To you?

marketing bullsh|t

Something that makes you be a good all around rider. Be able to climb to the top of the mountain, take on gnarly descents and drops while flying downhill, and be able to do tight steep singletrack, whether it is up or down. Also be able to do at least 15miles of riding.

To me?

5+" of travel
Less walking, more jumps and drops
Not being a weight weenie about bike or components
No spandex!

To me it's a long-travel trailbike (5-6" both ends) that has an effecient enough rear suspension design or shock to allow it to be pedalled through most uphill sections of any trail; beefy enough to withstand aggressive riding down hill; and with little or no chain-growth issues so that you can confidently run three rings and a front derailleur without worrying about dropping the chain due to suspension movement when the going gets really rough and fast.

What I'll do when I get too lazy to train anymore.

All Mountain is just what Gastro said.

A bike that lets you ride to the top then strap on your gnarboots.


???

What's with you weenies and Lycra? I own both baggies and tights, and after numerous rides tights come out to be the clear winner in everything but lack of gheyness.


I may be ghey but I'm comfortably ghey. Or did I just BLOW YOUR MIND.

If all mountain bikes are

,

What would you consider them? XC bikes? downhill bikes? bikes that aren't good at anything? I'm asking seriously, not defensively

is all mountain a new term?

mx

It's riding

Cross country that is actually fun.

Longer travel XC bike plain and simple.

I don't consider them anything because it's a waste of time. A bike either has the geometry and features I'm interested in or it doesn't. It makes no difference to me how it's been pigeonholed by someone else.

I think "All Mountain" refers to a type of bike(marketing bs that has apparently worked quite well) not a riding style.

I've ridden my DH bike for my 30km one way commute to/from work and for multiple hour trail rides (along with using it for it's intended purpose), I've ridden my road bike on singletrack (again along with using it for it's intended purpose), and I've used my Blur 4x for shuttle trails, commuting, and trail riding...so...do these marketing terms actually matter?

Just ride the bike that best suits your trails and your riding style.

I'm not quite sure it's fair to characterize it all as marketing BS. I think the perversion by marketers of the term to include bikes in the category that do not belong has muddied it possibly to the point of uselessness.

But by its nature, marketing has to try to say the most with the least amount of words to get a clear point across. Advertising space, be it electronic or print, is costly and your audience's attention span is short; so you need to get the most impact out of the shortest amount of time, space and words.

So marketers glom onto catch-phrases that they feel best get their point across with the fewest words possible. Where it might be more descriptive to say "This is a 5½"-travel do-it-all trail bike that climbs like a goat, descends like a banshee and leaps boulders like a gazelle," it's much more direct to say "It's an all-mountain bomb."

fixed

Only Banshees do that.

marketing term used to sell $2,500 bikes to people who only need a good $1,000 hardtail.

How do you know what bike a person needs?

To me it appears as a tough XC bike capable of all terrains.

Well if your comfortably gay, you wouldnt be blowing our minds......

Did you just admit to being g4y? And you're calling me the weenie? Grow some balls, just dont show them.

The only riders that should wear spandex/lycra are hot women. End of story.

Insecure much?

All mountain? I don't know. To me it's trail riding with more of a focus on "playing around" than going tfor long distance or speed.

But I'm just an XC weenie