"It's at least 15 miles for me in any direction to get to any trails"I find that very hard to believe, I've never been anywhere in the UK where I haven't spotted something I'd like to ride.
Bike Forum
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Is mountain biking now a rich man's/woman's sport?
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Posted 1 year ago #
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£1000/52 = £19.23 a week. So if you decide to spend £1000 a year on a bike then it's comparable to going drinking in a cheap pub once a week. I defiantly spend less than £1000 a year, but I'm poor. I don't have a big t.v or sky or a nice stereo so money saved there more than covers the bike. I don't drink much any more either. My bigger expense is a addiction to evening courses!
£20 a week is not insignificant but hardly extravagant.
Posted 1 year ago # -
GW - yep, loads of people ride purpose made centres but what does it cost to do so? Cost of parking normally, so £3-4 a ride. My local municiple golf course is £22 a round and the local golf club is £995 per year with a £700 per person joining fee and it's not that posh. The point the person you quoted was making is that the cost of the venue (free or minimal to the mtber) to the user is significantly different not that both have purpose designed venues.
Posted 1 year ago # -
There are already loads of people who only ride mountainbikes at purpose built mtb trail centres
Names and addresses please?
Or could that just be a myth perpetuated by snobbish STW users...
Posted 1 year ago # -
First off, maybe not correct to term it a 'rich mans sport' as that's a bit of cliche. But almost all of the serious bikers I know and ride with have made adjustments to their lifestyle so they can afford to ride their bikes in the manner they do and as frequently as they would like. That might mean buying vans for transportation, having more than one bike for different riding purposes, replacing worn and damaged kit, uplift days, fuel money, trips to France and Whistler etc etc. They are all on varying incomes, (some quite basic incomes) but they tailor their outgoings / lifestyle away from bikes accordingly to allow them enough disposable income to accomodate all of the above for their biking.
So dose everyone depending on their interest, they just may not realise it. If your time off work is socialising you will have subconsciously budgeted for bear money. If your time off work is knitting you will have budgeted for equipment and supplies for knitting. If your hobby id wood work you will have put money and time aside for tools / materials e.t.c, it may have influenced the house you buy so that there is a good sized work shop.
Posted 1 year ago # -
There are already loads of people who only ride mountainbikes at purpose built mtb trail centres
It's true, I know a few of them. My gf annoyingly doesn't generally like biking apart from at trail centres - she's just not into rocky stuff. There's also quite a few that would probably like to explore more BWs etc but don't really have the navigations skills/confidence.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Also the op seems to want to increase the popularity of MTBing. I con't give a flying **** what the popularity of MTBing is, maybe he owns a shop or mtb related business?
Posted 1 year ago # -
I find that very hard to believe, I've never been anywhere in the UK where I haven't spotted something I'd like to ride.
Never been to the East Midlands? It's utter shit for off road riding round here. You have to stop every few minutes for gates and the bridleways are so boring I tend to prefer riding my road bike on which I can at least achieve a good speed! There are a few short singletracky bits (well under a mile long) which aren't really worth the hassle of getting to on a mtb.
Nearest decent trails to me are at Woburn which is about 35 miles away.
Posted 1 year ago # -
The Brick - The point I was making is in context to the original question of 'IS MTB NOW A RICH MAN's SPORT'. Pointing out that MTB'ing at the extreme end is damn expensive but, even so, some poeple forego and sacrifice other desirable things in life to make sure they have enough money to dedicate to the sport. I'm talking about a significant %/proportion of their income in order to pursue it. Some might argue a 'disproportionate' amount of their income...but it's their choice. So to answer the question it's an expensive sport but not necessarily a 'rich man's'.
Yes, other sports are comparible or possibly worse (motor sport a prime example)...but I'm thinking beer money, knitting and woodworking are not comparible.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I find that very hard to believe, I've never been anywhere in the UK where I haven't spotted something I'd like to ride.
There's a few bridlepaths and a small wood (that you can't legally ride your bike in anyway, its not a bridlepath) that I know of within about 3 miles, a small wood (of about 3 acres) about 5 miles away, everything else is a car journey sadly!
t was between 8 and 20 to my 2 'local' riding spots when i was getting into MTBs at around 12-13yrs old. we rode there, rode for a few hours, rode back.
Yup, did the same when I was younger too, but definitely had more time on my hands then...
So maybe the question is, has expensive technology 'spoiled' the majority of natural UK XC riding for many, meaning we need to look for more technical terrain, or in other words has it added an element of comfort and safety that removes the 'on the edge' feeling that a more basic bike provides so easily?
Yes/No/Maybe, but I can tell you I've been considering buying a rigid fork (of all things!) to stick on my hardtail to bring back an element of that on the edge feeling for tamer trails. Technology has allowed us to ride more and more terrain, more competently/safely than ever before, and I think that then makes us have to search a bit harder for our buzz. You certainly don't get much thrill riding a slack angled long travel full sus bike round the local woods, whereas riding a rigid hardtail brings a different element to it. After many many years of questioning it, I'm almost beginning to see why many people ride singlespeeds!
Posted 1 year ago # -
TheBrick - Member
Also the op seems to want to increase the popularity of MTBing. I con't give a flying **** what the popularity of MTBing is, maybe he owns a shop or mtb related business?
POSTED 31 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
I'm an insurance assessor.
I just put it out there that increasing popularity might be a good thing, better facilities etc.
But too popular could have an impact on access to the countryside I suppose.
Keep posting.Posted 1 year ago # -
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but I'm thinking beer money, knitting and woodworking are not comparible
Maybe not knitting but easily comparable to drinking or woodworking. Drinking could get pushed out if you are spending big money but at £1000 per your on bikes (that would be a new £3000 bike + running costs every 4 years) that's only £20 it's comparable in quantitative terms.
My point is that every hobby effect your income stream and hence free income to do other things and hence quality of life in other areas and any hobby can do so disproportionately.Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm an insurance assessor.
It wasn't meant to be a dig btw.
I just put it out there that increasing popularity might be a good thing, better facilities etc.
I suppose depends on what you want to ride in that respect.But too popular could have an impact on access to the countryside I suppose.
In some very popular areas I expect this to happen at some point.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Well, I have never been to a trail centre in 20 years of riding. It's very good natural riding here in Calderdale but I'm trying Gisburn this weekend to hopefully test the change to flatties in advance of Morzine in 6 weeks.
Posted 1 year ago # -
"but I can tell you I've been considering buying a rigid fork (of all things!) to stick on my hardtail to bring back an element of that on the edge feeling for tamer trails"
and so, he was enlightened ) jus kidding. do it.. (i have a set of rigids you can have, PM if you want them) i went rigid ss for a while, hated it. came back to it for a winter, on and off. rode it again all next winter. liked it more and more. now ride it >50% of the time. i had more time on my hands when i was younger, but i have a fair bit now still. simpler bikes make shorter rides on simpler terrain more demanding and more rewarding in a way. thinking about it, the simplest bikes i've owned have been my favourites - a BMX, single-ring Chameleon, rigid ti ss.. not always the most fun in every way, but the bikes i enjoyed owning most.
it may be a rich mans sport to some but it looks like a great poor man's sport to me.
Posted 1 year ago # -
GW - yep, loads of people ride purpose made centres but what does it cost to do so? Cost of parking normally, so £3-4 a ride. My local municiple golf course is £22 a round and the local golf club is £995 per year with a £700 per person joining fee and it's not that posh. The point the person you quoted was making is that the cost of the venue (free or minimal to the mtber) to the user is significantly different not that both have purpose designed venues
I bet the golf course is a far shorter drive tho. Transportation costs are huge in mountainbiking. This Sunday alone I spent £90 on fuel to do 4 runs of FortWilliam DH track (Ok, so it's not often referred to as a trail centre but 100% manmade and managed). Luckily my lift pass is free but add that in and it'd have been £120 for no more than 24mins riding, makes your projected golf club costs seem a bargainPosted 1 year ago # -
This Sunday alone I spent £90 on fuel to do 4 runs of FortWilliam DH track
Could probably have got the train for 20 quid if you booked in advance.Posted 1 year ago # -
£22 min fare from Glasgow return. Just so you know
Booking in advance is compulsory with a bike. It's a crap service to be fair, takes an hour longer than a smooth road trip.
Posted 1 year ago # -
£22 min fare from Glasgow return. Just so you know
i was close! General point is though, that you'll get by if you canny afford certain things! And if i didnae have the £20 quid, a fiver on the train out to lanark and tinto hill would have to do!Booking in advance is compulsory with a bike. It's a crap service to be fair, takes an hour longer than a smooth road trip
Posted 1 year ago # -
last time I looked, Fort William train station was nowhere near the Nevis range.
Thanks for letting me know Waderider, always handy to know train fares from destinations I live nowhere near. Posted 1 year ago # -
Mountainbiking need not be expensive at all. A £300 bike will be perfectly good for most trails ( nearly as good as the best bikes from 20 yrs ago and the land has not changed) Buy secondhand and you get great value
Just go ride locally to you.
I have a reasonably expensive set of bikes now but other than teh capital cost of buying them I probably spend less on riding that I do on drinking - and I don't drink nearly as much as I used to
Posted 1 year ago # -
GW - sorry that's a rubbish argument!
This Sunday alone I walked nearly 3 yards from my shed before I started my ride! On the other hand my father in law flew from his home in Northern Ireland to Scotland for 2 rounds of golf then he is off to Spain next month for more of the same.
You could say that to ride the sort of terrain you want to ride involves travelling, but you could say that about any sport - wanting to play links golf and living in the English midlands would mean a lot more travelling than you seem to need to make riding worth your while.
Just because you can spend a fortune on kit or travel does not mean you have to.
Posted 1 year ago # -
6 miles GW You need a bike you can pedal
Posted 1 year ago # -
Is it more that the media makes it look that way - top gear effect?
Posted 1 year ago # -
everyone on here is a big bike fantic we know folk with 3k + bikes tell a normal person you spent £100 on a component and see their reaction.
Still get a bike good enough for relatively little money. I am lucky enought to be able to ride trails straight from my door I **** wish 5 miles by road to rivvy but a nice warm up. too expensive get a road bike or ride BMXPosted 1 year ago # -
no need to apologise, I know it's a rubbish arguement.
I was a junior member of a Lynx club as a kid but I'd just as often play golf in the playing fields at the end of my road as it was more convenient. Infact, one summer we all got together and borrowed gardening equipment and made ourselves our own (free) 9 hole pitch and put course. "jumpers for goalposts" style. My Point, if there ever was one, is, there's nothing stopping golfers from not getting dressed up like **** and taking some clubs out to the park for a play. same as some "mountainbikers" would not dream of even riding their bike without getting dressed up like a **** or driving miles.Posted 1 year ago # -
It's only expensive if you buy stuff. Riding bikes is free. £100 a year would be a reasonable budget for esssentials e.g. new tyres, brake pads and lube.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Posted 1 year ago #
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My Point, if there ever was one, is, there's nothing stopping golfers from not getting dressed up like **** and taking some clubs out to the park for a play. same as some "mountainbikers" would not dream of even riding their bike without getting dressed up like a **** or driving miles.
Hammer, nail, spot on.
Most (not all) of us aspire to improve our skills, buy better equipment, ride more challenging trails, and as our lifestyle changes to accommodate it and our income adjusts to pay for it, we do the things we wanted to do when we started.
MTBing is like a drug, it's difficult when you can't get the full fat, kick up the arse, high adrenaline rush of riding the best trails on the best bikes. For most people, it's easier to just go cold turkey and give up altogether than go back to riding local trails on a low end bike...
Posted 1 year ago # -
100 without reading the thread
Posted 1 year ago # -
Let’s face it; you spend as much as you want, but after a point, it’s the law of “diminishing returns” – over, say, £1,500 for a full suss, add £500 for a higher spec model in the same range & do you get a 25% better performance & ride? – Probably not. In the same range (Zesty, for example) leap from £2k to nearly £5k, do you get 2.5 times as much bike? ... almost definitely not.
However, the pleasure is not always in the tangible riding advantages of a more expensive model, it’s also in the feel-good-factor that the perception of quality gives you. Let’s face it, many of us are suckers for a marketing image! ... I know I often am!
The media has a big part to play ... they promote the idea that cheap is bad & expensive is good ... their revenue is brought in through companies that sell expensive gear. And, you know what, we keep paying the prices. I’ve just spent more on a new bike than the first two cars I bought ... ouch!
However, is my new bike better than the first MTB I bought? Hell yes! ... Is it 4xbetter ... now that’s a discussion to have over a beer One absolute fact; there are riders that could ride a Raleigh Grifter better than I ride my bike ... ah well, I can only try.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I spent a bit of time at the top car park at glentress on saturday, just doing laps of the trails round there to finish my legs off after a morning at dirtschool... And saw everything from little kids on £2000 bikes, to whole families whose bikes couldn't have cost £200 between them. All seemed to be having fun.
Having said that I doubt the families with the cheapo bikes could afford a single cake in the Hub, which would render the whole exercise pointless I think
Posted 1 year ago # -
my wife spends more on prams you would think i owned an orphanage
Posted 1 year ago #
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