'Mountain Biking Is Dead' - Is it?

you can still easily obtain a new, un-assisted HT or FS bike at just about every imaginable pricepoint but sadly you´ll have to use the internets to research and shop about. 

It does make me wonder why the lazy but trendy shop assistant didn't approach the challenge from that angle. 'No, we don't have any affordable non-E MTBs on the shop floor because there's no local demand, but yes, we can order one in for you. Here's what we can get from pretty much any major bike manufacturer.'

But, the OP has made two posts ever I think, claimed to have left MTBing a long time ago but then seemed to be an expert in bike sales data over the last few years in their second post. I wonder if we are conversing with a real person? 😀