, better, newer things that they don't need......plus all the accessories you need if you're going to go large!!
That's the way the industry will continue to go until it stops selling bikes that way.
on my rigid/hardtail bike i can do about 1 foot drops max. I reckon if you were to put me on a 8" travel bike i could add another foot onto it without too much trouble.
Some of these riders must be buying skill compensators (suspension mainly) that enables them to do more riding that is technical. So i guess they are doing something that is extreme for them even if it seems tame for you.
You could say that this goes on in some other 'Extreme' sports too.
Take Rock Climbing for instance. To Joe Public its probably perceived to be absolutely extreme. However to anyone who's done any, 95% of the climbs / climbers are involved in relatively safe climbing, only 5% are proper 'nutters' doing stuff that is seriously dangerous.
The majority of climbing magazines also cover the hard routes that most readers will never have any chance of doing, thus playing to their aspirations.
Aspirations innit?
Same with cars - BMWs ripping along empty cliff top roads overlooking Italian lakes. When the reality is bump-to-bumper commuting through the rough part of town.
Seems counter productive to me, alot of guys I've asked to come along for a pootle won't because they are sure they will get hurt or be expected to do dangerous things when really we'lljust be riding around to the next tea stop.
Most recently, I'd say it's happened with fixies.
agree there, seen a load of "freestyle" ones at shows last year and suddenly people are riding to work on them, haven't seen many doing grinds and stalls though
Yeah but it's the same with everything innit? If you're marketing football boots, you'd use David Beckham, rather than some Sunday League player wouldn't you?
Yes to an extent but in MTB the focus has really shifted away from XC toward all this made up bollocks like agressive XC or all mountain. There are plenty of XC bikes and elite XC people but the focus has moved so far the other way.
probably because an XC bike is what everyone at some point realises is all they need (after they've tried and failed to be huck meisters) - so XC bikes should, logically, sell themselves......
Edit - "logically" to the marketing folk I mean!
So true.
I have an FS bike primarly as it saves giving my sit bones a pounding although what it's really for is maintaining traction in the toughest terrain of which there is loads in Surrey obviously.
Probably why companies like On-One do so well - after a wannabe gnarly dude has spent all his money on a 6" bike, discoved he can't go large enough, so buys a 8" bike. Still confused about why he's not going large, he then discovers that it's actually much more fun to ride a hardtail on relatively non-gnarly terrain - at that point an On-One is all he can afford!!
All IMHO of course.........
Seems counter productive to me, alot of guys I've asked to come along for a pootle won't because they are sure they will get hurt or be expected to do dangerous things when really we'lljust be riding around to the next tea stop.
I know what you mean, but sometimes, what seems tame to someone who's ridden for a while, could be pretty techy and therefore relatively dangerous to someone who hasn't. To the extent of falling off and hurting them selves anyway.
Does it work though? The ratio of 'normal' full sussers and hardtails vs 6" gnar bikes I see out on the trails near me must be something like 100:1. Obviously that increases at trail centres though where you need 6" travel (MBR says so).
bigdonx, very true I'm sure!
Don't think there are many places you "need" a 6" full sus. Granted I ride an orange 5, but my friend does everything I do on a 100mm hardtail, and that's some pretty techy stuff.
How many people take their race rep motorbikes onto a racing track?
How many mountain bikes have been on a mountain?
Opps, better not go there again on here 😉
joolsburger - good point and true imho