Originally Posted by
Mr IGH
Joe and Hod Rod, Try not to take it so personal, just because I don't ride what you ride doesn't mean you're wrong, or me. BTW, the smarmy stuff didn't come from you, I respect your experince, there is one nut job is always chipping, never riding, he knows who he is....
Are you referring to me?
I don't ride as often or race anymore or in the way I did when I was younger (I'm 56 now), but believe me I have done a lot of it.
MY problem (and I'm sure some others here will share this with me), is when people come on here and try to say that one is not a 'real' mountainbiker if they don't ride 'the gnar'. That seems to me to contain an air of arrogance.
I have messed my body up (even lost an eye) enough in the years I have been riding MTB that I am not willing to take the chances that I once did. Call me a wuss, call me cautious, whatever, that's the way it stands for me now.
This particular forum is dedicated to mountain biking. That means bikes that are ridden offroad- on trails, off trails, on rocks, on mud, up hill, downhill- I'm sure you get the idea. The equipment and bikes for this are wide ranging in their purpose and setup. When John Tomac rode an MTB with drop bars, would you have called him and his bike 'not real MTB'? I think not.
You certainly must have things to offer here on this forum- look how you were able to jump in with experience with those handlebars. That's great, please continue to offer you own advice.
On this forum, arrogance and mis-information will almost always be challenged. And it helps to be respectful and polite. It also helps to have a healthy sense of humor, especially when you feel a need to give mods like Chelboed and Dminor a hard time!
Cheers.