Mountain Biking - What is Mountain Biking?

After several weeks of following this forum, I have arrived at the conclusion everyone that enters the Mountain Biking area of this forum is doing different things. If you own a mountain bike, does this make you a mountain biker? What if you have a mountain bike and your nearest mountain is 600 miles away?

What if you have never, hucked, jumped or whatever else you call it? Are you still a Mountain Biker? I have a mountain bike and when I descend over a curb I go VERY slowly over the curb. (Don't want to bend that rim you know.) :D :D This certainly doesn't sound like a mountain biker. Still my ride takes me off road and onto different sorts of terrain. I ride fast and hard but do my darndest to avoid getting hurt. (job to keep, kids to raise etc. ;)

Maybe there needs to be different designators for different kinds of MTB riders. I would probably earn an Angela Landsbury designation no doubt. Seriously it seems that some of the advice that is offered in this forum applies to different things. For example somebody may trash a certain MTB because it performed poorly while jumping off a 6' drop. However it may be a very capable bike for the casual trail rider. After having spent the last 15 years working on mechanical things, it is obvious to me that most things are not meant to be abused. I would dare say, even mountain bikes. Maybe they are "meant" to be abused but they certainly won't last as long if they are as compared to something that isn't abused.

Well the more I type the more confused I get. :D I just wonder if owning a Mountain bike makes you a mountain biker any more than owning a piano makes you a piano player?

I just wonder if owning a Mountain bike makes you a mountain biker any more than owning a piano makes you a piano player?


Seriously it dosent matter. I hope you already know the answer to your last question about the piano. Obviously I could own a piano (which I do) and I cant play it worth ****. So I am not a piano player, if you own a mountain bike and ride it on the road, you are not a mountain biker. There are way too many people that are concerned about what they are and what all the different kinds of riding styles are.

Basicaly owning a Mountain bike you are not a mountain biker in my opinion. If you ride it strictly on paved roads you are not a mountain biker. Sort of like if you have a if your vehicle has 4 wheel drive, does that mean you are a 4x4'er (not sure of proper term used for people who take go off-road driving)...

Just ride. :D :p

To me mountain biking/a mountain biker is more of a lifestyle thing. Of course if you own a mountain bike and you have never gotten it dirty.. .then there are questions raised if you have the right attitude to be a mountain biker.

So in my eyes, if the first time you lay eyes on your first mountain bike and you envsion you going out on trails and riding into nature and look forward to the first time you get mud on it so that it looses the new bike look, then you are a mountain biker. (even though after it gets dirty you know you'll be there cleaning it to try and make it loo new again). If all you can think about at work is what you rode the day before or what you are going to ride that night... welcome to mountain biking then! If you walk into the store and just want a cheap bike to have a bike, then no you aren't.

I would say you are my friend! If you weren't you wouln't have even found this forum in the first place. The love for the trail is in you...so go out and stop worrying about what you are or aren't and what mtbing is and ride till you can't think anymore, and if when you are done the first thought that pops into your head... I can't wait till I ride again..... then you are like the main of us! If the first thought that is drummed up in your head is gee I can't wait to get back into the office tomorrow, then you better sell your bike! :D


BUT the best is... if you have spent more on your bike than your car... you are a MOUNTAIN BIKER! HAHAHAHAHA

Just my 2 cents.

We don't even use the term "mountian biking" here. We call it "trail riding" and "trail bikes". There aren't any mountains near these islands. I have people ask for mountain bikes at my rental shop, and I ask, "We have mountians now?"

who the hell cares?

Mountain Biking is riding your mountain bike for sport. you are right in saying there are several types.
XC- riding uphill and downhill, goals are distance and speed, high emphasis on cardiovascular fitness
epic/enduro- adventure riding, somewhere in between XC and Freeride. Small drops/technical stuff, but no big jumps and hucks, still cover lots of distance, up and downhill
Freeride- many types (street, urban, trail, DJ, shore style, DH-which is sort of seperate) Jumping off of things, onto things, over things, extreme mountain biking
Downhill (DH)- go down the steep hill as fast as you can. while going around the turns, like downhill ski racing...

You dont need a mountain to be a mtb-er. You can have a city with stairsets or a path that is dirt. you do need a mtb to be a mtb-er. Having an mtb does not make you an mtb-er, however. You have to ride mtb trails for the sake of riding them to be a mtber. If you own a 3000 dollar mountain bike to ride to school or work or to your friends house, this kind of person is what is called a POSER!

Different mountian bikes are meant for different things. An XC race bike can weigh 3-5 lbs. Taking it off a 6' drop is abusing it. A freeride or DH bike can be 10 or even 15 lbs. Taking it off a 15' drop or shooting it at 30+ mph over rocks and jumps is not abusing it. Bikes like the karpiel armageddon and apocalype are ridden off of 50' drops by people like Josh Bender, thats possibly abuse, but its more dangerous to himself than the bike. It all depends what the bike is designed to do. Race cars need new parts every race, but a regular car doesnt need new tires for every excursion to the supermarket. Its all about the type of use.

1 You take a bike and a mountain.
2 You ride the bike up and down the mountain.
3 Now you are considered a mountain biker.

Anything but and you are something else.... :D

who the hell cares?



Shhhhhhhhhh......grasshoppa

Hey Ranger......just get some sleep...

Just ride. :D :p

Exactly. It doesnt matter, just go out and have fun.

:o ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Its unfortunate that you don't have some backyard trails ... mountain biking is like night/day compared to road biking. If you ever get a chance to go to that 600 mile-away mountain, do it, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

....mountain biking is like night/day compared to road biking.
Yeah, I know..... Since I got into road biking over 10 years, I really haven't put in that many miles on my Mtb over the years. :eek:

The term "Dirt Bikes" was taken!

I think we should steal it!

Heck, we took the term "Freeriding" from snowboarding, why not use the term "dirt bikes" for what we do!

L8R
a2psyklnut (dirt biker!)

when you spend the evening drinking beer while cleaning that days mud and blood off your bike, then your a mountain biker.

and if your under 21, you probably drink the beer anyway...

I ride my road and touring bikes on trails, some quite steep technical ones. Ive taken the touring bike over some serious mountains. Does that make me a mountainbiker, or are my bars too bendy and my wheels too big ?

I ride my road and touring bikes on trails, some quite steep technical ones. Ive taken the touring bike over some serious mountains. Does that make me a mountainbiker, or are my bars too bendy and my wheels too big ?

Only if when riding my MTB on the road you'd consider me a roadie ;)

I don't know what I am when I ride my folding Raleigh 20 off or on road :confused:

Well I still don't know if I am a Mountain Biker or not but I do have a Mountain bike and I do drink beer so I probably am. ;) Like many have suggested it probably isn't that important to define the subject for the most part. However when giving advice on buying Mountain Bikes there should be a distinction between Mountain Bikers and people who own Mountain Bikes.

I keep reading reviews like. Trek 9900: Don't buy this bike man, it really sucks. I rode it off of the roof last night and the front fork broke. This thing is junk. (0 stars)

That is why I think it is important. Some people get steered away from good equipment simply because somebody abused their bike and trashed it in a review. Everything is relative and Mountain Biking is no different.

So based on what I have learned I will define Mountain Biking as: Any activity that includes riding a Mountain Bike between one's legs. This may or may not involve mountains, mudd, jumps and/or pavement.

Actually my psychiatrist told me to stare at these. :fight:
What do you see? Is the right smiley hitting the left or is the left smiley hitting the right, or are they hitting each other?

If the right is hitting the left, you are a MOuntain Biker.

If the left is hitting the right you are an Angela Landsbury. (bike w/basket flowers)

If they are hitting each other, you are a Roadie.

whoo, that would make me a mountain biker, right is hitting left!

Unless you're riding down a mountain or a canyon (inverted mt.) it's not really mountain biking as far as I'm concerned. However if you ride your All Terrain Bike on the side walk, a gravel road, backcountry single track, or screaming down the mountainside it doesn't really matter what it's called as long as you enjoy riding your bike!

I mountain bike in Florida. Location has little to do with it. If you ride off-road trails, you're a mountain biker.

> After having spent the last 15 years working on mechanical things, it is obvious to me that most things are not meant to be abused. I would dare say, even mountain bikes. Maybe they are "meant" to be abused but they certainly won't last as long if they are as compared to something that isn't abused.

Well the more I type the more confused I get. :D I just wonder if owning a Mountain bike makes you a mountain biker any more than owning a piano makes you a piano player?



Piano is a tough art to master, but recreational mountain biking is probably a little easier.
Btw, I was looking to buy a bike.
Do you know any little tidbits of information about Chromoly and aluminium as bicycle construction material? What are their capacities and idiosyncrasies?

Jacob

hmmm what about riding a road bike on a mountain? j/k...

I mountain bike in Florida. Location has little to do with it. If you ride off-road trails, you're a mountain biker.


Gotta say that is how I always looked at it. Heck I still consider it mtb if you a riding urban on a 26" wheel bike. Basically its technical. Riding in dirt in and of itself can be technical.

One thing I have learned from this thread is I hate the term ATB. This is the first place I have ever seen try to seperate it from mtb. Sorry mtb to me requires a mountain bike, some dirt in any variation and sometimes just some good clean urban rides.

And Math...I call that crazy...butI have known a couple of people to do it.

What if you are not for the "competitive sport" but for the joy of ride:

Please, check out this web site and tell me what you think this it, you going to see bunch of mountain bikes, but hey where are the mountains! We call it ciclotourism; possibly you will call it trail riding

Check it out, you will love the photos:

http://www.eteamz.com/boqueronbike/

Great terrain and sites. Looks like a fun place for riding. :)

My idea of MTBing continues to evolve. I"ll ride from the city,then on the hwy, then arrive at my destination,usually a wooded area where I roll out and camp out. I've even done some fishing.

If it ever gets to the point where MTBing is strictly defined,I'll shift into something else. I moved away from road bikes when it became popular and gravitated around $$ bikes. For me MTBing has a looseness and feel about it that I dig.

Regards.