Is it socially acceptable?

First post – Having started mountain biking at the tender aHaving started mountain biking at the tender age of 51 mainly due to a need for “lard” reduction and I have a few observations – coming from a background of motocross and motorcycle trail riding I am constantly amazed at the fact that ramblers and horsey folk open gates and speak politely when I am on my MTB – as a motorcycle trail rider I am treat worse than dirt (ha) by the above mentioned people and often get the police called! Even when completely legal to be riding on that particular trail. Also it seems to be acceptable to ride as fast as you can – and don’t get me started on the mere fact that people build us trail centres?

So this brings me to my point of discussion “is it socially acceptable to MTB” i.e in general conversation ( pub, over dinner with non MTB folks) as the second I mention MX I would be slotted into hill billy, redneck, ASBO, charver category and as a motorcycle trail rider I am some sort of Eco terrorist intent on destroying our children’s planet –
ge of 51 mainly due to a need for “lard” reduction i have a few observations – coming from a background of motocross and motorcycle trail riding I am constantly amazed at the fact that ramblers and horsey folk open gates and speak politely when I am on my MTB – as a motorcycle trail rider I am treat worse than dirt (ha) by the above mentioned people and often get the police called! Even when completely legal to be riding on that particular trail. Also it seems to be acceptable to ride as fast as you can on an MTB – and don’t get me started on the mere fact that people build us trail centres?

So this brings me to my point of discussion “is it socially acceptable to MTB” i.e in general conversation ( pub, over dinner with non MTB folks) as the second I mention MX I would be slotted into hill billy, redneck, ASBO, charver category and as a motorcycle trail rider I am some sort of Eco terrorist intent on destroying our children’s planet – sub question is it socially acceptable to MTB at 50+ or is it just for you young uns?

You bin drinkin?

No given it up for October – that’s the problem! Off to get a beer

Off to get a beer

So you lasted almost 2 days ?

edit your **** post then 🙂

Anyway, back to the subject.
I iz 58 innit blud, an all da kids in da nick where I works tink I iz cool cos I goes bikin innit.
(& Thats after 1/2 a bottle of gin!) 😳

Na mate, It’s cool to MTB at your/our age.

Well it’s not that hard to read his post (it’s a veritable work of grammatical genius compared to the outpourings of some regulars), and nor is it really necessary to subject newbies to banter so I’ll try and actually answer his question.

Yes I imagine it is far more sociably acceptable to MTB than to ride trail motorbikes – if you search on here you’ll find plenty of people who hate the latter. Also plenty of threads moaning about how all walkers and landowners hate us, but actually that’s not true and the majority of people you meet on the trail are friendly, and amazed that you’ve managed to ride what you have (which may be one major difference between MTB and motorbiking as people appreciate the physical challenge).

Regarding the age thing, you’ll find you’re fairly close to the median age on here (this is after all the mid-life-crisis forum), with plenty far older.

In respect to the 2 days comment – a Personel best is a personal best no matter what the score

motorbikes are more annoying to other people because they’re noisier.

Apologies for typos cut and paste went a bit wrong

In respect to the 2 days comment – a Personel best is a personal best no matter what the score

I have a feeling you’ll fit in well here 😀

Agree with the noise comment it was an issue a few years ago but current bikes are very very quiet, even to the point of having to ask walkers to move over – actually had a complaint once that they didn’t hear us behind them? Then they phoned the police….

Clearly what you need on your trail motorbike is a bell

In respect to the 2 days comment

Don’t you mean “almost 2 days” comment ? You are absolutely right to be proud of your personal best – it’s a fantastic achievement, but there’s no need to exaggerate.

Reckon a big part of the different in attitude is on a MX you are full faced and goggled up whereas on an MTB your face and probably eyes are visible – less intimidating and they remember they are talking to a human 🙂

MX is just too noisy! Spoils the peace and tranquility which is one of the main reasons people go out and about.

I’d slip into a few conversations and see how it goes – responses could vary from:
“well my last 24hr average speed was a record for the course and I was the only solo single speeder…now tell me about your riding”

to: “we went to centerparcs once…. what charity are you riding for by the way…”

over 50 and still waiting to be passed by a polite and quiet MX rider, I’m sure it will happen one day 🙄

Well as many people point out the ratio of “idiots” in any sport/pastime is always similar and I have met some very nice people on MTBs and some less than pleasant – same with motorbikes

It is acceptable but not as much as road cycling – which is the new golf.

I think perhaps its a perception thing. Most people’s experience of MX bikes in 16-year old heeds ripping up ‘cheeky’ trails (like towpaths and pavements) with nary a second thought for anyone else. Which, I’m sure, isn’t wholly representative of the demographic, but are the ones which draw attention.

IME, with any demographic its usually a minority of asshats that give the rest a bad name.

I’ve seen a massive shift in the social acceptability of MTBing in my 25 years of riding.

Angry ramblers are the exception rather than the rule now. Soon we will rule the world.

MX is just too noisy! Spoils the peace and tranquility which is one of the main reasons people go out and about.

I won’t varnish the truth, agree with this 100%.

Sorry (not sorry).

Reckon a big part of the different in attitude is on a MX you are full faced and goggled up whereas on an MTB your face and probably eyes are visible – less intimidating and they remember they are talking to a human

+1 for this. It’s harder to get shouty and angry whilst looking someone in the face.

Met a bunch of crossers out on Sunday – great bunch of Lads, was a section with a few gates so took turns holding them open exchanged pleasantries etc. was on a boat and they were’nt ripping it up or noffin’. Even raced one up a climb (I lost).

Oh aye, Welcome to the most argumentative group of tossers on the internet.

I certainly agree that attitudes towards MTBers has changed hugely over the last 20-odd years that I’ve been riding. Very rarely, if ever do I encounter aggressive ramblers now. In my experience, horse riders have always been OK – I guess we have a shared interest in bridleways.
Regarding trail motorbikes, I did think of chopping in my road motorbike for an enduro bike at one point, but the closure of trails and the general attitude of the press and public put me off.
I think that a lot of people consider mountain biking to be a borderline extreme sport so therefore cool. Motorcycles are still seen to be outside polite society by some people (which I quite like!)

The perception of MX bikes (and 4x4s) is that they are noisy, polluting machines that do orders of magnitude more damage to the trails than anything else, bringing the things that blight towns into the hills so everyone has to put up with them there as well. As spooky says once you’re in a car or MX-ed up you also have a barrier between you and everyone else. The people who’d hold a gate for you or nod and smile on foot or MTB are instead left with your fumes and noise as you blat past.

Of course as cyclists most people on here will know something about being on the wrong end of that sort of perception. But TBH that does pretty much describe my experience of MX bikes in the hills.

is it just for you young uns?

Made I larf.

I have 2 problems with MXers.

One is the antisocial aspect – maybe it’s my perception, but a bigger variety of the worlds natural bellends do seem to ride MX bikes. The deliberate noise from aftermarket/unsilenced exhausts, the smell, and the behaviour. It’s far from unusual for me to meet a bunch of riders, of whom all but the last are very polite, bimble past with a nod, then accelerate gently away. The last one will invariably gas it hard just as they pass me and spray me with stones/mud/water, before disappearing noisily up the trail in a cloud of blue smoke.

The second is the skill or lack of it on the riders part, and the damage an unskilled rider can do from one flick of the wrist. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve met riders who are stalled on an uphill step, and are just sat there, feet down, revving away, trying to grind the obstacle into submission with their back tyre. Going downhill is the same – so many riders don’t seem to have the strength to manage their machine – I rode Roych Clough early this year before the last lot of renovations and caught up with a group on the steppy bit. All bar 2 of them took the muddy chicken line to the side (and cut it up horribly). Of the 2 who tried the steps, one of them dropped their bike, the other one managed to bump down slowly, feet down. All that power, all that suspension travel and that’s the best they can do???

So MXers are noisy, smelly and badly behaved, they sound a lot like MTBers (and my kids) 🙂

it’s a veritable work of grammatical genius compared to the outpourings of some regulars

sends incomprehensible and garbled /vague/unclear threat to e-mail

Me an my dad rode around a lake in Wales once, lovely day, got overtaken by 3 motorbikes, who weaved over around us at quite a speed, and roared off into the distance clouds of smoke and noise, and that’s all we could hear for the next 10-15 mins was those bikes

🙁

we went to centerparcs once

careful what forum you state that on!

Welcome along and I look forward to your contributions – don’t worry about the age thing. What’s not accetable is, poor grammar, bad spelling, 29er’s, taking yourself too seriously and bombastic pontification, oh and double check your punctuation. Many a worthwhile argument on here has been deflated due, to a lack of punctuation….

MTB is IMO less understood than scumcycling but just as acceptable as a dinner party/pub chat topic. You’ll meet more Roadies and you’ll undestand what they are talking about, but they, in return will have no clue as to what you get up to. 😆
Up the new Republic – more so for Premier content subscribers!

Also it seems to be acceptable to ride as fast as you can

I would say as fast as conditions allow. That means slowing down in the vicinity of other (especially pedestrians and horse riders). In general both those groups seem to be quite happy to pass the time of day if you act responsibly and courteously. That could just be the effect of all my grey hair though.

I’ve come across plenty of polite, responsible MXers too, but for me too, it’s the noise. Nooo. Not out in the countryside.

IME, with any demographic its usually a minority of asshats that give the rest a bad name.

There are still a fair number of trail riders using the Brechfa forest and a lot of effort has gone into waymarking the legal BOATs in conjunction with the Treadlightly project. We have a BOAT running past us and meet trail riders on a regular basis. They are almost without exception polite and sensible and happy to stop and chat.
Unfortunately there are also a few who ignore the legal routes, don’t have legal bikes and seem to think the whole place is some kind of playground (including the bunch of tossers who decided that the Brechfa Green was a good place to play).
I reckon I can tell the difference between the two by sound alone; the tossers on crossers have noisier bikes, gun their engines more and repeat ‘fun’ sections again and again.
Peoples perception of trail riders is formed more by the noisy inconsiderate few than by the responsible majority.

the second I mention MX I would be slotted into hill billy, redneck, ASBO, charver category and as a motorcycle trail rider I am some sort of Eco terrorist intent on destroying our children’s planet

Sorry but I’ve just labelled you as all of those things. 100% of motorbike’ists I’ve ever met out on the trails are all those things.

as a motorcycle trail rider I am treat worse than dirt (ha) by the above mentioned people

That’s cos they are incredibly noisy, they stink, and they are pretty indimidating as they braaap past you at speed. Ok so walkers accuse MTBers of the last one too, but I always slow to a crawl, smile and say hello. If a MXer attempts to do that you can’t hear their plesant words, so it ends up looking like you’re being glared at by a bounty hunter from Star Wars. And they also really really bugger up the trails – at least they do by me. It takes thousands of MTBers to erode a trail (if at all on rocky trails) but apparently only one group of MXers on a day out.

As for the original question – is it socially acceptable? Yes, because most people don’t understand what it is. They think it’s cycling along the Taff Trail (river/old railway path in Cardiff that is now tarmac). As evidenced by discussions I had years ago with my friends trying to persuade me to move to London; they insisted that Richmond Park was the perfect location and would satisfy all my needs.

It’s not really talked about, people are just unsure and think I’m a little weird so don’t know what to say. Of course that could just be me rather than MTBing.

Luckily, mountain biking on the trails you are allowed on, the trails you’re not allowed on, the trails that don’t legally exist at all, and the trails that you and your mates wandered onto private property with spades and saws to build – is all effectively legal.

Which is only right and correct (apart from maybe digging new trails on private land), but does make the whining on here about a few small capacity trail bikes with access to about 3% of the network seem particularly small minded and peevish. There’s always the other 97% (plus cheeky, plus trail centres).

is all effectively legal

Controversial…

😆
If you really think that’s what our friends think we do, then you have clearly been sniffing waaaay too much GT85

This is what our friends really think we do

ahh, the smell of Castrol R in the morning…

Trouble is one **** on a trail bike can cause vastly more damage and havoc than one **** on a mountain bike.