How boring must that be? The fun of an open forum is the variety of posts it receives.

Could it be simply that, as a couple of retailers have told me, mountain biking is flatlining while road cycling is growing?

Well considering the number of road bike posts that’s a bit of a red herring. I reckon it’s all the closing duplicate thread things, far more activity if we could argue in triplicate. That and the trolls are normally dull and really obvious.

Road sales are definitely growing and for us overtaken mgb.

Think of all the roadie threads and complaints here!

I agree the trolls are more obvious but it must be tougher with a more troll-weary audience.

I ride SH alot. Leith / pitch / Holmbury winterfold….. Definitely seen a shift round this area towards Road. Last few trips over this year, the hills have been really quiet. Used to be a huge gathering of bikes up on leith by the tower and a good buzz…

Now the journey to sh in the car takes me double the time as I am constantly getting stuck behind large groups of mamils

Road riding in the area has exploded.

Good for me though as the trails are much quieter!

When this forum started nobody would have dared mention road bikes and if they did it was furtively with comments about the dark side. Road cycling is now an active topic on here.

Should STW embrace this and begin to cover road cycling as an “add-on” to off road? There is only one other magazine that publishes decent road cycling photography and that’s Cycling, which is getting a bit far up its own bottom really. STW could, if it hit the right balance, appeal to a far wider readership in a much more interesting way and pick up some of the new Mamils with cash to splash. I might even go back to subscribing because I would enjoy the variety of a bit of road, cross and mountain.

….mountain biking is flatlining while road cycling is growing?

Just resetting the numbers now the fad of mountain biking is over and the majority of UK riders realise you don’t need much more than a CX bike to enjoy the trails……

@hilldodger – could be true but a quick look at the bikes strapped to the Audi roofs around here there’s still plenty of people chasing the latest trends and tech.

Might just be a UK thing, down here in Oz I see heaps of new mountain bikers and plenty who keep going. A lot own road bikes but none are ditching mountain for road. Plenty of roadies taking up mountain biking though. Do we have the numbers that back up the road/mountain balance. Thought last time they were out both are still growing but road is growing faster at this point.

..Might just be a UK thing

Very likely, given that UK is about as lacking in wilderness as it is in mountains!

yep can’t remember the last time I saw a mountain in the UK…. 🙄

tyrionl1 has it. Case of video killed the radio star….

Once we had chatrooms. As soon as forums came along they died a death.

Now we have facebook and groups of like-minded people (who often met through forums) set themselves up in a secret group and chat and plan without any of the abuse and interference you get on forums.

The trick will be seeing where the next big breakthrough in social interaction will come

Welshfarmer- talking to real people will be big I reckon.

doncorleoni – Member
I ride SH alot. Leith / pitch / Holmbury winterfold….. Definitely seen a shift round this area towards Road. Last few trips over this year, the hills have been really quiet. Used to be a huge gathering of bikes up on leith by the tower and a good buzz…

Surprisingly quiet for a Saturday yesterday on Winterfold (brilliant). Over on Pitch WB car park only 3/4 full and I caught a CX biker going down BKB as he stopped at the first big berm. Only two of us on BKB?!?!

Roads were busier but less than normal too. The honeypot (village shop) was swarming but I didn’t have time to stop yesterday – well I would have done, but forgot any money!!

welshfarmer – Member

The trick will be seeing where the next big breakthrough in social interaction will come

Ello was billed as the next big thing in ad free social media, also invite only, but it was dull and to date doesn’t have any traction. Instagram seems to have a following amongst the picture taking picturesque, but to me providing you’re selective, Facebook gives so much. A distant cousin posted pics the other day of a grandfather I’d never seen and an aunt that died long ago, shit like that, then there are ride selfies, funny videos, crashes, meets, pics of guys at pubs taunting you with their beer whilst you’re elsewhere.
Constant updates from Jedi’s world and al sorts of riding trivia from all the sports that interest me, I’d love to hook up with Singletrackers on FB, I often wonder what happened in real life (which Facebook is you can’t hide behind anonymity so you tend to be less bitchy,)to the likes of TJ, and the mental one who’s name escapes me. There aint the pitchfork brigade you used to get here and no one can ban you for your opinion or soh, I gather lots of folk have been banned from here over the years, so how long would you expect a forum that marginalises an entire sector of the riding community for it’s opinion or ‘bad conduct’ is going to last in the long term?
It’s a great place none the less but missing the eccentric characters that used to liven it up is my considered view, could it be over moderated?

On my training ride today on the CX’er I spotted 2 other CX’ers in Botley Woods coming at me.

Now then last year they would have been on MTB’s..

#ridingbikesinnit

Same dumb questions, same dumb replies (blame the feeble search bit) and the usual bunch of sanctimonious old gits hovering on your every word.
But once in a while there is a gem.
Like now 😛

no one can ban you for your opinion

On a point of note, this has never happened here.

Same dumb questions, same dumb replies (blame the feeble search bit) and the usual bunch of sanctimonious old gits hovering on your every word.

Generally agree with this. My perception is that the negativity has increased in recent years and I wonder if that’s driven people away. I know I use the forum less because of it and have considered a full-on flounce.

But once in a while there is a gem.
Like now

Or the haircut thread from a week or so ago.

Cougar – Moderator
no one can ban you for your opinion
On a point of note, this has never happened here.

Hmmm, so in a hypothetical context, could user A suggest to user B that in their opinion, they can spout forth some kinda character assassination?

Or not? 😉

the critical mass that is needed to stop a forum being elitist has sunk so that you are left with a skewed demographic—petty bourgois types dominate….

and I though we were down to the hair shirted types who decree any change marketing gone mad and just the industry trying to make us all buy new bikes, grumble nowt more than a steel HT from 92 needed here 😉
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k[/video]

Surprisingly quiet for a Saturday yesterday on Winterfold (brilliant). Over on Pitch WB car park only 3/4 full and I caught a CX biker going down BKB as he stopped at the first big berm. Only two of us on BKB?!?!

Do you normally see more than one person? I don’t.

Leith Hill hasn’t been the focal point for a couple of years now, Peaslake is far busier. Still more MTBs there than road, but I’m sure the market is shifting with MAMILs and what not buying road bikes.

I personally don’t see FB as anything like this place. You can’t/don’t really get discussions to the same extent. But yes, if you want to watch videos of kittens falling over then it’s perfect!

It is now that thread’s been removed, you know, the one about the bloke who *************** and is now *************.

It’s a great place none the less but missing the eccentric characters that used to liven it up is my considered view, could it be over moderated?

One person’s “eccentric” is another’s “asshole”, and if you’re not careful the inmates take over the asylum. I don’t think this place is over-moderated at all, it doesn’t need to be really, folk generally know the rules and stick to them.

Locally only 30 or so riders did the mountain bike sportive, yet when I finished there was tons of kids under 12 on road bikes in lycra. Why would kids want to go round and round a boring flat circuit instead of mucking about in woods?

rudebwoy – Member
petty bourgois types dominate….

😯

Njee, don’t often ride there at weekend but mid Sat morning did seem v quiet. Lots of lost DoE kids though!

petty bourgois types dominate….

The problem with using the word bourgeois is that it makes you sound a bit, well, bourgeois 😉

Why would kids want to go round and round a boring flat circuit instead of mucking about in woods?

Locally there are a couple of clubs, overtly “roadie” but with some mtb activity. The youngsters enjoy the club mentality, like to wear the jerseys and join in with the weekend activity for the juniors, be it a mini-club ride or skills session on mtb in the local park.

What do you get from the “mtb scene” – again locally, there’s just a few loose groups who “ride out” at weekends but no actual club activity. No wonder kids are going roadie, there’s no profile of mtb as a sport and as a leisure activity it’s seen as “an old person’s sport like golf” according to my 13 y.o. nephew.

And what impression does this place give the casual observer? A bunch of MCWCs who still laugh at knob jokes and obsess over just about every lifestyle choice imaginable……..

The problem with using the word bourgeois is that it makes you sound a bit, well, bourgeois

Only if you can spell the word! 😉

could it be over moderated?

I think it is safe to say it is considerably more comprehensively moderated than Mumsnet, and that seem to continue to be a thriving community.

I think it is a shame the forum (not this one specifically, but the genre in general) is on the decline as they remain an excellent repository of archive information for general browsing in a way a facebook group never will be. Not so much the social stuff and general bickering but the more technical information based stuff.

petty bourgois

I think he meant “Petite bourgeoisie”.

to the likes of TJ, and the mental one who’s name escapes me.

https://www.facebook.com/elfinsafety.dibnah?fref=ts

still laugh at knob jokes

titter

Speaking as someone who has really backed off posting to any degree I can pinpoint a few reasons that have given me the push.

The back button issue was a pain in the arse as I had to habitually change how I use a computer just for this site.
The ad’s were again a massive pain in the arse.
I have less interaction with MTB so am less and less able to comment on a lot of posts.

The biggest single thing however was the attitude regarding the two technical issues. It felt like ‘If you don’t pay for the P then shut up’ so I did (nearly there)

I’ve not been on here for a month or so, and it does seem quiet…

I somewhat (completely!) failed in my attempt to train for twentyfour12 (lost 2 stone from December to March, then didn’t loose anything from March to the end of May, and have had a freaking cold for 6 weeks – think I over did it early in the year!), and have been having a sulk for the last month and staying away from here and my bike. 😳

It was getting a bit negative at one point towards the end of winter, but reckon everyone is out enjoying the good weather and cheering up now!

Is it surprising that road cycling is burgeoning thanks to all the TDF and TOB stuff? Meanwhile mountain bikers lurk in the woods and there’s very little public glamour attached to the sport.

I’m a mature non reg poster who’s generally respectful and polite to all, but do think the forum is over moderated. Not that I particularly want to have it all kicking off, but there’s not enough ‘spice’ to keep folks interested methinks.

Some people do get easily offended though! 😕

I have less interaction with MTB so am less and less able to comment on a lot of posts.

Can’t say I ever look in the Cycling forum, just not interested.

I get a huge amount of enjoyment from reading the threads here (I should get the premier doo dah really!) and it’s great for opinions on technical stuff, of which I can geek out on all day. It’s funny that even as a full time bike mechanic, a qualified mtb guide, and all my riding history, I still feel a little intimidated posting on here sometimes, so I don’t much. I’m quite a shy person I suppose. That’s silly really!