Originally Posted by
frankenmike
mmmmm....Tab
I guess it depends on the conditions where you ride. Here in the high desert, there is plenty of rough stuff, just not a shuttle or skilift for the ups. "Cross-country" riding requires a tough bike for the descents, but a bike light enough for the soul climbs to the top.
I disagree, mike...frank...frank'n'mike
Dedicated XC riding (in my mind) is pretty tame in reference to the gnarlicity of the terrain. It is quite grueling in reference to the cardio/aerobic workout of course. Sure, you can take a 19lb rigid SS on a DH course, but if you try to keep up with a full-on DH bike obviously you're going to get beat to crap and thrash your equipment. If you beat the DH'er on a feathery SS...then you'll get beat to crap by his seatpost
I guess the classifications are there to keep people riding their bike as efficiently as they can (light) w/o breaking crap all the time (tough enough for the terrain) as affordable as one can budget.
I hesitate to get involved in this one because I really, really hate all the genre's and classifications that the marketing nerds have created to label a "mountain bike". It's just a mountain bike...just pick the one that is built how you want to ride, right? But you have to be PC and label everything so you can sit around and be proud of what you think you created.
So now there's:
XC race - Think S-Works epic or Stumpy hardtail...will this handle a pounding gnarly descent? Not really.
XC trail - Umm...like...previous gen. Giant Trance, SC Blur, or lower spec alloy Epic...something that prob. would serve 75% of the world just fine
All Mountain lite (aggressive XC) - Maybe Specialized Stumpy FSR or a Trance X
All Mountain - Heckler with a big ol' Fox 36 up in there...maybe a Nomad or Bullit built with a little climb'ability.
Slopestyle - Maybe a bridge betw. freeride and urban/DJ??? Heck man...half the SS courses I've observed have super smooth trannies
Freeride - Big ol' 7x7 to drop off big crap...whateverh
DH - talk to Dminor
Red-headed step children (IMO the most fun to watch):
4x
Urban / street
Trials
I don't know, I'm sure you and half the rest of the world will disagree with this but there's a definate "right tool for the job", so to speak. For myself...geography restricts my riding, so I fit in the AMlite or Aggressive XC'ish category. I have to have a fairly strong build for my weight and riding style w/o getting so heavy that I can't keep up with my XC riding bud's. I'd be best off with a 26-28lb snappy hardtail with an urban bike on the side to take downtown or to the BMX track. If I ever got a chance to get to Keystone, I could just rent a "fun bike".
I do hate the labels though...but if there weren't any, then you'd be sifting through the bikeforums with posts from weight weenie pcad's next to Maelstrom north shore posts. It can be somewhat handy as long as everyone's on the same page as to what's what. I think the biggest issue is that people are ignorant as to where they fit in and usually results in "overkill". Heck man...I almost built a 35-40lb freeride bike to ride 95% KS singletrack with an occasional trip downtown to jump off some crap.
So I guess "I feel" that category #3 revision 2a paragraph six "riding requires a tough bike for the descents, but a bike light enough for the soul climbs to the top".