Mountain Biking - Do ATVers make comments to you while you're biking?

I've had quite a few ATVers pass by and make comments to me and my friends referring to biking. For example:

"Boy, you need to trade that thing in for one of these [ATV]!"
"That sure looks alot harder!"
"Where's your gas pedal?"
"What in tar-nation hell gave you the desire to ride your bike up here!?!"

These are some of the comments I've heard just this summer. Now what makes us so approachable that ATVers feel they have to say such things? I mean I don't approach ATVers and say,
"Boy, your bike sure uses alot more gas/stinks more/louder than mine!" or
"If I ride one of those, can my ass get as fat as yours?"

Of course I just smiley politely and carry on, but really, does anyone encounter this where they ride? Maybe they're just being friendly, I don't know. It's kind of amusing.

Luckily Ive never encountered an atver. Motorized vehicles are not permitted on my trails :). But if someone ever said something like that to me, Id probably to tell them to f#$% off :D. I would imagine it requires more endurance and skill to handle a mountain bike than it does an atv, but Ive never ridden one so I wouldnt know.

I've met some ATVers on trails that are very polite and move over to let me pass with a nod or a wave. Unfortunately, these guys are the minority. Most of them whip by at a high speed and come uncomfortably close while doing so. I've never had comments yelled at me, and most don't acknowledge the group of riders at all.

-Moab

Nope...dedicated trails where atv's can't go work :)...

Also most atvers here are avid mtbers too

Sometimes I do ride double track or forest roads (where ATVers are), but not all the time. If I limit myself to only single track, then I've lost alot of riding options. I have no problem *peacefully* sharing the forest with ATVers, or hikers or horse riders, for that matter. I just find it perplexing some ATVers make such comments. I've never had any directed at me/biking by a hiker or horse rider. I don't know if it's the norm, so I'd thought I get some feedback from others.

They are being friendly. Smile and chatter back.

Only over-sensitized freaks would respond back with hostility, and should immediately get into road riding. That kind of tension can be useful in the peloton.

Heck, we ask the guys on the DH bikes "where the motor is on that thing", too... ;)

Yah, as long as they're not being *******s it doesn't matter they're just ribbin ya so give em something back! One time when i was out at moab, there were a bunch of dirt bikers and i wasn't sure if i should turn around to meet some friends or keep riding the trail, but they had a trail map and they were cool, they gave me a little flack about being on a bike, and i gave them some flack about having a motor on a bike

I wanna try an ATV ... looks like fun!

i think they're just being friendly, it's just poor social skills, people don't seem to know what to say these days. so they try to be a bit humerous, but it comes out a bit insulting.
you know instead of sayin, wow you rode your bike up here, that must be tough nice job, it comes out why the hell would you ride a bike up here.

Last April when we were in Moab...they were having some kind of Billy Bob Redneck ATV Jamboree...they were all pretty nice and considerate.

Two funny stories:

13 of us bikers on the trail chilling out for a water and feedbag break just past a rough spot on the Gold Bar Rim. Must have been 30 ATV's coming by the opposite way on the trail. This Billy Bob hits the rough section and ENDOS on his ATV! Friggin ATV lands on top of him. All 13 of us run over and pull the ATV off of him. Shocked and amazed ATV'ers...like, "uh, thanks, uh"....

Next, we come up on this very technical spot. ATV's are barely making it down. All the riders in our group are riding up to it, the portaging their bikes. I ride up to the wall JUST as one of the guys in our group stops in front of me - killing my momentum. I say "Doh!".
This ATV guy goes - "Oh yeah, like you were going to make it up that"! I look at him and say "Give me a second".
I wait until the line is clear...and climb up the friggin wall like Spider Man. Huge roaring cheers from my MTB group AND the ATV'ers. It was SWEET!

the trails i ride don't allow motorized vehicles either. i think the only problem i've ever had on a trail was when we had a huge team ride and some prick came flying down the hill and yelled at all of us since we were "hogging" the trail AND on the uphill. he just came flying down the hill and wasn't nice at all.

bikeCOLORADO, those atv stories sure do sound funny.

I never came across any on the trails in tenn., but I always knew where they had been... they would wait for the trails to be wet and then they would go town on them, tearing them up, and leaving their two ruts behind, where it would then hold water and it was a down hill from there for that trail, which the last time I rode it, you had to stay in the middle of the trail b/c the ruts where four to six inches lower then the center of the trail, and the mud in the ruts was abt two to three inched deep
so I do not like them for that reason, even though I have never meet them
do people go "mudding" in "civilized" states or is it just in the South?

I'd say people go mudding everywhere. I'm in Socal and there is a place here where people go for the mud. Myself, I prefer rock-climbing in the jeep. To much work getting all of the mud off. Besides there isn't a lot of mud out here so you are really limiting yourself on where you can go if you only do mud.

Originally posted by troie
I would imagine it requires more endurance and skill to handle a mountain bike than it does an atv, but Ive never ridden one so I wouldnt know.

Depending on the kind of riding they do, you may be imagining wrong. Think about those Freestyle or motoX ATVers...now there's some skill keeping one of those straight in the air. Also, endurance wise, I used to race 3 hour XC dirtbike races, and they're every bit as hard as a 3 hour bike ride. Believe it or not, its just different. The ATVs rode the same courses for the same amount of time as us, which must have been harder for them, especially on the tight woods trails.

Originally posted by troie
I would imagine it requires more endurance and skill to handle a mountain bike than it does an atv, but Ive never ridden one so I wouldnt know.

Actually an ATV can take a lot out of you. While it doesn't require that much endurance it can take quite a bit of upperbody strength. After riding for a few hours I come back with my arms sore from turning so much. It does take a bit more skill to ride an ATV though. They're a lot faster than bikes and are prone to tipping. I've had mine up to around 55mph before...Pretty scary on an ATV! The fear of tipping over.

As far as the comments people on them make, that's really rude. I've only been here a few weeks and I've seen a lot of complaints on here about what other people say to bikers. What is it that people have against bikers? O_o