Anti-MTB diatribe from 1993

[ibbz]

The writer/author seemed a tad 'Elitest'. We all know about his credentials, but in the real world a racer/Road Bike off road ridden by Joe Public rather than Lance Armstrong's dad is dangerous, and expensive!

But looking back, with folks and their "29ers", things go in round-a-bouts!

I'm waiting for an anti 29er diatribe! I'd be cheering that on!

 

[marge602]

I thought he made some interesting points, esp. the bits about bike handling. Bitd we started out with rigid mtbs, and had no choice but to pick our lines carefully of risk snakebite punctures and knackered rims.

Then suspension forks, however crude, were introduced, so one by one we upgraded. This then meant that we didn't have to think quite as much about our lines. Obviously as designs were refined, travel increased etc, it became even more of a no brainer.

It's for reasons such as this I like Retrobike so much. In many ways I think bikes like Tigern's Klein Adroit from the most recent botm is the pinnacle of mtb design. No suspension, no disc brakes, just fast, super light and built to hammer. I'm also loving the 30 days of GT thread for the same reason. Then again, my first decent bike was a '91 Zaskar, so maybe that's why.

Regards

Marge

 

[Silvergoat]

Never trust a dodgy tache.
I started off in '89 with my flatmate's Raleigh Arena with the fattest shreds possible doing Castell Coch, Caerphilly Mountain and the rest of the SWales hinterland, untill I saw the light and chanced upon a Marin with Shox.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I was traversing mountains on racers back in the 70s.

Chap makes a valid point.

 

[Andy R]

Chap makes a valid point.

He does indeed, I found myself agreeing with a lot of what he wrote actually, although I've never owned a road bike. A lot of the time I can live without a bike loaded with lots of technology - give me a rigid single speed and it'll keep me quiet for hours.

I bet he can wheelie and bunny hop too, why not?

 

[ibbz]

Bet he can't ride it in snow And ice

 

[legrandefromage]

Half the time I'm out on a rugged tourer while the MTBs sit at home by the fire with a whisky and a blanket chatting about old times and hot summers.

The tourer is from 1974 and if it was all I had then this guy has it right - the only time it fails is in the wet mud. Skinny road tyres just dont work!

In the current snow and ice, its been the rugged tourer, except for today. It was the quarter century old home made ATB. Much easier with the wide bars, drum brakes and odd geometry.

 

[yagamuffin]

I don't see much difference between what that guy was saying back then and how some of us talk about riders today on their 29er 'rigs' with huge travel.
As someone else pointed out, it's not 'anti-mtb' is't just having ago at the 'all the gear - no idea' brigade.

 

[apache]

When I was in my early teens back in late 70's, I had a red bike (cant even remember what it was, probably an old Raleigh), in steel lugged construction with downtube shifter for the 5 gears I had, with steel chromed wheels, and cowhorn handlebars cos I could wheelie all day with them.

We used to offroad on industrial wasteland, and jump stuff. Basically, to a teenager, any bike was an offroad bike, and we would go anywhere - so in a way I know where he's coming from.

I suspect it's less of an issue on retrobike, but some of the modern bikes I see up the hills - christ, I wouldn't spend that on a car, and I'm sure a lot of the niff-naffery is totally uneccessary. However, the marketing deems the latest to be absolutely de-rigeur, and some people swallow it and believe they just cant ride up hills or offroad without it. It's like any hobby. Some people get huge amounts of fun spending very little, others with deeper pockets feel you cant do anything without spending a small mortgage.

 

[ibbz]

When I was in my early teens back in late 70's, I had a red bike (cant even remember what it was, probably an old Raleigh), in steel lugged construction with downtube shifter for the 5 gears I had, with steel chromed wheels, and cowhorn handlebars cos I could wheelie all day with them.

We used to offroad on industrial wasteland, and jump stuff. Basically, to a teenager, any bike was an offroad bike, and we would go anywhere - so in a way I know where he's coming from.

I suspect it's less of an issue on retrobike, but some of the modern bikes I see up the hills - christ, I wouldn't spend that on a car, and I'm sure a lot of the niff-naffery is totally uneccessary. However, the marketing deems the latest to be absolutely de-rigeur, and some people swallow it and believe they just cant ride up hills or offroad without it. It's like any hobby. Some people get huge amounts of fun spending very little, others with deeper pockets feel you cant do anything without spending a small mortgage.

Great post and nicely put.
I'm beginning to change my mind and to see where he is coming from.
Though I am a believer in knobbly tyres. My old Racers wheels were buckled every other week cycling over tree roots and kerbs and stones and I did take a lot of falls cos of the slippery tyres.