MTBing hijacked by the big money brigade ?

The thing that I loved when I was getting into mountain biking was how it let me explore and traval great distances in the wilds. Nothing to do with gnar or xc racing. It was more about self reliance. Cut to now and I spend far to much time building trails then riding them as loops with a bit of strava thrown in. Seeing this thread reminded me i should have a break from the stuff that is more marketable and exciting in a adrenalin kind of way. Such as jumping, railing corners, being the fastest and other stuff which “needs” the latest kit.

So on Wednesday I biked to the train station and got the train to the middle of the forest and then biked round one of the national trails here in Sweden back to my house. 168km in total, it took 11hours with stops. I felt totally spent but great when I got home.

The thing is this kind of adventure is not really about kit or skills so nobody is going to make any money from it and to be honest riding a huge amount of miles and exploring is a bit boring for others. Gnar tech sells though.

Wowser never expected this to run and run ! This has been my most replied to topic EVER ! My early riding was centred around mile munching which I thought important at the time , then one day I realised it had gotten too focused on that . So I went for less miles on the page ( I keep a diary !) to more smiles on the face . In response to tomhoward I went to Whistler in 2008 with a HT with 120mm travel and that got some looks on the chairlift ! Admittedly it was a Cove Hummer which one of the bike shop mechanics told me was much sought after there , they were like hens teeth despite being based just down the road . When I went back in 2010 I did it on a 2k Spicy which I’ve had ever since and it’s been a brilliant bike . Which takes me back to my original point .

I always get bike envy in the CP but it disappears as soon as I start riding. Moral of the story? Spend more time on the bike and less in the CP. Simple really.

But OP, yes! I am generally gobsmacked at what people seem prepared to pay to ride down a hill. But happy for folk to decide what they want to do with their money. None of my business other than the stuff I would like to buy becomes more expensive.

I’m happy with folks buying top end bikes every 2 or 3 years . They drop in value like Rolf Harris painting .cracking value in the second hand market.

I will add shorts are daft prices and never seem to have a good zip up pocket on them.

They drop in value like Rolf Harris painting

Very good. Topical. Bit too soon though? 😆

I will add shorts are daft prices and never seem to have a good zip up pocket on them.

Yep I hate buying expensive shorts, thankfully I don’t do it very often as they seem to last forever. Great value once again.

If you could only buy £5k bikes i’d agree that they were getting too expensive. But you can buy a brilliant bike for £500 these days. So spend your money as you see fit, buy what ever makes you happy! 😉

(lets face it, lots of people spend well over £10k a year playing golf, and that my friends is pretty much the equivalent of giving money to the devil himself…….. 😉