1980s market segmentation: ATB vs. MTB

Hello everyone,

These days, with XC, marathon, trail, enduro, freeride, downhill, dirt jump, adventure, plus, fatbike, and all of the other market segments within the current mountain bike industry, I'm sure a lot of us appreciate the times when a mountain bike was just a mountain bike.

So then, what was the first additional market segment which joined the mountain bike, and when did it happen? Thinking back to the buyer's guides in US magazines which I read in the mid-to-late 1980s as I was transitioning over from BMX, I believe that ATB (all terrain bicycle) may have been the first.


I think everyone can agree that this is a mid-1980s mountain bike.


This, in comparison, shows elements which i associate with ATBs, like narrower tires, street-oriented features like a dynamo mount on the seat stay, a (color-matched!) bell on the bars, and a kickstand plate.


These two bikes were originally built in Switzerland within about a year of each other. Did the segmentation between MTB and ATB also happen in Europe, as I remember it in the USA?

Also, in the States, it was common for ATBs to be specified with more economical parts and priced below the MTBs in a brand's line. Were ATBs really a user/usage defined segment, or an artificial, price-driven segmentation to differentiate them from "real" mountain bikes?

Finally, if ATBs were not the first genuine market segmentation within mountain biking, what was, and when did it occur?

Cheers,

The Kid

Re:

Your Ferraroli are Stuning !
I don't really understand the difference between MTB and ATB.
If I remember, Mountain Bike is a word created by Fisher-Kelly-Ritchey, so, first, it was a brand name. But they were ATB, because they could be ridden everywhere, on road and… off road… on all grounds.
The difference between the two bikes you show, seems to be the price : A lower price needs a more multi purpose bike : able to be ridden on the street, on road, for touring with fenders, racks… Higher prices bikes are more specific and more built for racing and don't needs fender attachments for being more lightweight.
The 2 Ferraroli got the same groupo, same geometries and perhaps same tubing. But you can fit bigger tires on the red and vice versa. On other hand, Ferrari built custom bikes. Perhaps the customer wanted dynamo attachment…
I don't think that MTB and ATB were market segment. It's only different words for calling the same bike (like our old bikes : are they Vintage, old school or retrobikes… ?)

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ATB were cheaper end of the market with components that were not up to full on mountain biking, but were sold as all terrain bikes for trails and light usage..........the Raleigh Activator springs to mind :facepalm:

Dont get yourselves all muddied in the 'ATB' v 'MTB' thing - they were and are one and the same.

The Activator was a far later cynical child of the 1990's long after 'all terrain bikes' had appeared

This being from 1984/5 would have been an early offshoot into suspension



with this being the market stirrer

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I'm with LGF, I never thought of them as different bicycles for different disciplines in the manner of XC and downhill bicycles, or road racing and touring bicycles, just a different name for the same thing.

Steve McCroskey: Jacobs, I want to know absolutely everything that's happened up till now.

Jacobs: Well, let's see. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di's clothes. I couldn't believe it.


I reckon they were one of the same too. Up to when I don't know exactly....

MTB riding developed into a serious niche sport, with specific bikes eventually introduced for even more
off-spring nich sports (DH, AM, etc.) as you say. At a guess, DH bikes being one of the first.

ATB riding in my humble opinion never developed into a competitive sport - more for recreation like touring,
going to the corner shop, commuting, etc.. Seems to have been rebranded now as Trekking bikes, Hybrids;
presumably to make the segment much more distinct to MTB, Road, etc.

Re:

What I was trying to say

Re:

Easy.

MTB = Cool

ATB = Not Cool.

Re:

For me ATB is just a marketing ploy in the mid eighties, execs at established brands probably thought calling something "mountain" might put off droves of potential urban customers that don't go anywhere near a mountain.

Once mtb became a global phenomenon, ATB disappeared and the new mtb bandwagon jumped on.

Any now we have 4x4 to drop the kids off, north face action jackets for popping down tescos and all the rest

At the time there was no differentiation, 'Mountain bike' was a brand which turned into a noun, like Hoover and hoovering.

Like the Americanism 'SUV' that has quietly been brought into everyday lexicon over '4x4' despite them both meaning the same vehicle, regardless of its actual off-road capabilities