Good article here about the two sides, or more generally diversity of MTB.

I enjoy both side and agree they both need different families and the branding of MTB as gnarcore does not help when campaign ING for more access.

Mountain Biking Has an Identity Crisis… And it Affects Us All

Well i thought it was interesting.

P.s.Families should read facilities.

Yeah, I remember when dragging your rear wheel on the trail was frowned upon, seen as a lack of control. I guess it just looks more exciting kicking up roost, not that it’s ever dry enough for that in the UK.

It’s as if all drivers were represented by pictures of professional rally racers on closed courses.

Thinking about the cycling media, some do a decent job of balance – plenty of articles in Singletrack about “exploration” biking – but the adverts are all about the Endurrrroooooooo!

The media and industry (whatever that is) would like us to have an indentity crisis but I don’t think we do. Sure some people are drawn in by the image and live the lifestyle but ime most people do ok riding bikes without all that crap.

The people who write this waffle need to get out more

I’m quite partial to a couple of skids round my local woods – pretty chuffed to be lumped in with the 50ft jump / backflip demographic : )

Interesting and sort of sums up what I feel. Been riding bikes for 40 years and fix them for a living, but I feel increasingly alienated and disconnected from the industry.

The ads in the mags and the promoted videos might encourage gnar core riders to upgrade from Enduro sled to Enduro sled Mk2, but it also puts a lot of people off as they think MTBing is something way beyond them.

The way the industry chooses to represent itself is so different to how 99% of riders actually perceive their own activity.

Mtb would look pretty shit if they used nothing but xc picture’s and videos though.

Maybe we should change the name from ‘Mountain Biking’ to ‘All Terrain Biking’ or something……..

I guess it’s what sells. 99% of cyclists keep their wheels on the ground, but love that image of being ‘rad’. Same applies to lots of other sports and the gym.

It’s this sort of thing.

soulwood – Member

Yeah, I remember when dragging your rear wheel on the trail was frowned upon, seen as a lack of control. I guess it just looks more exciting kicking up roost, not that it’s ever dry enough for that in the UK.

TBH though, usually when you see pros kicking up roost, they’re drifting the bike using speed and weight. Usually when you see knobbers doing it, they’re using the back brake. It’s not the same thing, in 2 ways. First is that the former is a natural side effect of going round corners very fast, it’s not something you choose to do, so can’t be easily deleted. The other is that the former is just far less damaging- the wheel’s not locked, it’s just sliding, it doesn’t dig in or cut the trail in the same way.

You do see pros doing it purely to create a slide, basically for photos, which is a shame.

Thing is, people doing it with the back brake are often probably thinking “this is how the pros do it”.

Preaching to the converted.

People trying to recreate rad pics & vids don’t read dull articles.

Mountain biking doesn’t have an identity crisis, it has an adopted by the general public crisis.

Interesting article, thanks. It’s obviously written from an American point of view, so doesn’t have direct relevance to those of us living in Scotland who can access as much “wilderness” as we like. But it does mirror some thoughts I was having on a fat bike test at the weekend (and have been having for a while really).

I like to ride my bike up and down mountains. Does that make me a mountain biker? It sounds like a decent description of what I do, but very little of what is promoted as mountain biking seems to have any relevance to me.

Not that I can really blame them. A video of some middle aged bloke bimbling through the countryside isn’t going to be that exciting. I enjoy doing it, but even I wouldn’t watch it.

To bring a few recent threads together, maybe it has something to do with our increasing sensitivity to sexism (bear with me). I can see the video now:

Middle aged bloke* on fat bike cycling through some awesome scenery
Scantily-clad young lady emerges dripping from the lake to marvel at the thickness of his tyres.
Mountain Biking: You Never Know Where it will Lead You !

Nope, can’t do that. Let’s show some young dude ravaging the forest instead!

*It would work with a middle aged lady on the bike and a Mr Darcy type emerging from the lake to squeeze her tyres too of course.

Even back in the day of one bike for everything, people did the daftest things possible.

MBUK was pretty well balanced for years – loads of daft stunts and drops, but loads of XC/Epic type stuff too.
I loved it.
Showed that anyone could have a go.
Try a bit of everything, see what sticks.

The capability of the bikes and what the talented can do with them has changed, but there’s so much good cycling stuff on t’internet, with all bases pretty much covered.

See also
Skiing
Snowboarding
Paragliding
Hangliding
Any other sport that puts it’s more extreme and less dull side out to sell stuff.

Middle aged bloke* on fat bike cycling through some awesome scenery
Scantily-clad young lady emerges dripping from the lake to marvel at the thickness of his tyres.
request medical assistance for the hypothermia and helicopter evacuation.

Mountain Biking: You Never Know Where it will Lead You !
Skinny Dipping in a Scottish Lake : Will almost certainly get you a ride in a helicopter to hospital

FTFY

It’s not just the videos and magazines though – I was recently looking for a fee days riding in the sun and nobody seemed to be promoting the sort of riding I do, it was all Enduro this and Freeride that. I guess “come to us for a bit of pedalling, some nice views and a few techy bits thrown in” doesn’t sell, even though it’s a pretty broad section of their clientele.

Interesting article for sure, but there’s a bit of straw manning going on IMO.

Lots of statements like this…

Instead of every single advertisement featuring some freerider dragging his rear tire

But I see plenty of adverts with normal looking riders apparently behaving responsibly on legal trails.

And as for MTB’s supposed image problem with the wider community, seems to me that’s an assumption which hasn’t really been evidenced. Would love to see some proper work on that.

thepurist – I’m so with you. I did manage to find a company in Ronda, near Malaga doing what you suggested and I’ve hired bikes and had route advice from them. I’ll be doing so again later this year.
http://www.hikeandbikeholidays.com/

They do led trips too but I enjoy going my own pace.

callmetc – Member
Mtb would look pretty shit if they used nothing but xc picture’s and videos though.

It looks pretty shit with these low IQ “super heroes” dressed in motocross gear doing BMX tricks off cliffs that we have now.

The fact that lycra and peak-less helmets in downhill is frowned upon is laughable. It’ll never be an Olympic sport if riders are more worried about “image” rather than speed.

I remember when Barel took the peak off his helmet for a race; he got absolutely slated in the MTB scene.

None of this matters though; mtbing is about doing whatever you want off road on your bike. Dress how you like, ride what you want etc. etc.

But, if it wants to be taken seriously, then an image overhaul is needed. Can’t have it both ways.

The whole 26″ -V- 650b debate seems to have slowly ebbed it’s way off the first page every time the forum opens up, it’s pretty much what must be happening everywhere, so now the regeneration of doubt needs to be stirred again as the weather is due to change bike sales should be on the up,

I know it’s a Cliche but riding a bike is exactly that, and we all like to think we are the best in our own little way, I know when I first discovered shagging I thought I’d invented it, drinking I was pretty good at that apparently although others would disagree, driving I could have been a rally driver.

Nowadays I just accept that it’s reinventing the wheel, I’m old enough and daft enough to have seen all this before, ATB was what Raleigh used to sell in the late 80″s, I now know that I couldn’t possibly have invented what my dad assured me I knew nothing about and I havent touched alcohol for 12 years oh and those deer in the road that caused me to crash,

I don’t actually care what I ride, Mountain, road, BMX, it’s all the same to me, I can ride any bike anywhere and I’d always get that feeling, they can’t sell that in a glossy ad they are only selling the means to relieve a fool of his money.

I think it is relevant to the all of the UK, even Scotland. It’s not saying don’t ride gnarcore, just think where you do it. Outside Scotland we are fighting for acesse and excepting that different parts of the sport has different needs and pushing a code of think where you gnar it up helps premote the idea of responsible access. Lot of people do see ads of largeslides and think skidding everywhere on natural trails is not an issue, not due to maliciousness but not realising it is a problem. The author does exaggerate the level of advertising being one-sided.

I think we’ve seen peak gnarr.

Lots more useful bikes for real people on the roadie/do it all side recently.
I’m sure that’ll blur some boundaries and it’s already started to cross over to the MTB world.

Type mountain biking into google images, and you’ll see a pretty broad cross section represented. The first 25 odd images show XC racing, big gaps jumps, normal people trail riding, some enduro-ey gnar and some DH.
Seems about right to me.

It’s a very interesting article, the comments on this thread seem to hit the nail on the head too.

I was attracted to mountain biking by the physical challenge – in my case, riding a thirty mile route around the Peak District on a borrowed Saracen Havoc thirteen years ago. I suppose the gnar aspect was also a huge factor in it for me too.

Then I had a family and grew up.

Whilst I’m still reasonable shape for forty two, I simply love being outside in the fresh air and sunshine. My local trails are bridleways, so selfishly drifting around is a no-no but there’s still fun to be had. If I want to get some air time then there’s always a trail centre to scratch that particular itch for me.

Read it. Probably valid but thought if you took out the reference to fat biking it could could have been cut and paste from any time since the late 90’s when freeriding (the word they use) became a ‘thing’ and the likes of Richie Schley were hucking Kona Stinkys in Kranked.

basically

Any other sport that puts it’s more extreme and less dull side out to sell stuff.

this.

Probably valid but thought if you took out the reference to fat biking it could could have been cut and paste from any time since the late 90’s when freeriding (the word they use) became a ‘thing’ and the likes of Richie Schley were hucking Kona Stinkys in Kranked.

Good point.

If anything I think MTB marketeers are getting better at targeting those who like their riding a bit more sedate now.

Especially if we consider gravel/gnarmac/enduroad bikes – as I think we should when talking about off-road cycling as a whole.

The thing is, the sport’s evolving and is still relatively new.

People seem to have forgotten (especially with the recent “anything with a girl in is sexist” bandwagon slowly picking up riders) that not too far into the past, mtb’ing was a lads culture of riding topless, sitting on top of cars doing handbrake turns, drinking beers and knocking each other off around corners. Was it Team MBUK (Hibbard etc) and the videos around that time; Cranked etc that showed off that ‘scene’. I was barely a teenager when dreaming of holidays in Spain with my mates on a new LTS / Zaskar. Missy, Peaty etc. Not exactly people you’d take to meet your grandparents!

I can’t think of a sport that doesn’t use the best of the best (perhaps behaving recklessly) to promote itself, be it Ratboy ‘rootsting’ a corner or anyone with a Subaru imagining themselves to be McRea. Biking has diversified into DH, XC, adventuring, road, touring, fattying… of course it’s Enduro that makes the posters / adverts. It was trials for a while, then DH, now Enduro because, whether we like it or not, those guys (of both sexes) are cool and gnar and make it all look amazing and of course I pretend to non-riding mates (and myself) that I ride like an Atherton. Would an honest description of the average UK ride sell it to the uninitiated?

I don’t think there’s any form of identity crisis. While I fell in love with riding night rides with shitty lights, gears that de-indexed at the sniff of mud, tyres with less grip than sheet ice, elastomer Judy XCs being the height of technology and needing frame stiffeners for the ‘V’ brakes to work properly etc, the basic principle of ‘two wheels good’ remains.

The sport is evolving and bikes are incredible.

I’ll be honest, it’s the trail centres that scare me. I’ve ridden one and was utterly disappointed. Half the fun is getting lost, dead-ends, un-rideable bogs, knuckles torn to shreds by brambles, passing bikes over styles to one another and the endless chase of Summer a la Mint.

It’s sciences fault.. 😀

We live in culture where everything has to be reduced and labled – and then contest the label…

mtb’ing was a lads culture of… knocking each other off around corners

What kind of mtb’ing have you been doing. Fnarr. Fnarr 😀

I couldn’t find the video (with a quick search) but started off with manuals in a field followed by a big, and deliberate, pile-up at the bottom as they all tried to get around a corner.

Anyway, this illustrates my point as to how mtb’ing has changed / evolved its identity and doesn’t, to my mind at least, have a crisis.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZlpIQqY9fo[/video]

People seem to have forgotten (especially with the recent “anything with a girl in is sexist” bandwagon slowly picking up riders) that not too far into the past, mtb’ing was a lads culture of riding topless, sitting on top of cars doing handbrake turns, drinking beers and knocking each other off around corners. Was it Team MBUK (Hibbard etc) and the videos around that time;

See I remember both, had an old guidebook with basically bearded guys on rigid bikes touring off road in Scottland trying to look as miserable or mad as possible in ron hills and purple pertex jackets.
There was also the New World Disorder stuff and everything in between.

I never remember riding topless or sitting on top of cars doing handbrake turns – sounds more like a bunch of chavs in the supermarket car park.

The biggest identity crisis is with people thinking what they do is mountain biking and everything else is not what WE do.

You don’t remember it all being portrayed as it is in that video I posted, Mike?

I don’t remember it first hand (fat too young), but it’s definitely the impression I was given by mags and videos (that came with them) at the time.

Mountain biking is currently in the throes of an identity crisis.

Is it?

I really am struggling to see what point the article was trying to make beyond ‘different people like different thing’s…

TBH it just seems like a load of bolleux dressed up as an “issue”…

You don’t remember it all being portrayed as it is in that video I posted, Mike?

I don’t remember it first hand (fat too young), but it’s definitely the impression I was given by mags and videos (that came with them) at the time.

That was mainly MBUK’s portrayal of themselves I’d say. MTB was a bit ‘wacky’ in the late 80s-early 90s, MBUK’s oddball features and general event sillyness, put a load of blokes who didn’t race for anything more than the social side in a field over a weekend and it was usually pretty drunk/laid back. Nothing specific to MTB I’m sure. Not even sure if that’s changed much?

Any bike, anywhere, that’s mountainbiking to me.

A bike is a tool to get me into the sorts of places I like to go.

I don’t regard it as a sport, more as a recreation with the odd race thrown in.

I couldn’t live in a place with limited access – seems a breach of fundamental freedoms.

I really am struggling to see what point the article was trying to make beyond ‘different people like different thing’s…

The article is about how the rest of the world relates to us. So when an organisation says they are looking to build some trails, the general public might think it’s all Red Bull Rampage and extreme sport junkies being loud and tearing up the countryside. That’s the side of MTBing that gets most publicity.

As the article says, the term ‘mountain biking’ is just to broad. MTBing I think is comparable to skiing where XC and DH are completely different sports. Not to mention Telemark, back country, touring and the more sporty things like the jumping whatevers you see on telly. But because skiing has been around so long and is a ‘respectable’ established sport people understand this. MTBing is really no different – most of the disciplines have direct counterparts in skiing – but the sport doesn’t get anything like the respect skiing does. Even on here, many of us seem quite insecure about ‘messing around on bikes like a kid’. You don’t see skiiers feeling the need to justify sliding down hills in the snow, even though that’s still a pretty popular childhood activity. There’s really no difference.

Which brings us back to my point that the author has made some big assumptions about how MTBing is perceived by the wider community.

And he’s based those on the way MTBing is represented in the MTB media, which isn’t read by 99% of the wider community.

As I said, interesting article, but not sure it stands up to scrutiny.

chakaping – Member
Which brings us back to my point that the author has made some big assumptions about how MTBing is perceived by the wider community.

or, as i read it, they’re just pointing out that our access rights are largely dependent upon people who know nothing more about our sport than they can see on the tinterweb. and asking if we’re comfortable with our image as presented on the tinterweb.

at least, that’s how i read it…

I happened to watch the ‘Where the Trail Ends’ vid the other day and just got bit embarrassed by the way it showed mtbing, essentially rich North Americans dressed in logoed pajamas going to exotic locations to skid down steep hills. I think in the US with it’s access issues, then this isn’t a great advert and will cause problems.

I ‘m going to sound like an old fart but when did mtbing become walking up hills with a full face on your handlebars to ride back down? What happened to actually riding as much of the route as you could?

And Dirt Jumping has never been mtbing for me, more of a progression of BMX than anything to do with mtbing.

Oh and finally not only is Roosting a berm daft it looks sh*t as well.

Rant over 😆