[Closed] Has mountain biking become the new golf

Of course. You can buy a £200 MTB and a £200 set of golf bats. You can't just gloss over the fact that the Tee fees and membership costs are usually bloody pricey when comparing the two.

In performance terms though, a £200 set of clubs is probably equivalent to a £600 MTB. You can buy a set of Clubs for £70 new if you look around (I suggest you don't), which is probably the equivalent of a £200 Halfords special.

With Mountain Biking, the initial expense of purchasing good equipment is higher than that with Golf, but Golf has a higher variable cost (ie. green fees) in general, unless you're doing 500 mile round trips each weekend to ride your bike!

Even with a £600 MTB, it's still considerably cheaper than golfing! The entry fee nearly wipes that out and that's before you've swung or bought a bat!

The point you raise about a hobbyist MTBer not wanting a crap bike is of course quite right, but applies (perhaps even more so) to roadying. No weekly roady would be seen dead without a full rapha set after all? 😉

It's not 'Class War'.
It's about change.

The demographic shift has had a huge impact.

The manufacturers and media have frottered themselves into a frenzy in an attempt to part eager newbies from their cash.
This has lead to the current standargeddon, which has a greater impact on those with less disposable cash.
Cycling is disproportionately more expensive than it used to be, certainly if your not a serial changer or upgrader.

Also, people tend to mistrust those who value fashion over passion - those who pursue something because it's seen as the thing to do are always the butt of the joke - it's human nature to question the motivations of the fickle.

However, I like people and I like bikes.
It's great to see people enjoying themselves.
More people on the roads helps with acceptance and changes attitudes and perceptions.

There are downsides, shared access and all it implies, but we'll survive.
🙂

mboy - Member

Both Mountain Biking and Golf are fairly expensive hobbies/passtimes as they go.

they're not, really, they're just hobbies.

Take crochet, as an example. that's just some string and a (one!) stick, how basic can you get?

But get some nice hooks, and some nice wool, and a few patterns here and there, and some project bags, and some nice dividing folders, and it all adds up very quickly.

Gym fees can be upwards of £500/year. Want to go swimming too? now we're over a grand, a year.

Let's not even think about the money spent on guitars and amps and pedals etc.

I'm still getting my head around the criticism of rich folk in one expensive sport by comparing it to another rich folk activity, off piste skiing. Skiing used to be the preserve of the common man, but not any more...

Too many rich people everywhere!!! Damn them, and their wealth buying their privilege / access to the outdoors, which I also have to pay for, but it makes up more of my disposable income, which makes me resentful as they are not proper sports enthusiasts, but are just frivolously spending their money JUST TO GET IN MY WAY!!!

PS - OP you're either not skiing in the right places or not embracing all that skiing has to offer. Ski touring is where it's at... 😉

Cycling is disproportionately more expensive than it used to be

no it isn't. you've always been able to spend stupid money on bikes.

the difference is that the cheap ones now are really, really good.

Skiing used to be the preserve of the common man, but not any more...

WHAT?

Speaking as someone whose family growing up was not poor but still could not afford to go skiing, you are talking bolleaux.

Oh FFS Molgrips - you couldn't see sarcasm if it slapped you in the face!

EDIT - OK, bit harsh p'haps... I figured the tone of the post would make that clear. Guess not!

Even with a £600 MTB, it's still considerably cheaper than golfing! The entry fee nearly wipes that out and that's before you've swung or bought a bat!

What entry fee is this? Are you talking about a membership joining fee? Sure that applies to alot of private courses but not public ones. And nowadays with decline in memberships many clubs have scapped that cost, my local one for example.

You do realise you don't need to join a private club to play golf don't you? Just as its not obligatory to spunk 4k on a carbon Santa Cruz. You can golf on the cheap and you can mtb on the cheap, or you can make it as expensive as you like.

I'd suggest those that are members of private golf clubs aren't the same people who would buy a £600 entry level mtb and ride it until the death, so comparing the two costs in such a way is flawed.

As a keen club golfer up until a year or so ago, and a keen mountainbiker, I can tell you I have spent infinitely more on Biking than I ever did on my flash bats, priavte membership, and and daft golfing apparel.

What entry fee is this?

You do realise you don't need to join a private club to play golf don't you?

As a keen club golfer up until a year or so ago, and a keen mountainbiker, I can tell you I have spent infinitely more on Biking than I ever did on my flash bats, priavte membership, and and daft golfing apparel.

The point you raise about a hobbyist MTBer not wanting a crap bike is of course quite right, but applies (perhaps even more so) to roadying. No weekly roady would be seen dead without a full rapha set after all?

Haha. Not the case though sadly. There's plenty of Rapha wearing Jonny come lately's to Road riding, but they're the guys that refer to a pair of Dura-Ace C24's as their "winter wheels"... I know people like this, will ride a bike worth 3 times what my best bike is worth (and my best bike is really rather nice) through the winter without a thought for the cost.

The average roadie is however far more thrifty than the average MTBer, at least from where I'm standing (Bike shop owner) though. Possibly because road riding is far more acessible to your average family man, a 2-3hr ride once a week straight from the door and back requiring a lot less commitment than driving to a trail centre, getting flithy, driving home, cleaning the bike etc... There's always exceptions to the rule of course, and these are just one man's observations.

your average family man, a 2-3hr ride once a week straight from the door and back requiring a lot less commitment than driving to a trail centre, getting flithy, driving home, cleaning the bike etc

Is driving to trail centres really the average MTBer's experience?

Is driving to trail centres really the average MTBer's experience?

I don't think it's the average experience, but there is a significant number of riders who just ride in trail centres. Nowt wrong with that though

I reckon if you say that the average mtber on here spends 1.5k on a bike and keeps it for 2 years, over that period spends another £500 on bits (tyres, brake pads, other consumables). Then rides that bike twice a week that's £19 per ride.

Someone mentioned £15 a round to play golf earlier so if we did the same calcs with a £200 set of club (which from the golfers I know is a pretty cheap set of clubs)that works out as £16 per round of golf.

But the more you ride the bike the cheaper it becomes whereas it's the opposite for golf! sort of!!

Edit I've just read all that and have bored myself........Spend what you like if you can, just do it with a smile!!! 🙂

Is driving to trail centres really the average MTBer's experience?

wrecker - Member

Is driving to trail centres really the average MTBer's experience?

Unless you live in the shadow of some decent hills, you'll be driving somewhere!

^This.

I live a 5 mile ride from a country park where we usually have a midweek thrash. Epping Forest is a 30 minute drive away and the Surrey Hills 90 minutes. The Peak District or a trail centre usually requires at least a weekend away to make the journey worthwhile.

5 pages of discussion and we have ascertained that both pastimes involve driving! 😀

I have never put a bike in my car in over 40 years of riding...

🙁 Never done an uplift day? Been on a riding holiday/break with your riding buddies?
Where do you live kerley?

Hold on a mo, this thread has been very useful, you can ride your bike to the golf course.

I have never put a bike in my car in over 40 years of riding...

I guess varying your riding spots isn't for everyone.

Or is this one of those 'because I catch the train' or 'I use a mates car' type things?

I have never put a bike in my car in over 40 years of riding...

I've got a roof rack too 🙂

To the extent that some people can't just 'go for a ride', but have to measure everything and then compare themselves with everyone else, in the same way that golf seems obsessed with par and handicap rather than just going for a quick round, I think there's some similarity...

Either way though, who cares. So long as those who want to can go for a good old fashioned bike ride, then the ex-golfers can do what they like. The more the merrier overall...

Hi, I ride my bike on the local golf course. Have done since I got my first bike (grifter) 😳
Also skied on it, took it in turns to do the uplift in a non German SUV though 😆

wrecker - Member
Is driving to trail centres really the average MTBer's experience?

Unless you live in the shadow of some decent hills, you'll be driving somewhere!

I Like this thread!

never considered myself part of the elite before. As an Audi driving, Santa Cruz owning trail center user, being the subject of philxx's obvious envy might well give me ideas above my station.

I guess its not the done thing to have your driver do the uplifts? no thought not.

anyhow plebs, off to book a weeks skiing in St Moritz

🙂

My question re driving was more like "is that most people's ONLY experience of riding?" As in, is that what people think the sport is?

Of course most of us drive to ride at some point, life would be dull without adventure - but I'm wondering how many people treat a trail centre as the place to ride as a golf course is the place to play golf.

never considered myself part of the elite before. As an Audi driving, Santa Cruz owning trail center user, being the subject of philxx's obvious envy might well give me ideas above my station.

Not even close cheapskate

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/heli-skiing

i have a helicopter to take me to golf.

Is this a bad time to ask about some good Heli-biking destinations?

I wouldn't call MTBing the new golf, but as ever, there are some enthusiasts who drop proper cash on their hobby. They may not be the fastest, fittest or most skilled but who cares? From experience they tend to be the plumber, builder, roofer etc who owns his t5 for his business, buys in his LBS and doesn't take himself seriously. In fact, I've ridden with a bunch of brummie lads recently who actively took the piss out if themselves for this "all the gear" thing of loving their bling.

Fair play to them - I'd sooner spend time with fun loving guys who have a laugh and spend on their hobby of mountain biking (thus supporting the industry as a whole) than some grumpy inverse snob who carries all the bad baggage of that miserable "cyclist" culture with it's stupid rules and hierarchies.

Never done an uplift day? Been on a riding holiday/break with your riding buddies?

No interest in an uplift day (riding up the hill is the best bit), no interest in riding buddies - my enjoyment comes from getting out on my own without having to interact with other people.

Probably explains why to me MTB is very cheap as my bike just has to please me, nobody else sees it. But then golf used to be cheap when I played it in my 20's as just paid green fees on lowly courses, had average set of clubs and wore normal everyday clothes.

You don't have to turn up with peer approved car and equipment.

[quote="pat12"]
i have a helicopter to take me to golf.Don't knock it, one of our local clubs runs a weekend minibus service to the local airport, to pick up those flying in to play. The airport it goes to only takes private jets at weekends..... (in fact, i have a suspicion that it *only* takes private flights now.)

On the flip side, the golf course i ride/drive past several times a week (3km from our house) has a huge, covered, cycle rack, right outside the clubhouse. It's usually at least half full. And i regularly people riding down the cycle track with a set of clubs hooked onto the back of the bike.

Is driving to trail centres really the average MTBer's experience?

For some, yes. I know someone who only ever rides at one trail centre all year round. Knows the place like the back of his hand. Not knocking it, he's out there having fun! I tend to live at trail centres during the winter months as it saves cutting up the local natural stuff, save that for a sunny day.

As for MTB being expensive? I used to race karts, anything is cheaper than that 😯

i have a helicopter to take me to golf.

You must play here.....

[url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_19th ]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_19th[/url]
[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]

And FWIW. about half the board at my current employers are cyclists. Current director travels all over europe to ride the big sportives, italy, france and so on.

They mostly golf as well.