It seems for a while that if you slapped ‘enduro’ on a product you could charge more for it where’s now it seems to ‘gravel’ products that cost more.

My question is, what will be the next big marketing bbulsh$t term will we have next?

Mullet bikes? Hope not as they look so wrong just like er mullets.

Folders?

BMX’s?

E-bikes?

What’s your thoughts?

Racing trikes – move them from niche to the mainstream.
Start with 26″ wheels, then move to 27.5″, then 29″.
You read it here first!

Mullet bikes? Folders? BMXs? E-bikes?
What’s your thoughts?

I think all your examples are things that have been happening for the last few years, and all have a place in getting more people on bikes, and enjoying them.

Sub-Boost a 74.6 mm BB shell and OLN hub widths of 137mm and 106mm to optimise chain line and disc alignment when coupled with a 29- pebble wheel . These new dimensions will be accentuated by the blue tyre colourway, colour matched to your local sky for maximum air compatibility.

Apart from racing trikes! I knew a guy from the Norfolk area who used to race one, he’d mention reliability rides as the work as the absolute devil! Stick to what you know?

Singlespeed, rigid, 26ers.

26″ wheels for increased agility
2x or 3x drivetrains for closer ratio gears

scotroutes – thought I was ahead of the curve with a rigid SS 29er…
As for you TJ, my 26er is still good to go.

I don’t think they really thought through mullet bikes, since everyone with a 650b bike- officially now Obsolete And Rubbish- can just stick a 29er fork in it. What’s the point of a new standard that doesn’t require a new bike?

I’d like to see manufacturers really get into seat tube length, for proper big seatposts- the number of big bikes that have stupid long seat tubes or massive seat masts or awkward bends and can only take a relatively short dropper is ridiculous. Northwind’s Law- if your seatpost has less travel than your fork ye be Unduro.

But that’d be a real benefit for riders so, it probably won’t be that. New seat tube width? That’s been getting a bit too settled…

I still haven’t got over 26” wheels even after all this time, I used to be constantly upgrading parts etc until I ended up with spectacular specced bikes, but I haven’t bought a single part or upgraded for 5 years as I think what’s the point the part won’t be able to go on the next frame

Downcountry (new name for XC)

Gravel suspension forks
Flat mount brakes on Mountain Bikes
Full suspension XC bikes
Removable battery/motor ebikes
26.2″ wheels

It seems for a while that if you slapped ‘enduro’ on a product you could charge more for it where’s now it seems to ‘gravel’ products that cost more.

Agree that is is just marketing but marketing is ultimately just selling and finding the best way to sell your product. Not sure additional charges are being seen for a gravel bike over any other sort of bike with same components levels though?
Marketing works for all products (Cars, phones, even hoovers) and it is never going away so get used to it or ignore it.

It will in fact be….

View this post on Instagram

Its hump day but no midweek blues here!!! This bike belongs to one of the @fingerscrossedbmx crew and they are a pretty illustrious bunch! In every scene there are underground legends. @mikebennett fits this description perfectly. An absolute funking (T1) shredder, midschool legend, dad and plant muncher. The fingercrossed crew have started a different way for bmx. It crosses boundaries and moves things in a very different direction from current bmx. May I say it also carries forward a very midschool feel in the community its creating. Over to Mike A Specs are: Ted James frame 631 Reynolds tubing 22" TT 14.5" rear end (ridden at 15") Manitou machete j unit 100mm forks with tapered steerer. T1 bars (of course) fly bikes cranks and 30t T1 Logan's run chain ring. Profile elite 36 hole rear disc hub with 10t driver on a bsd rim. Front hub is a Hope pro 4 110mm 36 hole. Brakes are Avid BB7 mechanical. Relic seat and Thomson seat post. thank you to @mikebennett @fingerscrossedbmx and @tedjamesdesign

A post shared by normal person bike check (@normalpersonbikecheck) on Jul 1, 2020 at 2:24am PDT

BMX’s with suspension forks!!!

The future is right here right now.

Downcountry (new name for XC)

This.  It’s the connotation that you can have a bike to turn you into a Super handling semi racing super hero on your local trails From your back door without facing daunting enduro style obstacles.

Available from local stores near you, it’s the COVID-19 era new cycling recruits version of the Ford Capri.

I think we are due a new wheel standard. It will start with a gravel bike that can take 29er mtb tyres (700c 60mm) but will also run 28mm tyres on larger rim that will maintain the same bottom bracket height. So maybe a rim will need about another 50 mm diameter say 670 mm up from 622 mm.

Then people will make big tyres for these rims……

the number of big bikes that have stupid long seat tubes or massive seat masts or awkward bends and can only take a relatively short dropper is ridiculous.

Is that not as a result of trying to squeeze those daft big wheels into frames?. Mullet bikes are an acceptance that the real world benefits of 29 on the rear are minimal at best.

36″ wheels. It’s so obviously superior marketing wise.

So many new components needed.

Wheel jigs in the workshop.

Special shoes with toe protectors (36″ = massive toe overlap) and platform soles for vertically challenged.

And that’s just a start. 🙂

The market is heading towards electric bikes.

They will try and make a system that can retro fit onto a bike quickly so it can be put on and taken off in 5 minutes and move around in different bikes.

Who am I kidding, that would be too sensible and reduce sales of new bikes.

ampthill
I think we are due a new wheel standard. It will start with a gravel bike that can take 29er mtb tyres (700c 60mm) but will also run 28mm tyres on larger rim that will maintain the same bottom bracket height. So maybe a rim will need about another 50 mm diameter say 670 mm up from 622 mm.

Excellent idea, it would be a whole new market.

All those “gravel” bikes would immediately become obsolete and unusable, fated to become £50 bargains in the charity shops. What a boost for local bike manufacturers!

The problem is that the gravel bike is a USA definition. They have thousands of miles of final trim graded gravel, whereas here we can have many different surfaces on a given track within a few miles.

If we reimagine the gravel bike from a USA definition to a UK one, maybe we can revert to the old term Rough Stuff bike. Then we don’t have to be limited by their definition and can use whatever wheel size and tyre size suits our terrain.

BTW I’ve been “gravel” riding for nearly 10 years using 60mm Schwalbe Big Apples or G-One, and the larger volume means you get your grip from surface conformation (lower pressures) so you can get away with a slicker tread.

As for a larger rim size, one already exists in common use on rodbrake bikes, 700b or 635mm, or you can get 32′ rims (686mm) from https://www.unicycle.co.uk/unicycle-parts/32-nimbus-dominator2-rim-grey.html.

I think Swytch are trying to nail that at the moment @damascus

Got a kit arriving in a few weeks so I’ll let you know. But in theory I can switch the front wheel between bikes (front hub motor). It’s not going to have all the power of a proper eBike but should help with ferrying two kids up a hill!

@damascus Copenhagen wheel – batteries and all self-contained.

They will try and make a system that can retro fit onto a bike quickly so it can be put on and taken off in 5 minutes and move around in different bikes.

Sunstar did exactly that but it never took off. tool free swap between bikes for the motor / battery and that was a midmount.

XC is the next new trend.
Fed up of that sluggish, heavy, enduro sled you ride now? You want a lightweight whippet to fly up the hills.

Semi-serious answer: plain old town bikes, hybrids, “utility” bikes. The whole CV19 thing has coaxed more of the “normals” back onto bicycles, but being honest Joe & Jane Average don’t need disc brakes, suspension, curly bars or carbon fibre, they need a basic reliable bike to trundle about within a 2 mile radius of their home, panniers maybe a basket on the front for the odd bit of shopping…

There’s probably more money to be made selling simple bikes to normal people than niche technologies to fanbois.

Downcountry does seem to be gathering momentum as a term. I’m not sure why in the mountain bike world we have to define every type of ride and bike, but it seems we do.

I think what they mean is just regular old mountain biking, where you take an ‘average’ bike that’s not an XC racer, not an enduro monster, and go for a ride that contains all sorts of terrain. So it’ll need to be marketed as a compromise – light enough, stiff enough, just enough travel, responsive, poppy, fun, tyres that can do it all that aren’t skinny XC things or wallowy plus tyres. So a 120-130mm travel, sub 30lb bike with 2.3-4″ tyres then.

Ah, I’ve always had one one those, and now you’re telling me it’s exactly what I need…

Edit: Totally agree with the post above – the money in the industry surely has to be in the basic, reliable, everyday bikes, not the next greatest thing for chucking down a mountain. Each to their own, but I can’t see how these (non e)bikes get to £5k or £6k, and why anyone buys them.

I’d agree with the ‘Downcountry’ one being next marketing key phrase.

XC was viewed as boring despite being what many rode. Gravel opened the idea up to being cool again. Downcountry as a term fills the gap when the gravel turns to XC but also a brings the opportunity for further n+1 etc.

Downcountry… this is so true…

“I think what they mean is just regular old mountain biking, where you take an ‘average’ bike that’s not an XC racer, not an enduro monster, and go for a ride that contains all sorts of terrain. So it’ll need to be marketed as a compromise – light enough, stiff enough, just enough travel, responsive, poppy, fun, tyres that can do it all that aren’t skinny XC things or wallowy plus tyres. So a 120-130mm travel, sub 30lb bike with 2.3-4″ tyres then.

Ah, I’ve always had one one those, and now you’re telling me it’s exactly what I need”

Marketing just sells dreams, ones you never actually live in real life. Thats why we all ended up with more travel than we can use.

‘Downcountry’ is just a phrase for shorter travel not too heavy bikes that are a blast on the kind of downhills most people enjoy riding. Silly name, but probably the best kind of bike for most of us who aren’t XC racers and don’t need a long travel bike.

I understand why people get hung up on terms, and consider them just “marketing”, but they are useful for describing new bikes, and how they are different from each other and older bikes.

“Ah, I’ve always had one one those, and now you’re telling me it’s exactly what I need”

Some truth in that. But modern geometry and suspension means that the one of those I have now is A LOT more fun than the ones I’ve had before.

Gravel bikes with flat bars, short travel suspension front and rear, and 2.1″ nobbly tyres.

Currently “in stock” or an eBay advert is a licence to print cash when it comes to bike sales in lockdown

I thought Trail was the last marketing term for the stuff that most of us ride, that sits between XC (racey) and AM/Enduro? Trail sounds better than downcountry/Downtownabbeycountry. 🙂

Gravel bikes with flat bars, short travel suspension front and rear, and 2.1″ nobbly tyres.

You mean rebranding a mountain bike to a flat barred gravel bike?

Considering the Facebook groups and Pinkbike groups I’m subscribed too, I’d say it’s time for Dirt Jump bikes time in the sun. They’re getting way more traffic than anything else

Indoor cycling has really taken off during lockdown to the extent that Science in Sport now produce a range of indoor-specific cycling nutrition…

https://www.scienceinsport.com/shop-sis/go-range/turbo

So yeah, anything indoor-specific – marketing can go overboard on that.

If we reimagine the gravel bike from a USA definition to a UK one, maybe we can revert to the old term Rough Stuff bike. 

We could be even more radical and just call them bikes….🙂

I thought Trail was the last marketing term for the stuff that most of us ride, that sits between XC (racey) and AM/Enduro? Trail sounds better than downcountry/Downtownabbeycountry.

I can’t believe that in dissecting this.

I’d day Trail has got more technical and more jumpy over time.

I think Down Country is more bridleway loops

So in Trek bike terms as the Fuel ex has got more capable it’s made space for the top fuel to get a dropper and do what the Fuel ex use to do

what will be the next big marketing bbulsh$t term will we have next?

Well I’m not sure these things are entirely created and forced on us. From the OP’s examples, I recall Enduro became popular as a backlash against too much publicity of bike park riding and groomed trails. Natural trails and riding things on-sight whilst also climbing the hills appealed to people as it “better reflected what they did already”.

Gravel seems to be the same. A rejection of driving to specific trails but just getting out the door and covering distance – you could do it anywhere. It’s popular anyway so the marketing hype focuses on it.

If you want to know what will be next, look at what people are already doing (or getting fed up of). I’d agree that “downcountry” is becoming popular but bikes like that have been around for many years – may well be the next trend which fits in with some of the gravel thought process.

My 2 pence on this is that ebikes are a gateway. Whether they are a trend themselves or not, the way they allow us to ride will lead to subsequent new trends, probably very rapidly.

the number of big bikes that have stupid long seat tubes

Maybe for you short arses, i’m finding the opposite. Manufacturers don’t put propper length seat tubes on large/ xl frames so you end up with stupid long seat post that just waiting to bend with all the leverage applied to it.

I am a lankey small market for frame builders i know. “We recomend sizing up” what if you already ride xxl?

XC rebrand definatley, feel more of the trail with less travel etc..