[QUOTE=SlimRider;13457367]Hey there Jay!
Jay, I think that you're either a lawyer, a world series umpire, or a boxing judge, 'cause I just cain't see it!
No comfort bike is making it through that obstacle course of a rock garden, I'm sorry.../QUOTE]
That rock garden isn't much of an obstacle course. A reasonably capable rider could ride any one of a number of different types of bikes through it. That kind of off road riding is about technique, not about how much of a pounding the bike can handle.
The problem is that you're using two standards. You're considering mountain bikes to be capable of tasks for which they can be used despite more suitable bikes being available, but not giving credit to other types of bikes that
can be used on off-road terrain because they aren't the optimal choice. You can't have it both ways. Either a full suspension mountain bike, for example, is not suitable for street use because
much better options are available, or a hybrid, cruiser, etc. is versatile enough to be used on rough terrain such as your rock garden simply because they
can be used successfully, even if better options exist.
Are you familiar with the roots of the modern mountain bike?
There were several groups of riders in different areas of the U.S.A. who can make valid claims to playing a part in the birth of [mountain biking]. Riders in Crested Butte, Colorado and Cupertino, California tinkered with bikes and adapted them to the rigors of off-road riding. Modified heavy cruiser bicycles, old 1930s and '40s Schwinn bicycles retrofitted with better brakes and fat tires, were used for freewheeling down mountain trails in Marin County, California in the mid-to-late 1970s. At the time, there were no mountain bikes. The earliest ancestors of modern mountain bikes were based around frames from cruiser bicycles such as those made by Schwinn. The Schwinn Excelsior was the frame of choice due to its geometry. Riders used balloon-tired cruisers and modified them with gears and motocross or BMX-style handlebars, creating "klunkers". The term would also be used as a verb since the term "mountain biking" was not yet in use. Riders would race down mountain fireroads, causing the hub brake to burn the grease inside, requiring the riders to repack the bearings. These were called "Repack Races" and triggered the first innovations in mountain bike technology as well as the initial interest of the public. The sport originated in California on Marin County's Mount Tamalpais.
Source "Mountain biking" predates the contemporary mountain bike. It follows that "mountain biking" can be accomplished with other types of bikes.
I love my mountain bike (although in its current configuration, it isn't well suited for riding off-road), but I'm well aware that it has limitations. There are some things it doesn't do well, and even some things it doesn't do. To me, it seems pretty versatile, because the things it does at least adequately match up pretty well with the things I need my bike to be able to do. For someone who's needs don't mach up so well with the bike's capabilities, it wouldn't seem very versatile at all.